A rail car, a tractor, a feeding wagon, dead flowers, a canal lock, some houses and a bridge.

      I didn't vote for the jerk in the white house!, I could elaborate, but there are many blogs out there that do just that, so I'm going to stick with my mission and blog about my work. For the last few weeks my production has been a bit down, like my mood, cold and grey.  But carry on I must and that I'm finding, one step at a time.

      Yesterday as I drove over the R.R. tracks and looked up, I saw the flat car parked about 1/2 way down and thought it would make a good subject.  We don't always have rail cars hanging around, so I went back later in the day.

              #932 R.R.tracks and flat car                   1-27-17                                  9x12

                 #931  Stevenson Rd. @ Edie Rd.                            1-26-17                             14x16

   This is the scene I found the other day, a little sun on fresh snow, unusual with the mostly grey days of January.

       I found this feeding wagon with two cows feeding, when I stopped and started to set up, they noticed my presence and wandered off!

          Here I have put down a lot of white paint, (snow)  and  started fleshing out the details by scratching them into the paint, I do this a lot, but here it's very visible.

      White can play a lot of tricks on you, sometimes it looks blueish and sometimes it looks reddish, and sometimes it looks yellowish.  Here the far field looked a bit reddish, with the foreground looking bluish but as it turned out I wasn't happy with the way the far field didn't recede as it should have.

        #930  Juniper Swamp Rd.  Shushan,  NY.                    1-25-17                         9x12

         This shows how I set up for sight size.

                               This is how I started, I would normally do the darkest darks and the lightest lights, but it seemed important to get a large swath of the background and then the lights of the flowers.  The premise I was taught was to do the "most different" thing at each and every step, you find the "most different" by looking at the subject and then the canvas, and back very quickly so that the differences are readily apparent, an oh, yes to squint.

                                  #929  Dead Flowers                   1-22-17                       12x11



      This is the un-official start of my "Canal Project"  here in Ft Edward, not far from where I often drive by. The last time I was looking at the map I saw this location and wondered why I hadn't been down this way, and there's a lot to paint there too!

    #928  Champlain Canal lock #8 Ft. Edward, NY           1-21-17                               12x16



             This is my house, it was done a little hastily (not too uncommon)  but it's got the light on the side and the woods in the back.

        #927 Outfront                                      1-17-17                                              9x12

          This is one of my favorite bridges!

          #926  Hoosic River @ Buskirk's bridge                       1-16-17                           12x16

          I wandered down to Hoosick Falls and found myself by the Sand Bar, a local pub, and a neighborhood that's seen better times.

       #925  Hoosick Falls, NY                          1-13-17                                           11x12

Finished December Paintings.

         Here are December's paintings, 19 in all, with a few studio landscapes, still lives and a self portrait. This month there are more of my village and more of regional industrial scenes as well.  In general I've been painting larger canvases, with a more generous use of paint, which  mostly I attribute this to a greater sense of confidence, and that's good!

                           #901 Skellie Rd.                                   12-5-16                          12x16

              #902  Hoosic River @ Valley Falls, NY,                              12-6-16                       14x16

                #903  Burton Rd.  Greenwich, NY                                   12-7-16                          8x10

                          #904  RR Ave.                                 12-8-16                                  9x12

                                          #905  Self-Portrait                        12-10-16                           16x14

                          #906  Pointsetta                       12-12-16                          12x9

                         #907  Port of Albany, Albany, NY                          12-13-16                          12x16

                     #908  Birch Hill Ln.  Greenwich,  NY.                              12-14-16                      11x12

              #909  Studio McCray Rd.                                     12-15-16                                  16x18

                    #910  Hoosic River @ Buskirk, NY                            12-16-16                           7x10

                             #911  N.Pearl St.  Albany, NY                                   12-19-16                        9x12

                   #912  Battenkill River @ Pooks                                     12-20-16                              12x16

                     #913  Flowers                                           12-21-16                                    16x14

                           #914  C.R.74a  Greenwich, NY                             12-22-16                            11x12

                                 #915  Turnpike Rd.(trucks)                      12-23-16                               11x14

                  #916  Studio Dunbar Rd.                                         12-24-16                                16x18

                             #917  Studio Scotch Hill Rd.                                12-29-16                          16x20

                              #918  Pearl St.                                            12-30-16                                   14x16

                           #919  Cambridge Creek, Outback                             12-31-16                    12x16

        Thanks again for reading my blog!  I appreciate each and every reader and welcome your questions and comments.  As always they're for sale so just let me know if you want one.

