I have been painting a lot lately. Really, I have. What I have not been doing much lately is blogging about these adventures so allow me to catch up.

A week or two ago I took my rig with me as Jan and I made our annual trip to the Scottish Games at Old Westbury Manor. Jan’s brother Tim is the bass drummer in a Scottish pipe band and we go every year to hear his band as well as the others. We are also not averse to a pint or two! As you may have seen from some of my previous paintings I am a big fan of the shapes that those white 10” X 10” E-Z Up tents make and how they glow in the sunlight. My thanks to the folks from clan Campbell for letting me set up in their midst.

This past weekend was Labor Day weekend and I go out of my way on holiday weekends to seek out large American flags. Holiday weekends also frequently see large gatherings at the American Airpower Museum which is on the grounds of Republic Airport in Farmingdale, NY. On this particular weekend they were celebrating the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and, to that end, had a number of aircraft from that era including this British Spitfire which because of its dark navy and white stripes just begged to be painted. Unfortunately, after I left, I learned that there was an elderly gentleman who had served as a German Luftwaffe pilot who was present signing copies of a book he had written about his experiences in a prison camp after being shot down at the Russian front. I would like to have met him. You can really feel the history at these gatherings. Many thanks to Steven Biegler for his kind permission to use his photograph here.

The humidity was low (for a change!) and I knew the light would be good in the evening so I set out for another favorite place to paint which is the Nature Conservancy’s Upland farm just outside of Cold Spring Harbor. I have painted this stand of trees before but do not tire of it. I was particularly pleased with the way the late day shadows seemed to gobble up the last of the summer of 2010.

I have a show coming up in November in Locust Valley, NY (where I live) and have been spending a lot of time doing small, local “cityscapes” in preparation for that show. Doing these “in town” pictures has gotten into my blood a bit and while this one isn’t in Locust Valley but rather Oyster Bay it is a good example of these kind of paintings that I’ve been doing. Painting in the middle of a busy town on a beautiful weekend afternoon presents its own unique challenges. Much to the chagrin of people looking for a place to park I found that my best point of view was from a parking space in front of a taco restaurant! Hey…I got there first!

Note that all of these small sketches are available for sale directly from me via this website. Simply click on the “Paintings and Prints” tab and then on “Available Paintings”. The price includes shipping costs.