I often enjoy painting at the Old Bethpage Village Restoration, which is just off of exit 48 of the Long Island Expressway. The village consists of actual 19^th century buildings, homes, a church, etc. which have been moved from their original locations around the Island, brought here, and arranged like they might have been in a 19^th century village. The result is a lovely, quiet, bucolic place just where Nassau County meets Suffolk County at one of the most congested exits on one of the Island’s most traveled highways.

The Village often plays host to various events such as the Long Island Fair, demonstrations of 19^th century life and, on the day I visited, a Civil War battle staged by enthusiastic reenactors of this tumultuous period in our history.

My intention for going there to paint on this day was to try to portray one of the camps that were set up by the reenactors. But I have had the house I ultimately ended up painting on my mind for a number of weeks now and the light seemed just right. By that I mean that the light was just right when the sun wasn’t behind one of the many summer day cumulous clouds that moved across the sky on the warm summer breeze of the day. These are among the perils that on site landscapers must deal with as a matter of course and I will not vent my frustrations here!

After about an hour of painting I noticed that the “Confederate” army was marshalling and began to march to a dirge-like drum beat toward the staged battle which took place just out of my view behind a wooded area to the rear of my position. After a short time I heard the two armies engage, lines form with the outdated Napoleonic tactics of the era and the inevitable order of “Ready, Aim…”

I found myself very moved by the sounds. Volleys of musket fire, shouts, screams, the “Rebel Yell”, and thunderous cannon fire that shook my panel on my easel. Soon young parents began to retreat past me with frightened crying children for whom this all seemed too loud and too real. I was reminded of the civilians who went out to watch the first battle of Bull Run at the outset of the war, not at all prepared for the carnage they witnessed.

There was something about not being able to see the action, which made it all the more real for me. I began to think that while I was painting this genuine farmhouse, while listening to the unthinkable chaos of the battle, that there must have been some frightened soldier out on the field behind me…and all he could think about was getting safely home…home to the house I was painting.

“Hewlett House” is available for sale. For details, click on “Paintings and Prints” to the left and then click on “Web Site Exclusives”.