Antony John, onetime Food Network host and longtime farmer, returns to his first love: painting.

“In one of Antony John’s new paintings, a conical spotlight hangs over the left third of the canvas, illuminating steam as it hangs in the air on what looks like an early winter morning. The light hits a patch of snow below, in which there is embedded an impression; smooth and winding, it’s difficult to guess what may have laid there before John switched on the light, until you peek at the title of the work: “March Thaw (Dead Calf).”