Today, August 9th, 2014, is the official celebration day for the 50th anniversary of the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park. Everyone who enjoys the Park should thank those who donated the Roosevelt Cottage and its 2,600 acres of natural beauty to the people of the US and Canada. I, for one, have certainly enjoyed the Park over the last decade. I've hiked all the trails time and time again and have painted just about everywhere in it. There are few public parcels of land on the east coast like it. Most comparable, perhaps, is Acadia National Park in Maine, but Campobello is far less crowded in the summertime. (Visit http://www.fdr.net/calendar-event for a full list of events.)
To celebrate the Park in my own way, I recently painted fifty small paintings of scenes either within or from the Park. These paintings are currently on exhibit at The Fireside, the Park's new restaurant, until August 16. Most of the paintings have sold, but I wanted to share them with more people. So, I have created a small book. Fifty Paintings: Roosevelt-Campobello International Park - Celebrating the Park's 50th Anniversary contains images of all the paintings plus a personal essay.
On a technical note, all of the paintings were painted with Gamblin Artist's Color's FastMatte line of alkyd paints. I had limited time to create the series, and I needed the paintings to dry quickly. Also, I really like the matte, almost-pastel-like finish of the paintings. It's easy to create "broken color" with this paint.
The book is available through Amazon both as a paperback and in Kindle format. For details or to purchase, please visit my author page at Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/johnson
