One of Edward Gordon's lifelong dreams was to have a grand, old Victorian home that he could wander around in and stage scenes to serve as the inspiration for his many beautiful paintings. Well, thanks to a newly purchased 1890s home in Bellows Falls, Vermont, that dream is now a reality and this current exhibition is full of images directly from this new home.

"It's on the Connecticut River, just opposite New Hampshire," says Gordon. "I'll take a 9 A.M. scene that I come across in my living room and then put the Pacific Ocean out there with roaring white surf below the windows. And, if something is not quite right, I can just run downstairs and take a new picture. So, my productivity is really soaring right now."

Gordon states that his work sells so fast that he has never been able to put together enough original paintings for a solo exhibition. Thus, this show will be the first time that this many of his paintings can be seen together at one time.

"Really, I've never had more than four available at once," says Gordon. "From what I've heard, people are coming from all over to see the show, including places like California and New Jersey. Collectors tell me that they are drawn to them because they project peace. There are no people in the paintings, so the paintings are like invitations to the spaces they present."

Images shown in article: "Sun Porch" "Beach House" "May" "Music Room III" "Tea Room"

With these interior paintings, what Gordon does is set up scenes based on things he comes across in his home. It may be the rustling of a curtain, the effect of light through a window or the sun hitting the wood grain on the floor. Then he adds landscape scenes outside the windows to complete the total dramatic effect of each painting. The result is a completely fictionalized scene that contains all the proper elements of strict realism.

"I do a lot of interiors and I like the sunlight thing," says Gordon. "Outside, you get shadows but inside you get light spots when the sun hits the walls and floor. Where the sun hits the floor, you can stare at it and see detail and not just an orange/yellow blast. And, the grain on the floor gives all the subtleties of the color. And that's what makes the light look so real."

Gordon stages each scene by moving around objects within his home until he gets the effects he's looking for. He takes many photographs of each scene which he also uses to help him capture the most finite of details as well.

"I'll be in the living room and see the light hitting a table in a certain way, so I move it around until the light is just right and then go back the next day the sun is out and stage it again," says Gordon. "And then, while doing that I notice the second scene and it starts all over again."

Gordon prepares for these paintings by spending a lot of time out in the woods observing nature and contemplating his surrounding.

"I'm usually off by myself in Bellows Falls, finding trails and then just sitting for hours," says Gordon. "I've hiked all over the White Mountains and I just enjoy thinking about stuff and just watching."

Accompanying quotes:

"Edward Gordon's paintings have a unique ability to make you feel as if you're actually a part of that moment he has captured in time."
- Martha Dedrick, Collector

"Gordon's work is truly unique, his compositions compelling. His interior subjects, while ultimately connected to the exterior scenes, rarely co-exist in real life but are married through his understanding of the way light influences his subjects. He has an amazing gift."

-- John Spain, Owner, Gallery on Chase Hill