Essex Porch
Essex Porch 2000 oil on linen 30x50” private collection
I took my class of painters up to this well-known marshy area in Essex and braved the rickety porch and the trespassing risks to accomplish this unique look at an inside/outside landscape.
This was one of our furthest jaunts, up to a large tidal area near a public park. The house was abandoned, but still owned by a family that came by now and then. The porch was risky to walk on at best, but the contrast of the bright landscape against the dark, shadow side of the porch was both exciting and restful to the eye. All the colors under the roof were influenced by the yellows of the bright field and those on the floor by the blue sky above, as if the opening were an aperture for all the light bouncing into the shadows.
