You never know really. And I guess that’s all part of the thrill. I was trying to decide where to go to paint this morning and Welwyn popped into my head. For those of you who are not locals, Welwyn is the site of one of the old, fabled Gold Coast estates located on the North Shore of Long Island, NY. No longer a private residence, it now serves as the Nassau County Holocaust Museum. The grounds are beautiful, there is a lovely garden and it is a nice place to paint.

The real lure of Welwyn however involves a bit of a hike. You leave your car in a parking area and walk about 1/3 of a mile down a paved, tree lined road which opens up and deposits you on the beach looking north across Long Island Sound toward Connecticut. From here you can turn east and take a short hike through a wooded area to some very lovely salt marsh which is the kind of thing I love to paint.

Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Well, here, as they say, is the rub. It was hot this morning and when I say that you walk down the road to the beach I do mean down…as in downhill which, according to the laws of physics means that the return trip is uphill! Added to this equation is the fact that a large number of old friends from my grade school and high school days were in town this past weekend for two get-togethers. I am ashamed to say that adult beverages were consumed…often!

You will, by now, be able to form an image in your mind’s eye of an already hot, sweating, tired, moderately hung over artist standing by his truck in the parking lot with his backpack on his back, his painting umbrella hung over one shoulder, his water bottle in one hand and his tripod in the other at the very moment where he must now decide whether or not to risk the long walk to the beach with no real prospect that there will be anything there worth painting. Because, you see, he simply does not want to have to walk back up the hill, dragging all of his gear behind him, in a worse mood than he is in now simply because nature refused to place anything before him that would be worth painting.

But I felt that penance was due. I also thought that the walk and the air might do me some good and, most importantly, the sky looked promising. With my feet dragging a bit more than usual I set off…and was rewarded with one of the nicest mornings of painting I have had in a long time. The sky did not disappoint and I was very happy with the somewhat looser application of paint which seemed to jump off of the brush. I’m not saying that the walk back was any easier…but I was able to manage it with a smile on my face.

Note that all of these small sketches are available for sale directly from me via this website. Simply click on the “Paintings and Prints” tab and then on “Available Paintings”. The price includes shipping costs.