Weir Studio, Autumn Afternoon

10"x8" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival panel

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." ~John Muir

While at the J.Alden Weir Farm on Monday, I pulled out my sack lunch of PBJ & a banana & a pear & enjoyed the shade at a huge stone table that Weir had installed in his life time. Looking like it was part of the landscape I marveled that I could sit at the same space where he had spent time, and painted his family on that very spot as well! Across the yard from where I ate was his studio. The afternoon sun was catching some of the surfaces and turning that deep red to an almost coral orange glow. A magnificent tree had practically grown up against the building.

Technique-wise I had wanted to try a bit of brush work with my palette knife, as Camille Przwodek had done when I studied with her. Sometimes she would lay in the whole painting with a knife, sometimes with a brush, going intuitively, depending upon how fast she needed to go, how much detail, etc. I knew the afternoon sun would be changing fast. Our days are getting shorter and shorter up here in CT as fall marches on. So, I laid in the building and blocked in most of the basic areas with a brush on this one, then came back in with a knife on much of it. Finally the light had changed drastically enough to call it a day!

I really was taken with Muir's quote- and it seemed to really go along with everything I had encountered on my visit to the J. Alden Weir Farm. Weir certainly had a sense of beauty in nature, and preservation. Muir, a Scottish-born American naturalist, was an early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the US, and living during the same years as Weir.

For more information regarding this painting, please contact me here.

Oh yes, and more good news to share- I had a painting juried into the New Britain Museum of Art - 42nd Annual Juried Exhibition. Juror for the show was Elizabeth Ives Hunter, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Museum, in Dennis, MA. I'm so thrilled to be a part of this museum show! My submission for the show was the recent 12"x12" plein air work, "Chincoteague, Late Afternoon".

Autumn Morning at J. Alden Weir Farm

8"x10" oil on Belgian linen mounted on archival panel

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monday was the most delightful day of painting. The Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society planned to meet up at the J. Alden Weir Farm over in Branchville, CT - which is a part of the National Park Service!

"In June of 1882, painter J. Alden Weir boarded a train from New York bound for his modest farm among the hills of Branchville, CT. Once here, Weir and his family transformed their summer retreat into a creative refuge for friends and fellow artists. After Weir, artists Mahonri Young and Sperry Andrews lived and worked here, continuing the legacy of artistic expression that still inspires today."(from the website)

One of best parts of the day (besides getting to paint there) was the tour that the park ranger offered to us as special guests of the park. The home and studio are closed to the public as they are currently under renovation.....but we were allowed to go in and see!. What a treat. She also shared much of the history of Weir and his family and friends. Definitely worth a visit, and I'm looking forward to going back!

Following the tour, we returned from Weir's studio back to the Burlingham House (which was where his youngest daughter eventually lived), I spotted the light coming through the golden trees and knew this would be my first painting here on this location.

What I'm finding truly wonderful as I study more about Weir, is that we today, can go back and stand in some of these same places where he stood to paint. The rocks are still there, the trees are much larger, and many of the pastures have grown in, but so much is exactly the same. What a wonderful welcoming feeling for a painter!

For more information about this painting, or my visit to the Weir Farm, contact me here.