Watercolors—translucent, water-soluable paints—are famous for being able to capture light. As a medium, they captured me from my first attempt, a small painting of an orange that was not just orange. Then I started to paint peonies, loving the way quinaquidrone rose can unfurl to shape a pale pink petal, blending with a touch of golden new gamboge for the sunlight and ultramarine blue for the shadows.

Soon after I starting spending time in Sheffield, Mass., I started painting mostly landscapes—trees, skies, mountains, grass, water, light. The patterns and colors are endlessly beguiling, the thrill of catching even a moment of their truth an endless challenge. Around Sheffield, Mass., in the Housatonic River Valley of the Berkshires, some of the scenery is wild, some pastoral, some downright gardened, all of it beauty that wants to be recorded.

Whatever the subject, I like to push the paint until image starts to dissolve into color and light. I like blurred edges, discovered shapes, and depictions that are suggestive, not descriptive. Lately, I’ve been using a synthetic paper called Yupo, which renders watercolors, famous for being hard to control, even more wild and surprising. “Watercolors wild and cultivated” became my motto.

Over the years, my work has appeared in shows in New England and New York, and I’ve won many prizes, including first prize in the art shows associated with Housatonic River Summer in 2004, when my winning portrait of a shimmering Umpachene Falls was shown at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.

When I first started painting, I worked for Consumer Reports as an editor and publisher. I am a founder and co-editor of the Sheffield Times, a community newsletter in Sheffield, Mass. I've edited a book about art in the Berkshires, Art and the River, and written a book about painting, So Many Colors in the World. I publish a calendar every year with a new view every month.

Enjoy!