I began painting the Black Diamond Quarry in Addison, Maine in 2019 after wandering in the woods around the space for several years. Three small pits were abandoned in 1932, with giant black granite blocks strewn around the perimeter. The visual qualities of the space are numerous and constantly shifting - steep granite faces where shadows shift throughout the day, overhanging trees that reflect in the surface of the water, the color and forms of the sky above, also seen in the water, and the curved shape of the pit that interacts with all of the above. (See more images on my portfolio page.)
Quarry Reflections 26, 30x30, oil on canvas, 2021
I photograph, draw, make small painting studies, and develop larger oil paintings. I enjoy every step in the process, and often value my sketches and painting studies as much as the more sustained work. Last year I visited the quarry during a passing, gentle rain, and observed as the quiet surface of the water filled with circular pulsing movement, disturbing the reflected trees. This led to an offshoot of the series, “Quarry Rain”, exhibited at Cynthia Winings Gallery in Blue Hill, Maine in 2022.
Quarry Rain 5, 30x22, oil on paper on panel, 2021