I admire the lushness leaves bring to trees - but there is a special element to the bare branches… The real structure waits beneath - the combination of line and texture, shade and shadow - the whole story doesn’t show.







Photo by Jake Mather

By living in nature one is always learning… You are in an environment that is always teaching and are constantly being reminded of Natures Gifts.

Just received the Winter Issue of Newport Life magazine!

“Snowy Scene” this color photo was taken at 2nd Beach in Middletown showing the grey and white world after one of the many New England snow storms. 3rd Place, Winter Category, 2009 Newport Life magazine photo contest.

Photo by Katherine Field

Trees in Newport - Winter 2009

Redwood Library and Athenaeum

Photo Credit: Jacob Mather

Fern Leaf Beech outside Newport Art Museum

Photo credit: Jacob Mather

Fern Leaf Beech outside Redwood Library & Athenaeum


Photo credit: Jacob Mather

Weeping Beech behind McKillop Library on the campus of Salve Regina University

Photo credit: Jacob Mather

No two gardens are alike…

and no garden ever remains the same for even one day. My goal is to craft a landscape which is a pleasure to behold, time after time, day to night, and season to season.

In the details, part 2…

This is a wall - a thing of beauty - this is real stone. Not a product from a mold... it creates character, it creates shadow, light, life, movement... The stone is dynamic.

The way that Nature works is a lifetime of learning for us to study - it is what will always inspire me in my work to push further and learn what I can from my greatest teacher.

Photo by Rob Bikash, Katherine Field and Associates

I just want to design…

Every day! I have ideas - sometimes tons of them - and I want to make them come to life!

Grey lines on the sleeping snow;
shadows from the hazy half moon.

Possibilities and What-if’s

The designer in me is always looking towards the possibilities and what-ifs. My medium and focus may evolve over time - but the actual process makes me love design and what I do.

I find inspiration everywhere and in everything...

I always carry a sketchbook with me because an inspirational moment can be found anywhere and anytime – from the texture of a plant to the shape of an old twig or the colors of seashells.

Trees inspire artists and touch our souls...

Like those in the drawings of van Gogh and the prints of Hokusai, trees are the inspiration for sculptors, painters, photographers, and designers alike. They are the living ‘bones’ of the works of landscape architects… they reach to the skies and provide homes for the gentlest of creatures… they whisper in the breeze and speak to me. I am humbled by the responsibility of planting trees today that will hold secret conversations with the hearts of others.
Vincent van Gogh, Winter Garden

I love the form... I love being able to see through the trees... to see the structure... the topography, the brown and the blues, the graphic quality of the branches.

After the snow fall...

The snow is so incredible on the trees - it outlines the form in a way that one would normally never see – it defines the deep contours and separates the individual branches… Icicles glimmer in the winter light illustrating the bone structure of each limb.

I’ve learned that the landscape can contain all one’s activities or fantasies and become places of spiritual contact.

The site can tell you where to define little rooms, where the micro climates are… It’s a way of thinking: the site gives you the constraints and opportunities for design.

Creating "rooms" within the landscape...

My early perceptions of gardens as rooms is a concept that I still feel is the essence of the landscape. I design gardens with defined spaces which mirror the rooms of a house. The floor is the base plan... lawn is carpet... hedges, shrubs, fences and stone walls create corridors and walls... changes of grade are stairs... framed views are windows... trees, trellises and umbrellas are the ceiling... Furniture, sculpture and lighting are all included as the elements that give the space an animated use.