The opening exhibition of Shari Brownfield Fine Art, titled Under the Elder’s Gaze by Sean Cavanaugh features exquisitely rendered and highly realistic watercolors of tree trunks, but done in a remarkably contemporary way.  “I love the idea of highlighting this historic 100-year-old log cabin with an exhibition of trees.” says Brownfield.   The painter grew up surrounded by artists; he is the grandson of famed American modernist Milton Avery, and both his grandmother and mother painted as well.  

Of his paintings Cavanaugh says “My latest body of work focuses on tree trunks, both standing and fallen.  I find that the removal of all other information about the scene lets one more deeply appreciate the texture, detail and individuality of each object. Just as a crowd makes it impossible to measure one person’s face, so does the forest make it difficult to see an individual tree.”