Waits Hill Rd. and the centennials of Greenwich. What I learned from carpentry.

   I've been feverishly getting my studio ready for the grand opening. The building was a garage that I used as a carpentry shop, my occupation for the better part of 30 years.  In that span of time I did a lot of things, morphing from an art student, to an apprentice for a sculptor, to a series of other specialty building, architectural model making, sign fabrication, but mostly carpentry and in particular as a stand alone concern in my small town.  I learned a lot through those experiences, much of which informs my work today.   There is an inherent logic in the built environment, and the craft of carpentry determines what works and what doesn't. I learned patience and perseverance: if something didn't work, I'd have to fix it so it did. I learned that craft had to have a use, and that too much of it wasn't paid for, so don't do it!  I learned that it can take years and lots of mistakes to find what you're looking for, but that shouldn't stop you from trying.

Back to painting: last Sunday......

   I've been to this spot many times, and will often drive by to see how the light is.

   

          #891 Waits Hill Rd.                                      11-13-16                                  14x16

I also went out on Monday......

    Last week I had gone to the other side of the river where there is a path to the water, I painted the backlots, looking in the other direction, but had long wondered how I'd get to the other side, although I had a hunch and it involved a short hike in.

                    Ollie loves these spots too, but this time of the year we get attacked by ticks, so I'm waiting for really freezing temps.

   I had a fundamental problem with the values in this, and the only way to solve it is to return for a re-do, I'll wait until it gets really cold!

           #892  Battenkill at the centennials, Greenwich,  NY.            11-14-16                14x16

     This is from my hike back, I parked at the hydro plant and walked in along the river bank, there are lots more to explore. 

A factory, a city street, a canal lock, and a tree.

43  F  overcast

      I had been looking for a tree, one in millions of beautiful trees, why so hard to find the one?



 
                         When I started there was some light, and the tree was lit up like Christmas, but the cloud cover came in and changed the scene.  The bright yellow orange leaves are still luminescent, even in filtered light, and I don't know why I don't do more of them!

                              #885  Shields Rd.                   11-6-16                          12x9

Yesterday I went to a friends open studio, on the way back I stopped at Lock #3 of the Champlain Canal, along the Hudson River, just north of Mechanicville.  

         
              #884  Champlain Canal Lock #3 Mechanicville, NY.     11-5-16        11x12

      I wanted to go on the other side of the railing, but there was a sign prohibiting it.  I didn't see a soul the whole time I was there!

                                      The sun came and went a lot too, welcome to November!

      This is in front of the building where AMP gallery is.  I had to bring in a panel rack, to display un-framed paintings, so I painted out front.  It was a problematic scene, one I wouldn't have picked otherwise.

                 As it was, not a bad spot to paint, I had a few visitors, and "Death Wish" coffee across the street.

     #883   Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY.              11-4-16                   12x16

          I liked the sun and shadows in this scene, and I felt like I needed a larger panel, this one is 16x20.

           #882   Pearl St.                                                 11-1-16                                            16x20


As always thanks for reading my blog!

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!

A casino, a house, a cemetery and a bar.

A real diverse group of paintings over these four days, place always front and center, and that's just picking them and getting set up.  On Wednesday, September 28, I went to Saratoga to drop off the paintings (the one that one the award) and stayed in Congress Park and got a scene with the old casino.

    I liked the sun on the building with the shade on the lawn, a current obsession.

               #865  Congress Park, Saratoga Springs, NY.                    9-28-16                   11x12

         I found this on S. Union St, right here in Cambridge, NY.  I was buzzed about the award I got the night before!

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

This house was just recently sold, it's a beautiful Greek revival, fully intact with an attached outhouse!

      I drove around aimlessly, way longer than I should have and ended up here, a stone's throw from our old house, on Nickmush Rd. in East Pittstown, yes, it's remote, and yes we had a lot of our lives here, Alane and I met here and Emma was born here.

          The light changed dramatically while I was there, not unusual on these big cloud days.

      This is the East Pittstown Cemetery, with it's original iron fence, it's spooky on a chilly late autumn night!

      #867  Abbott @ Nickmush Rd.  Pittstown, Rd.                 10-3-16                            11x12

      This is the Hoosic River along SR22 near SR7.  I've been by this spot many times, but usually on the road between home and New York or Boston, and I could see this sand bar from the road.

     I could park on the bar, no doubt it's underwater when the river rises.

         #868  Hoosic River on the sand bar, Hoosick, NY,              10-4-16                       8x10

    That,s four more! two more on the hopper ready to blog, but later.  Tomorrow starts the Landscapes for Landsake show,  so  that will be a lot of talking.......

Parking Day!

              Parking Day, Albany, NY.  Friday September 16. "Parking Day" is a thing, http://parkingday.org/ takes place world-wide on the third Friday each September, metered parking spaces are re-purposed for other public uses.

             Albany Center Galleries and Tony Iadiciccio, their director, sponsored  the event, their web site is here: http://albanycentergallery.org/.   On Tuesday, the 13th, picked out a spot along the Tricentennial Square, and practiced up on a cityscape.  So Friday morning I went right to my spot:

    
    This is my space I'm on Steuben St. looking West on Broadway. The light and shadows were severe, and I'm not sure the scene needed the post on the right.  I liked the cars parked in the shadow of the building across the street, but the street trees didn't get light on them until afternoon, just before I finished, and the light doesn't make sense with the rest of the shadow.

                  #856  Broadway @ Steuben St. Albany, NY.                     9-16-16                     14x16

That was the morning.  I went for lunch, talked with some of my fellow parkers, and moved a few spaces up the street.

          This spot is at Steuben St. and James St. the light was moving quickly, and so the shadows, but the bright light on the building at the end of the street stayed.

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

    In the morning as I started down the road, I had a short-lived panic attack: what I was getting myself into?  would there be crowds? an audience?  But as soon as I got there I realized there were no crowds, and the few who passed by, were lovely and respectful.  A perfect day in all respects!

    So now I think I learned how to reduce the jpegs so they can be uploaded to this blog, things will go back to normal, whatever that is!