Merrimack River Painters

   Why DO I Paint?

By Betsy Janeway

 What a good question! I paint partly because I'm a record-keeper, a journal writer. A journal with sketches is livelier than one without.

 I paint only with watercolor just because it's risky: I can't predict how it will turn out; watercolor has a mind of its own, and is very backpackable.

 I paint to record a place or an event and I love to mix colors. I am happiest outdoors, I never paint in my studio.

 Having written a monthly nature column for decades, for my town paper, keeps me looking, studying, and recording local wildlife.

 Right now I'm studying the miniature world of mosses, through a magnifier. I think I'll never run out of topics!

Some of my paintings:

   

      Our swimming hole in the Blackwater River runs through my little town of Webster, NH, and is where I swim every day all summer, rain or shine. Today I saw a beaver and the brilliant cardinal flowers are in bloom on the river bank. 

      A Maine coast island is where I often paint: landing at the dock, here's our view.

 

    Our son is sailing to the mooring at the island, with the Camden Hills in the background. 

 

A study of blue jays out of the kitchen window in winter.