The photograph above is one taken by John Tully of the Concord Monitor last Thursday. It led a story by Laura McCrystal on White Mountain painters, then and now. That’s me at the easel, on top of Mount Prospect in Lancaster, NH. Ironically, I had pretty much decided to wipe out that painting, but now that it has been immortalized in print, I may try to rescue it.

How did the Concord Monitor reporter and photographer and I happen to come together at the top of Mt. Prospect in Lancaster? A meeting between the reporter and Sharon Allen, our intrepid leader of the NH Plein Air artists was arranged beforehand, and I just tagged along. It’s a long drive to Lancaster. The article is part of the publicity for the Weeks Act centennial, which I have been mentioning each week in my blog. Mt. Prospect is the site of the Weeks house, now part of the Weeks State Park.

When Sharon and I arrived at the top of Mt. Prospect about 1 p.m., this view toward Vermont was the one that caught my eye. I am very pleased with the resulting painting, but have not yet photographed it for you.

The larger painting that I was working on at 5 p.m. when the photographer arrived is this scene:

Why no photos of the paintings? I apologize. I was so wiped out by what I did Saturday, that I forgot to take care of blog business on Sunday. What was so exhausting on Saturday? How about getting up at 3:30 a.m. to drive up to Mount Washington to watch my son finish the bike race to the top–in the excellent time of 1:11:xx? (xx because seconds don’t register with me.) Here is a photo of him nearing the finish line.

The Mt. Washington race is going to be the subject of my next large complex peopled painting, the second after the Farmers Market painting. I have it all planned out: First I have to compose the course at the top, catching the sinuous curves (is that redundant?) and the distinctive staircase between the summit and the parking areas. At various point on the course I will place some cyclists. Then I will create vignettes of spectators and officials, children and dogs, sketching each group individually. I will position the vignettes on my course. I will draw the entire composition out on paper first, as I learned to do at the Sean Beavers figure painting workshop, then trace it onto my canvas. I can’t wait to get started. It will take months to complete.