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View from Mount Holyoke, oil on canvas, 12 x 9" (Sold)

I vividly remember the excitement of discovering the Mount Holyoke College campus for the first time - the spectacular library, the charm of the old dorms, the lakes, waterfalls, and surrounding forests of Central Massachusetts that were so different from suburban Philadelphia where I grew up.

View from Lower Lake

My passion for the outdoors grew while at college and would eventually lead me to my becoming a plein air painter. The canoeing class I took for gym (maneuvering around buoys on Upper Lake) later became a passion for canoeing the streams of Pennsylvania. I learned to cross-country ski through the MHC Outing Club. We would also hike Mount Holyoke yearly on Mountain Day (more about that later).

I didn’t come to my art career in a traditional (art school) way but in an experiential way. Although I studied art history and visited museums while in college and in Paris my junior year, it wasn’t until the last semester of my senior year, after I had been accepted into law school, that I took a studio art course (oil painting 101). After law school I moved to Central Pennsylvania and began bringing paints on river and hiking trips and learning to paint from nature. I eventually left my law practice to pursue art full time. Returning to paint the campus was a way to reconnect with early sources of inspiration and a younger version of myself.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Willits-Hallowell Conference Center

I arrived mid-day and checked into Willits-Hallowell, a small hotel on campus. The first thing I noticed was a photo hanging by my door. It showed the commencement procession of the class of 1953, my mother’s class.

I think I see her in the photo, but it's hard to be sure. Either way, it was a good omen for my painting days to come. 

That afternoon I scouted some possible painting sites on the campus and enjoyed walking around the lakes again. I noticed which locations were best for morning paintings and which would look best in the afternoon.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

I started the day in a shady spot with a view of the library entrance. The library holds happy memories for me and spending a few hours really “seeing” it was a great pleasure. A number of students and alums greeted me as I worked.

Entrance to Williston Library, Mount Holyoke College, oil on canvas, 10 x 8" (Sold)

After lunch, I wanted to paint in the garden and decided on this view of the Talcott Greenhouse. I remember walking through this door to pick out a plant early in my freshman year. That spider plant was with me for decades.

Talcott Greenhouse, Mount Holyoke College, oil on canvas, 12 x 9" (Sold)

Late in the afternoon, I was returning to my room when I noticed the sunlight streaming through the trees on a small wooden building. The plaque on it says this is the oldest structure on campus, built in 1852 to house the equipment that pumped water to the seminary building.

If you can imagine the sounds of a waterfall at my feet, the quacking of ducks, and the wind in the leaves, then you can imagine what it was like to paint this scene. As often happens when I paint, time stood still.

Note the bungee cord attached to my gear box, keeping my easel steady in the strong breeze.

Pump House, Mount Holyoke College, oil on canvas, 11 x 14" Available

Friday May 27, 2022

Saving the best for last, I arrived at the top of Mount Holyoke (Skinner State Park) early in the morning. I had hiked to this view with the Outing Club when a student and wanted to see if it had changed. I was glad to see the Summit House still standing and the view as I had remembered it.

I waited an hour for some of the haze to clear. This gave me time to explore possible views from the various boulders before deciding to set up on the wrap-around porch of the Summit House (1851). This location provided shade and shelter from the wind and drizzle.

Summit House, top of Mount Holyoke, Skinner State Park

The clouds created an atmosphere I wanted to capture. The patterns of fields and forests reminded me of Pennsylvania landscapes, and the Connecticut River reminded me of the Susquehanna River, so I felt quite at home.

After I had laid in the large shapes of the painting (in vibrant colors) several of my classmates arrived at the Summit House after hiking up. Our meeting there after many years was a definite plus to my painting experience. I couldn’t imagine a better place to begin a reunion weekend than on the top of Mount Holyoke!

1977 Classmates: left to right - Karen Holt, Liz Gershon, Susan Colgan, Simonne Roy

View from Mount Holyoke, oil on canvas, 14 x 11" Sold

(I think Thomas Cole would also be glad to see that there are still forests and farms in the view he painted - “View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow” https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/10497 . Cole painted “The Oxbow” in 1836, one year before the founding of Mount Holyoke College which then existed as a seminary. He stood a bit further south on the ridge from where I stood but the shapes of some of the distant mountains are essentially the same.)

Note added Feb. 2026: 

The paintings described in this blog post are available as notecards and some might be available as prints at the Odyssey Bookstore in South Hadley later this year.