Watercolors to Warm Your Home

Whether you prefer a quaint barn portrait or a snow-covered country scape, Robert Todd’s paintings may be the solution. Inspired by his Vermont surroundings and annual month-long trips to Ireland, his use of intense colors and attention to detail captures the serenity of country living.

All but a few of Todd’s paintings use watercolors, which, he says, allows him to “paint very boldly or very tightly, depending on the subject.” He also prefers watercolors to oils because watercolors have always been particularly challenging to him. He modestly remarks, “I have completed thousands of paintings, but watercolor is a medium that I know I will never master, so it is always an interesting journey.” Arguably, he is too close to his work to realize how fantastically finished the paintings actually are.

Todd’s success has surpassed every vision to which he and his wife Karin aspired when they moved to Weston, Vt. in 1986 (after he retired from his creative advertising career in Seattle). The couple opened a gallery on the first floor of their barn, which overlooks Weston village. Soon thereafter, success forced them to expand to the second floor and eventually¿as they spent all their time in the barn¿they sold their main house and moved into the third floor.

Todd’s artistic inspiration started young. “When I was around 7, my mother regularly read to me. While I loved all the stories, my favorite books were the ones filled with illustrations,” he recalls. Thus, his life’s direction was spawned and has since landed him up to his ears in commissioned work. He recently completed all of the paintings and prints for Long Trail House North and Long Trail House South (a total of close to 150 units) at Stratton Mountain Resort.

To view Todd’s recent paintings, visit www.toddgallery.com, or call (800) 545-3631 for more information. Originals range from $400 to $1,800, and prints are also available.