Please contact me if you would like this painting to live on your wall. This past weekend Manchester/Sunderland, hosted the annual hill climb — a bottom to top tour of the Equinox mountain in Manchester, Vermont. The hitch is that all of the cars doing the climbing are classics, and none of them are equipped… Continue reading Hill Climb
Author: Picking My Battles
Missing Michigan
Please contact me if you would like this painting to live on your wall. Too many things came up this summer, and we are missing seeing our family along the banks of Lake Michigan. I anticipated missing seeing parents and siblings, but I’m always surprised when I actually miss the violent storms that are a… Continue reading Missing Michigan
Art in Layers
Roama, 24"x24", Oil on CanvasClick here if you would like this painting to live on your wall I’ve noticed a trend as, trying to find my voice and my style, I’ve painted with a mentor over this last year. The paintings that have been the most satisfying still seem to occur by accident. There’s more… Continue reading Art in Layers
Walking to First
Overcast, Oil on Canvas, 14"x14" Click Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. It's the end of day 7. This time last week I was voluntarily getting hit by the chemical equivalent of a baseball bat to the inner ear and brain to try and get some of my old… Continue reading Walking to First
What Compels You?
At the Point, 14" x 14", Oil on Canvas Click Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. I tried to paint a different spot in that creek the night before, with no success. I knew instantly why it hadn’t worked. I was trying to paint everything all at once, and… Continue reading What Compels You?
The Not So Bad
Scattered, 20" x 20", Oil on CanvasClick Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. Most of the time I hate Ménière’s disease. When you’re not being violently rocked as you try to get to sleep at night, you are hugging the floor trying to get the world to stop looking… Continue reading The Not So Bad
Back to the Land
An interrupted meditation by the Battenkill I’m having a lot of conversations with spring in my work these days. Some days spring is popping; others it’s buried under a fresh dumping of snow. Likewise, some days I paint the conversation with reckless abandon and no image in mind, but as my head turns, outdoors again,… Continue reading Back to the Land
Talking to Spring
Talking to Spring, 20" x 20", Oil on Canvas Click Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. It’s been in the 40s and 50s the last couple of days, and even though there are some sizable snowbanks left, it feels like Mother Nature is ready to keep her annual promise.… Continue reading Talking to Spring
How Do You Do?
Nebula, 20" x 20" Click Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. Once upon a time I saw myself as (primarily) a writer, and I did my morning pages every day for work without fail. Nowadays my job starts earlier, and there is no time for morning pages or sketches.… Continue reading How Do You Do?
Spring Cleaning
Clearing I’d read the same paragraph about neuroplasticity three times and been unable to remember what the major point when I made the decision to kill off a part of myself. I did it with a tiny little pill. It will be a drawn out death, but it’s not a murder. It’s self-defense. For as… Continue reading Spring Cleaning
Conscious Detachment
Breathe, Oil on Canvas, 12" x 12", Click Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. I’m doing a very different set of paintings right now. Winter seems to be losing its grip, the light is glorious as the angle of the sun shifts, but I am still stuck in my… Continue reading Conscious Detachment
Winter Heat
Ice Jammed, 10"x20", Oil on Canvas Click Here if you would like this painting to live on your wall. Sometimes to help someone, you need to disconnect just enough from your empathy to keep the other person from the fog instead of marching into it holding their hand. I’ve had a few such cases at… Continue reading Winter Heat