This week’s cover artist, Gavin Spielman, is a man tied to his roots, both literally and figuratively, his image, “Green Pastures,” recalling his long connection with the North Fork. As a youngster, Mr. Spielman spent summers and weekends at his family home in Cutchoque, even after moving to Manhattan when he was five years old.

The home is still very much a part of his life as he works to maintain it. “I’m doing it as an homage in a way,” Mr. Spielman explains. “The place reminds me of the North Fork’s peace and serenity.”

Such qualities inspire the artist, his goal to celebrate Long Island’s indigenous habitat in his paintings. Even so, his art also serves as an homage to his family, their artistic influences particularly.

“My mother was an interior decorator,” Mr. Spielman notes. “She instilled a lot of confidence in me. My grandmother is 85; she still restores antiques. Preserving the natural landscapes for me is like what my grandmother does, restoring antiques.”

Mr. Spielman’s bond with Long Island also extends to his thinking about other places where he might like to paint natural settings, like the South of France, New Mexico and Wyoming, particularly the latter’s sprawling, unsettling land formations. These choices may harken back to his days as a college student when he traveled through Europe and America, camping in our National Parks.

Oddly enough, this penchant for nature, his family and the past all inform Mr. Spielman’s work in New York as well. It’s not unusual for him to take an easel when he goes to the West Village, where he can capture the “old world” past of Grove and Christopher Streets, for example. “The neighborhood’s charm is what drives my work,” Mr. Spielman explains, a commitment in his voice that conveys a genuine love for his subject matter.
Living in Chinatown with his wife, Alison, and his young daughter, Sage, also makes sense, considering Mr. Spielman’s equal commitment and love for his family. “There’s such a mix of cultures here in Chinatown, a sense of community. My daughter’s school is on the same block where I first started to paint.”

And speaking of starting out, Mr. Spielman was not always a landscape painter, having studied illustration at Parsons (where he now also teaches). “My work exists in two different worlds,” Mr. Spielman offers. “One approach is quick, fast and immediate using bright colors, like painting the changing leaves. The other has a darker, timeless feel.”

It seems Mr. Spielman has a varied life, enjoying things like yoga, meditation, biking and playing the guitar, things that “add richness to what I do.” Regardless of such interests, however, Mr. Spielman will always put his connection to family and nature first.

–Marion Wolberg Weiss