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, a young cat, Fauvette, and Rau, Minerva, and Leonardo, feral cats, who just last winter decided they had rather join us inside 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, frequent trips to Paris and the visits to southern France, Italy and Greece over the years - 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). This January was not really cold enough to justify a trip to Charleston; but I went anyway. Charleston has always drawn artists. The itinerant 18th century miniaturist Edward Greene Malbone (New England - no kin) is a favorite. He made handsome watercolor portraits on ivory for the Pinckney's. Several are in the Gibbs Art Gallery. Edward Hooper painted Charleston 'single houses' in watercolor. As a child I thrilled to the work of Elizabeth O'Neill Verner. Today, West Fraser's oils know no peer; without doubt he is one of the finest painters of our day.

Another interest continues to be Hunterstown, PA where this July 2 the 145th anniversary of the Wade Hampton/Custer encounter was celebrated. In an effort to save this historic town from the wanton development which is so rampant in the area, the local historical society (www.hunterstown1863.com) has been trying to draw attention to the important but little known role that Hunterstown played in the Battle of Gettysburg. At this juncture, I have done paintings of nearly every Civil War era building in the town (vide Hunterstown Prints). Several of these buildings are at immediate risk of destruction or of such radical modification that their historical value would be severely compromised. Two years ago a farmer arbitrarily tore down a barn that hid Custer's troops in his ploy to ambush Hampton's cavalry on the second day of the Gettysburg Campaign. Hunterstown has existed since Colonial times: Indians traded with early settlers along Beaver Dam Creek there, George Washington stopped to have his horse shod at the Tate Farm blacksmith shop, people have worshipped at the Great Conewago Presbyterian Church site since before the stone church was completed in1794. The watercolors are an effort to show what of the Civil War or older is extant at the present day and to demonstrate the town's importance as an historic relic. It is a shame to allow the shortsightedness and greed of a few to destroy a heritage which once lost can never be recovered. Hunterstown truly has much the same potential for restoration as Colonial Williamsburg did; would that another John D. Rockefeller Jr. could be found.

Also this summer I spent several days painting in the Mt. Rogers area of SW Virginia. Rogers is the highest mountain in Virginia (5729ft.). Its summit is alpine -covered with spruce - while the several ridges that form its nexus represent the northernmost examples of the "Southern Balds" so familiar in the Smokies. Mt. Rogers is paralleled by Iron Mountain to the west, though at thousand feet lower. To the east the view is open to the VA and NC piedmont. To the south are the "big" mountains of NC and TN. The result is a spectacular vista in all directions which gives the feeling that you are very much higher up than you actually are. I discovered Mt. Rogers more than 30 years ago while hiking the AT. Over the years I've returned several times to bird (this time I'm fairly certain I saw a Cerulean Warbler, though I would like to have heard a song to be certain) and once in the early 80's to do a cross-country ski loop of Rogers and Iron Mountain - that's when winters actually had snow. Access to most of the area is fairly easy and it is not too demanding to day hike in with a backpack and French easel. Link to Mt. Rogers Paintings.

While the studio is a good base of operations, painting en plein air has a way of capturing one's soul; every effort is made to work outside each day. The tidewater area is a wonderful place for any artist: the wealth of subject matter endless, the beauty ever changing. No lifetime could ever capture it all.

View SE from Elk Garden

Virginia Highlands Horse Trail

Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area

Edwin L. Green, Artist

P. O. Box 744 Toano, Virginia 23168

Phone (757) 566-1582

email: elgreenart@gmail.com