On the Path

When I walk the trail in the woods, or on the park road running between the tall trees, or the way at the edge of the canal bounded on the other side by brush and more trees, I look to the right, and then to the left, and on and on. I used to do that walking when I wasn't painting, and I wasn't looking either. Now there's space at my feet, and then further in where I could walk if I left the path, and then much further back, where the light is brighter because that's where the sun is rising. These last several images are all early morning views. For this series, before I start painting, I try to determine what color scheme I want to use, as a starting point.

I have been reading a book on William Merritt Chase by Barbara Gallati. He had an exotic studio, with all kinds of bric-a-brac, but when it came to landscapes, he painted the landscape he happened to find himself in, near wherever he was living at the time, the parks in Brooklyn, or the Shinnecock, Long Island coast, or the surroundings of an Italian villa. If I lived in an Italian villa, I too would paint the landscape around my villa. I try to focus on the landscape around where I happen to be and live.