Above photo credit: Jaylyn McFadden
My studio is the former taproom in an 1830s brick house in rural Vermont.
But my favorite studio is under the sky where I get started on most of my paintings. The French call this en plein air, meaning in the open air. My brother gave me an old easel and it accompanies me around the back roads and hillsides near my home. In 2022 I started painting from the bed of our old pickup truck (I saw the Irish artist Elizabeth Cope doing this on the pages of Faire magazine and had to try it). I spend the winter months finishing my summer paintings, and creating dreamscapes that are composites of the places I’ve been fortunate to go. I work in slow-dry acrylics by Golden Paints and use wide hardware store brushes and Rosemary artist brushes. Just love them!
From my journal
The Dew on the First of May
I am at peace with my three trillion freckles. But when I was a child, I lamented them daily. I was dubbed Freckle Face and Shrimp by my classmates (yes, I’m freckled AND short). When my mother suggested that my freckles would disappear if I tried a remedy...
Frida’s Garden
Our outdoor life is about to begin. We raked the yard this weekend, using lots of muscle to get the matted leaves and film of road dust off of the sleeping lawn. The garden and half of our house foundation are still swallowed by blankets of snow, but the...
Maison Pepin
Montreal in spring is much like Vermont. Not quite free of winter. I went there two weeks ago with three dear friends. We go there every spring to eat, hang out, browse, and discover. We've been doing this for 12 years? 15? We're not sure. We tend to go back...
Follow Along
Want a little blue sky in your inbox?
I send emails when the stars align (every so often).
See Original Art Here
- Flower Festival Exhibit, Artistree Gallery, Pomfret, Vermont, through July 17
- Royalton Memorial Library, South Royalton, Vermont through mid August
- Bank Street Gallery, AVA, Lebanon (New Hampshire) ongoing
- First Branch Coffee (Vermont) ongoing
- In my home studio by appointment
Where I'm Teaching...
- Summer Workshops open for registration. More details here.
