Twilight Garden

I have painted a number of canvases in the "Strawbery Banke", a recreated colonial village in Portsmouth, NH, complete with reenactors and period craftsmen. This painting was of the Aldridge Garden which has this lovely archway.

I was painting with acrylics. As most acrylic painters know they darken as they dry. The day was actually a very bright summer day and I couldn't find shade to set up my easel, so I painted in the bright sunlight. While I was painting, I thought I was producing a nice bright summer's day painting. When I got home I was appaled at how the sun had tricked my eye and how much the painting had darkened as it dried. In a stroke of inspiration, I titled the painting "Twilight Garden" and it sold the first time I showed it.

Two Sailing Ships

Ships are also a favorite subject of mine.

The first ship is a coastal wind jammer plying its cargo route. The rosey sunset is casting a warm glow over the scene. As all sailors know, red skys a night sailors' delight.

The second ship is my depiction of the whaler "Morgan" at twilight, the day's whaling is done and the rendering fires are reflecting on the sails. It is a lonely sight in the vastness of the sea. It has always amazed me that men could spend several years at sea on a 90 foot long woodenship. My painting is not an endorsement of whaling but a tribute to the men who endured the loneliness and peril of years at sea. I believe that whales have too large a brain not to be sentient and that killing an intelligent being is morally wrong.

Both paintings are pastel on sanded paper. Both have been sold.