Gnarled Cherry Trees

Spring has arrived in the Mid Atlantic, and flowering trees light up the woodland edges and highways in pastel colors. Here, we see a small grove of old, gnarled cherry trees by a lake. Their trunks and limbs are twisted and scarred from age, but they continue to bloom each year with explosions of pinks and whites. In this fleeting moment, let us enjoy spring!

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Regaining the Light

The holiday season is finishing up and it's now 2025. The winter solstice was a little over a week ago, and slowly but surely the days are growing longer. Here we see the sun rise across a snowy northern forest of conifers. Light gleams through the trees, hinting at the still distant spring. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17" 

Old Autumn Sycamores

As fall spreads over the land, a chill breeze starts to turn the leaves to fiery colors and the grass to dried earth tones. Here, we see a pair of old sycamores at the edge of a scrubby forest. These ancient guardians have been here far longer than the young trees around them, and they face yet another coming winter stoically. Low light plays across their gnarled, pale trunks, and their leaves glow with copper colors before blowing away in the cold wind.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Rocky Autumn Foothills

 
When we think of autumn, the most common images that come to mind are the fiery colors of New England or the golden aspens in the high elevations of the west. This painting explores a different region. Here, we see the cottonwood trees in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains as they turn yellow in the chill autumn air. Every tree is precious here, for dry grasslands are the norm, and the change of seasons is always beautiful even in unexpected places. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Moonrise over Snowy Pines

Winter has been relatively normal this year along the east coast of the US. We've had a few snowfalls, with another on its way, and some cold temperatures, too. Here, we see the moon rise above a cold northern forest, casting its warm glow on the snow as a few stars peak through the clouds - light without heat. Soon, spring will come and melt away the snow as life returns to the forest. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Hill Country Winter Sunrise

After several years without measurable snowfall, winter returned to Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region this week, with frigid temperatures and two snowstorms that each dropped several inches of snow. Here, we see the snowy weather from the rolling, forested hills of western Maryland, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania as the sun rises on a quiet, freezing day. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Fall Sycamore Thicket

As autumn color winds down, we go for a walk in the woods while there's still sun remaining. A mix of sycamores, both old and young, tower overhead, their leaves turning to crumpled bronze as they fall from the trees. Low light bathes the mottled bark; winter is when sycamores are at their finest. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Maple Lake in Fall

Autumn has finally arrived here in Maryland with falling temperatures and leaves of changing colors. Here, we wander northward, where the chill air has already turned the maple leaves to warm fire that contrasts with the cold waters of a large lake. The low sun stretches across this scene of bright colors in the cold air.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Swift Winter Sunrise

Winter has been basically nonexistent this year in the eastern United States, so we'll just imagine an appropriate scene. Here, the sun peeks above the distant trees, quickly bringing a bit of light and warmth to a frigid, snowy scene. Clouds roll by, perhaps remnants of whatever storm brought the snow. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Frigid Woodland Sunset

It's been a warm winter here in Maryland without a trace of snow in most of the state, but the season isn't over yet. Here, we see the low winter sun set in a tangled forest of old trees and vines, all coated with snowy silence. Spring will come eventually, but until then enjoy the winter.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Valley Forge - Spring Clouds

Last weekend, some friends and I went on a road trip up to Valley Forge National Battlefield, which is outside of western Philadelphia. The weather was great, which is unusual for March, and we enjoyed our walk around the perimeter trail. Like most eastern US battlefield parks, Valley Forge is steeped in history and has a quiet dignity to it. You can also get great open views across the rolling fields and scattered trees, which is a rarity in the densely populated and forested parts of the country. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Frigid Winter Dawn

Winter has been chilly here on the east coast of the US. Here, we see the sun rise across a rolling field covered with snow, the warm colors in the sky contrasting with the frozen air. Conifers stand in dark relief against the brightening light, each waiting for spring to return.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Welcome Mountain Snow

A straightforward scene celebrating the return of much-needed winter snow to the western mountains of the US. In the low light of winter, the wind swirls the snow between the pines before another blizzard descends upon the rocky peaks. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Autumn Ignition

An oddity of autumn is that the fiery colors - the ignition of reds, golds, and oranges in the leaves - is caused not by light and heat, but by the opposite. As the sun swings lower and the weather cools to proper fall temperatures, we look ahead a month to when the autumn leaves will be at their peak here on the east coast of the US. Look up into the towering trees and enjoy blazing colors against a clearing blue sky.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Sierra Nevada - Last Light

Inspired by my trip through the beauty of California in 2018, here we see the last light of day fall across the Sierra Nevada range. Only the mountains and tree tops are illuminated as shadows sweep across the rest of the wild landscape.

Acrylic landscape: 14" x 17"

Hazy Forest Flowers

On a hazy day in late spring, flowers line the forest floor beneath towering, old trees. Wisteria, dandelions, and other blossoms scatter color among the sea of green in this fanciful view of a sprawling woodland on a very sunny day.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Swampy Spring Sunshine

 

A look ahead a month or so into early spring, when the trees are leafing out, the dandelions are blooming, and the redbuds light up the woods with purple-pink flowers. Rain is plentiful, combined with snowmelt in the colder climates, resulting in a mix of soggy earth and sunny skies. It's beautiful to look at, but a mess to hike through if you leave the paved trails!

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

2020 in Hindsight

2020 has not been a good year: catastrophic, climate-change driven wildfires from the western US to Australia, a deadly pandemic, and disturbing assaults on democracy. This painting is as much symbolic as it is artistic - a fitting scene for a terrible year, and an attempt to find some beauty in the wreckage left behind. A burnt forest, a discarded face mask, and clearing skies with a hope for a better future.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Reflecting on Autumn

Along the shores of a slow-moving stream, fiery leaves of autumn glow on the trees on a clear, cool day. Their colors reflect in the water as the leaves fall like sparks, each slowly extinguished. 

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"

Snowy Sequoia Solitude

Continuing the theme of isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, here we have a different take on the concept. A lone, ancient sequoia stands in a snowy forest in the Sierra Nevada mountains, far away from civilization. While there are other trees around, none of them have experienced all that this mighty tree has in its thousand or more years of life, so it is still alone, in a way.

Acrylic painting: 14" x 17"