Extempore (adverb): “Without prior preparation”

I wanted to capture the creative energy of musical improvisation with paint, with all of the "background" vignettes doodled directly on the canvas without any planning or sketching. The entire composition is a collection of short stories creating a landscape viewed from above.

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For me, the rush of this swollen stream reflecting the bright greens of spring captured the rush of new life and feeling of revitalization that comes with this time of year. Focusing on the details of the bending reflections help make this piece not just a celebration of the season, but also a reverence for the world around us.

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“Stuck” is about the experience of being an outsider…. It is about being overwhelmed and overlooked as well as a feeling of chaos and claustrophobia.  At the same time, I hope to  express a sense of defiance and independence, and a feeling determination and resilience. 

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“Driver 8” is about watching scenes roll by on a summertime drive (or train ride).  With inspiration from the REM song crossing over with my own experience, I wanted to capture the heat and freedom of summer as well as the mesmerizing and monotonous feeling of the rolling scenery.

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With “Memoir”, I used the language of my doodling to explore the idea of recording and interpreting experiences.

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The title of this piece, “Dancing”, is about both the play of sunlight and sea foam on the churning water as well as the feeling of the day itself.  This image is inspired by photos I shot over the side of a ferry I took with my family to explore the Boston Harbor Islands on one of our last August weekends before the start of the school year.  My goal was to capture the feeling of getting lost in the joys of the last days of summer.

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"Ripple" was inspired by my last canoe trip of the year in November.  I spent most of the day lost in the undulating reflections and wanted to pull viewers of this painting into the experience.  The large size (48"x36") helps accentuate the  impact of the piece, to where you can almost hear the gently sloshing ripples.

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“Tomorrow” is about hope. It is about pushing through challenges and obstacles and striving for a better future.

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Inspired by a lake-side camping trip in the Adirondacks, “July” is a celebration of light and color and the feeling of experiencing a summer day on the water.

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I spend a lot of time observing, but nowhere is this more the case than when in the woods or on the water.  When I am observing, it is not so much about beautiful sunsets or grand vistas, but the amazing power in the details.  It is this uncontrollable and spiritual connection I have with seeing the details of nature that makes it hard for me to not paint what I see – and ultimately what I feel.

“April Showers” is no exception. After a delayed –and therefore prolonged- winter, I was excited to take advantage of somewhat spring-like weather in early May and get out for a hike with my family.  This painting is from pictures I took of a small stream running fast and high from a steady string of late-April rains. It is about the drama of the many small details that add up to create this grand scene of motion and serenity

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The image for “Icarus” had been in my head almost 30 years before it made its way to canvas. The painting is inspired not by the legend itself, but the poem “Icarus” by William Fields. For more on this (including the poem), see my blog about this piece.

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Whether it is an increasing shortage in fresh water in some areas or rising sea levels in others, the role of water in sustaining and threatening our way of life has never been more imperative.  This, combined with the deep emotional connection so many people feel with water - including myself - pulls me to look at and portray water from different perspectives. “Twilight” is from a photograph taken at one of my favorite mountain ponds, and it is about both my connection with the place and the fear that this place and others like it will not exist forever.

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There is a feeling of stillness and quiet contemplation I wanted to capture with “Solstice”, which also ties into the title of the piece (the word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (“sun”) and sistere (“to stand still”). I used a crow’s wing because of a personal connection with crows that to me is about remembrance.

As best as I can summarize, “Solstice” is about stopping, and looking, and thinking, and remembering, and feeling.

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The image that inspired “Town Fair, 2020” came from the fairgrounds just a couple of miles from my house. The image was captured at the time the fair would normally be held, but was cancelled along with everything else due to the pandemic.

The emptiness and quite feeling of the fairgrounds is accentuated by the glow of just a couple of lights (as opposed to the flood of lights that would be on during fair-time). Standing in the field on this evening filled me with the lonely, haunting feel that characterized the shut-down for so many of us.

"Breaking" is about the drama of the composition this tree creates.  While the tree itself appears to be breaking down, it also shatters the crisp early-spring sky behind it, which was accentuated by the light on this particular day

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“Breakdown” was painted in April of 2020, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent quarantine. Even for those not directly affected by the virus itself, the impact of shutting down society touched everyone. On a day while feeling particularly unsettled and unproductive, I took a mental health break and took my canoe out the Charles River for the better part of the day and photographed the image that inspired “Breakdown”.

As is often the case for my paintings, it has meaning on 2 different levels. On one level, it is about the breakdown of the reflection of the tree itself and the unusual and almost unreal colors. On another level, it is about the breakdown of societal norms and the unusual and unreal feelings that resulted.

After a week on vacation on a NH lake with my family, I spent the last daylight hours of the last day soaking in as much of the sunlight, beauty of the view and magic of vacation as I could (with my wife in a chair in front of me doing the same thing).  I was compelled to paint this image because it captured everything about how that moment felt.

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“Sunfall” is from a picture I took in the late afternoon last November in the Adirondacks.  The painting is about the harmony of serenity and motion created by the late light playing off the water, rocks and grass – but it is also about the thoughts and feelings of that day and while I painted this piece. The title “Sunfall” is a play on “sunset” and the season “fall” – but to me is also about the idea of things waning with a hope for renewal – whether it is the day, the season, loved ones or small mountain pond.

