TM9757 Mud Season #2 36×40 oil on panel My dear pond is still out of reach with water flooding higher than I’ve ever seen. It’s turning into a bayou! I sit in the parking lot and watch, wondering what to paint. The water? The mud? the trees’ knees? Yet it is spring, with the sun strengthening and the air gentling. In the studio, I thought about what I felt, and Mud Season #2 is the result. I hope it captures the air – the bright spot amidst all the muck and water. Details below. Enjoy. TM9757 Mud Season #2 – detail from upper right side TM9757 Mud Season #2 – detail from lower left side TM9757 ..read more

TM9756 Beachy 7×7″ oil on paper Sometimes, while my students are working, I play around with some little studies on prepared paper. This 7×7″ coastal study from a low tide beach was mostly done with palette knife and pencil. The challenge was to keep it simple, almost haiku-like. My Zen moment. Enjoy ..read more

Spring Poem from the Pond 30×60 oil on panel This week I enjoyed a gorgeous drive on Route 2 to the Berkshires and Williamstown, delivering seven new paintings to the Greylock Gallery on Springs Street. Rachele Dario’s gallery is such a treat to visit, and the town is perfect for a slow stroll and lunch before heading home. I found a handsome edition of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” at the used bookstore. A perfect day; thank you Rachele ..read more

TM9755 Mud Season Study #1 7×7″ oil on paper More rain, more mud. I’ve decided to embrace the season and figure out ways to work it, both on a small and larger scale. This study in oil on paper looks at a sapling struggling to stay up and doing a good job of leafing out. I used pencil, palette knife and roller to manipulate the paint, looking for interesting textures for what is a very simple composition. The formality of the tree in the center is like a portrait, which this is. My homage to the struggle and persistence, it’s also about squishy paint, which can be a lot like mud. Enjoy ..read more

TM9754 End of Mud Season 36×36 oil on panel With climate change, my northern woods and wetlands are dealing with a new phenomenon. We had almost no measurable snow this past winter. Instead, we had alternating periods of unseasonal warmth and sharp cold blasts. The precipitation seemed to always come in the warm periods, bringing high winds and drenching rain, then flooding. Mud season started in November and is still hugely evident. The ground is soaked, flooded fields and woodlands abound. Only the parking lot at my pond is still somewhat dry (you could swim in the potholes!). I’ve tried to ..read more

TM9753 Spring Finds a Way 30×50 oil on panel The calendar says spring, but my poor, dear pond is still entrenched in its fifth month of mud season. Rhymes with flood season. I just can’t bring myself to paint with a palette of gray and brown. It seems like the longer this particular mud season lasts, the brighter and more saturated the colors in my paintings become. Maybe it’s the unconscious compensating. Maybe it’s delayed gratification. Whatever it is, Spring Finds a Way. Details from this painting below, followed by a few technical painting notes. Enjoy. TM9753 Spring Finds a Way – detail ..read more

TM9752 Behind the Old Barn 42×48 oil on panel When I was young, I often played in the barnyard of my friends – hide and seek was a favorite. There were hundreds of places to hide. In fact, you could spend a lot of time hiding while the others called your name. Some hiding spots were better than others for entertaining the missing person. This edge of a grassy pasture was actually a rabbit warren. If you stayed still, the bunnies would start popping out. Watching them was a delight – waiting for the first one was the best. Enjoy! TM9752 Behind the Old Barn – detail from right side ..read more

TM9748 Midnight Garden36x80 oil on panel Wild colors and dancing plants – who really knows what happens in the mysterious unconscious that guides a painting toward completion? When I started this painting with a drawing of some plants, I had no idea that color would become so important, and fun. Details below. Enjoy. TM9748 Midnight Garden – detail from upper left showing overlapping drawings of plants and vines TM9748 Midnight Garden – detail from upper center TM9748 Midnight Garden – detail from lower right with tangled thicket TM9748 Midnight Garden – detail from upper right Technical paint ..read more

TM9751 Spring! 36×54 oil on panel I stop at the pond every day, and there is no denying we are in mud season. Flooded mud season. Water flows over the bridge, the paths, and is engulfing the cut stumps that function as “stepping stones” during mud season. The colors are brown and gray. When I started this painting I thought it would be about mud. Not so. I’ve seen enough. Instead, it quickly took off in the direction of greens and bright blues, lavenders and yellow. I need to paint the opposite of what I’ve been seeing. Anticipation. A great word and a better feeling. So I present Spring! the ..read more

TM9740 Notes from a Song Floating By 36×44 oil on panel It might be the heart of February, but with more daylight my thoughts speed toward spring and all the action that takes place in the shallow end of the pond. So many things shooting up and floating by, so many new green reflections, so much going on underneath. And the air – full of music! Notes from a Song Floating By is my humble thank you to the season of rebirth ..read more