Eric Sloane at work at his Carter Road studio in Warren, Connecticut.  You’ll see straight away that Sloane re-purposed ends of primed Masonite for his multiple palettes.  A quart of oil or latex “barn red” paint (not artist’s oil paint) is visible at bottom right.  Eric loved buying those from the hardware store.  His composition is about 65% complete.  Eric will work more on the sky to give it greater depth and atmosphere, as well as providing more detail to the land.  You can readily see that it will be a stunner when completed.

      Circling back that can of paint – it’s a cleaner/restorer’s nightmare.  I’ve been cleaning and restoring works by Eric Sloane for more than a decade and there is only two things that make me nervous – nicotine from cigarettes and latex paint in an oil painting.       Photos from Wil Mauch’s Aware: A Retrospective of the Life and Work of Eric Sloane.