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Today, as I came out of the local library building, up ahead of me was a tableax that made me break out in a big smile.  A rather large man was walking with two toddlers. He had one on each side and was holding a hand of each.  From the back, I could immediately tell that the two little girls were identical twins. I could also tell that each had the free hand at their mouths, probably sucking on a thumb. I wished that I had my camera with me because it would have made a wonderful vignette.

For many years I have found myself attracted to the backs of people. I noticed that when seeing someone from the front, I am first drawn to their faces but when seeing someone's back, I take in the person as a whole and notice more about their shape and body language.

The painting, Winter Walk, with a man and his dog walking away from the viewer and the watercolor pictured here called Brothers on the Run of two young brothers romping along a path are two examples of paintings I've done where people's backs were the focal point. I have a number of reference photos in my file with other expressive backs and will certainly do more over time.

A couple of months ago I was commissioned to do an oil painting of the Winged Foot Golf Club's clubhouse and surrounding course. I've done many watercolor house portraits through the years but this painting would be a bit different from a standard house portrait. Here the emphasis would be as much on the landscape surrounding the building as on the building itself.

The process started with a meeting at the Club to take reference photos that would help in completing the painting. I was also shown a painting in the lobby there that the businessmen who had hired me admired.

After returning with photos that were both long-shots of the building and land and close-ups of the details. I worked up a sketch of my idea for the composition and met with the two men.

Coming away with a clearer idea of what they would like, I made a few adjustments to the drawing and figured out the size of the final painting with the help of a proportion wheel which I learned to use more than 25 years ago when I worked as a commercial layout artist and graphic designer.

The next step was stretching a canvas to the dimensions decided upon and then doing a detailed drawing of the building on the canvas. Following that came spraying the drawing with a fixative and then toning the canvas with a pale wash of raw umber.

Now I was ready to lay in my oils as thin washes to establish areas of color and then over a period of days, going back in and adding paint to refine the composition.

As always, there are points all along the way where I have what I consider a dialogue with the painting. Stepping back from it, I study it and allow it to tell me what it needs to reach a point of completion. Details get further defined, shapes get adjusted, colors and values get altered. Gradually, I start to feel that the composition is holding together.

The finished painting, Winged Foot Clubhouse and Grounds, oil on canvas, 17"x25"

Last Saturday, was the opening of the Wish Rock Studio's Three Woman Show that I am in and that continues through August 26. There was a large and very enthusiastic turnout. I was delighted to find that my work was very popular and that a number of  my paintings were sold including Shelter Island Calm which I've pictured here. I'll be out there again for the closing weekend and hope to do more work featuring the scenery from vantage points around the island.

Sandra and Peter Waldner, the owners of the gallery are lovely, low-key people who make everyone who enters that gallery feel right at home. The gallery is in a lovely old building in the center of the Shelter Island Heights area and there is a cozy, unpretentious feeling to the whole atmosphere of the place. I think that added to the good feelings that were being expressed all around.

I was asked about doing commissioned paintings of scenes that are particular favorites of some of the home-owners on the Island. I enjoy being introduced to areas and scenes that I'm not familiar with and then working to find what about them calls to me so that I can create not just a representation of the scene but a painting that has a life of its own as well.