Eagle Bridge Rail Yard; Farewell to 2015!

34 F  mostly cloudy.

            It's been cloudy, rainy and generally miserable these last few days of 2015, although a little snow brightens the place up a bit.  This morning there were a few short moments when the sun came out; I drove south from Cambridge to Eagle Bridge where I found a clearing and it was bright blue, from the rail yard in Eagle Bridge, off route 67.

Here is the scene at the start, my patch of blue would not last.  At first I liked the scene in part because there was a train moving around the yard, and I found this, and liked the zig-zag pattern.  There was a lot of stuff, like the signals, poles, structures, etc, but they seemed like so much noise in front of the scrubbie quality of the trees.  Once I dug into it, I found the strong patterns that I rely on; diagonals, triangles and zig-zags.  At the end of the day all I have is an abstract arrangement of line/edge and shape, maybe with a little color, the subject may be of interest, but if it doesn't work formally it really doesn't work.

 The "Money Shot" from today.  The sky made a big difference in the overall composition, although I missed on the blue.

#686 Eagle Bridge Rail Yard

12-31-15

8x10

My spot, right in the middle of bustling Eagle Bridge!


That's 228 paintings for 2015.


Thanks for reading my blog, please don't hesitate to leave a comment or send an e-mail.   I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful New Year!

Rich Rd. the winter is here!

25 F   sunny a little windy

    I love Christmas, but it's always nice to get back to paint and I had a nice sunny morning.  It was also cold and windy, so I bundled up and drove around without any idea of what I wanted to paint. I came across this scene, in Shushan.

#685  Rich Rd, 12-28-15  11x14

There were nice shadows, although I didn't like the tree in front of the barn, with it's wispy lightness.

My tone was close to the middle value, and that made the shadow and the lights quicker to get, but the paint got thick and I had to use a medium of stand oil, damar and turpentine.  Nonetheless the world in the cold is so different.

The weather felt more like December, including the wind, which always just cuts right though. I had gloves. but it's time to pull out my real heavy winter boots, because my feet got cold.

Out back, on Christmas Eve.

68  F  mostly cloudy

Christmas at the Chinian's 

   Today is Christmas Eve.  I walked out back and painted, but it wasn't all that inspired, it's warm and cloudy, even though there was some nice filtered light off the creek.  We're prepared for our family holiday, the girls don't pretend to believe in Santa, witch for the last decade or so proved to be the best part of being a Dad, that's OK, I  believe in Santa, even if they don't.  The tree is up and the presents are under it, Alane is making dinner and we're going to have a bonfire,  a Christmas first.

    I wish all my readers, your families and loved ones the happiest of holidays no matter what you celebrate.  I hope for the world that we will talk with each other and learn to live together in peace and prosperity, a tall order given the way the world seems to be, we can each do our share to increase meaningful dialogue and tolerance, every day, in every way

Today's paint.

#684 Outback  12-24-15  8x10

Today's scene......

Today's spot.

Bunker Hill Rd. record warm.

53  F  mostly cloudy

     After taking care of a Christmas surprise that I can't mention because nothing on the internet can be a surprise, so after that, I wandered around a lot in my van, and found this scene, I liked the light in the pond, and the far hills, the road was quiet and wide enough to pull over safely.  The day was mostly cloudy with a few moments thinning clouds and sun.

 Here is the scene, at it's best, there is way too much green for this almost Christmas day.

When I look at the lights they really pop out against everything else, when I look at the darks, they don't so much.

My spot. Ollie was with me, for the first 20 minutes there were two dogs barking their heads off, they must have gotten tired or bored and they finally stopped.

Today's "Money Shot"

#683  Bunker Hill Rd., Salem.

12-23-15

11x14

The Battenkill on a grey day.

50  F  cloudy

This was yesterday, the winter solstice, we've had record warm weather so it hasn't felt like the winter has started.  I usually have a fire, bake some bread, and bundle up to go out, not this year, not yet at least.  I have been taking stock in life nonetheless, the treasure I have, this painting life, how many people get to live like this?  Even the trials and tribulations of life, how else would I be able to see to measure?  

The scene at the start.

About 1/2 way through

I wasn't finished until I put in the trees,  #682  Battenkill @ Dahowa Hydro  12-21-15  8x10

It's a short walk to the water down from the parking place.

Ollie leading the way.

My pallet.

My spot.

I wanted to go down this way, but the signs looked too intimidating, the parking area is right to the left.

Scotch Hill and a Dam!

34  F a little wind, sun to clouds.

    I found this scene on one of my favorite roads; Scotch Hill, near Reafield Farm Rd. There was something about the empty wagons, the way they can be seen through and almost disappear into the landscape, and yet they had strong shadows.

     The color of sky with the clouds was pretty cool too.

#680  Scotch Hill Rd.

