"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.

 "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.

 

"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.