"Winter's Pause" 2020  watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

This is another farm in the lower Champlain Valley of Vermont, on Route 30. I often drive by this and other handsome farms on my way up to Burlington. The farm wasn't being used at the time, now there are cows in the field to the left, and signs of industry in the unused areas around the barn. Good to see it in production again. The maples to the right must be hundreds of years old. I love to paint farm buildings and architecture in general, this was a great opportunity to combine the landscape of Vermont and my interest in barns.

"Fiddleheads #3" 2013 C. Asheley Kapelewski

Part of a series I did on this common edible fern that grows on the floodplains of our rivers. This one was fun to do with a combination of masking and washes to create a tie-dye effect.
 

 

"Snowbound Farm" 2021 watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

Part of the fun of living inn Vermont is almost every mundane commute is accompanied by exquisite views. This one is of a farm on Route 30 in Cornwall, with the Green Mountains as backdrop for a tidy winter view of an Addison County farm. The barn red and the soft browns are the only colors in late winter. I think the practical arrangement of the farm buildings is why it is so beautiful.

 

"Reflections, T.W. Dix Reservoir" 2011 C. Asheley Kapelewski

I often feel that a more limited color scheme in a painting results in a more dramatic effect. This was always one of my best sellers, I think others agree. I was on my way back from Barre, Vermont, and I stopped by a reservoir and walked a path to it's shore, where I saw this view. The mist from a clearing storm partially obscured distant mountains, but focused the eye on the beautiful islands in the reservoir. Only two colors, Payne's Grey and Viridian, capture the mood perfectlly. 

 "View from the Great Ledge" 2021 watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

A friend of ours has a secluded home that borders the Great Ledge on the Benson/Fair Haven Vermont town line. Home to a protected population of Northern Rattlesnakes, it also has a gorgeous view north of the end of the Champlain Valley. The patchwork of farm field and forest I photographed from their private sunny ledge is what inspired me to paint this limited color work.

 

"Blue Fins of Freedom" 2020 watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

Getting some new dive gear helped me to get even better underwater photos with my waterproof camera. Both my husband and I love to swim, and many of Vermont's lake are very clear, with crystalline green blue water. The sight of waves from below fascinates me, as well as the rays of sun diffusing through the clear waters of Glen Lake, in Bomoseen, Vermont. My husband swimming through the water provides a nice focal subject for the light to play upon. Yes, he has on swim trunks, you just can't see them at this angle! :)

 

"The Vigil" 2010 watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

This painting of a Barred Owl has a sad story behind it. In folklore, owls are said to foretell of a death in the family. This is a portrait of the owl who came and sat by a window of our house the day I received a call from an out of state doctor that my father had not long to live. This owl was there during every heartrending phone call I had with the hospital, and with my dad during his last two weeks on Earth. As I returned from saying my final goodbyes, my dad passed away. The owl was there the next morning, looked at me, and flew away, never to return to that perch by the window.

 

"Shelter #1" 2013 watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

On the way back from xc skiing on the west side of Mt Mansfield, I stopped to photograph a pine forest that was freshly coated with snow. The rhythm of the old CCC planted forest was like music for my eyes. Fresh tracks of deer hinted at the residents of this forest. I put some of the creatures that shelter there in my painting. 

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"Waterbury Center View of Camel's Hump" 2013 C. Asheley Kapelewski

The neighborhood I lived in, in Waterbury Center (near the Ben & Jerry's Plant) had a little xc ski trail known only to the residents at that time. I could access it right from the backyard of my apartment house, right behind the barn. This sweet private view was the reward for me after a long day at work. The plateau the village is on provides wonderful sunsets.

"Harbinger of Spring #2" 2010 watercolor C. Asheley Kapelewski

This was the side of a neighbor's maple sugar operation in Vemont's Northeast Kingdom, tucked up under Quebec next to northern NH. I'd photographed the whole place that day in early April, but settled on the line of old sugar maples next to the wood shed as the most evocative view. Has been my best selling print and card to date.
 

 "Color Storm" watercolor 2018 C. Asheley Kapelewski

This is a fantasy inspired by a small gathering of crows I watched while waiting in the car one day. Was a good subject to try out a new spatter technique.

 

 

"Addison County Sunset" watercolor 2021 C. Asheley Kapelewski

The wide open spaces of Addison County in Western VT have an expansive mid-western feel that most folks wouldn't associate with this state. With the Adirondack mountains off to the west across Lake Champlain, and the Green Mountains of Vermont cradling this wide ancient lake bottom off to the east, it is a truly special place. I sought to capture a typically magnificent sunset in this painting.

 

"Sunset Flocks" 2023 watercolor - C. Asheley Kapelewski

I feel in love with the color quinacridone gold a few years ago, it was such a different flavor to add to my usual palette. Couldn't resist it for sunsets that glow almost as vibrantly as the real thing. A typical Lake Champlain Basin scene during fall migration with Canada geese winging over ducks bedded down for the night. 

 

"Taking Flight" 2023 watercolor - C. Asheley Kapelewski 

I love birds, everything about them. In Vermont, where I live, is an extensive wetlands where hundreds of bird species pass through during their spring and fall migrations. This painting was inspired by photos of snow geese taking wing in front of the forest that surrounds Dead Creek. In the 1980s - 1990s their populations were at a historical high. Gatherings of 30,000 birds and more were common. I feel such gratitude to have witnessed the spectacle.