Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Journal: Nielsen's Sugarhouse

Pipes and evaporator wait for another year of boiling sap.

Click here to see a sketch from the same spot.

7 comments:

Kristen Dukat Art said...

I love this!!! I'm from Vermont and New Hampshire and I've been dying to paint a sugar house, but you nailed it!

Jul said...

Love the way you've captured the sunlight in this one.

Nancy said...

Great to see this after your initial sketch. I love the electric blue you chose for the cupola,and the colors you chose for your values. love your work.

Susan Roux said...

Ahh this reminds me of home. We had a sugar house in walking distance. In the spring, it felt like the whole town walked to it. Funny how they're all a little similar.

martinealison said...

Très jolie peinture aux nuances de couleurs particulièrement attirantes... Une belle lumière baigne cette peinture... gros bisous.

Gillian Mowbray said...

This is so evocative. I don't know what a sugar house is but I can guess - I love it!

Susan Abbott said...

Thank you for your comments, all! Gillian, a sugar house is where sap is boiled down to make maple syrup. They are used only for that purpose, and all designed the same--a metal evaporator tub for boiling over a fire, and an open "chimney" for the steam. Syrup season only lasts for a few weeks a year--the weather needs to be cold nights, and days above freezing, for the maple sap to run. It takes about forty gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup, and constant minding of the sap while it's boiling so it doesn't scorch--and that's why real maple syrup is so expensive (and worth every penny!)