Taos Trees

Imagine having the energy to paint like this in one's eighties! It's a large painting, 33.5 x 47.5", done after a trip to Taos early one October in the 1990's. Dad was obviously thrilled by the colorful, expansive vistas we drove through, and kept a clear memory to paint from. He records the extremes of color and value that occur in high mountain light, and sets up a contrast between the close, dark forest and a distant mountaintop.

Dad had also been looking at Wolf Kahn's paintings at this time. You can see him trying out Khan's simplified compositional sense, and succeeding. The desire to try something new remained a hallmark of the Sorgman career right up to the end.

Watercolors

When I was a child, we spent the glorious months of summer in Rockport, on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. In the mornings, Dad would disappear from whatever tiny rental we had that year, and return with a new watercolor of Gloucester - the fishing boats, the harbor, or maybe the surf crashing on Bass Rocks. Then we would all have lunch and go to the beach.

Dad belonged to the Rockport Art Association, so we often stopped in to their gallery on some business, or to attend an opening. I believe Dad was one of the more forward-thinking, or "modern" of the group. His bold use of watercolor stood out among the careful "realism" of most of the painters.

Here is a harbor scene. This painting hangs in Mom's apartment to remind us of those sunny summers in the '50's.