Landscape with Farm and Hills

acrylic on stretched canvas

16 x 20"

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Today I painted something in my own neck of the woods. As of late, I've been fighting the winter snows and turning my palette to warmer images and places I would like to be at this time of year. So, I have been busy painting summer seascapes, harbors, sandy beaches, and more. But then, suddenly as I was rummaging through some sketches and photos, I recognize the places as being just down the road from here. I thought to myself, this time I'm not taking the warm and easy way out on a composition. I'm going to see what I can do with what's right under my nose. Damn the snow, the cold, I'm a painter, and I can paint cold and barren just as well as warm and sunny. Not that the neighbors farm house is barren, but in contrast to the beaches of Maui, well,.. you know. So, now I'm back to painting whatever gets in front of me. Be it, warm, cold, animal, vegetable or mineral. That's for now. Who knows where I go from there. For me, the process of painting comes down to more of the fact that I paint, to paint. I don't want to make a picture, I want to make a painting. That to me is foremost in my intent. To paint, to make a painting. Aside from marketing factors, the subject is the vehicle for the painting. It forms the bones for the paint to build up muscle upon.

Today, a landscape, tomorrow, .. a bottle of wine. It doesn't matter, its a painting.