Addison Art Gallery | 7/1-7/31 | Orleans, MA

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Paul Schulenberg’s annual summer exhibition at Addison Art Gallery focuses on spots near his Cape Cod home.

In his over two decades showing paintings at Addison Art Gallery, Paul Schulenburg estimates he has completed around 1,000 paintings. Last year, that body of work was condensed and collected in a book featuring 100 of his favorite images.

“It was great to have an excuse to go back and look through some of the work I had not seen in many years,” he says.End of another Perfect Day, oil on canvas, 36 x 60"

Like most people, Schulenburg didn’t stray far this past year, and the paintings in his upcoming show at Addison Art Gallery depict the scenes he witnessed walking on the coastal sands near his Cape Cod home.

“This has been a great time for me to spend more time than usual appreciating the incredible beauty that is outside my door,” he says. “Even in the crowded summer months, there is no problem finding quiet solitude hundreds of yards on the flats. The shifting sands, the rise and fall of the tides, the sun and the moon, are reminders that the world around us is always changing.”Over the Bay, oil on canvas, 28 x 22"

Parting Clouds, oil on canvas, 22 x 28"

His paintings End of another Perfect Day and Soon to Return feature catboats resting on the flats at low tide. Schulenburg says the paintings are symbolic of how many people have remained fixed in place for the past year, “but poised to face new adventures when the opportunity returns.”

Parting Clouds features dramatic dark thunderclouds being broken apart by warm sun. The painting demonstrates the quick, unexpected changes that can happen on the coast. “Danger is passing, giving way to a brighter future,” Schulenburg says.

In Over the Bay, large dynamic clouds are contrasted against the flat coastline. He explains, “I tried to capture the stillness of the marsh and seawater while undulating clouds catch the sunlight above.”A Sunset View, oil on canvas, 24 x 36"