During normal times, I take our local landscape for granted. Of course it is a pleasure to live in a place like Cape Cod and to go about my daily life surrounded by beauty, but still I was busy with errands and teaching classes and all the concerns that make up a normal life. My eyes are not always open and truly seeing. Even during my daily dog walks, my mind could be busy and prevent me from fully engaging with my surroundings. During this pandemic year, I started looking to the landscape for inspiration and finding it more often. Autumn is sunset time for me. The earlier sunsets mean that almost every day my dog walks are finished lit by a sunset. I cannot stop taking pictures of them, particularly if the colors strike me as different or if the clouds are just right and the sky explodes in color. This year, I’ve tried painting from my photos to bring that feeling inside me as I unravel how all those colors fit together.
