Finished September Paintings

    September was a productive month, with 25 paintings done, here are 15 of the best, although a few are missing because I had trouble with the photo files. The weather was spectacular, with a lot of sun and warm temperatures, and somehow I was able to keep life at bay enough to focus on painting.  I had a lot of successes recently with the "Best in Show" award from the Trask event and a bunch of sales. I got a show at Saratoga Arts, scheduled for the spring of 17'  and joined a new cooperative gallery in Saratoga Springs NY, to be installed this week.  All good stuff and I'm happy about that, as long as I can keep painting!

                   843 Strand @ night, Old Forge, NY.                         9-1-10                                    11x12

              #844 Moose River                                         9-2-16                                             9x12

         #845 View from Bald Mountain, Old Forge, NY.                      9-2-16                         12x16

                       #848 Park Place                     9-5-16                                   14x16

                 #849 Spraguetown Rd, @ CR 52 Greenwich, NY.                   9-7-16                          12x16

              #850 C.R. 59 @ South Rd.                                       9-9-16                                 11x14

               #851 W. Main St.                                      9-10-16                                        12x16

                 #853 Hudson River @ Thomson                                 9-12-16                                   14x16

                                 #855 Home                                     9-15-16                          11x12 

                      #857 Stuben @ James St. Albany, NY.                         9-16-16                            14x16 

             #858 Charles River @ Watertown MA.                       9-17-16                             9x12 

                                          #859 N. Park St.                                  9-20-16                          12x16 

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

               

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

                #866 S. Union St.                                           9-30-16                                            14x16 

                          

                                         As always thanks for reading my blog!

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.  

Champlain Canal lock #5 Hudson Crossing Park, Schuylerville, NY.

45  F  mostly sunny.

 

#746  Champlain Canal Lock 5  Hudson Crossing Park, Schuylerville, NY.

4-9-16

12x16

     I drove around a lot and passed thousands of places  that could have been painted, I came here to a familiar spot, walked around and found a familiar scene and painted it in a familiar way. If this sounds defeatist or redundant, it's because it felt a bit like that.  It's hard to innovate all the time,  maybe it's not desirable,  the scene had the black rectangle of the gate, the sky and water, and that perspective, so I should have been more satisfied.  Maybe I'll like it more tomorrow.

Hudson River @ Stillwater

58  F  sunny, then clouds.

      #731  Hudson River @ Stillwater     3-17-16   11x14

My scene.

My spot and set up, just a few feet from my van.


















        Again, it took me a long time and a lot of driving around to get to this spot, I've never painted this scene, but I painted just down the road this summer.  I wish I could just decide where to go and paint, but I wander, and think too much about subject, about place and all of that stuff, and the light is always different, so I fell back on a familiar type of bridge over the Hudson picture, even though I wanted a town scene with sunshine on a white painted building. In all fairness I looked, but didn't find the exact example of what I was looking for, so maybe I have more bridges in my system to do, and maybe that's just fine.  There is tomorrow (or the next day if it rains!)

Hudson River @ Fort Edward, following hunches.

7  F  cloudy, no wind.

       On a hunch I went up to the Hudson River at Ft. Edward, about 1/2 hour drive North because I wanted to paint some black water and some ice, I did find it, in a location that I've painted before, but the 11 degree temperature in Cambridge turned into 7 degrees in Ft, Edward.   The clouds thickened and it snowed toward the end of my session. That happens a lot in this line of work.  I'll be following a hunch, I'll want a particular scene or place, and some other factors come into play that undermine (or so I think) the potential of the painting. Today the cold, while not unexpected was more extreme that I was prepared for and I got cold, a cold that sunk into my feet and my hands, so by the time I was in the mid session they felt tingly and my game was off.  Last year I was in the swing of this routine and was able to get out and paint. This winter has been relatively mild so I'm not full game, I'm not sure if this was detrimental to the results, or just a response to the world as it is, and maybe that's just fine, and maybe time will tell and judge the work along other lines, maybe it is a testimony to randomness or a record of the day.  Making art is full of mystery and unknowns.

  

Two bridges over the Hudson.

#714  Hudson River from Rodger's Island, Fort Edward, NY.

2-15-16

9x12