Pat Barkman, Fine Art, Paintings of the White Mountains, Adirondacks and

This painting is like many views among the 116 peaks that are over 4,000 feet in the Northeast US. It is slightly otherworldly, desolate, misty, with stunted wind-swept trees called banner trees or flag trees made asymmetrical because of ice storms. The eye plays with the lost edge between sky and land. Trying to find the distinction stimulates the mind. Where is it? What is valley? What is mountain? What is sky?

"Ridge Line" — Watercolour Painting

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"Elk Lake" — Watercolour Painting

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The magnificence of climbing a mountain is heightened in many ways: the excitement of summiting, the beauty of the vistas, the exertion, camaraderie, even exhaustion and celebrating the memory at a post-excursion meal. But watching the world from a mountain with a storm receding in the distance is like going to heaven on the enchantment track.

Pat Barkman painting, "Avalanche Mountain from Avalanche Lake"

In winter when one snowshoes through the debris in the narrow part of Avalanche Pass, one emerges with the excitement of coming out of a dark cave to a magnificent scene beyond. Here the mountain meets the lake and reflects in it.

"Avalanche Mountain from Avalanche Lake" — Oil Painting

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all works © patricia barkman • for more information, email: pat@patbarkman.com

Marcy Dam sits nestled in the "High Peak" area of the Adirondack Mountains. Hiking there in winter one sees that the small streams along the way often still have some flow as well as sculptural mounds of snow, icicles and bubbles caught between the layers of ice. The subtlety of colour especially at dawn when we start to climb, is breathtaking, as is the temperature.

"To Marcy Dam" — Watercolour Painting
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The recent avalanche, which took with it trees and earth, marks a huge raw scar so that one can easily find the "Pass" from many view spots in the High Peak area. The reward of the eleven-mile round trip to the pass in winter (with snow shoes) is the ice-covered granite walls narrowed further with downed trees and the harsh reality of an avalanche's destructive force heaping unknown tons of debris once vibrant with summer's growth, now beautiful with winter’s cover. This painting, done in my studio, captures the awe I feel when nature asserts herself.

"Avalanche Pass" — Watercolour Painting
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Pat Barkman painting, "Aproaching Tree Line on Ascent to Mt. Marcy"

"Aproaching Tree Line on Ascent to Mt. Marcy" — Watercolour Painting

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Rime ice forms when wind-driven moisture freezes in crystalline feathers on the lee side of all branches and rocks that stick above the encrusted snow. The result is a forest of surreal, dazzling-white, hoar-frosted statuettes found only in the harsh condition of high mountains. On the beautiful day when seven of us climbed Marcy, it was far too cold to pause for more than a hurried snack and photo lest we all become white statues. I used the photo for reference to paint this much-beloved memory of the frost, the upswept wispy cirrus clouds, the brilliant blue sky and the tantalizing mountain.

Pat Barkman painting, "Chaple Pond Birches"

This scene one can see from Rt. 73. For me it is particularly exciting for I rock climbed the steep granite to the top (I was never so scared) and I swam in the pond. Here the long slanted shadows of winter cross the pond creating a charming pattern on the frozen ice. The birches add décor to the chapel.

"Chaple Pond Birches" — Watercolour Painting

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