"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.

 

"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.

 

"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.