Olana; an "Oh Well" and a fairy tale moment.

Yesterday......

After we turned in our paintings for the competition and auction, me and Greg Summers went down to the Riverfront Park in Hudson, NY. This was Saturday afternoon, and we had a little time before the reception.

#568 Riverfront Park, Hudson, NY.

7-11-15

11x14

The "Money Shot" for #568.

Here's Greg!

All parks are not created equal, but all can be painted!

Earlier in the day, I found this spot, it's @ Olana.

The light move quick in the forest....

#567  Olana forest

7-11-15

6x8

These are the 8 paintings I did for the competition.

Alane on the porch of Olana, nice.

Alane in front of the "air b&b" where we stayed in Hudson, not nice.

















    I appreciate the efforts of the organizers, (much of it volunteered), they put a lot of themselves into it and are all earnest in their love of the arts and artists. I met in person a lot of previously on-line friends, and that was very valuable, and fun; indeed it's one of the reasons I signed up.  But the thing with these events is that they are exhausting, expensive and time consuming.  When you (I mean me), don't sell anything it's a lot out the door but it's not sustainable, I can loose much less money painting in my own neighborhood.

    Olana is a historic place, but it was and is a fairy tale: created  beauty and sublime in the natural world. It speaks to the gilded age in an America that never was. It would be a fantasy to stay there, and thankfully so was the place we did stay in, (see above),  we could come home to our own reality that's somewhere in between.

    All together, I learned a bit more about myself as an artist. I know more about what I want to communicate. It's not a fairy tale, it's not history, it's here and now, right in front of me, and I hope to express that to anyone that takes a moment to look.