Owlkill Creek, finished

72  F  sunny

Wow! warmest day yet, I was almost hot!

I went back to the same spot, but the light of course was very different.  It was a bit earlier (soccer game, later)  so the sun was higher, and the shadows on the opposite bank were super dark, I liked this, but wasn't sure if I wanted to chase the entire painting back.

I actually liked the sky better today, but decided I couldn't change it now, I worked on the water, the foreground, the opposite bank and the trees. While I was able to make improvements, when I started to feel like I was making a mess I stopped.

Finished?  Maybe not.

Owlkill Creek, Owlkill Rd. White Creek, NY, day1

64  F  mostly sunny

Owlkill Creek, right off Owlkill Rd. This is just down the road from one of my favorite spots on the corner of Owlkill Rd. and Jodie Rd. I'm between the creek and the railroad tracks, within the high water mark, so by my summation, it should be fair game, I could be wrong.

I had driven by this spot and had wanted to paint here but it looked hard to "get in".  Today the sun was back lighting the opposite bank and the bent-scruffy tree, the light was perfect. (at the time this photo was taken I had lost my light, It had been much brighter)

 Owlkill Rd.

I managed to do it in almost one carry, since I couldn't work right from the road, and had to park way down from the bridge.

I changed my pallet, and tried to make my dark with Veridian green and Cadmium red, big mistake, I couldn't get that green out of anything, and although the water was very green, it was way overload green in every other
mix.

I'm going to bring it back tomorrow to continue on it. Looks like a ditto copy of today, so I'll take that any day.

Yellow bridge finished, McMillan Rd. x2

Today 60+ F  mostly sunny

This was today @ McMillan Rd. Jackson, I was here yesterday and started then, I did what I never do, set up with the canvas in full sun, so I turned it this wacky way, but it was weird. I just loved this spot but the light changed by the minute, with clouds coming and going, the light just budding out bushes would pick up light then drop it in a million ways,

I forgot how to paint today but I didn't let that stop me and this is how the session ended.  There were some good things and some bad.... I'm going to work on it some more, I don't know why.

This is how it looked yesterday at the same time (2:30) just before the bus. I intended to start this and bring it back. Yesterday the sun was full, with no clouds, that kept things simpler, but the brush was hard to pin down, it's almost like smoke, but not.

 This is how SAW creek ended yesterday.  I couldn't pull it out of itself, the yellow bridge just wasn't going to cooperate and there you have it.  I liked everything in back of the bridge, I can even tolerate some of the foreground, and maybe if I drank more I'd have the creek, maybe not.

Mark your calendars! May 10, Closing reception, Salem Art Works

Hi All;

  You are invited to the closing reception for my landscape paintings show @ Cary House Gallery,  Salem Art Works, Salem NY,  19 Cary Lane Salem, NY. 12865  The show is currently up and  the gallery is open 9-5 daily, hope to see you there, let me know if you have any question and comments are always welcome.

Today in Salem, NY.

50+ F  Sunny

Salem Art Works creek and yellow bridge, day 1

It was cold this AM (25F @ my kitchen window) but in the sun it was warm and beautiful. Anthony called for "Weekend Warriors" ,( I feel more like a reservist)

I wanted to paint a creek and a newly greened pasture, this was close but not exactly what I wanted, the color way too electric, the yellow wow.

This was taken after about 45 minutes, I started on a dark, mostly burnt sienna ground.

This was at the end of my work time.  I'm really not happy with the color, I may come back to work on it, I may work on it in the shop or both. The bridge and the bench both need to be tweaked, I like the mid ground and trees, and the building removal. The creek  needs some adjustments here and there too.

I keep my pallet so I can work the same colors.

My changing easel.

Recent work on exhibit @ Salem Art Works

I just installed 33 paintings at the Cary House Gallery at Salem Art Works, Salem, NY,  Now until  May 10, closing reception May 10, 5-7 pm. All Invited!

Dickinson Rd, Finished

Yesterday  60 F  mostly sunny!

 Note:  I finished this just before the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, and it's just about impossible to put this in perspective of a terrorist attack.  When I was younger, I sought  truth in my work, now I seek beauty.  Can they live together?