12-20-15

11x12


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    It was chilly, but still sunny when I finished, and I was feeling like if I didn't do a double-header, I'd regret it, with the cloudy and rainy weather we've been having.  It was only a mile or so to East Greenwich and the Battenkill.

This is what I found, I'm standing along an old dam, and I think it's considered "in" the river, so I thought why not?

The sun had been coming and going behind large clouds, but I was well aware to get the shadows and bright lights when I had them.

I would never have it so bright as the first twenty minutes or so, on and off, with the clouds, of course.

By the time I took the Money Shot, the sky was totally overcast.

My spot was in the ruins of the old dam.

Ollie wandered over the bridge and was on the other side of the river trying to dig some animal out of a hole, I'm not sure how he got over there without me noticing, he returned after my insistence.

        #681  Battenkill @ E. Greenwich   12-20-15   9x12

      As always feel free to comment or ask questions, and thanks for reading my blog!

Content Farm Rd.: winter is here (I think!)

32  F  some sun early.

       The first light came barely noticeable, the roof of the barn, dark blue against the still black sky, but light enough, that yes it was snow.  The first dusting, always a little special, a glimpse of the world as it may be.  The real surprise of the morning was the lack of the predicted cloud cover.  Content Farm Rd. is around the block from my house and I paint here often, I found the corn field stubble and the road, their shapes lured me in, the subtleties of the woods in back kept me there.

 
My "tone" on the panel was right in there with the scene.

Getting closer....

This was about an hour or so.


#679 Content Farm Rd.

12-19-15

8x10

This is my scene at the start.

Sight-size shot. The panel was in the shade of my van and it worked out.

So much for the sun, Maxwell Rd, and Casey Rd.

42  F  sun, clouds, then more sun.

     #678  Casey Rd, Schaghticoke, NY.  12-16-15   9x12.   The day started out with some sun, and a forecast for sun all day, that wasn't meant to be.  I went out in the morning, and threw some paint down, not the one above, the next one. I couldn't decide what I wanted: a process of diminishing returns, the light would be gone even sooner after I actually started.  So I keep that in mind, it's a process, an adventure, maybe the painting will be good, but I may not know that, I may not even recognise it, at least at first.   I've made myself a few rules, and I've stuck by them; paint from life,  set up sight size, keep the same pallet. When it's over it's done and go onto the next.  I often bemoan my own rules, but I don't see them changing anytime soon, even though I do reserve  the right.  I also have some rituals.  I pack my panels, my pack (with paint and brushes, water, coffee,)  my easel. I like to have the option to hike off away from the van, so one carry is best.  I never go on private land, I'll park off the road a reasonable distance from houses, and not block any driveways.  Often finding the right scene to paint is finding the place to park, and a lot of places I can't or won't park.  I stopped today near the feed plant, it's on the "other" side of the tracks, after school was out and there were a lot of people around, I'm sure it would have been fine, but I wanted to be alone, so I moved along.

This was the back yard this morning, before I went out, there were nice shadows and the light on the far hill through the trees in the middle ground made the scene "paintable" but I didn't.

I drove around more than I'm willing to admit, but I found some nice light and a good composition, it was quick.


#677 Maxwell Rd.

12-16-15

7x10

I was able to get the very dark shadow in at the start when I had it, then I didn't back track and go and change it when I lost the light.

Back to the end of the day........






Thanks for reading my blog!  

Finished November paintings, a sign and a furniture store.

53  F  rain and cloudy.

 #663  R.R. Ave.  11-23-15  8x10

Here are the finished paintings from November, I'm including the available ones, in no apparent order, let me know if you'd like one, just send an e-mail, Thanks!

 #651  Rte. 67 Eagle Bridge,

11-2-15

8x10

 #652 Railyard, Greenwich.

11-3-15

12x16

 #653  Outfront.

11-4-15

8x6

#655  Green Rd. near King.

11-6-15

7x10

 #656  Eagle Bridge, railyard.

11-8-15

11x12

#657  Cobble Rd. from rte. 60

11-14-15

8x10

 #658  Trestle Bridge, Middle Falls,
11-15-15

11x12

#659  Battenville.

11-17-15

9x12

 #661  Turnpike Rd.

11-21-15

11x12

#665  Airport, Plains Rd.

11-25-15

6x8

 #667  Hoosic River @ Buskirk.

11-26-15

11x12

 #668 Center Falls Rd.

11-27-15

12x16

    These are the paintings I took to LaFlammes Furniture store in Bennington Vermont, their web site is here: http://www.laflammes.com/ I'm not sure if they hung them yet,  but if your over that way, stop in and say Hi!    I now have more than 80 paintings out in the world, we'll see if any of them sell........

I just finished and installed this sign, I live on West Main St. in
Cambridge, NY, also known as rte. 372, and the Main road to Greenwich.  There is a lot of traffic on this road  so we'll see if anybody actually comes and buys a  painting!