Decorated Planter Box

The Conntecticut Audubon Center in Glastonbury is having "Art for Natures Sake", two days of festivities May 19th and 20th, 2007, including special events, an art show, photographs and demonstrations. It's also a beautiful time to take a nice walk through the nearby woods and see the wild life from birds to maybe even beavers in the dam they have built.

I decorated a planter box for this event, with a winter and summer scene. This could be used for different arrangements year round whether it be on your dining room table or any special place in your country home. Bids are being accepted for what is called "A Tea Cup Auction" which is a little different. The value of the piece is $200.00 and can be purchased right away or you may place a bid and they will be sorted out at the end on May 20th to see who wins the bid. There will be other items to select from as well, but I have created the first and wanted you to know.

The Audubon is next door to me and is located at 1361 Main Street , near the Old Cider Mill in Glastonbury. If you wish come by my Studio and Gallery..... it's even possible to walk over from the beaver dam. Just give me a call or write to be sure I haven't stepped away.

Cogswell's Grant 1728

As many of you know, I started my business in the beautiful little town of Essex, Massachusetts in 1966 and I do go back there several times a year. A great place to visit is Cogswell's Grant which was the summer home of Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little, collectors and writers of early American decorative arts. She referred to "Folk Art" as Country Arts which I think is a nice definition. I had the occassion one summer day to privately meet with them and always remember their hospitality. Mrs. Little enjoyed showing me the many collectons throughout the house and the stories about them. She was aware of my work and suggested that I go to New York to the Museum of American Folk Art. After many years I finally did visit the museum....... two years ago. Time has a way of flying by fast before you know it. Creativity of artwork however is frozen in time and becomes the history of today for us to enjoy.

Cogswell's Grant is open June 1st thru October 15th and has a wonderful country setting with stone walls overlooking the marshes of Essex. Just call 978-768-3632 for more information or check it out on line.

Display Board & Shelf

I have a lot of extra wood from the building of the barn studio & gallery and once in a while I like to make something with it. I had this tongue and groove pine stock that I used in making the various display boards. At first I was going to use them for something to paint a scene on, but decided to make these display board shelves.
There was a lot of woodworking and painting finishing to achieve the old look from these new boards. They have bread board ends and are all wired ready to hang. These can be used in so many places to bring a warm accent in decorating the country home.

As an added interest, the two nails under the shelf, are to be used as a place for hanging dried flowers or keys and are made of copper with a raised star on the nail head. These were used to hold down the slate roof of the famous High Street Lord Timothy Dexter House in Newburyport which the top floor was destroyed by fire in 1988. There is a book called Newburyport Stories from the Waterside by Liz Nelson that mentioned the fire and has illustrations of my ink drawings.

Shown on the different display boards are some of my paintings, houses and tins along with a collections old keys.

Sunset Sparkles

Janice and I were at the kitchen window making supper when we saw this interesting sunset. The conditions were right with a combination of the sun setting, snow in the fields and a gentle fog drifting around. I was preparing chicken but said I have to go out and take a few photos. There is something about the sun setting that gives a dramatic accent to all kinds of subjects. The conditions don't last long as the sun sets before you know it. So I hurried to clean my hands and then went right out to take a few interesting images. There are a row of hemlock trees on the side of the driveway that leads through some underbrush of branches and weeds that had the drizzle of the days hard rain. It created these sparkles of light that showed even more after seeing these photos. It was the actual drops of water on some of the tips of branches illuminated from behind with sunlight, that gave it this effect of a twinkling sparkle.

I did get back shortly and continued making the honey glazed chicken cutlets with sizzled garlic. I'll be glad to send you the reciept if interested. I'll be going to Marblehead, Newburyport and New Hampshire soon and look forward to sharing more photos with you of my travels.

A Walk Down Back

I look down back from the Studio/Gallery every day but I hadn't walked through the pines for a while to what some have called "the million dollar view". There was just a little snow that recently fell at night and in the morning the sky was a beautiful blue with little puffy clouds drifting in the brisk air. Walking the short distance through the pines I'm always aware I might see an owl which I had the surprise of experiencing twice before.

At the end there are two adirondack chairs that are so comfortable to sit in with the summer breeze and just relax. There is a beautiful view of the rolling farm hills to the river and next to the Connecticut Audobon which is celebrating it's 25th year. I painted a planter box for them which will be auctioned off in their May 1st celebration. I'll be writing more information about this in another article soon.

Visit the studio/gallery and maybe take a walk down back too but please call first to be sure I am in.

Marblehead Summer Day

Summer days are a few months away but they will come and winter will just be a distant memory. All the little seconds of life add up to the future. Crocker Park overlooking the beautiful harbor, is just the thing to take your mind off the cold time of winter. It was Uriel Crocker, a 19th century book publisher, who in 1886, gave this land to the town to become Marblehead's first public park. Just imagine the experience of sitting on one of several benches each with a fanastic view or just on the rocks and relax taking in the sights, sounds and the refreshing salt air breeze. Another classic view is the original settlement area of town called Barnegat which overlooks Brown's Island and Little Harbor. This house is a favorite for so many to photograph and paint. Walk the history of a few old granite steps down to the beach and see this peaceful scene enjoyed over the years. It's still the same to me when I used to buy penny candy at Aunt Sadie's across the Street. Scroll down and read my story that was published in the newspaper, Country Register in '06.

At the Marblehead Arts Association, 8 Hooper Street, I show paintings and other work of Marblehead in the gift shop. There is even a coffee mug that has an image of Crocker Park, Abbot Hall, the lighthouse and sailboats. The mug is also available at the museum shop at Abbot Hall where the famous painting of the Spirit of '76 is.

This is the 85th year of the founding of the Association with special coming events I look forward to letting you know about in the months ahead.

Another use of the Christmas Tree

I know Christmas is over and the tree eventually drys up and looses a lot of needles on the way out of the house. Our tree looked very dry with the branches dropping down even though it was watered every day. I wanted to extend the use of our tree so I dug a hole near the back kitchen window. I then sprinkled it with seeds and peanuts to watch the different birds gather in and out of the branches. I was surprised to see that the tree liked this as well because all the hanging down branches perked right up again with the help of a few days of rain. All the birds seem to really enjoy searching around the tree for the many seeds.

We had the first snow of the winter here in Glastonbury but it all melted in a couple of hours. By not having to use the snow blower, I've been able to work on painting more. Last year I did about 350 different pieces of artwork and have already done 16 this year so far. Some have sold already but if you have a chance to visit nearby Old Wethersfield, Connecticut, I have work available at the shop "Antiques on Main". There are a few pieces of tin and several paintings displayed in the shop. It's right next to the firehouse. Of course there is also my gallery with many examples of different work. If you like country , then you'll enjoy the gallery full of my folk art.