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FALLEN

Fallen is about the play of the fallen branch and reflections of standing branches – and the parallels with our own reality of standing tall or having fallen.

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These paintings were inspired by a trip to northern Maine.  I went to Port Clyde, ME to paint, but a side trip to the Olson House in Cushing ended up being a highlight.  The Olson House is where Andrew Wyeth painted many of his best-known works, and it was easy to see why the house and land were such an inspiration to him.  The light in the house was just amazing, which is the main subject of "September Afternoon, Olson House". I was also drawn to the land and the history, which builds the story behind "Path to Wyeth's Grave".

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It is rare that I still get excited about snow, but I had a painting in mind that was just waiting on the first snow of the year.  "After the Storm" started with a hiking trip I took after shoveling out from this first big snow.  I was looking for images that had a compelling play of light on snow, but it was the patterns in this view that inspired the painting.

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"Reflection and Transparency" was inspired by photos I took on a backpacking trip in the Adirondacks.  I have been hiking to this spot on the Hudson River for over 20 years, but this trip was the first time I brought my son.  "Reflection and Transparency" is about the play of light on and in the water - but it is also about that day, thinking about past and present.

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I do most of my painting in the studio with photographs for reference, but I took a different approach with the "Canoe Paintings".  To try to capture more of a sense of movement and light, these 10 paintings were done directly on the Charles River from my canoe!

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"Walden Pond Winter" is an image that found me while taking a trek around Walden Pond in Concord, MA. While it is not a traditional winter scene, it still possesses that quiet beauty that makes this season so appealing. 

Adding to the draw, I was walking around Walden Pond when I saw this.  Focusing on something so simple that offered such drama seemed appropriate when thinking of the time Thoreau spent making the same walk. 

“Nature will bear the closest inspection; she invites us to lay our eye level with the smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.  She has no interstices; every part is full of life”

- Henry David Thoreau

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"Summer Falling" was inspired from photos taken on the same backpacking trip to the Hudson River as "Reflection and Transparency".  This piece is about the motion of the water and the feeling of energy in the day.

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Like many of my paintings, "March" has both visual and emotional elements to the inspiration.  I took the pictures I used for this painting  during a walk in the woods with my family on the first semi-warm weekend after a brutal winter.  While the subject matter of pond-muck through ice may seem less than "inspirational", for me the painting is about hope and the feelings of renewed energy that come with the (eventual) emergence of spring.

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"Charles River Reflections" is a spin-off of my "Canoe Paintings".  In this case, I decided to crawl out of the canoe and back into my studio.  While I loved being in my canoe and painting at the same time (2 of my favorite things together!), for this image, I wanted the control I can get in the studio to really capture the intricasies of these beautiful October reflections.

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"Sunday Morning, Huntley Pond" takes us back to the Adirondacks and the site of another annual camping trip. Huntley Pond is home to a camping tradition with my brothers, and the view is one of many special aspects of the spot.  This image comes from a picture I took on the last day of one of these trips.  In addition to the fantastic blues captured in the reflecting light and small glimpses of rocks through the water in the foreground, this piece is about capturing the feeling of walking away from an incredible trip to a beautiful spot - at least until next year!

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Like "Stoney Creek Memory" and "In Plane View", "Winter Sky" is painted entirely from memory - and in this case, the result is my most abstract piece.  "Winter Sky" is all about light and motion, and the heavy, fast paint application is about accentuating the light and motion more than efforts I usually make to make a piece more representational.

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While I use photographs for reference while painting most of my pieces, "Stoney Creek Memory" was painted entirely from memory.  There is a camping spot in the Adirondacks I have been going to with close friends for over 25 years, and this view is from the stream that we hike down every year.  In addition to the beauty of the image, there is a magical feel to the spot that the memory-painting helped capture.

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"Past Peak", like "Charles River Reflections", is a spin-off of my "Canoe Paintings" project.  While I loved some of the looseness and spontaneity that happened while painting on the river, for this piece I wanted more control to play with the details of the layers from the leaves on top of the water to the reflections to the leaves at the bottom of the river.  The end result is about the patterns in these details and the story they tell.

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"Summer Storm" was inspired by the same camping tradition and location as "Stoney Creek Memory".  In this case, we had spent the better part of our day huddled under a tarp in an effort to avoid torrential down-pour.  Unfortunately, sideways-blowing rain and 2-inch deep puddles at our feet had different plans for us... When the storm was over, however, we were treated to fantastic views that looked like the sky was on fire in an effort to dry up.  The painting is about the feelings of reward and awe we experienced that day.

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"In Plane View" is another piece painted entirely from memory. In this case, the memory was from over 10 years prior to me putting it on canvas.  I was flying somewhere in the Pacific Northwest and was mesmerized by the unique perspective and the lush, untouched mountain-scapes.  As I watched, the experience was interrupted by a road carved into the top of one of the mountains, which had the effect of looking like a wound.  I usually don't alter reality as drastically as I did with the bright red roadway in this piece, but the painting is intended to be about the jarring impact it had on me.

Through my business BlackBeak Studios, I offer commissioned art and custom mural services.  My commissioned art ranges from portraits to cherished scenes to paintings of pets.  My mural work ranges from commercial spaces to kid's rooms, from 5'x5' to full-room installations. For more on these services and on BlackBeak Studios, please visit: www.blackbeakstudios.com