Light at the end of the day (x's 2)

This week was predominatly cloudy, but on Wednesday and Thursday, a little sun peaked out from the cloud cover and I was able to paint.

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



                                    Here is the scene at the start,  a lot of contrast.


                                   On Wednesday I stopped here before the grocery store.

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

   Here is the scene when I found it and you can see how vastly different it is from the painting and the scene not long after.  I still don't know why that happens; the variables are many, but that's painting under the big blue.  I'm loving my new studio space, and had a great opening, with old and new friends visiting.  I think I'll enjoy actually working in there, and just made some new panels, it was warm and comfortable so I'm feeing great about it.  Thanks again for reading my blog, as always your questions and comments are always welcome!

Another mega- blog! 7 paintings and a whole lot more!

   The first part of October has been full of stuff, yes of course painting, but also shows and some traction in getting the paintings into the world, all great, and desired, but a lot to process.  The weather has been just beautiful, with the fall colors changing in exciting and unpredictable ways.

     This is a scene looking down Carey Ave, a back street in Hoosick Falls, NY.  I honestly don't know how I ended up painting this scene, but it did have some redeeming qualities with the shadows crossing the street, the distant hill and the tree cut (where the tree is cut back for the power lines, and is a common subject for me)

                           Truly a back street in an old post industrial small town in Upstate New York, there is a scruffy quality, and a majestic quality and they co-exist in a lovely fashion.

                         #869  Carey Ave. Hoosick Falls, NY.     10-5-16            10x8



         The next day, I visited my parents in Newton, MA.  This is the city hall, not far from where I grew up, and my parents still live.

      This was a great scene, the light on the building, the shadows of the trees, and the traffic, so much traffic going by.

      #870  Newton City Hall, Newton, MA.               10-6-16                                11x12


         Friday night was the first of 4 days in the Landscapes for landsake show, a fundraiser for the Ag Stewardship Association, a cause close to heart, preserving farmland in our region, I'm friends with a lot of the other artists and many of the people that come to the show, and that's a lot of people.  It was a great success with a lot of sales, seeing old friends, meeting people and fun!

      Early (5:30) Saturday morning I took Alane and Hope to the airport for a trip to Puerto Rico, they would have a blast with Alane's sister, niece, and families.

   On Monday, Columbus Day, also the final day of the show, I went out to paint. This is what I found:

  I really liked this process shot, it shows how I'm thinking while developing the painting, notice the scraping away of the sky for the tree, and that the bright lights and darkest shadows are there early in the session.

    #871 Cross Rd.  Salem, NY.                   10-10-16                                    14x16

Later the same day I went to Greenwich and found this:

These village scenes close to the end of the day pose some interesting challenges, with the way that the light goes on one thing then another, it also give you an opportunity to create a very dynamic composition with these radical elements of different parts.

     I don't necessarily like "chasing" the light, that is to change things as the light changes, but I do sometimes.

       #872  Salem St. Greenwich, NY.                    10-10-16                        11x14

Tuesday was just too beautiful not to paint, and with the trees turning colors I went looking for trees, you'd think I could just walk out the door and find a tree to paint, but nooooo, I have to drive around past millions of them to find the ONE.

 

      #873  Black Creek Rd.  Salem, NY.                   10-11-16                     12x16


   This was Wednesday, another day with gorgeous light.

     This is the largest panel I've painted in a long time.

      #874 Lincoln Hill Rd.                             10-12-16                               16x18

Yesterday on my way back from Saratoga, I drove around way too much, but I found something pretty good. 

   In this case I had to stop because I was loosing the light, which was great, but fleeting especially toward the end.

       #875 Scotch Hill Rd. Salem, NY.               10-14-16                           9x12

Thank you for reading my blog!

4 days on the farm

      I settled in to a week of staying close to home, and wandered the farm roads in and around Cambridge.

Thursday, September 22:



       #861  South Rd. @ CR 59                                          9-22-16                              9x12

        The farmer was plowing the recently reaped field but the impact on the land was too subtle to get in the painting.
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Sunday, September 25:

                  I wandered around and found this on Carney-Cassidy Rd.

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      #862  Carney-Cassidy Rd.                       9-25-16                                  11x14

                                                                      Another shadow selfie!

Monday, September 26:

       I found another field with the corn getting harvested, it was nestled in between a lawn and a treed hill, and it was off of Scotch Hill Rd.

         #863  Scotch Hill Rd.  Salem, NY.                     9-26-16                            14x16


 Tuesday, September 27:

          I wandered, like I do, and found this, the sun and shade on the lawn, and the back-lit barns.

    Part of the challenge is handling the brightness, when you and your canvas are in the shade, and handling the contrast is a challenge. I took the photo below when I got back and it's striking how much the color changes with the camera in different lighting.

       #864  McCray Rd.  Greenwich, NY.                         9-27-16                                11x12

     Almost caught up,  two more finish out September, then yesterday and today start October. Plus I'll have to photograph all the finished paintings of both August and September.  Thanks for reading my blog and following this serpentine path!

Two days, two paintings.

90  F  hot, hazy and humid.

 This was from this morning:

       #777  Hudson River @ Rodgers Island, NY.        5-29-16       14x16

           It took 1 1/2 hours to get to this place, where I've painted at least 2-3 times.

        By the time I get to this point, I've figured out a lot of things, basically what I'm going to include, or not.

My pallet.

     Today's money shot.

   Yesterday I went down to the Cambridge Town Hall, and found this scene.

    There were things I liked about the scene, but there was a lot of middle value greens that I didn't.

    #776 Center Cambridge road @ town hall.    5-28-16    11x14

      At the end of the day, not terrible, but there is probably too much stuff.

Here are a couple of sash, I've had a lot of them through the shop. I'm going to finish up the few projects I've promised out and quit this line of work.  I've done close to 1,000 of these, maybe that's too many, maybe I'm quitting too late.