Rehabilitating a Vintage Byer & Hayes Fountain Pen

Rehabilitating a Vintage Byer & Hayes Fountain Pen

About a year ago I bought a vintage Byer & Hayes fountain pen.  It was in good shape with the original clip with the B&H logo.  The main thing I liked was the super-flexible gold nib for sketching.  Unfortunately the bladder rotted and the ink dried up leaving...
Turner Watercolors at the Mystic Seaport Museum

Turner Watercolors at the Mystic Seaport Museum

I’ve long been a fan of J.M.W. Turner’s huge luminous oils that hang in many museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in my hometown of Manhattan. However I was unaware of his watercolors, and when I learned about the exhibit at the Mystic Seaport Museum I had...
A Train Graveyard in Thorndike, Maine

A Train Graveyard in Thorndike, Maine

This past summer while roaming the Maine countryside looking for enticing scenes for plein air painting I came across a piece of American railway history.  It was the crumbling remains of the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad.   The town was Thorndike, and it sits...
Returning to Cow Canyon Trading Post

Returning to Cow Canyon Trading Post

My relationship with making art has been complicated, mainly because of my day job as a medical doctor in New York City.  Years ago I maintained a painting studio, but gave up the medium when I moved into a small Manhattan apartment to pursue my training.  But the...
The Thrill of Watching Paint Dry

The Thrill of Watching Paint Dry

In the heat of the southwest desert, among the towering buttes and mesas of Red Rock country, I discovered the thrill of watching paint dry.  I’ve been doing watercolor for years and found the most difficult part is waiting for each wash to dry before proceeding to...