Edwin L. Green, Artist

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Photo by Peter Wooten

Port Perry, Ontario

(905) 985-8885

For a plein air painter, everything is a relevant subject and diversity of experience is a decided asset. Truer words could not be found to describe this artist, who enjoys nothing more than packing up his paints and easel for a day working locally or in nearby Colonial Williamsburg.

Boyhood spent in South Carolina paddling an Old Town canoe he restored or hiking the Smokies with a biologist father. Philosophy and French were undergraduate majors; an advanced degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in Classics (Greek and Latin). Certificates from the universities of Dijon and Montpellier, France. A career teaching allowed summers in Maine as a Whitewater and Rock-climbing Specialist for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. Other work included running the canoe-rig for Chesapeake Bay Foundation. A USCG 100 Ton/Ocean Master's license made possible a stint as sailboat delivery captain worldwide. Activities have ranged from hiking the Appalachian and Long Trails end-to-end, biking the Oregon Trail and across France, to living aboard a sailboat for twelve years while sailing and painting all over the world. The violin and viola continue to be an interest. James City County, Virginia is home, now, with wife Isabelle, Fauvette, a young cat, and Rau and Minerva, feral cats, who just last winter decided to come inside rather than brave the elements - ad effeminandos animos.

Art has been a lifelong pursuit. The inspiration of a three year stay in Villefranche S/M in the early 60's where Cocteau and Matisse did so much fine work, the study in Dijon and Montpellier with their wonderful museums and university offerings, the frequent trips over the years to Paris, the Loire Valley and the Midi, and to Italy and Greece - the Mediterranean periploi, and not least, the core Studio Art Program at Virginia Commonwealth University, all have fueled this passion for so long. Serious brush to canvas painting revived long ago in Sri Lanka on a sailing trip from Bali to Cyprus. It has continued without interruption to the present. Sailing has always offered the means for visiting interesting places to paint and for gleaning new ideas. Until recently cruising the coast of Maine in our 36' Cheoy Lee cutter rigged sloop, Arke, provided a respite from southern summers. Now day-sailing on the Chesapeake Bay is a pleasant enough diversion to quell any serious wanderlust. To escape harsh winter weather Key West and Charleston, SC offer familiar places where watercolors mostly do not freeze (see Charleston Prints for a sample). The preservation of Hunterstown, PA, both for its quaintness and the role it played in the Gettysburg campaign, has become an important cause for me. Some awfully good people are working hard to save it from the clutches of unprincipled development. To that end I have done a series of watercolors of the Civil War era buildings in the town. The local historical society sells prints and note cards of these to support their preservation effort (see Hunterstown Prints). A summer trip to the Mt. Rogers area of SW Virginia resulted in several small oils. These may be of interest (see Mt. Rogers paintings).

As is probably obvious from reading above, I'm an inveterate Francophile and make no apology for it. I love French culture, their language, the people - visiting regularly for more than 45 years. This past September was special: I returned to Provence to paint after an absence from the Cote d'Azur of more than forty years. For me, Paris had become a destination because of the ease of selling paintings there and because it is such a beautiful place to be. Thomas Wolfe has said you can "never go home again". Of course he was right, but it was fabulous to see southern France again and at my age. What a difference! In spite of an unusually rainy September, nothing could be more exciting than the clean, clear light of Provence. I stayed in a small hotel (La Victoire) in Vence - purposefully avoiding the more touristy St. Paul de Vence five miles down the road. A day in Villefranche was enough to satisfy any lingering nostalgia - my apartment still there behind the Hotel Welcome, the charm of the steep, narrow medieval streets and archways persisted. When you spend several weeks in a small town anywhere in the world you come to know it in more than a cursory way - the locals, too. One day in Vence I was painting a fruit stand in the medieval Cour Surian when it started raining. I was ready to pack up when Thomas Spagnolini, the owner of the stand, went to the restaurant next door and borrowed a large umbrella which he set up over me so I could continue painting. There were several artists who kept studios in Vence. When one would see me painting, they would stop to chat or to invite me to their studio for a coffee. The local gendarmerie, the reporter from Nice-Matin, the patronne of the Salon du Tea in the Cour Godeau who brought me a cup of tea and a biscuit and commiserated about the rain - all were friendly and welcoming beyond imagining. And no one could have been more wonderful than the owners of the Hotel La Victoire, Nathalie and her husband, Pierre. Large resort resort hospitality, while perfectly ok if you don't know any better, is quite different from the sincere and cordial reception one receives in a small French hotel. In all I was able to complete twenty two paintings - acrylic on canvas, though normally I use Gamblin oils. The trip was without event. The euro dearer than it has ever been in my lifetime. When I sell my first million dollar painting I'm going back for an extended stay. (See Painting in Provence)

Whether working in Williamsburg or in France, painting en plein air has a way of capturing one's soul; every effort is made to work outside each day. The tidewater area offers a true opportunity for any artist: the wealth of subject matter endless, the beauty ever changing. No lifetime could capture it all.

Painting in the Cour Godeau -Vence, France

September 2009

The column is Roman 2nd Century AD - one of two given by the city of

Marseille to Vence. It is dedicated to the god Mars Vintium. Vintium

becomes Vincium in French before the Latin ending is replaced

by the mute e - hence Vence).

Edwin L. Green, Artist

P. O. Box 744 Toano, Virginia 23168

Phone (757) 566-1582

email: elgreenart@gmail.com