Deep in the Black Dirt

Deep in the Black Dirt

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100
sold

It was great to paint with old friends and new on Sunday, with the plein-air group from the Wallkill River School.  We painted at Scheuermann Farms in Warwick, a gorgeous place that, like all the Pine Island farms, was hit tremendously hard by Tropical Storm Irene. 


Usually flush with pumpkins, Scheuermann Farms has had to bring them in from Canada. Few onions survived the flood; fewer potatoes made it through. But the pumpkins are beautiful, the farm has a fantastic collection of fascinatingly shaped gourds, and it is a beautiful place. 


I got to the area early and started a large painting before moving down to the farm to do my demonstration. That big painting, 18x36, I did on a bluff overlooking one of the farms up the road; I am hoping to finish it here this week. 


The Black Dirt region is one of the most beautiful around, in my mind. I love painting skies, and here you have fields, and lines, and greenery and some of the biggest skies you'll see. 


Choice No. 2 has been taken, in my ongoing 100 by 100 series. Yippee! And I think more refinements are coming. I think I will sell the first 40 (or maybe even 20) by subscription, then put the rest of the paintings up for sale at the end. I am going to build a webpage for these paintings soon. It is great fun to see them all together! 


Don't forget about the Paradise City Arts Festival this weekend in Northampton, Mass.  I will be in the Morgan Barn II, Booth 407. 


p.s., those black dots on the painting are bugs. They can be removed when the paint is dry. They're not birds.