Looks like I'm going to have to stop the daily paintings until this fall. There is too much to do in the gallery and outside this time of the year. The woodland flowers have been great this spring and we've had some wonderful walks in the woods. We have our kayaks on Lake Luzerne and go for a short paddle evenings after work. It's also time to get to painting hot air balloons for the festival in September!

"Rockwell Falls at High Water"

How quickly things change! This is how Rockwell looked on April 29th from the overlook behind the library. The big water transformed the falls into a giant wave. Now it has all run to the Atlantic Ocean and the falls are back to normal again. Our sons, who were here to guide rafts on the Moose and the Upper Hudson during the spring flush have left for the rivers in West Virginia and Montana. During the past couple weeks the two guys, one girlfriend, two dogs (one a Newfie) and even our old, worn out favorite pick up truck have left. Now it’s back to just Gino and I until next spring when the snow melts and the rains come. Gone are the numerous wet rafting clothes hanging on the old chin-up bar in my studio door, river booties and gloves on the heaters, late night parties with rowdy raft guides, and a heavy raft and a shredder atop the chest freezer. Now there are leftovers to eat a couple of times a week. Why is it we still miss them?

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"Split Rail Patterns"

I think I’ve figured out what to do for the month of May. I’ll spend at least an hour on the little canvasses every day and they’ll get finished whenever they get finished. That way I can still work on the other stuff and not be pressured to get the little guys done on time. Hopefully there will be a one or two a week. Today’s isn't signed, but it’s almost ready.
Sunday seemed on the cool side and it had been raining, but in the late afternoon the sun came out. The two visiting canines, Marlee and Felix, were pretty discouraged by this time on the lack of their daily walk. Marlee is a hundred and thirty-pound ursine Newfoundland with long black hair and a wish to love and drool on anyone he meets. Felix, whose father was “Brown Dog”, is a mix of breeds from West Virginia. He is bright and friendly and can run all day long seemingly without tiring. Gino had stuff to do at the house and the boys were off on the river so I decided to take the four-legged creatures on a walk by myself. I thought I’d do that another day when our oldest son saw me leash up the two unruly dogs and said, “I’ll go with you.” But I’ve been watching the “Dog Whisperer” and figured I could keep them in line on the road to the woods. It did work out well, both Felix and Marlee let me think that I was pack leader and in complete control. Luckily no other people or dogs were out as the guys are easily distracted. We made it to the forest where they no longer needed their leashes and they both took off with the excitement of running free.
Whenever I step into the forest it seems like a safe sanctuary from the rest of the world. We walk on the horse and snowmobile trails, so there are many choices of paths to take. The ice and snow has finally retreated from the trails but the wildflowers are waiting for warmer days. Sunday was warm but I could still feel the coolness of the newly thawed earth under my feet. Every once in a while a step on solid looking ground would sink six inches into mud, not good for formerly white sneakers. I went to find the early hepatica protected by the tree to find no sign of them. But about a foot away there were two fragile looking blossoms a day from opening. It’s always exciting to see the woodland flowers after a long cold winter. On the way back the March-like wind came up and the sky darkened and threatened rain. Just before coming out of the woods I heard a “peeper” singing solo. Every year I love to hear those little amphibians peeping their little hearts out to announce that spring has arrived. A few years back my brother visited Uncle Bill who in his nineties was in a nursing home. Bill was a strong, extremely interesting Adirondack man who was lovingly known as “Uncle Bill” to many people, related or not. The years had taken their toll and in the nursing home he spent a lot of time in silence. But that day he looked out of the window and asked, “Are the peepers singing? I miss hearing them.” Makes me want to listen really hard whenever I hear their cheerful spring chorus.
When we left the woods there were a pair of Canada Geese in the pasture. One of them was honking up a storm at the sight of us. I didn’t think we seemed all that alarming. Maybe it was the Newfie. Gino came out to meet us and today’s painting is the scene we both saw. Beech Mountain was in the sun with a backdrop of dark clouded skies. Time always gets away from us but we shouldn’t let any day pass without a walk in the forest.

