“Essex Greenbelt II, with Rocks”

This is one of my personal favorites. It's funny how I can view a given piece of land a hundred times without it being interesting, but one day a particular combination of effects suddenly makes it fascinating. This was one of those days. Captured by the light on the marshes streaking past the point, the meandering inlet, and the shapes of the distant trees, I excitedly began this painting. I'd only just captured the essentials when clouds rolled in. I was able to return to the spot the next week to resume. The combination of effects that had so delighted me the week before were no longer as compelling (the tree line shape, for example, having changed as the leaves had fallen), but the prior day's layin had captured the dramatic idea and original pleasing shapes sufficiently so that I could use the layin, my visual memory, and information from this second session and to bring the piece to a finish.