Augur Farm House

I recently sold this painting from an exhibit that I had at the Edward Smith Library. It's a painting of the Augur Farm House. The house is an old 1930s farm house with barns in the back that store hay. It sits on several acres of old farm land, with the Farm River flowing behind it. The house is empty now and the property is owned by the town. I've had more inquiries about the painting since I sold it. There is something mystical about this house. Every time I pass by it, I find it so fascinating. I will go again in the spring and paint it. I think I may paint it several times. It pulls me to it, as if the ghosts of the family that lived there still inhabit it.

Commission of a 1780 House

This is a recent commission that I did of a house built in 1780 in the center of Northford, CT. It is a typical New England style house, though the structure is post and beam with horsehair plaster walls and wide plank floors. It has a large fireplace in the center that was once used for cooking and boiling water. Over the years, an addition was put on the rear of the house for a modern kitchen, though it's invisible from the front. I managed to paint this over a four day period just before the autumn leaves fell and winter set in. It was a joy to paint, which I did in oil. It's 16"x20".

Visit to Olana

I visited Olana, Frederick Church's estate in Hudson, New York, over the weekend with friends. What a fabulous home! The architecture was inspired by their trip to the middle east in the 1800's. Church had a hand in every part of the design, including the laying out and colors of the tiles, bricks, and paint. The interior furnishing are eclectic, but are mostly decorated with 10,000 pieces of items collected during the family's travels to the middle east. It is considered one of his major works of art.

Frederick Church studied under Thomas Cole, who lived in a town nearby. He is one of the famous Hudson River Painters, known for his realistic style of landscape painting during the early 19th century. Many of his best works can be found in the Wadsworth Museum in Hartford, CT. The view from the front of the home overlooks the Hudson River. Church dug out land directly in front of the house down an embankment to create a pond in the shape of the river. He also planted trees and landscaped the property.

Abandoned House

I started this painting a couple of years ago and put it aside. I just didn't like it. A couple of months ago, I worked on it some more and I like it a little bit more now. The house is owned by a farmer who lives next door. It is getting pretty old and sad looking, but it has some nice features like the side bay windows. I can imagine a large farming family living in it and growing corn and other crops and raising black and white milk cows in the surrounding fields back in the early 1900s. I hope that some day someone will tackle its remodel and restore it to its glory once more.