Images of DC from a trip made in 2024, with an emphasis on architecture and water fountains. A print of “Honoring Native Culture” is on exhibit during October 2026 at the New Hampshire Art Association gallery in Portsmouth, NH.
Author: dpthompsen
-
Washington DC
Senate Fountain II Senate Fountain II US Capitol East Front Plaza US Capitol at Dusk US Capitol Rotunda Library of Congress US Supreme Court FDR Memorial Honoring Native Culture US Botanic Garden National Mall Thomas Jefferson Memorial World War II Memorial -
Blithewold
Blithewold Manor Blithewold Mansion and Gardens is a 19th century English-style manor built in the 1890s by Pennsylvania coal magnate Augustus Van Wickle. The 45-room house is surrounded by over 30 acres of manicured lawns, trees, and flowers at the edge of Bristol harbor in Rhode Island.
Steps and fountain at Blithewold 
Harlequin Glorybower Flowers 
Mandevilla Flowers 
Pink Spider Flowers 
Asian water garden Blithewold Manor -
Erie Canal
We biked a section of the Erie Canal Trail near Little Falls, NY recently. The 363-mile canal was completed in 1825 and offered a much shorter route between the Great Lakes and New York City. The state has worked since 1985 on a multi-use recreational path paralleling the canal as part of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.
This is a region steeped in history. On our bike ride, we stopped by this house, built in 1764 for Revolutionary War General Nicholas Herkimer. He led local militiamen and allied Oneida warriors to defend Fort Stanwix during the bloody Battle of Oriskany in August 1777.
General Herkimer House This pleasure boat is typical of the craft that ply the waters of the Erie Canal now. Parts of the canal utilize the Mohawk River as “in-river” canalways.
Boat on the Erie Canal The canal uses 57 locks to allow watercraft to navigate between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. Lock E-17, in Little Falls, has the highest lift at 40.5 feet, making it one of the highest single-lift locks in the world.
Erie Canal Lock E-17 Further west on the canal, the Chittenango Landing Canal Boat Museum offered this bucolic view of an historic section of the canal from a bridge. Thunderstorms were prevalent this August day, making for a dramatic background in this photograph.
Erie Canal at Chittenango -
Skaneateles Collection
Skaneateles Lake East Shore As I mentioned in my Skaneateles post, I grew up in this beautiful upstate New York lake town and have visited there several times since I moved to New Hampshire. I recently expanded the number of art works in my Skaneateles collection available for sale in my Pixels (aka Fine Art America) online shop. In addition to prints on paper, metal, acrylic, wood, and canvas, Pixels can print the images on totes, mugs, puzzles, and other home decor items. These may be of interest to those who have lived in this charming town and have fond memories of the special places there.
-
Dover by the Falls
Dover by the Falls On display at the “Local” theme show at the Seacoast Artist Association gallery in Exeter, NH this August, my photograph of nearby downtown Dover captures an autumn scene from the pedestrian bridge over the falls of the Cocheco River. Leaves collect behind the flashboards as water gently falls over the lip of the dam, the source of power for a textile manufacturing factory built in the 1800’s
-
Safe Harbor in New Castle
Safe Harbor in New Castle My photograph of a boat taken from Goat Island in New Castle won Best in Show at the Seacoast Artist Association “Coastal” theme show this July 2026. It was subsequently purchased by the gentleman that owned the boat! I love it when my art captures a precious memory for a person.
-
Minuteman Statue at North Bridge
I am honored that my “Minuteman Statue at North Bridge” photograph was selected for the exhibition title wall and brochure for this summer’s art exhibition “The Minute Man: Examining Patriotism, Victory, and Loss” at Chesterwood, the historic summer estate of renowned American sculptor Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
French (1850–1931) is best known for his large, iconic statue of the seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. He also sculpted the Minuteman statue in Concord, Massachusetts, the subject of my photograph.
Chesterwood is owned and run by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A guided tour takes you through French’s elegant home, his studio, and beautiful gardens. The exhibition celebrates the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.
The Minuteman statue is a 7-foot-tall bronze sculpture representing those who fought in the battle against the British Regulars at the Old North Bridge on April 19, 1775. Unveiled on April 19, 1875, for the centennial of the battle, it stands at the Minute Man National Historical Park to honor the farmers and tradesmen who fought for independence. The North Bridge, site of the first skirmish of the Revolutionary War and popularized as the location of the “shot heard ’round the world”, is in the foreground of the scene. The man is leaving his farm plow to his left, striding forward with a rifle in his right hand, signifying how these citizen-soldiers would be called upon to fight for liberty at a moment’s notice. My photograph, taken on a colorful fall day and enhanced with artistic filters, is available for purchase on my Fine Art America online shop.
Minuteman Statue at North Bridge It is also available as part of my Stamp Treks – New England Edition album on eBay. This is a collection of my images inspired by our nation’s postage stamps.
Each page of the album include a color print of my image, a description of the image and it’s relationship with the stamp, and, in the variation that includes stamps, a genuine mint specimen of the postage stamp. The statue was commemorated in a War Savings stamp issued by the United States Postal Service in 1942.
The album also includes my image of Chesterwood, inspired by the 1940 stamp of French.
-
On Exhibit June 2026
I have two framed works from my Scenes from New England series on exhibit at The Art Center in Dover, NH, from now until June 30.
Cog Nears the Summit
The cog railway train approaches the summit of Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This is the world’s first mountain-climbing cog railway, operational since 1869. It’s the second-steepest in the world, scaling a 3-mile track to the 6,288-foot summit with a maximum grade of 37.4%.
View from Mount Washington
Distant mountains unfold in this view from the summit. The Lakes of the Clouds, seen in the lower left, are two alpine tarns nestled at 5,032 feet in the col between Mount Washington and Mount Monroe. They are the highest elevation lakes in the Northeast and serve as the base for the AMC’s hikers’ hut.
I have the following photograph, in a black frame, on exhibit at the Seacoast Artist Association gallery in Exeter, NH May 30 – June 27.
Spider Orchid
This plant, photographed at the US Botanic Garden in Washington DC, has distinctive flowers with long, thin petals that mimic the legs of a spider to attract specific pollinating wasps.
-
Open Studio at The Art Center
I’ll be selling my New England fine art photographs and Stamp Treks matted prints and albums in-person at this special Open Studio event at The Art Center in downtown Dover, NH on May 16 10am-6pm. Stop by!
-
Boston Stamp Treks
In celebration of the 2026 Boston Stamp Exposition, I selected the 23 works from my Stamp Treks series of artworks that highlight places attendees can easily visit in Boston and surrounding towns.
Stamp collectors and anyone interested in the history of New England as depicted in our nation’s postage stamps may be interested in purchasing my Stamp Treks album which contains these photographs accompanied by a description of each artwork and its connection to the postage stamp that inspired it, and a mint edition of the stamp, all bound in a handsome 3-ring binder.
The list of artworks below provide a link to selected works that I sell through my Fine Art America online shop, a Google Maps link to the place where I took the photograph, and a link to the Mystic Stamp Company listing for the stamp,
Art: Old Massachusetts Statehouse
Place: 206 Washington St, Boston, MA
Stamp: 1988 Massachusetts Statehood
Art: Massachusetts Statehouse
Place: Boston, MA
Art: Julia Ward Howe’s Brownstone
Place: Boston, MA (private residence now)
Stamp: 1987 Julia Ward Howe
Art: John Hancock Memorial
Place: Boston, MA
Stamp: 1976 Declaration of Independence: Hancock and Thomson
