
On the way to a show last July, I spotted this iconic summer scene with children playing in the river. This painting (Summer Idyll, Cold River) is one of a series of paintings that I did en plein air during the summer of 2012.
I called this series idylls. An idyll is a short description in verse or prose of a picturesque scene or incident, especially in rustic life. Later it became used more expansively as an extremely happy, peaceful, or picturesque period or situation, typically an idealized or unsustainable one. These scenes are idyllic in the pastoral sense but not idealized. This is the landscape as I saw it that day.
With winter approaching I hope that this new work will give you memories of summers past.