New England

New England - Fall Color Trip 2013

One theme that kept returning to us on this trip is the result of some original paintings that we have collected over the years by a specific artist,

It is not easy to describe this artist's work in just a few words - suffice it to see we love his work. It has certain quirks and attributes which immediately identify his paintings to somebody familiar with his work. His paintings are not limited to a narrow subject matter - his work ranges across landscapes, sea scenes with harbors and boats, portraits, all the way to interior "still life" pictures. He tends to the "realism" end of the spectrum rather than the abstract, and he has a wry subtle sense of humor. Sometimes a painting will contain a sly, almost hidden, virtuoso flourish in tribute to some other very famous artist or iconic image.

His paintings are signed as "William B. Hoyt" and that is how we mentally refer to him. During our trip we came across a number of scenes and situations that made us think of him - this could be a painting by him - or this just has his mark all over it.

Toward the end of our trip we made so bold as to call him on the phone. His wife answered and invited us to come round and see his studio and meet him in person.

That put the icing on the cake - to see where he lives, his studio, the works in progress, and most of all to meet the person behind the paintings.

This page is a collection of images that I mentally connected to the artist in one way or another. Those who know his work will understand and appreciate immediately. Those unfamiliar with his work may just get a glimpse of what we see in his art.

Click on any of the following links to go to the relevant page in this album.

Drive to
Kennebunkport

Drive to
Woodstock

Exploring Around
Woodstock (1)

Exploring Around
Woodstock (2)

Brattleboro
and Easthampton

Musings about
Hoyt Country

Musings in "William B. Hoyt" Country

This is what I mean when I say "This could be a painting by William B. Hoyt."
An interior scene anchored on a kitchen table with two windows showing an outside view - between them a calendar on the wall with an immediately recognizable image. (If this was a real painting by him, the calendar more likely would be a postcard or newspaper clipping showing a painting by van Gogh, Da Vinci, or John Singer Sargent). Further details in the scene are the mundane objects of everyday life rendered in exquisite detail. If you could examine the painting closely enough, you would see the lettering on the storage boxes at top right rendered with absolute fidelity.

Here is another picture that could have been done by this artist. This scene was shot in a small general store near the front window where they have a small kitchen with a delicatessen counter. Again we have a kitchen scene with a window showing the view outside. Mundane everyday objects catch one's attention, the lettering on the wall menu and the cards in the showcase, the clock on the wall and the calendar over the sink.

Same scene with a tighter composition. The steam coming of the chile, the glint of the chromed water spout in the sink, the lettering on the box of aluminum foil on the shelf, not to mention the array of bottles with their variegated labels above the sink..
If William Hoyt didn't actualy paint this painting, he darn well should have.

Just up the road from the General Store where the above scenes were shot, lies The Potter Farm.
This could very well have been a scene that William Hoyt painted....

... in fact he did.
This a small "study" he did of the above scene prior to executing a larger painting. The small study is one we purchased many years ago, but the scene itself is much the same.

This is a picture of William Hoyt rather by him.
It is a "digital painting" - i.e. executed by combination of camera and Photoshop
I snuck this candid shot of him and his dog when we visited - and couldn't resist turning it into something "in the manner of Hoyt" as I like to think of it. The photo tucked into the top right corner of the frame (a classic Hoyt touch) is actually a picture of one of the paintings we have by this artist.
There is the sly tongue-in-cheek symmetry of the orchard-worker cradling a tub of apples in his hands, and the artist cradling the dog in his hands...The title of the painting in the corner is "Gentle Hands" which could well serve as the caption to this picture.