The MEriwether
A year of painting
December 2025
My dear reader,
The fall of 2024 I spent in Syracuse, creating my first completed oil painting. Over the course of the semester I put over 100 hours into it. I finished my first successful oil painting in December of last year. From there, “Maggie’s Window” was the stepping stone to a year filled with painting in every spare second I had. Moving back to Vermont for the summer, my painting set up moved into the former studio of a children’s book author, in the corner of the barn at my parent’s house. My summer consisted of painting, eating, and swimming in the adjacent river with my husky. I now fondly think of it as my “Georgia O’Keeffe Summer” (thank you Mary for that term). My fall was spent in a circular studio, made of tall windows, which looked over the Syracuse campus quad, where I watched the landscape turn from green, to orange, to white. This year has gone by exceptionally fast and I am left with 17 paintings to remember it by. Below, in order of completion, are all the paintings I have made since I finished my first one a year ago.
Maggie's Window
After the Rush
Road Between the Fields
The Library
Perceivable Motion
Coco and Luna
The Gondolas
The Cricketers
Marshall
Flooded Sugarhouse
Bridge at Night
Quiet Summer
The Overlook
Working Sheep
Tuscan Bouquet
Winter Evening
In the past year, my passion and appreciation for creating art has expanded exponentially. In a month, I’ll begin at the University of Sydney, where I’ll be taking four intensive studio art courses - Objective Painting, Non-Objective Painting, Metalsmithing, and Figure Drawing. Through these, my style and interests will twist and turn, pushing what I’m able to create and teaching me resilience along the way.
For quite some time I’ve been looking for a way for my art to live outside of a screen and be part of something slower and more personal. I spent this fall designing and starting Meriwether Print Club. Each month I send to members two postcards, with my art on the front and an open space to write a letter on the back. Encouraging people to take a little time to prioritize writing letters to loved ones or to grow their art collection. If you’re someone who appreciates quiet mail, small surprises, and art you can hold in your hands, this club is for you. Little drops of water make a mighty ocean; small expressions of love and thought will bring great change and strength. I am grateful for all of you, and can’t wait to share the work that comes from my time in Australia. A crazy year is about to come, stay tuned… Happy Holidays!
Take care,
Jesse