Brownell Corners Rd., yesterday.

42  F  mostly sunny.

           There is ebb and flow in this painting life, this weekend was very social, with friends, dinners and a few beers, and mostly it's been cloudy.  We had a little snow and I like painting that, but since it fell on friday, it's pretty much gone now, so I don't feel too guilty about not getting out and painting it.

I love the fields when the corn stalks stick out of the snow.

About 1/2 way through, there is very little color, but lots of subtle, dark grey.

My pallet, it's been mostly frozen and kept outside, so it hasn't dried, even the scraped paint, but I like starting on the muddy mess.  A clean pallet is way overrated. In the ebb and flow of this painting life, I will have some of yesterday's paint in tomorrow's painting, you might not know it's there but I will, good or bad there it is, one painting to the next, the same painting done over, done again, and just maybe I'll get it right this time, or the next.

#706 Brownell Corners Rd. @ Turnpike Rd.

1-30-16

9x12

2 days 3 paintings.

warm and mostly sunny.

             The last two days I got three paintings done.  All three sessions were cut short by changing light conditions, two when clouds covered the sun, another when the sun hit my panel.  This is the life of a landscape painter, I never know what my light is going to do and I've put my faith in painting the here and now, not even trying to make things up, so I take it all in stride, I'm pleased I got some paint flowing, but think my results were not fully baked.

#703  White Creek Lane

1-27-16

9x12

This is Center White Creek, and the Center White Creek Baptist Church.  I liked the bright white light off the building.

      This morning I took Hope to school, she missed the bus, and I saw the white of the Cambridge United Presbyterian Church, so dramatic, I returned as soon as I could to get this.

By the time I returned, maybe 1/2 hour, I took this photo, and some of the punch was gone, but it was still a good scene.

Light moves fast, and it moved right onto my panel.

#704 S. Park St. (rte 22)

1-28-16

11x12

     I found this in the afternoon, and like yesterday, the clouds came before I finished.

This is the scene at the end of my session, there really was light at the start.

#705  Dunbar Rd.

1-28-16

8x10

My new studio easel:

  I built this new studio easel to start doing some studio work, I used wood oak flooring, and cedar from the old swing set  that I had laying around the place, and at least 1/2 of the hardware, so I only bought a few bucks worth of nuts and bolts.

I have wing nuts to adjust the top and bottom rails.

The hinges allow the work to be tilted, the pins can also be removed to store or transport.

A pipe clamp allows the support to adjust in length, the tongue and groove of the flooring works perfectly for this application, I just figured this out when I was playing around with the material.

It's not fancy, but I think it'll do.

















    Now that I've got this one done but for a little sanding/filing, I'm now going to build a new version of my outdoor easel, fun!

Park Place, Cambridge, NY.

32  hazy, no wind.

          I get on kicks, where I'm fascinated with a type of place, or a certain motif, and now it's village scenes with a church, (and maybe a car or two).  I've done rail yards, bridges, farms, fields, mountains, roads, lakes, etc....and have had similar obsessional infatuations.  Certain tones seem to prevail as well, or maybe it's that the light takes on specific seasonal characteristics, and certain colors permeate the landscape and become inescapable.  These threads of color, composition, subject matter and overall "look"  ebb and flow in a seemingly natural path, from painting to painting and I let it, I actually don't think about it much, or haven't, and that's good.

There are two gas pumps, the Cumby's and the Stewarts in the center.

 

Sight-size shot.

#702  Park Place.

1-25-16

12x16

Woodlawn Ave, Greenwich, NY.

24  F  partly cloudy to overcast, a little wind.

        I've always loved the countryside, but I'm so not there now.  I don't know why, maybe I'm just liking the graphic quality of the built world, with it's angular forms and sharp contrasts, or maybe it's about being in the here and now, and I'm less often in the countryside than the village. (although not necessarily in a church!)

This is the Centenary Methodist Church, one of three beautiful old steepled churches within a block of each other, here in the village of Greenwich.  I'm also in front of the elementary school, a place only quiet on certain days.

1/2 way.

                                #701  Woodlawn Ave.    1-24-16    11x12

Hoosic River, Hoosick Falls, NY.

21  F  hazy to fully overcast, a little wind.

          I painted here in Hoosick Falls, NY. where I got this scene: a river with two bridges over it. After, I took down the show at South Street Cafe' in Bennington, Vt.  It's often a let down, so easy just take them off the wall, put them in boxes, load them into the van. All the planning, picking out the work, the inventory, the price list, and the hanging are things of the installation, with all the hopes and expectations.  Overall it wasn't bad, although no sales came from it, I did get a lot of positive feedback, so that's worth a little something to me.  So another painting, and another show, none out the door. Oh well, there are a lot of things coming up, so pushing through the shows is much like pushing through the paintings, you just gotta keep them going no matter what, and then all over again. Thanks for letting me drag you along, more tomorrow (or maybe the day after).

