Belle Rd, ring it!

14  F  sunny, light breeze.

9 x 12. don't know what happened out there today.....

Here is my scene, I never got a finished shot/scene, the light was getting low by then.

It was in the teens today. I started putting paint on at about 3:15 and finished at about 4:45 so I was out for about 1 1/2 hours. By the end of it my feet and fingers are wicked cold.

 Sky and brightest snow.

In this place you get to see a lot of the far hills, (there are even more to the left of the scene).  I love the delicacy of them right at the horizon.   I  also really liked the road, it automatically leads you into the picture. It's a complicated picture and I don't think I had enough time to fully develop it.

I'm working on trying to get the snow in the shadows to read properly to the darker tones in the sun, Whaaat?

This is one of the longest sessions of the super cold days, Usually I can't make an hour.

Of course the light had changed a lot since I started, and it's right in front of me, changing the shadows, and I'm forgetting where things were when I started.

I can see it needs tweaking, but my shop is unheated, and that's where I work on them.....

Here is my new paint mobile! I picked it up this morning, and was anxious to take it for a paint. I think I can make this work.  It's new terrain for me, 32 years a full-sized General Motors truck owner........

View from out back: George and Mary's house.

11 F  sunny,

The sun had gone down and any pretense that it was bearable was over. With the longer days I get more time right when I need it, I painted for 50 minutes, spent about 20 minutes getting set up and taking it down....

This is my scene, when I started the sun was just above the hill. the white house is George and Mary's, they moved to Florida in the fall, and are greatly missed! The chicken coop and my shop are on the right. I liked the cedar tree (next to my house, to the left if it)

Sometimes I wonder why I do the darks first. I actually like the tone, and the middle value is perfect.

There is a lot of squinting to get it this fuzzy.

I only got three photos.

I bought a new paint mobile today!  I'll get it on the road tomorrow, and maybe I'll paint with it tomorrow too.

Cambridge Creek @ Coila Rd. Today's adventure

5  F   sunny, a bit of wind.

This is where I ended today.

I was on foot today, and I wanted to get off my place. I had painted here in September, and liked it even though I picked another spot very close. This is probably 1/2 mile on foot from my house.

I want car shopping in the morning and only had a little time, although  by the time I gathered my stuff and walked over to my spot, I was outside for about 45 minutes, add about an hour to actually paint, and a few minutes and I got cold.




My first blocks.

I liked trying to figure out how to put in the houses, but default they would have to be sketchy.

I'm almost frozen and am looking for a way out. I'm really not happy with the snow, everything else is going so quick!

Again, where I ended up.

Sometimes you can't get close enough and others you can't get far back enough!

I had a hard time settling in on this scene, and when it's crazy cold, every minute counts......

The paint was very thick today.

Here is the view up stream, as you can see, it's high here, (and cold!) I tried to look this way, but my canvas was going the wrong way and had sun on it.

Looking north, nice tree.

Now this is just silly.

Here is the last I've seen of my truck! I got it to do carpentry with (and to have kid room) so I'm looking at mini vans,  prioritizing my painting life, (and kid hauling), but it's big change. I've had full-sized Chevy trucks since I was 20 years old, somewhere around 1981.

Cambridge Creek: outback with fresh snow!

30  F  mostly cloudy. some flakes.

I can't go four days without painting, I seem to loose so much.

Here is another way to measure.

11" x 14"

It works just as well as with the brush handle.

I'm out back, looking at the creek, the bridge, and beyond that is the play house and my shop.

I liked this scene because of the way the light raked over the snow and bounced off the water, I also thought the elements would make a good composition.

My first block-in, I'm finally happy about my tone, it's the right temperature, and the right value.

Starting the white.

It felt like four days without painting and I was out of practice, I had to get my game on and push through!

I ended up not focusing on the thing that originally drew me to the spot, which was the light off the water, but the composition of elements.

By the 2nd 1/2 of my session, the clouds set in. It was getting ugly, being close to home meant I could go get stuff like extra rags and coffee, and I could warm up. I'm not sure it was going to help.

I pushed it around for a while.....

....and ended up here. Somehow I pulled it off and was actually pleased with the results.

My reception was on Thursday eve, my truck won't start,and my new lap-top came, and I'm not sure how to put all my pictures on it, and etc... and we had guests over the week end, but it's all good!, (but distracting), and that gets in the way of painting, ah, life!

There was a lot in this scene, and it wasn't that cold, I worked for over 2 1/2 hours (including a few longer breaks than usual).

Here is my reception at the Glens Falls City Hall, We had a lovely time, I haven't sold anything yet, but had one request for a commission, met a FB friend in person and got some nice positive feed back from friends, old and new.

Trestle Bridge, from Barber Ave, Greenwich, NY.

48  F!  Warm and sunny!

Trestle bridges are totally awesome, this one is a railroad bridge, crossing the Battenkill in Greenwich. I don't know if it's functional or not.

Ugly purple!  I made a conscious decision about not putting in the linear parts of the bridge until the sky and hills were done, I questioned that decision later.

Sky. I brought out a bit of cobalt I had from my previous life......and used it in the sky, I didn't go near the prussian.

The color of the hills were either light purple-ish or light ocre-ish, they inter-laced, and it took a few tries, and some wasted paint to get something that worked.

I finally got the canvas covered, even though I'm less concerned if the tone shows through, even being that purple!

The way the sun hit the macadam did not make it look as light, as the snow in the shadow, so I didn't know exactly what to do.

Here's the thing I drew in the trestle but I don't think I had some of the other elements drawn perfectly. Had I done them together, those relationships would have worked themselves out....

I pushed it around and figured by the time I put the tree and telephone poles in, it wouldn't be as noticeable.

This is my scene when I started, it was 11:30,  I went strait through until 2:00, it was so nice, I could have stayed longer, but I had an appointment.


When I decided on the composition, I felt the house on the right overwhelmed the bridge, so I just included the telephone poles, on the left I liked what the little house did, so I included that.

I worked in the bed of the truck, it's like a little room.

Third painting on this pallet.