Summer Places: Eastern Long Island and New England

Simon Parkes paints summer in the Northeast: the sandy beaches, old frame houses, drifting boats, and rocky shores that represent the joys of summertime from Eastern Long Island up along the coast to New England. His paintings are sentimental and nostalgic-- he records houses and landscapes that might have been painted in the 19th century, or even earlier. In the pages of this evocative volume, the hot, dusty, gorgeous days of summer come alive.

Memorial Day marks the first day of summer-the time to reopen shuttered houses and sweep last year's sand from the porch. In the thirteen weeks before Labor Day, it's time to visit breezy shores and mountain lakes and enjoy a classic American summer in the countryside. Extended relations convene, families balloon under the shingled roof, seaside cottage, or the cozy intimacy of an Adirondack lodge. These places have a comforting sameness to them; they change little from year to year.

Summer is also the time when Simon Parkes shoulders a traveling box of oil paints and a handful of brushes and heads out on bicycle or foot to capture the evanescent summer landscapes of Eastern Long Island and New England. In just a few hours, for Parkes works quickly to take advantage of the light, he creates a view of cliffs bordering Gardiner's Bay or of the small boats skimming the coast of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Parkes's summer places are sentimental and nostalgic; he records houses and landscapes that might have been painted in the 19th century, or even earlier.

Summer Places is a keepsake for the millions of locals and visitors who love the special vitality of traditional New England and Eastern Long Island. This quiet world, the unchanging world of summer, lies at the heart of this entrancing book. AUTHOR BIO: Simon Parkes was born Crowthorne, England. One of five children, he grew up in Wellington College, where his father was a mathematics teacher. At age 17he began a six-year apprenticeship with painting restorers in London. In 1978, he moved to the United States where in 1980 he opened his own art conservation studio in New York. Parkes started painting in the early 1990s. He has exhibited mostly at W.M. Brady & Co. in New York as well as in Long Island and Palm Beach. He has painted in Europe, North Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, and all over the United States. Parkes lives in New York and East Hampton.

Angus Wilkie is a social historian and critic whose writing appears regularly in Elle Décor, House & Gardens, The World of Interiors, Antiques, and Art & Auction, where he is a Contributing Editor. Wilkie is the author of Biedermeier) which was published in English, French, Italian, and German editions. Wilkie is the co-proprietor of Cove Landing, a shop dedicated to unusual decorative furniture and works of art, located on New York's Upper East Side. He lives in New York and Lyme, Connecticut.