Early Work

"West Hartford"

May, 1977
Oil on Panel; 18 x 36"

A scene entirely made up in my head, an effort to shake off all of the "tree" paintings I had done during college, particularly when I was a student at The Hartford Art School in West Hartford. This is currently in a private collection in Phoenix, Arizona.

"Starless"

July-August, 1975; Egg Tempera on Masonite Panel; 14 x 20"

This was a strange marriage of my interest in Andrew Wyeth's and Robert Vickery's tempera painting techniques with my fascination with the late 19th Century Symbolist and Decadent movements in European art. The painting was sold to a private collector in Hyde Park, NY.

The title is actually a quote (that I do not have permission to quote here) from a song called "Starless" from a great album called "Red" by King Crimson - Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross, even a bit of McDonald on alto sax.

"The Tree"

March 5, 1976
Watercolor, 14 x 20"

There was an old cemetery within walking distance of the SUNY New Paltz campus, where I found this old tree with a number of small headstones gathered around it - all marking graves of children. This is one of several paintings I did of this scene. I still have this one in my possession.

"The Flower"

October-December, 1975
Egg Tempera on Panel, 20 x 8"

This one did not work out as I had planned, essentially a failure. The Klimt influence is obvious. The pigment I used for the stylized sun was a copper mineral - highly toxic - that I filched from the campus ceramics studio, that was normally used in creating pot glazes. This painting no longer exists.

"South Chestnut"

March, 1976
Watercolor, 20 x 14"

I think I caught the moment with this one - the leaves, the cold, the fog still in the trees. I did several paintings of stone steps leading up to essentially nothing. This one sold to someone (I don't remember who) at a student exhibit at SUNY New Paltz, NY. I wasn't on the Meal Plan, so paintings like these bought me groceries!

"No Wind"

April-May, 1975
Acrylic Polymer and Ink on Panel, 24 x 24"

This came from several pencil studies I did of trees along the Wallkill River in New Paltz, NY. My dad liked it, saying it reminded him of when he would go hunting deer every November upstate with his buddies, so I gave it to him. It was lost in 2001 when he and my mom's house burned down.

"Huguenot House"

March, 1975
Watercolor, 14 x 20"

I did a number of these watercolors of the 17th Century French Huguenot stone houses that still stand in New Paltz, and sold them to a local gallery who in turn sold them to tourists. I showed this one to a professor who lambasted me for not putting reflections in the panes of glass of the window. He was right!

"Bevier House"

April, 1976
Watercolor, 14 x 20"

This is another French Huguenot stone house in New Paltz, NY. I sold the painting to a local gallery, who sold it to a tourist.

"Bevier House"

March, 1976
Watercolor, 14 x 20"

Another view of this French Huguenot stone house in New Paltz, NY. I sold the painting to a local gallery, who sold it to a tourist.

"Mohonk"

June, 1976
Watercolor, 14 x 18"

Mount Mohonk sat like a huge beached sperm whale out to the west of New Paltz, sometimes nearly lost in the haze of summer. This painting was sold to a local gallery, who sold it to a tourist. I remember getting a final grade of "D" for a watercolor studio class I took, for work like this. Go figure.

"Cape Snow"

February 12, 1976

Watercolor, 16 x 20"

A view out my side bedroom window at Our House, 40 North Chestnut Street, New Paltz, NY. The stones came from Cape Cod, collected from the beaches at Wellfleet and Truro. I love how this really feels cold. This one sold at one of the student exhibitions, and I don't know where it may be today. I still have one of the stones, though.

"The Great South Bay"

August, 1975
Oil on Panel, 10 x 20"

I was interested in painting an "N.C. Wyeth-type" cloud in oil paint, and I was also interested in distilling all those summer days spent fishing with my dad in the Great South Bay of Long Island, NY. This painting was the result. Lost when my parent's house burned down in 2001.

"Harbor Scene"

In 1968 I was given a pocket-sized paperback "how to paint" book for Christmas. I followed the step-by-step lessons for several oil paintings, most lost in the fire that destroyed my parent's house in 2001. This one was a copy of one of the oil paintings in the book, done in gouache on very poor paper.