Finding it down the street on the 1001st time.

48  F  Warm and sunny

                     Here I am painting along W.Main St. maybe just over 100 yards from my house.  I've driven by this spot thousands of times, and today the early afternoon light was bright on the houses on the north side of the street.  Sometimes the subject right in front of you is the one you pass over, and over a thousand times, and then the 1001st time, there it is, unique, unseen.  I don't know if I succeeded with this painting, the contrast doesn't feel strong enough and the middle tones of the lawns look dull and lifeless, but we'll live with it for a while and see.

   

               #924  W. Main St.                                            1-11-17                                        14x16

9 paintings, 1 drawing, a statement, a new year and snow! another mega-blog!

 
   I'm staying inside this weekend with a sore throat and general blahness, but the last couple of weeks I've spent a lot of time out in the cold and snow, painting and all that and I've loved it!
       My studio has a wood stove, so I can keep the coldest temperatures outside, and I can work at night with artificial light and that's been great! There are shows coming up and submissions to send out, and many other tasks to complete.  It's all good and I must count my blessings, I know lots of people would like to have what I have and I don't ever want to take that for granted, nor you, my dear readers, thanks!

       Friday there was fresh snow in the morning, and mostly sunny skies, so I went out twice! This, the afternoon painting a combine parked in a field, one I had seen the other day driving by.

                                          #923  Brownell Corners Rd.                       1-6-17                          11x12

     
     Earlier in the day there were big clouds, and plenty of sun, this is Reafield Farm Rd. a scene and an area I've painted a lot.

                                     #922 Reafield Farm Rd.                            1-06-17                         11x14

                                            This is my winter studio.


                                 Here, in downtown Cambridge NY......

       .........there were some shadows from time to time, raking across the snow-covered lawn, a scene I had done in August, even tho you can hardly see them here.

                                About 1/2 way.

          

                      #921 Varak Park,                                    1-2-17                                             12x16

                       
                               #835  Varak Park,                           8-17-16                                       12x16

                                                    This is Chamberlin Mills Rd, in Hebron, NY.

                         #920   Chamberlin Mills Rd.  Hebron, NY.                    1-1-17                          14x16


              This painting was done right out back, by the Cambridge Creek, here is a quick progression:

                      #919 Cambridge Creek, Outback.                             12-31-16                            12x16

     This is looking south down Pearl St, the building on the right is the old press building and part of Varak Park and the opposite side of the one 2 above. The building on the left is the fire house.

     It was cloudy but there was a little luminosity in the background,  it back lit and reflected in my scene. I liked the warmth of this light as it contrasted with the coolness of the rest, at least that's what I was aiming for.

                                   #918   Pearl St.                                      12-30-16                                         14x16

         On the left is a plein air painting I did in October, it's 9x12 and closer to me than the one on the right which I just did,  it's 16x20, and I set it up sight-size.

                                    #917  Studio Scotch Hill  Rd.                  12-29-16                                   16x20

     
        This is a sight-size drawing of a foot I had made(and cast in plaster) some time around 1991, I like to do this like a little exercise, to attempt to keep in shape!  12-28-16

     Here is my excellenhttp://www.mattchinian.com/2017/01/9-paintings-1-drawing-statement-new.htmlt studio with another painting from a painting in progress, although I'm still not convinced this is a good way to paint, I think the results are not bad.

                                     The set up.

                                 #916 Studio Dunbar Rd.                           12-24-16                               16x18

         I've been eyeing these trucks for a while, on this day I stopped and painted them, the sun was raking across the snow, and illuminating the truck doors.

                                 #915Turnpike Rd.  (trucks in snow)                       12-23-16                     11x14


     This is a new statement I prepared for an upcoming show, but I think It'll be my statement for the year:

Matt Chinian 2017

I am a landscape painter living in Cambridge, NY., with my wife and two daughters. I mostly paint plein air, (or outdoors), with an emphasis on recording the place at the time I’m there. Most are done within a few miles of my house, but I enjoy painting when I go to neighboring towns, cities, the Adirondacks, (Inlet. NY) with maybe a trip to Boston or Cape Cod. I paint what I see, and Upstate NY has subject in legion. There is the natural beauty of the mountains, rivers, lakes. There are farms, villages, cities and factories. There are stately homes and trailers, churches and gas stations, and I love them all. The light that falls on our physical world illuminates everything the same and can make the ugly beautiful, and it is that beauty that I seek and that I hope to show you.