Bennington Green has been selected for Concord Art’s 17th Annual Frances Roddy Competition. I’m delighted! The show runs from September 15 – October 20, with the opening reception from 6-8 on Thursday, the 15th. Learn more about Concord Art.
Coming up – Art in the Park

At Art in the Park, I’ll be showing smaller (more portable work) To see larger pieces, Open Studios will be in December, and of course, by appointment.
West River, keeping it simple

Grey Skies, Saturday Morning
A few postcards from a rooftop

Postcards – my code word for quick, small, landscape studies – if they don’t bring a smile to my lips, I wipe the canvas down. Here is the Tobin Bridge and the St. Francis spire.
And when the weather finally turns to Spring, I’m back outside.
Feels like old times

First, this is the top of Summit Hill, Brookline, not a vista from one of our more northerly rural states. Dense foliage covers a lot. And a lovely time was had with Elissa and Andy.
A year after my close encounter with vertigo, and subsequently staying far away from solvents, I was still using cooking oil to swish the paint off the brushes (using more brushes than ever), trying water-miscible oils, using many different solvent-free painting medium and staying far away from the phthalos pigments that magically get into everything. I knew what I missed most: the loose, lean, initial washes for the initial blocking in of values. I felt like a toddler who skipped his nap and is no longer fit to be in public. Missing this step was a big problem with plein air; in the studio where I work more slowly and have more tools at hand, not so much.
It was time for a test, I slipped some odorless turp into a portion of stand oil, I obsessively kept the cap on when not using it and set up at a nice breezy point on the top of the hill. Hallelujah! It worked.
Ready for Beacon Hill Art Walk?

I’m packing up now. The weather forecast for tomorrow is improving – I’ve got tarps for showers, the durability of oils is a plus outside – hope to see you at the Beacon Hill Art Walk, June 5, 2016 – noon til 6pm. If the rain is no worse than showers, you’ll find artists in beautiful corners, gardens and alleys on the north slope and I’ll be at Rollins Place off of Revere Street If the rain is unrelenting, you’ll find us in dry nooks and crannies and me at 99 West Cedar St. (under an overpass or in a church or firehouse) For more details and printable event map, see the Beacon Hill Art Walk site
