Battenkill @ rte 61 bridge, Shushan

13  F  sunny, no wind

I'm heading out, it's cold, and the light is beautiful, with lots of fresh snow. So much of life is the quest: we think of time moving forward, but time doesn't move that's a construct. It plays to our imagination, and is not reality.



Today I wanted a water scene but wasn't sure exactly where.

I had a hunch for this site, it was 3:00 in the afternoon, I drove by, parked and hiked down here. I've painted here before, this fall, there wasn't snow. There were no other foot prints, just deer tracks.

It was worth it.

I didn't realize how quickly the scene would change, but I started with the brightest large mass.





Can you see the shadow of my camera in hand?

The scene has dramatic diagonals and I like that.

Before I could cover the panel, the sun moved and put everything in shadow.



#473  Battenkill @ rte 61 bridge, shushan.



11 x 12

Here is the sight-size shot, as you can see the scene so fundamentally changed, I couldn't go on.

My set up.

To do a hike in I have to be able to bring it in one carry.

The pallet.

The Money Shot

Opening tomorrow night(Sat.1-31-15) with Harry Orlyk @ Pangaea!

This is Harry Orlyk installing one of his paintings @ Pangea.

I've got some paintings there too, and it is a huge thrill to be showing with him.

Pangaea 1 prospect St, N. Bennington Vt.  opens @ 5:00 everyday. Opening 5:00-8:00 Saturday 1-31-15, all invited!








Here is a link to his web-site:

http://harryorlyk.com/

The paintings in this show are not what he's known for,  which makes it even more special.

These will make sense to you when you see his landscapes.













Here is a link to his Facebook painter's page:

https://www.facebook.com/harryorlyk

Here I'm hanging some paintings. There is a lot of things that go along with panting..........














I've know of Harry's work for some time, and it has been a source of inspiration for me.  It was less than 3 years ago that I "re-booted", (to use a term of the trade),  landscape painting into my life. I had some training in realist/academic methods when I was a teen ager but before I turned 20 I went in another direction, maybe in a lot of other directions. Earned a bunch of letters: B.A., M.F.A...  Then I stopped making art at all, I did carpentry, Then I realized I was still an artist, and the memory of painting landscapes started bubbling to the surface.  Harry was teaching workshops at Salem Art Works, so I put all these things together, and I signed up for one. Two months before I made an easel  and prepared some boards, got some paint and went out and painted.   I attended the workshop and something clicked,  I don't know how that worked but Harry's been a mentor for me ever since.  It's with great appreciation to be in the same show with a person and painter that I greatly admire.

Hedges lake from the hill (x3) This blog is 2 years old today!!!!

10  F  sunny and calm.

As you can see I brought my chain saw today!

The Money Shot.

#472  Hedges lake from the hill

9 x 12

This is the third time, and I'm hoping the charm, I'll present these to my friends soon.

I've been "painting what I see", so I had to bring up the chain saw.

My first order is to paint what's in back, although the mass of trees dulls down the brightness of the background.

I was able to get a handle on the landscape, but wanted some representation of the foreground trees.

So I put in this one cluster of trees, on the middle left, but I stopped short on the tree(s) on the right, I mean where was I going with this?

Here was the scene, a little bit of a challenge, but a great place to hang for a while. It took me 1/2 hour to scramble up the hill (I found the "yak trac" that I had lost on a previous trip up. I painted for just over an hour, then followed my footprints back down.

My spot.

Sight size shot.

















Here is a link to my first post!

http://www.mattchinian.com/2013/01/welcome-to-my-blog.html

I want to thank so many who have read and commented on this blog over the last 2 years! (Chani!) what started as an experiment has become something much more. It has been fully integrated into my creative process and my solo expeditions to paint have opened up to the world in a way I could not have ever imagined and I'm so very grateful.

A new view of an old subject: The Battenville Bridge

21  F  Sunny, calm.

I got a different angle on my favorite bridge, this time approaching it from the road.

The "Money Shot"

#471  County Rte. 61 @ Battenville

8 x 10

I probably needed a bigger panel, but like so many days I was pressed on both ends......

The sky was clear and blue.

There is some snow around, but also some bare spots and of course there is road.

The light was hitting the side of the bridge, but I knew I had to do it close to last.

The sweep of the guard rail is the most compelling single element and threatens to upstage.

The trick with a think like this bridge is not to get too fussy, yes the light has to be right, but the drawing of it shouldn't distract either.

Here is where I ended up. I wanted to keep the bridge in perspective, literally and with the right amount of detail.

The scene. I've never done a bridge from this angle. although it's a classic historical representation.

Sight-size shot. There was a little traffic, but it goes slow here because it's a one lane bridge, and traffic has to slow down or stop before going over. I was just outside of the white line, and used the guard rail as a table.

Not a bad spot. The light was on my panel, so there was a lot of glare. I was here for about an hour.

My pallet.

Pangea show is up!

I just installed 10 paintings @ Pangea, 1 Prospect St. N. Bennington Vermont, they will be up until  mid April. The restaurant is open at 5:00 everyday.

The opening is this Saturday 5- 8:00. there will be Horderves and a cash bar, it should be a good time!

Jenny Hillenbrand, from Salem Art Works is touching up the walls.  She's got a good eye for hanging a show,  and was quickly able to see my paintings in the space so they made sense: this is an art to itself, I hope I didn't ruin it!

The show is up for almost three months, and I'm sure will be seen by a lot of people.

This painting won 2nd prize in the Bennington paint out on August 1st of last year.

Some winter paintings.

This is just down the hill from Bennington College, and I remember riding my bike down here in the fall of 1979.

If you're nearby come and join us for the opening, or stop in some other day to see the work. Harry Orlyk is showing in the dining room, a friend and mentor, I'm honored to show in the same place.







Here is the statement from the show:

      My work is about being in one place at one time and looking at what I see. This process I engage in, the choosing of the scene, composing and painting is straightforward enough. Indeed, I tell myself to “just get out of the way” so that the process of looking, mixing color, and placing it on the panel become second nature, without over thinking or being too self-conscious. You’d think this meditative process would lead to a nirvana-like state, and it does, but it’s not pure, it’s constantly fighting with real world thoughts and concerns: most often I am muttering profanities under my breath in an attempt to control what’s going on; I can’t and what you see here is what happened.

Oak Hill Rd,

24  F  a bit breezy, clear.

The "Money Shot" for today.

#470 Oak Hill Rd.

8 x 10

The day after my opening and I'm feeling a bit wiped out, I enjoy meeting people, and talking with old friends, but it takes it's toll, back in the field and I can re-group.

The light was beautiful today, it wasn't cold, but the breeze brings down the temperature, I found this spot, oriented in such a way that the van blocked the wind. This is often why it takes me so long to find a spot, there are often many factors to consider.

  With the breeze, I decided on an 8"x10" panel, much less of a sail to blow over, and I wasn't sure how long I'd last with the wind chill.

I put the yellow of the house in, but might have fussed it to death later.

Roads automatically lead you in, this one with the snow in the roadside ditch, had very strong lines all leading you in.

There is a graphic quality this...

I didn't feel I had a handle on this, I'm not sure why..... but this is where I finished after 1 1/2 hours, I was actually getting cold, I might have overworked it.....

My scene, I've done this farm from the other side, the large barn, so majestic, visible mostly from that side is down, and I couldn't face it today.

Sight-size shot, the panel has some glare on it.

My pallet.

A nice spot, the light stayed steady through the session, the shadows moved a bit.