I thought I would work on some fire horses for the new year. I completed the first one in mid-January. Then, I had a trail riding mishap with a real horse and injured the thumb on my dominant hand. The first horse is drawn with my dominant hand. The second is my...

I thought I would work on some fire horses for the new year. I completed the first one in mid-January. Then, I had a trail riding mishap with a real horse and injured the thumb on my dominant hand. The first horse is drawn with my dominant hand. The second is my attempt at drawing with my non-dominant hand.

The first snow was in November this year. There were still a lot of browns and grays poking through in the field. Even some of the trees are still green. This is a gouache painting – 5 x 7.

To relax at the end of the day, I sit on the couch with my ipad, open Procreate, and do little sketches from photos I recorded on my phone. Procreate has a nice feature that displays a reference photo in the drawing area and I work from that. This sketch is from a walk at Cedar River, a Trustees of Reservations property not far from me. This is just at the beginning of November, when the deciduous trees are no longer dominating the color, but giving way to the calm blue of the sky and the river.

The December 4 moonrise with a sky that says winter is coming.

It’s November, but there are still more days in Blue and Gold season. This has been a beautiful October in the fields near my house. In a class, I tried a different surface – a toned multimedia paper. I like the effect, and it saves time as I usually paint an under layer.

Every August for the past 16 years, we have been meeting with friends for a weekend-long party in Greene, RI. We talk, eat, and watch the kids run around. This year, I brought my painting gear and set up near the Moosup river, which runs through the property. No beavers this year, but it was a peaceful place with wildflowers and late summer sun.

This land, called “Parcel B” is owned by the town. It is one of the more beautiful places to walk and sketch. The town just formed a committee to evaluate its development. A developer is luring the town into an agreement by promising to build a needed town building on the site. Which will win out – the push to develop it or the less tangible values of unspoiled space and peaceful vistas?