Waxing Poetic.

Arbor is DONE!

"There's a warmth in the distance.

I can feel it in the air.The fields that last were snow covered,

Lay dappled brown and bare.

But promise comes of emerald green

And yellow daisies bright,

A star filled sky and warmer breeze

And peepers in the night. "

The weather finally changed and we have been blessed with warm sunny days and cool nights with peepers and hooty owls singing their spring songs. The lawn and fields are greening and trees are budding, with more bursting forth each day. I think that we can safely put the snow shovel away,but I hesitant to do that for fear that it will tempt fate....sure to bring a blizzard. Yet I am going to plant my lettuce and cilantro next week.

I had a good week in the studio, delivered a painting to Belfast and made some headway on cleaning out a bit in a full unorganized studio. And with the garden arbor DONE....we are making headway in the direction of summer!!

Also done....another small casein of Keeneland Race Track.....and changes in my website. Be sure and take a cruise around my site and tell your friends about it too. Sign up for my newsletter on my website.....and invite friends to sign up also!  Now back to the studio. Good news to tell next time!

"Keeneland #2"      casein on board                6 x 6"

Work In Progress

The arbor ...in the process.

I love Spring...even when it is so overwhelming with projects lined up to be done, making me feel like the list will never be done. It has been that way lately, but slowly we are picking away at what needs doing....and I know we are making head way. I am sure Mother Nature must be feeling that same way of late. Here in our part of Maine, our crocus are just starting!!

But it is a start....and THAT is what is important. The entire project of redoing the grape arbor hung over our heads for so long. And then it turned out to be a 'looooonnnngggg' project. The main posts had to be dug by hand....and the posts and runners harvested from our woods. But it is done....and we are happy with it. I so hope the deer can't demolish it is easily now! The grapes are back hanging on the new arbor,ready to sprout their leaves....and grapes will come.

I have had some studio time....catching it where I can. I have finished some small caseins. Keeneland #1 is one of them....one of several small racing scenes I am doing. I know I need to get back into the studio with some bigger work...but the "to-do" list hangs over me like a Isosceles sword!! And spring is pushing into our farm saying "Get ready....summer is coming!!"

"Keeneland # 1"      Casein on board       6 X 6" 

Landscapes And Birds



"Lazy Kentucky Day"     oil on copper panel         8 x 10"

The weather as been very spring like. Very Fickle. One moment warm and sunny,,,,the next the winds howl and the sky is filled with gray ominous clouds. I have had time in the studio and last week did this new pasture scene of horses grazing on one of the many horse farms I saw last year in Kentucky. "Lazy Kentucky Day" is available on my website Our pastures here are not green yet. Our horses still pass most of the day near our barn, eating hay that we provide.Occasionally they venture out to back pastures to look for new grass growth.....it is is sparse pickings. But even at the height of our grass growing season, our pastures never look as beautiful as the bluegrass country's pastures. Maybe that is why we do not raise thoroughbreds?!!

This past weekend we had hard driving rain come through our part of the Maine. Winds blew rattling the cottage, while the trees surrounding our farm danced and swayed.We lost our electric power for about an hour,but we were safe and warm...and dry. I watched the little birds come to our back feeder,braving the stormy weather for their sustenance.

A wind blown Yellow Finch waits his turn at the feeder.

I was able to capture some shots of those plucky little fellows as the jostled for their place at the feeder. The wind blew the feathers about on this finch. A Purple Finch waited for his turn on a branch of the Hawthorne tree.

Purple Finch are not really purple are they? 

During the storm our horses were cozy in their dry stalls...munching hay.  Better to be a horse than a wild bird  in weather like that!!





Pastoral And Perennial Musings

"Pastoral"            Casein on board               6 x 6"

Today dawned bright and sunny. After a lazy morning reading and enjoying the sun spilling into the living-room,  Nell and I headed down to do the horses stalls.Our two black Walker geldings were sleeping in the sun.. on a bed of warmed hay. A glorious spring day had begun. Nell and I worked all afternoon raking the leaves and broken sticks off a portion of the front gardens. The south facing perennial gardens have started to sprout the tips of the tulips and Daffi's...the snowdrops are actually up and blooming. I raked and made plans of what needs to be moved....divided and weeded. How I love this time of year. Even though I do get a bit overwhelmed with all the to-do's on my mental lists....it IS  glorious time indeed! New beginnings.

During the past week I finished a small casein of a field of cows...the field is near our farm. This is a small casein on board and I titled it "Pastoral". It is available in my website' s Small Work Collection. 
This week I have to clean the studio.It is time. I know it is time to do that when I can't work due to the clutter. I have new work that needs to be started. I am getting back into some oil paint. It is time. New beginnings.

Nell will soak up the sun....what is left of it. She is SO happy to finally have spring arrived at Cob Cottage Farm.

Nellie sunbathing

Spring Brings Foals

"A Yearling"                       Casein on board                          6 x 6"  

Between shoveling and dreaming of spring I have had some creative progress in the studio. 

This little  casein pictured above is done and available through my website's Small Works Collection.  The subject is a handsome yearling  who I met at Cobra Farm during my Lexington,KY  visit last year. All the yearlings were getting ready for the weekend's Young Stock Sales.......a sad and a happy time. Young stock were headed to their new life....no longer left to just play and grow.They had a purpose in life.....and the weekend  sales would determine that to a point. I saw so many at Cobra Farm that I would have loved to take home with me. Like I need another hole in my head!!

It is raining today.A spring misty moisty morning. The farrier is here trimming our horses feet. Our horses are left barefoot. They have not felt the metal of shoes for years. I think they like that. I am headed to the studio for the rest of the afternoon. I need to clean the studio up a bit before I start on some bigger paintings now....and finish a commission.

Not Really April Fool's

From our bedroom window.

Last week we were enjoying spring...the singing of the birds, the brook running free of it's mantle of ice and snow, bulbs peeking through the warming ground. And then this morning, April Fools Day 2011, we awoke to almost a foot of snow, covering our farm, hanging heavy on the trees and power lines. This is not nice ,Mother Nature!!

The Hawthorn tree and the sauna by the brook.

The view from our deck, or any window in the house for that matter, gifts us with a wonderful winter scene....but this is spring. It says so on the calendar.  I am ready for sun and warmth and yes, even black flies.......!!!!     

"The sun will come out ....tomorrow......!!!! Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there WILL be sun!!!"

But today we shovel.  I am headed to the studio until spring really arrives.