Work of the week – Jim Freeheart, COTUIT FOURTH OF JULY

Dancing with light and color, Jim Freeheart’s painting “Cotuit Fourth of July” is not only full of life, it’s painted from life. The artist – who has summered in Cotuit for much of his life – set up his easel under an umbrella across from the library for a clear view of the parade as it proceeded down Main Street past the village green. The challenge, of course, was trying to capture one particular moment while the parade was in constant flux. Before the parade started, Jim roughed in the background. Then, as the vintage car rolled slowly past, he had about a minute to paint its essentials (with finishing touches to be added in the studio). Sometimes a child or cluster of people caught his eye, and he quickly brushed them in. Spectators could be relied upon to hold their “poses” a bit longer. In painting such scenes, his 42 years of painting experience underlies his spontaneity. “I get to call upon all the years of practice and just let go and be out of my thought process,” Jim says. “It’s not about the meaning of the Fourth of July and the patriotic backdrop. What excites me is people coming together and being excited about life in the moment.”