New Works By A Favorite Artist At P.H. Miller Gallery

WOODBURY — The P.H. Miller Studio & Gallery, located at 495 Main Street South, is presenting “Back Roads & Back Shores,” featuring new works by the landscape artist Thomas C. Adkins, until October 24.

Thomas Adkins is a resident of Southbury and Maine, and a graduate of Paier College of Art of New Haven. After graduate classes at the School of Visual Arts of New York, Mr Adkins has worked as art director and creative director for some of Connecticut’s and New York’s most prestigious advertising agencies.

Most recently, the work of Mr Adkins was featured in the October 2006 issue of American Art Collector. Mr Adkins has also won numerous awards for his designs and illustrations, and his work has been used by Black & Decker, Fuji, GE, IBM, Kraft, Minolta, Wendy’s and other major corporations.

A contemporary painter of the New England landscape, Mr Adkins is inspired by frequent visits to neighboring farms, coastal villages, and pastures of Connecticut and Maine. In a recent statement about his work, Mr Adkins said: “My paintings spring from a lifelong fascination with the outdoors. This fascination, present even in my earliest memories, has greatly influenced my personal, academic and professional pursuits, and most significantly, my artwork.”

Illustrating this fascination with the outdoors is a 20 by 18-inch oil on linen, titled “Alizarin Twilight.” Utilizing his prominent magenta and orange underpainting technique, Mr Adkins captured a characteristic luminous New England sunset. A quintessential Colonial home reaches towards the sky with its brick chimneys and echoes the soft twilight tones of the setting sun. Blanketed in fresh snow, the cold ground below also reflects cool dusty lavender and warm shades of coral and nectarine.

Describing late spring at its best, “Pink Federal Flowers,” a 30 by 30-inch oil painting on linen, invites the viewer to a quiet Federal style home surrounded by lush green grasses, lively little pink and purple flowers, and a blissful blue sky in the background. The brilliant blue of the springtime sky is reflected in the double-hung windows that artfully remind viewers of a time before pre-fabricated homes and factory-made windows.

This sentiment of embracing what is quickly being lost, and drawing inspiration from it, was remarked upon by Mr Adkins in talking about works included in “Back Roads & Back Shores.”

“It is self-evident,” said the artist, “that the single family farms and working harbors are threatened and rapidly vanishing. I choose to capture the inspiration of what still remains, rather than what has been lost.”

Another work by Mr Adkins, “Diagonal Lighting, Platt Farm,” a 30 by 40-inch oil on linen, depicts Platt Farm of Southbury in early autumn. The setting sun casts angled light upon orange foliage of deciduous trees and illuminates the classic red barn and silver-toned silo. A well-traveled country road winds behind the farmhouse, inviting the viewer into a world of both honest, working farm life and simple beauty.

For more information, contact P.H. Miller Studio & Gallery at 203-263-3939. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 to 5:30 pm, and Sunday and Monday by chance or appointment.