Lorna Nakell

My stay at the farm was a very solitary experience. It was like living by myself in the woods for two weeks. Although the park’s visitors center was across the street from me I rarely had conversations with anyone unless running errands to local stores. Emily, one of the park rangers, did give me an informative tour of the park on my second day. I learned about the farms history in the hands of many artists over generations. I also learned about Weir’s place in art history as one of The Ten American painters (a group of Impressionist painters inspired by Monet and French Impressionism which included the likes of William Merritt Chase). Going on a walk of my surroundings made it clear to me why so many artists would be inspired by this place.

This is a table and bench Weir built for his family to have picnics at on the property. It was built out of the local stone.

This is a very surreal looking apple tree on the grounds that gave me inspiration for creating one of my paintings.

The local rock was incorporated in very creative ways on the farm. This stone stacking becomes part of the studio structure.

Taking a walk in one of the fields I came across these big pods or deteriorating fruits. Not really sure what they are, but I liked the way they looked.
This is part of one of the stone walls. I didn’t have time to take the stone wall tour but, I was told that the reason why there were so many stone walls in the area is because in order for farmers to use the land they had to first clear these stones out of the way. Their solution was to stack them in these beautiful walls that are woven in with the landscape and to use them as property dividers.

One of the houses on the grounds.

One day I took a walk to the pond. This is an man-made pond built by Mr. Weir who was an avid fisherman. Parts of it are covered with a fine layer of algae. Dragonflies zoom around. And every once in a while you can see a little leap from something coming out of the water - frogs or fish, I’m not sure.
This is my friend, Freddie. He noticed that when I had dinner in my kitchen I would leave the light on and all manner of insects would collect on the window. We ate dinner together several nights. He even invited a friend to join him after several days.

Some of you may know of Dave Brubeck - Take Five. Anyway, one night at the farm the Brubeck Brothers Quartet played outside on the lawn for a fund raiser. I was put on the “guest list.” That was a great evening of jazz, after which I retreated back to the cottage to make some art.