Reflections on Joan Cole’s Art
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I collect art that makes me smile, makes me happy to get up in the morning so I can reconnect with it again. "Upper Messerschmidt's in Winter" was such a painting, we--recognized each other! And, of course, when it came home with me, proceeded to have me move another painting, because it saw its special space on the wall and made me see it as well.
The pond, tranquil in its shades of blue, centers me and lifts my spirit all in one.
Zsuzsa Simandy, author of Gathering Roses, Thorns and All
Guilford, Connecticut
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Loch and I are very blessed to have two of Joan Cole’s paintings.
The lush brownish green marsh grasses of Old Lyme line the curvy river; it beckons me to enter the painting. It soothes me with its soft blue waters. The painting always sends me a different message. Sometimes its message is: Come forward and seek a new adventure over the other side of the hills. On other occasions, it says: “Stay, be still and reflect.”
The painting of Crescent Lake is very special because we witnessed the painting being created. In this piece, Joan captures the grayish purple undersides of the clouds on the move both in the sky and in their reflections. It is typical of the New Hampshire sky late on a September afternoon. Even when I am out driving I might notice clouds with the gray undersides floating by in the sky and think happily of the Crescent Lake painting. How wonderful is that to be out in our beautiful world and reflect on a painting in our home miles away? These images instantly give me peace.
Jane Syme
Essex, Connecticut 