It got cloudy by the end of my session.

Sight-size shot.

It was cold and windy too!

   The "Money Shot"  

   #700  Hoosic River @ Hoosick Falls.     1-22-16      9x12 

Along the Walloomsac River, North Hoosick, NY.

31  F   mostly sunny

          There are times when one thing seems to cancel out another thing, the horizontal and the vertical. the round and the square, the grey and the bright saturated colors.  I'm never sure what prevails, they always seem to end in a kind of truce, and maybe that's just OK, because they justify each other and if nothing else, the remains document the struggles of each. Only to be picked  up the next day.  If I'm being a little obtuse, please forgive me, my world is pretty strait forward, my days bleed one to another: I like being surrounded by the familiar, then I head down the road to find the next subject, and the reality of this fight, this struggle reveals itself, and you can see it plain as day, and here it is:

#699 Factory Hill Rd. N. Hoosick, NY.

1-21-16

12x16

North Park Street, looking South.

22 F  sunny, no wind.

     Black and white, yes or no, on or off, life can be much easier if we have one or the other, without too many nuances, too many complications.  A world can be known without a lot of grey areas.  I'm drawn in, the bright light against the dark, colorless, easy.  But wait, there are edges, there is a little mixing of the black and the white, and there are complications.  

       

     It was a lovely day, sun without wind felt like a holiday from yesterday, and I'm liking the village scenes during this time of the year.  This view, looking South towards the traffic light (there is only one in this town) had the bright light of the sky with the reflection off the road, and the dark shadows of the Presbyterian Church, houses, trees, etc....  I've done this view, but farther back, so I'm closing in on the center of town, and farther from my comfort zone.

    The "Money Shot"

#698 N. Park St.

1-20-16

11x12








            

Depot St. Greenwich, Cold and windy at the rail yard.

24  wind gusts 25 m.p.h.!

       Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and for the weekend we had friends visit; we did nothing but hang out, eat and enjoy each other's company and a good time was had by all!  The weather was warm and grey, by this morning, the sky cleared and the cold moved in, so did the wind. There was sunshine (and some clouds) and I went out in it.  The cold was  not so bad, and I was looking in the Village of Greenwich, where I thought would be protected from the strong winds, I wasn't, or maybe they would have been that much stronger out in the countryside.  Despite my frustration with the weather, I had a great scene of the rail freight yard, much of the sort session was spent hanging on to the easel and bracing against the cold.

My scene at the start, often it's difficult to get back far enough to include things like this grain tower, but I was able to get it from this spot.

With most of the painting in play.

#697  Depot St. Greenwich, NY.

1-18-16

11x12

Finished December Paintings

   December was my least productive month in quite a while but I got 17 paintings done, not terrible. There was hardly any snow, and the weather and temps were reasonable and downright warm.  Still the light diminishes, so there are fewer hours of daylight, anyway, here they are, as of now all available, and as always feel free to contact me if you have any questions or would like to purchase one, prices are listed, but I didn't put the "buy here" widgets, I now can accept paypal/credit cards.

#670  R.R. @ Rte 22

12-3-15

7x10

$300

 #671  Mahaffy Rd. Greenwich.

12-6-15

12x16

$550

 #672  Battenkill @ Hydro Plant, Greenwich,

12-7-15

11x12

$425

#673  Hoosic River @ Schaghticoke,

12-9-15

14x16

$600

 #674  Wait's Hill Rd.

12-10-15

14x16

$600

#675 Champlain Canal Lock #6 Ft. Edward, NY.
12-11-15

12x16

$550

 #676  Battenkill @ Eagleville,

12-12-15

9x12

$400

#677  Maxwell Rd.

12-16-15

7x10

$300

 #678  Casey Rd. Schaghticoke, NY.

12-16-15

9x12

$400

 #679 Content Farm Rd.

12-19-15

8x10

$325

 #680 Scotch Hill Rd.

12-20-15

11x12

$450

 #681 Battenkill @ E. Greenwich.

12-20-15

9x12

$400

 #682  Battenkill @ Dahowa Hydro

12-21-15

8x10

$325

 #683  Bunker Hill Rd., Salem.

12-23-15

11x14

$450

#684 Outback

12-24-15

8x10

$450

 #685  Rich Rd.

12-28-15

11x14

$450

#686  Eagle Bridge, Railyard,

12-31-15

8x10

$325