I went back to this spot the next day, it was warm and sunny!, the sun was hitting my panel, which I would normally never allow, but it worked out ok.

I tried to resolve some things mentioned in  the previous post. I think I achieved them, mostly.  Since I brought the painting back I found more things I would like to change; the three main shapes in the front, the road, the grass and the dead grass are too equal in size, and the road and the dead grass are too equal in color. I think I'll let this go and work it out in the next picture.

March paintings on web site.

March paintings

The cow jumped over the moon, Dickinson Rd. Cambridge, NY.Day 1

40  F  Cloudy & Gusty winds

When ever I see A cow, like this (moon present or not) I'll say to my girls,...and the cow jumped over the moon, which she could be, if she jumped and the moon was under her......So the improbable becomes true, the winter in the spring, still,  maybe we had summer in the winter, maybe we'll have autumn  in the summer, maybe it's all  in how you look at it.

The clouds didn't give me many contrasts and I've been liking large stretches of dirt road and more intimate views,  I also liked the tree and the dead tall grass and the curve in the road, and the mid-distant farm.

It was cold so I thought I was going to quit here, but the light was consistent, if  I wasn't under-dressed, so I warmed up in the truck a few times and pushed on.

I "worked the mud" today, sometimes just adding a ton more paint to a color to get it out of it's own mess.

So many beautiful places to paint, it took me 45 minutes to come here. Slightly protected from the gusty wind, an intimate road, a bit of mystery and edge.

End day 1 for this picture, It definitely needs some more work, I like to bring it inside and stare at it for some time to see more of what it needs. I'll try to get back to this same spot soon, and maybe work on it at home.

McMillan Rd., Finished

Cloudy 45  F  sprinkles in the air.

Here is McMillan Rd. on my kitchen counter, finished.  I took it back yesterday, it was cloudy but the rain held off.  I worked on the fore and mid ground, mostly leaving the far hills and sky alone. The paint was wet in some spots and dry(or tacky) in others, which was weird, I worked on it  for a bit over an hour, then a bit back in the shop yesterday evening, and it was well worth the time.  There are somethings I'm happy with, the general air to it, the composition (mostly), the road in the mid-ground and even the foreground road.  I think the placement of the tree in  the center foreground should have gone to the left and forward a bit, I also had a hard time "rolling" the first hill, if there is such a thing.  Maybe I should start with the intention that I'll come back to the location again and keep the first session thinly painted and generally darker, in anticipation of more thickly painted and lights, highlights at a later session.

Thanks to the road crew, McMillan Rd. Jackson, NY.

60 F!  clouds and sun, windy.

The road crew were on this part of McMillan Rd. earlier, removing brush from the edges and smoothing the shoulder, just the thing for me.


First day (hopefully) for this painting.

I'm going up in size, this panel is 11"x 14", I'm also intending to return to this spot to finish this painting, I need the next sunny day, same time, soon, so the colors don't change too much.

It was windy so I needed my hold down bucket.

The sun, when I started was hitting the middle-field hill very brightly and cast a haze over the foreground, That changed soon after I started, but I had put down some dark purple mud in the foreground that kept squirming into the paint. I think I got it, but I regretted not starting off with a darker tint from the start.

Battenkill @ Center Falls, Greenwich, NY.

Sunny 35 to 50! F

 Second time @ this spot! It was beautiful out.   I started at about 10:30 and went to about 12:30.  The sun really changed in that 2 hrs. mostly in the reflection of the water.

 At first I thought I'd paint out that limb, now I'm having second thoughts. I just finished Edgar Payne's book on composition, so I wallowed it it today. Thinking about composition definitely makes me self conscious and I think a bit "weird" about how to apply it.

 After this pic was taken I put a tree in on the left, mostly in front of the bush-mess.

 Nice

I'm on an old foundation a few feet away from the water, yeah!

I used a recycled piece of plexi-glass as a pallet  It was a bit too small (good for hike-in), but made a good surface.  I'll make one a bit larger (also from recycled plexi-glass)