SOLD

Well, it looks like I'm just not going to be able to keep up with the painting a day. Now things are starting to pick up at the gallery and it's also time for long walks in the woods. People came to see the new paintings for this year but they aren't even framed and are sitting in a paper bag in the corner. I'm also going to put some time in on the large Sacandaga work. It's time to change mode and get ready for a busy summer, but there will be a new little canvas here whenever possible. They are too much fun to give up completely.

A Wonderful Surprise"

Gino and I have been hiking since before we were married, and have explored most of the trails near our house. Our sons started out in baby backpacks and have enjoyed being in the mountains ever since. They also enjoy "bouldering", finding their way up rocks using no equipment, gripping with fingers and feet on the tiny cracks and outcroppings of boulders. A fall is "broken" by a big, somewhat cushioned mattress called a "crash pad" -kind of self explanatory.
Many days when traveling a road near our house we have seen one or two autos parked on the shoulder. With woods on either side, we always wondered what the mysterious attraction was. One day I saw two slender college aged men coming out of the woods carrying a familiar looking crash pad. Ah hah! There must be ledges for climbing. I mentioned what I saw to our sons, which piqued their interest. One evening I was getting dinner ready, hurried and late as usual when the guys decided to check out the area. It was a nice evening and they weren't going to be gone long, so I invited myself to go with them. Gino had been to dialysis that day so was not feeling up to it. I threw partly prepared meal into the frig and ran out with the kids with the familiar, "We'll be right back".
We entered the woods and spread out, looking for the ledges. The guys started climbing but were having no luck when I noticed a huge erratic boulder just sitting in the woods, not far from the road. I walked around it to find telltale marks from chalk covered fingers clinging tenaciously to the side of the rock. When I yelled to the guys that I found it, they answered from a distance up the small mountain. Our youngest had veered from his original quest and was getting excited about a possible view. He yelled for me to follow them. It was a slippery steep climb and I started thinking about Gino and dinner and said I'd come back another time. By then our son had made it to a lookout and said we had to go up there then, "It's beautiful tonight and you don't want to miss it!" We scrambled toward his voice and were greeted with a wonderful panorama of mountains in deep shadows and a marshy stream. It was hard to believe this had been here all the time and we didn't know about it. We looked around and realized that we weren't the first ones to stand on that spot, there seemed to be a trail from the other direction. We followed it to some large unfriendly "keep out" signs but found a marked horse trail that turned to the left. We followed it to find a pleasant path through hardwoods that took us back to a road a distance from our car. I showed the guys the boulder, and except for a late dinner and worried dad we were excited about the new discovery.
Gino climbed to the lookout a couple days later, and today's painting is from a hike with some friends on a cool fall day. The overlook is lower than the top of the mountain and is protected from the wind. We were able to spend a long afternoon talking, enjoying the view and basking in the October sun, far from the worries of the world but at the same time close to home.

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I'm afraid I just paint too slowly. Today's canvas isn't finished. It should be ready for tomorrow.

"Harbingers of Spring"

Every spring these little hepatica are the first of all of "our" wildflowers to appear. They are on a south facing slope, sheltered by the protective tree almost as if they are in a little solarium. We take most of our walks on the horse trails in our neighbor's woods where we see many different wildflowers but for many years, no hepatica. I'll never know if I just missed them or if they weren't there. About ten years ago Gino and I were strolling along one of the newer trails when a little glimpse of lavender caught my eye. The warm spring sun was highlighting the hepatica blossoms about fifteen feet off the path. Every year they return and are spreading away from the tree. Since then we've discovered others here and there throughout the woods, but these are always the first by far. Most years I would have started looking for them by now. But I know they are there, waiting for the new snow to melt and the rays of the sun to reach down and coax them from their winter home to announce that spring has truly arrived.

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