Bogs

I’ve recently begun returning to an old motif that early in my career meant very much to me - cranberry bogs. They were everywhere around me at home and on weekends while camping in Myles Standish Reservation. I thought of their geometry and design as my own personal vistas - dare I say, much like Cezanne and his quarries. They were manmade landscapes, full of angles and planes and all the puzzle pieces I enjoy playing with on canvas.

Ironically, it was around the time I embarked on my corporate day job as a Graphic Design Manager for Ocean Spray Cranberries that I left the painting of bogs behind and explored more urban areas. Maybe it was because I was I need of relief from little red berries in both sides of my artistic life…or perhaps I was just sick of them. Nevertheless, I didn’t paint a bog, shack or surrounding area for many years.

Until recently. I walk by a couple bogs right around the corner from where I live and not too long ago, they began calling again. It was like finding an old friend on Facebook. They looked pretty much the same, but I have started looking at them in a quite different way.

The Shack at Rocky Pond, 1980 - 5x7, watercolor

The Bogs at Rocky Pond, 1980 - 5x7, watercolor