Russell Steven Powell

Push-up, oil on canvas, 60×48

THE APPLES ARE IN. Make no mistake, I do not grow them or pick them. My job is to photograph, write, and talk about the apples grown here in New England. For these reasons, I have been immersed in the harvest:

Seventeen consecutive days at “The Big E,” the Eastern States Exposition, in September. Orchard visits throughout New England — more than 30 since September. Book promotion — 12 appearances in 30 days for Apples of New England. A weblog about apples, newenglandorchards.org, once a week (sometimes more) since mid-August.

I was a judge at the Great New England Apple Pie contest, and a participant in Franklin County CiderDays. My refrigerator remains full of apples, despite the fact that I eat them fresh or cook with several apples every day. The orchard visits, events, weblog, and eating and cooking will continue, although with less intensity now.

I make no complaints. It has been a fantastic few months, mostly energizing, only occasionally exhausting. Apples involve all of the senses, and I am fortunate for this opportunity for immersion. Its long-term effects are impossible to predict, but can only positively inform anything I do.

I have continued to paint during most of this time (except for the 15-hour days of The Big E). Still, it has been a time to change patterns, to step back and gain experience of another kind, and a fresh perspective.

The paintings here were begun earlier this summer, and completed last month, post-harvest. I have many new ones started, and when finished they likely will have a new character than those that came before them, informed by my experience of the apple harvest and time away from my routines.

Before the new paintings are done, these are a few that bridge the harvest.

As always, I appreciate your patience, your interest, and your comments.

Russell

October Meadow, oil on canvas, 24×18

Glow, Russell Steven Powell oil on canvas, 11×14

Moon Over Dunes II, Russell Steven Powell oil on canvas, 20×16