NORTHEASTERN SCENES
Visions of New England
Rocky seashores, tidal salt marshes and lush watersheds define the New England landscape. For the 15th year, Susan Powell Fine Art will host a summer invitational showcasing this scenery, with over 70 works of art from 22 artists including Del-Bourree Bach, Leonard Mizerek, Grace DeVito, Dan Brown and Jeanne Rosier Smith. Gallery owner Susan Powell says, “These paintings evoke the memory of spontaneous summer moments and portray the exquisite beauty of nature.”
Smith’s Thrill of Victory depicts waves crashing into the shore, and the artist notes, “To convey that sense of motion, I use strong diagonal strokes with varied textures. Capturing crashing waves requires a mix of sharp, soft and lost edges along the wave’s crest; nothing in motion has a static edge.” In Afternoon Passage, Bach depicts an egret flying above an inland marsh. He notes that he always makes a point of incorporating living creatures in his paintings. “The scene I paint is not really complete to me without at least a suggestion of the life there,” he explains. “I love painting marshes, particularly late in the day with the long shadows. The egret flying through with its wings catching the light makes
some magic happen.”
Mizerek was inspired to paint Rounding Brant Point while he was moored to a friend’s boat. “An elegant, gaff-rigged yacht and a following sloop were coming into the harbor at sunset. I was struck by the shimmering, golden light reflections on the water from the moon, the beacon and the boats’ lights,” he says.
DeVito’s entry, Crabs and Beer, uses the bright red of the cooked crabs to play off the dark background and parchment paper, and Brown’s The Cottage by the Bay provides a glimpse into a quiet home, giving a nostalgic sense of a simpler time.
Summer in New England hangs at the Madison, Connecticut-based gallery through September 8.