June and July I neglected my web pages in favor of creating new paintings. To make up for that neglect, I posted five categories of 14 new works, all but one painted au plein air:

(1) Wet and Wild Water Workshop with Peter Granucci–three successive Saturdays painting au plein air at a water location. We started on the first Saturday at Kimball Pond, in Dunbarton I believe. Then we discovered Griffin Mill park in Auburn, which gave us a variety of structures along with the water, so we spent two Saturday mornings there, and I stayed on in the afternoon to create two more paintings. Total water paintings: 5

(2) Arnold Arboretum in Boston Massachusetts–prompted by a call for art inspired by the Arboretum, a group of us from NH Plein Air made a day of it at the Arboretum, hoping for inclusion of our works in the upcoming exhibit. My choice was a small footbridge not too far from the road but tucked away behind the shrubs. In my studio, I also painted from a photograph by Stan Kelley, with his permission, a portrait of a Chinese Stewartia, a tree known for the painterly way it sheds its multi-colored bark.

(1) Canterbury Shaker Village–A perennial favorite of NH Plein Air artists. We will gather there en masse for Founders’ Day on August 2, painting and selling our wet paintings at the end of the day. CSV gets a percentage of all sales proceeds. Also on exhibit and for sale will be works painted au plein air, completed and framed, of CSV scenes. So I, and many of my colleagues, are working to complete some paintings that can be sold by August 2 dry and framed. (CSV will keep the wet and dry paintings for about a week after August 2 to accommodate potential buyers trying to make up their minds.)

(1) Moore State Park in Paxton, Massachusetts–A return trip to this enchanting place was definitely called for, but we didn’t get there in time for the big rhododendron bloom. That didn’t matter because there is so much there that inspires. I choose a prime lookout spot in order to paint the sawmill, and later tossed off a quick sketch of one of many rhododendron paths, adding the blooms we had missed.

(5) Tannenruh in Holderness, NH–A celebration of the fifth year of existence of the NH Plein Air painters brought nine of us to this private estate, once the site of artist Helen Nicolay’s studio. I spent most of my time depicting a corner of the house, combining porch, umbrellas, and birch trees. Late in the afternoon, I succumbed to the charm of the view of Squam Lake and painted the one I call “Helen’s Bench”.