Gregory Packard, original landscape, still life and figurative paintings

Gregory Packard, an American Impressionist:

Original Landscape Paintings

Original Still Life Paintings

Original Floral Paintings

Original Figurative Paintings

Original Oil Paintings

Plein Air Paintings

A Good Place to Think

Most of the time I just need a good place to think. A place where I can take the time to refocus on my priorities in life. I've said before they are three: father, husband, painter. Ironically I spend an enormous amount of energy trying to keep it that simple. I think perhaps I expect too much, and often I am very persistent to meet those expectations; sometimes to a fault. But the truth is there is little control in life. At best I can't even fully control myself. Can anybody? I try hard to make the kind of life for myself and my family that I envision and by my own standard life is good to me. I simply want to make it the best it can be. When something in my life takes a direction away from my intention I often ask, "has it not worked out because it is not meant to be or is it simply because I have not tried hard enough?" Frequently I'm not perceptive enough to grasp an answer. It's a balance in life to which I have never really been able to dance. Part of me wants to take life as it is, to let go and to let it assemble naturally. The other part of me doesn't like what life brings naturally and so works to keep it in line with the picture I've painted in my head. It's sort of like when you trust a stranger too much he or she very often takes advantage of you. Yet, who wants to live life as a cynic? It's sort of like a garden where you reap what you sow, but anybody who has ever had a garden knows there's more to a good harvest than simply sowing the seeds. I think that at least part of the answer is in realizing that trusting life or people or sowing good seeds really is just the foundation, and that maintaining simplicity in a fast paced conflicting world does require a lot of energy. I think that as in a painting is as in life: the middle stages past the foundation are often messy and misunderstood. It's easy to start things with a clear vision, like getting in a sea kayak and setting a destination. But once well into the journey a lot depends upon recognizing the conditions in which you paddle and making the best use of them without necessarily trying to change them. To see things through to a finish that reflects my greater intent I sometimes need the fruit of Reinhold Niebuhr's great prayer "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that should be changed and the wisdom to know the difference."

Gregory Packard, August 4th, 2008