This Page, above, Firelight, oil on stretched canvas, 30” x 22”
My inspiration comes from the rural, quiet, or empty landscapes of New England…both inland country locations like Vermont and New Hampshire, but also coastal scenes of areas like Cape Cod, and other locations (from Nova Scotia down to the Carolinas) along the Atlantic coast…places I’ve visited, and places I have memories of. When I encounter a scene that inspires a painting, I start with a rough charcoal
sketch, leaving in the essence of the scene, eliminating unnecessary clutter (mostly man- made stuff), and occasionally adding things that are not there. In some sense, I think of a finished piece as a work of fiction. It started (like much
fiction does) in truth…a real place, or structure, that I came across. But as I work out the composition, I modify my memory of that place, taking advantage of not remembering all the details, not worrying about what the light was like that day. Having learned to not be concerned with those details, I’m free to modify the composition, the light, color, and texture.
