Shadowed Hill

Ice Melt Stream

A walk on the trails in Minna Anthony Common Nature Center in Wellesley Island State Park NY provides lots of interesting landscape painting subject matter so I am always equipped with my camera. This is one of my "What is it?" series inspired by  slight depression from the short winter daylight and light deprivation. You walk across the  Gallery to see "what it is"  and then may not know without some help from the painting title. A rule of painting is to not have an even distribution of light and dark areas in a painting, so I decide to break the rule with this almost 50/50 distribution.The scene reminds me of the game "pick up sticks" with all the fallen tress from over the years. I have cabin fever from not being able to paint from life outdoors as the 2013/2014 winter here on the St Lawrence River near the Canadian border has been a hard one so far. Often I am too tired after. cleaning snow to paint in the studio. It's snowing now as I write this. The second painting "Ice Melt Stream",  has a title inspired by the recent ice storm. I did not lose phone or internet connection but both Time Warner Internet line and Verizon Phone line were laying on the ground  as a result of the weight of the ice. Normally they are attached at the top of the second floor of the house. The scene is also inspired by photos from Minna Anthony Nature Center trail walk. Interesting how the stream created only by years of melting snow has eroded the soil  from the tree roots.

I took four watercolor paintings down from the entrance hallway in the house to put in new mats and do some conservation. They are four street vendor scenes inspired and painted in 1987 by a trip that year that included a few days in Athens Greece. The vendors ply their wares in the Plaka (plaza) section of old Athens which is a favorite hangout for  locals and tourists. If interested you can find them on my Facebook Page.