Kevin Raines

BEAVER MEADOW POND Oil on Canvas, 2006. This site was preserved though collaboration between ANC/ALT and the Ausable Club. The painting depicts an animal-centered ecosystem from the dam of an active beaver colony. In the foreground a large piece of Anorthosite sits motionless. Anorthosite is a rock rarely found on earth. Although it can be seen in the North Woods, it is more prevalent on the surface of the moon.
MOON LIGHT AND THE MIST OF THE ICE CAVE Oil on Paper, 1991.  The ice cave on Lower Ausable Lake is thought to have been frozen since the last glacier and is one of a few of its kind known in the Park. The painting depicts a rare view on a warm summer night when the full moon illuminates the mist that creeps across the lake from the mouth of the cave. The constellations of Cassiopeia and Orion look on.
BOOT’S RATTLESNAKE ROOT Oil on Canvas, 1990. Hidden under a large granite outcropping on Algonquin’s Summit-- above tree line and sheltered from extreme weather conditions--Boot’s Rattlesnake Root (Prenanthes boottii) lives a solitary existence. Surrounded by more prolific plants of the alpine meadow such as deer grass, sandwort, and dwarf spruce, this plant is extremely rare in this part of the world. Only three known individual plants exist in the entire Adirondack region and their whereabouts are a closely guarded secret. The painting depicts the trampled condition of the fragile alpine meadow in 1990. While the plant is still in existence, a view of the treasured plant is now impossible, as the meadow has been completely restored on this portion of Algonquin’s Summit and passage through there is not permitted.
SAINT REGIS SUNDAY Oil on Canvas. A favorite camping destination for paddlers on the Seven Carries Canoe Route, Saint Regis Pond is located at the heart of the Saint Regis Wilderness Area near Paul Smiths. This painting depicts dawn’s first light when the color of land is just becoming visible against the background of an already vivid sky. It is a time existing in the cusp between lightness and darkness, stillness and movement, between silence and the subtle sound of trout rising. The first impression Saint Regis Pond offers is a glimpse into a wild landscape that is dramatic in scale, but profound in its intimacy.
AVALANCHE, ALGONQUIN, AND INDIAN PASS Oil on Panel, 2008-2009 Sabbatical. This view of the High Peaks is one of the most beautiful and beloved scenes in the Adirondack Park. Algonquin looms mightily against the foreground of the recently harvested potato fields just west of the Adirondack Loj Road. The scene bears witness to the scale and successful coexistence of wilderness and civilization that is unique to the Adirondack Park.
TAIL WATER TAMARACKS Oil on Panel, 2008-2009 Sabbatical. The Tamarack provides a unique shade for the northwestern Adirondack autumn with its ubiquitous blaze of brilliant yellow at the edges of bogs and waterways. A Native American name for Larch, a Tamarack is a conifer that drops its needles in late autumn. This scene depicts a classic tail water bog in high bloom near Paul Smiths.
CASCADE PASS; BETWEEN BREATHS Oil on Panel, 2008-2009 Sabbatical. A view of Cascade Pass looking north from the outlet of Lower Cascade Lake. The birch, maple and conifer-dotted slopes of Pitchoff Mountain still retain the remnant stands of damaged birch from the Ice Storm of 1998 and the toppled glacial erratics at lake’s edge. The scene is poised between the stillness of a tranquil autumn day and the approaching breath of winter just forming high in the northwestern sky.
THE BOREAS PONDS WILDERNESS Oil on Panel, 2008-2009 Sabbatical. The storied Boreas Ponds tract is part of a 161,000 acre timberlands purchase by The Nature Conservancy from Finch, Pruyn and Company in 2007. As the painting reveals, this stunning property is directly adjacent to the High Peaks Wilderness area to the north. As a result of this purchase, Boreas Ponds will be part of approximately 68,000 acres that will become New York State Forest Preserve. This conservation purchase will add a critical and massive protected forest block to the heart of the Adirondack Park, conserving a globally significant stand of temperate deciduous forest and providing necessary room for species to migrate in the face of climate change—from the lowest point at the Hudson River Gorge to the highest point on the top of Mt. Marcy.
BLUEBERRY, BROTHERS AND PORTER: LOOKING TOWARD KEENE VALLEY Oil on Panel, 2008-2009 Sabbatical. This is a favorite and dramatic view of the High Peaks from Cemetery Road at the base of Hurricane Hill. The intersection of highways 9N and 73 have been eliminated. With a little imagination, perhaps you can see tiny umbrellas dotting the valley floor--a favorite artist’s destination since the 19th Century.
BEAVER MEADOW FALLS Oil on Canvas, 2009. A tributary brook located just a few meters from Beaver Meadow Pond; Beaver Meadow Falls is a popular destination for day and through hikers. This 48”X 20” oil painting is the fourth and final generation of the image since the original 1989 charcoal featured in The Audubon Society’s Journal.
WHITEFACE MOUNTAIN FROM FROZEN LAKE PLACID Oil on Canvas, 2003. During an extended cold front with -36 degree F temperatures in Saranac Lake, the ice on Lake Placid was thick enough to support an artist with full painting gear. The cabins have been included in the painting to illustrate the extreme cold. Note the smoke is unable to rise into the air. Painting outside in the sub-freezing temperature caused tiny bumps resembling dried sand to form in the sticky paint film. After returning to the warmth of the cabin, the artist systematically punctured the many tiny bubbles that formed when the previously crystallized paint melted on the surface of the canvas or panel.
DIAMOND DUST Oil on Panel, 2003.  Painted on the ice, this smaller view from the frozen surface of Lake Placid looking toward an ice-obscured Whiteface Mountain attempts to capture the phenomenon known as diamond dust; an atmospheric anomaly akin to frozen air.
LODGE BROOK Oil on Panel. Painted during a -36 degree cold front, this painting of a Lake Placid tributary was created over the course of two days as the ice formed and covered the small hemlock, beach and oak lined brook.
THE ANGLE OF REPOSE Oil on Canvas.  A plein air painting of a lush Maryland scene within steps of the artist’s Maryland home. It is a location and scene reminiscent of the North Woods that the artist frequents when painting outside the Adirondack Park.