Category Archives: pastel

East Brunswick Storage Unit

We have a lot of stuff…too much. We have a storage unit to accommodate all the forgotten memories, boxes packed decades ago, abandoned projects and other extraneous ephemera  of the ages. We go there seldom because none of it really matters any more. It’s just that it’s hard to let go so we pay overContinue reading “East Brunswick Storage Unit”

East Brunswick, Mid-Winter

We’re driving on a Saturday afternoon and it’s starting to snow. It’s winter in New York, scrub trees in the field mowed last fall are a silhouetted filigree against the  leaden horizon. It’s not the sort of scene to leave the car to admire. The wind starts to gust.

East Brunswick, New York

In late winter we took a drive to the east of our city, Troy. Here the austerity of the hills frozen and neutral, the cold, cold sky draped with clouds pushing northeast, all of this struck me as a beauty specific to Upstate. This landscape is worthy of painting in every season, late winter beingContinue reading “East Brunswick, New York”

February Ocatillo

The setting for this painting is of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The time of year is winter. I hike a lot when I’m here and was surprised when I saw the Ocatillo I’ve featured in this painting. The cactus was all leafed out and bushy which I don’t remember happening at this elevation tilContinue reading “February Ocatillo”

Desert Wash

In the desert when the sun has just vanished below the mountains the light shifts in ways revealing colors not seen at any other time. This amazes me. Fact is, color changes all day long and through the night. Our color perceptions are defined by time and space. Yeah, really…..

Ford Canyon Arabesque

This painting is of a wondrous scene I encountered while hiking. I was taken by the arabesque forms of cactus and earth. I’ve included a shot the initial layout of of the painting which I used as a guide for the painting’s progression. I’m pleased with this painting and I hope you’ll enjoy it, too.

Ford Canyon Trail, Maricopa County, AZ

I’m hiking as much as I can while I spend a few weeks of winter in Arizona. Each hike I determine to see at least one wondrous sight. Sometimes I see the rare desert pool of water, sometimes I see a herd of deer, perhaps a lizard or an early blooming of cactus. Most frequentlyContinue reading “Ford Canyon Trail, Maricopa County, AZ”

Jojoba and Ferocactus

While in Arizona I try to hike every day. The temperature is still below 70 degrees F. during the day, perfect for walking. I walk in one of the Maricopa County Regional Parks, a wild and varied landscape with lots of rocks, animals and plants. I’m always looking for my next painting when I’m there.

Marble Canyon is a dusty, hot and out of the way spot where colors of the earth and sky are vivid. The Colorado River is winding it’s way southwest to the Grand Canyon. The United States’ largest birds, California Condors, nest on the canyon ledges, float on the thermals and fish the waters far below.Continue reading

Mallard on the Rocks

While fishing at Lake Pleasant in Arizona, this mallard came to visit. We’d seen him with his mate many times before, swimming in the distance. This was the first time either had floated close to shore let alone hopped up on a rock to be photographed. I was delighted and honored.

Buckthorn Cholla

The Buckthorn Cactus, botanically known as Cylindropuntia acanthocarpia, is a native of the Sonoran Desert. It’s flowers are yellow or red with shades in between that bloom in spring. The cane-like stalks are covered with thorns and grow in tangled clumps in dry, arid landscape. The flowers are quite showy and bees love ’em.

wild Burros of Maricopa County

When we go fishing at Lake Pleasant in Maricopa County, AZ, we sometimes see some of the burros that live in the surrounding hills and gorges. They’re skinny little creatures but they go and do what they like, a condition of being feral. Desert Life suits them.

Desert Life

We go for walks in the desert. Now that spring is warming everything up, all types of desert inhabitants start to appear. Heat loving cactus are blooming, cold-blooded lizards bask in the sun and rabbits forage fallen seeds. I love the desert.

Up at Lake Pleasant, AZ

The white bass are still biting at Lake Pleasant in Maricopa County, AZ. This is a view of the embankment at the lake shore. Ted’s doing the fishing, I take pictures, pic up fistfuls of discarded fishing line and look for lost Rolex’s on the beach.