Aspiring writers are told "write what what you know." I was a writer, so I paint what I know. I paint what I grew up with and love: farms and fields, ponds and streams, shorelines and salt marshes near Narragansett Bay and later the rural countryside of upstate New York--and some beautiful tucked-away places I have found in Provence, Burgundy, and elsewhere. It's my way of sharing and celebrating special places I have discovered, large and small, and mostly off the beaten path. By the way, in my wanderings I found a wonderfully apropos musical statement of why and what I paint. Composed by Sir John Rutter (who kindly granted me permission to use it here and performed by his Cambridge Singers and the City of London Sinfonia), it is perfectly titled For the Beauty of the Earth. Click here to hear it. Warning: It will take at least week to get this song out of your head! If you see a painting you think you'd like to hang on a wall or give to a loved one or friend, pain...