The Axiom

I’m not sure if this is a saying or not but it should be in so far as it applies to on site landscape painters. It would be worded along the lines of “it’s great to know nice, generous people who live on beautiful otherwise hard to get to property situated on the edge of Long Island Sound”. As sayings go this one might be a tad cumbersome but you can get a sense of my excitement.

Friends of my brother in law own just such a property and were kind enough to let me wander about and set up my gear this past Saturday morning. “East Toward Caumsett” was originally set up and designed as a vertical 12 X 9 because it was low tide and I had a lovely sandbar in the foreground that pointed very nicely toward my focal point tree in the middle distance. Then the tide began to come in…fast! It was as if a dam had broken somewhere upstream. My sandbar vanished in a matter of minutes! As a result my vertical 12 X 9 became a square 9 X 9. I read somewhere that it really is not a matter of survival of the fittest but more survival of those capable of adapting. If you paint landscapes on site you have to be willing to adapt…especially when the tide comes in and swallows huge chunks of your composition.

I felt an immediate bond with this beautiful piece of land and have been granted permission by my generous hosts to return which I look forward to doing from time to time.

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.