The Hilltown Calendar 2025

The Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts occupy a region of softly undulating landscape with small towns, natural areas, and old farmsteads. Many regions are anchored by a central city, but the Hilltown region is a negative space, an in-between, the hole in the doughnut of human settlement. One must drive a while to get pizza or a wrench, but the presence of the quiet earth provides compensation.

This calendar of watercolor paintings has featured many buildings, most often the surviving old over the new. The new announces itself in this 2025 calendar in the painting of modernist birdhouses. Sticking with the old, these paintings show several efforts at historic preservation: the blacksmith shop in Worthington, and the aging white farmhouse, recently rescued, on Rt. 112 in Buckland. Then there are, of course, those beautiful barns.

There is undisturbed nature, shown here in a roadside view of a brook in Hawley and a sunset over the marsh on Rt. 9 in Cummington. The region’s beauty is gentle, but an exception
is the dramatic geological chasm of Chesterfield Gorge, shown here in a painting by Sally Stites-Robertson.

It seems like winter should have snow, but these days, not so much. This calendar may be the last to show snowy landscapes for all the cold months.

The guest artists this year are my artmaking companions. Tony Conner has been my teacher in the last few years. I know I am an improved painter because of him. Sally Stites-Robertson has showed up with drawing supplies in the various incarnations of our drawing group.

The Artists

Kathryn Jensen originated the Hilltown Calendar seven years ago and continues to love painting in this beautiful place. She lives in Plainfield. Her work, including additional calendars, can be found at www.kathrynjensenart.com.

Tony Conner graduated from the corporate world to art. He trained as an architectural perspectivist and is now a full-time, award-winning artist. He lives in Bennington, Vermont, and teaches watercolor painting classes. www.tonyconner.com 

Sally Stites-Robertson has managed to keep her art life alive while using her carpentry skills to renovate and participate in a family-run, working farm. She lives in Chesterfield at Crabapple Farm.

Sorry - the 2025 Hilltown Calendar is sold out.