Unfinished...

This plein air sketch was painted from Juniper Island in Lake George, NY looking up at a portion of Roger's Rock. It's unfinished.... I got about an hour into it and was invaded by a family of kayakers! Now - usually people are super polite and I have just wonderful experiences chatting etc..., but they didn't address me at all and the children were going to knock right into my easel..... very weird. So for the sake of my easel's safety I packed it in - I was pretty disappointed - but oh well - that's the way it goes sometimes.

I did take a photo and may try to finish from that but then it won't be plein air any more and I pretty much detest working from pics..... Will see..... It was such a great spot too - the waves were washing over my feet as I was painting : 0 )

Thoughts and Sketches

I've been spending a great deal of time lately writing - doing what we artists are supposed to do, create an "artist's statement". Phew.... man.... torture, but definitely a productive exercise. I've written pages to eek out a couple of paragraphs and am going to post stuff that just won't fit in my statement here on my blog because I do think I figured out some interesting stuff.

The above sketch was done plein air on what we call Ant Island on Stewart's Pond, NY. I did start a painting, but the ants were chewing on my feet so badly that I had to give it up. Very disappointing - live and learn ......

FAA Tony Merit Award...

A true testament to the marketing guru that I'm Not!!! I was awarded this little gem over a month ago and it didn't occur to me to post it until today.... ugh.... Anyway - the incredibly talented Tate Hamilton passed it to me and I've passed it on to Ken Powers - also amazingly talented - who has made terrific strides in his watercolors over the last six months or so....

Thank you Tate and congratulations Ken!!!

Gage Hill Farm

This little oil is 6.5 x 8 inches. I painted it one steamy evening last week. I worked for two hours and it literally felt like about 15 minutes. Home sweet home! The window next to the trunk of the maple on the ground floor is my studio window... : 0 )

Edit: I scanned this painting once it was dry and was able to get much more accurate color and values - seen above. It's funny - depending on the image, sometimes my camera sees the color much more accurately and sometimes my scanner does - occasionally both bomb out, but happily that's not too often.

Juniper in Sun, Roger's Rock, New York

This 4 x 6 oil on linen was painted on Juniper Island in front of Roger's Rock on Lake George, New York. I'm kind of fond of it - somewhat abstract - it is more about the experience of being there for me, in the sun in the evening, than a description of a tree. A step forward for me in plein air painting I think - albeit a small one -

New Blog Discovery

No pic today - I have quite a few new paintings and plein air sketches to post but have been too busy to photograph them - crazy.........

But did want to take a minute to mention Stapleton Kearn's blog - it's just wonderful... I'm really enjoying going back and reading everything from the beginning in 2007. They're terrifically well written, sooooo funny in places, informative etc.... He brings real "quality in art" into this dumbed down, anything-goes, cheap-thrills, instant-gratification era that we're slogging through -

More Plein Air

I painted this a couple of weekends ago but have been too busy with the scenic stuff to post it. It's oil on linen on panel, 8 x 10 inches. It was brutally hot - again - can see why people get those enormous umbrellas!!! And - again - the upside was jumping in the water to cool off.

I'm feeling better in general about painting in plein air - there are things that I like about this and things that I don't - it's too busy I think, but I'm getting better at seeing patterns and sorting out the value shapes I think - from life. Will keep at it of course - hopefully will be able to get out again this weekend - two days off - yeehaa.....

Schroon Lake Haze

Been doing a Ton of scenic work lately so I haven't been in my studio much. I found time last weekend to do this little plein air oil, 6 x 8, up in Schroon Lake, NY. Insanely- I was painting in the full sun with a heat index of over 100 degrees. The total upside was jumping in the water every 15 minutes to cool off. Even with the water relief, I painted very quickly!

A Saratoga Spring

There was a "paint out" in Saratoga Springs last weekend. I found out about it a day too late to officially sign up, but went and met up with a good painter friend and had a great day anyway...
It was pouring rain most of the day, so I set up under one of the portico roofs over a sulpher spring in Congress Park to paint - it was a little chilly, but sooooo incredibly peaceful painting to the sound of the rain...
Then in out of the rain for a Fantastic dinner in the Parting Glass...!

Austin's Pick

It's been rainy and cold this past week and the scenic scene has been really busy, so I've been back in my studio working on still life paintings, color studies etc. My son Austin has been wanting to try yellow peppers for some time. Not a problem, they're wonderful veggies, but Mommy had to paint it first : 0 )

Sweltering & Hazy

I did this little oil plein air sketch last week with a palette knife. The landscape is a view from our front yard. It was, as the title suggests, incredibly hot and humid and there was a lot of smoke in the air too from a fire in Canada - so between the three, heat, humidity, and smoke, it was amazingly hazy. I Love the heat - thought it was just beautiful! Certainly could have lived without the smoke though.

I was standing in the sun - less buggy that way and had my "sun visor" on my Bitterroot easel - so very useful. Different painting on the easel than the one above, but you get the idea -

Boy - this is a bit of a pain in the patootie to get things to publish in the order I want them in the post - oh well....

"Old Dogs"

Oil plein air sketch of a couple of our old outboard motors - Johnson, 25 horse in the foreground.

Windy Day

After a really frustrating day with the wind and accidentally dumping my brush cleaning fluid - orange oil - into my paint bag - the whole container full - I made this little oil sketch. I did it with a palette knife - as I had no brush cleaner left - 3.5 x 5 inches.

Buck Mountain, Lake George, NY

I painted this little 8 x 10 inch oil yesterday from one of the islands in Lake George. The mountain to the right is Buck Mountain which I've climbed with my family many times. I only had little more than half an hour before I lost the light, so it was pretty quick, but I still like it.

I did this in my studio last week during a very windy stormy dark day - such a contrast to all this bright cheeriness! The red of the mug leans to the blue and the red of the tomato leans to the orange - this did not reproduce - they look so similar here. I've ordered some larger panels - I soooooo need to paint bigger!!! This was fun, but I felt quite claustrophobic doing it so small -

Fourteenth "Cup 'O' Jo" : 0 )

My fourteenth cup here - though it's actually been more than that, not all are fit for public consumption.... Lesson learned here - at least one of them - don't set your coffee cup on your palette unless you're finished with the painting you're working on - I was stuck till I finished my coffee cup painting - though it didin't take too long.

Thirty Minute Pose

I had a half hour left after I finished the reclining pose from my last post and didn't want to waste the time, so I did this little 6 x 6 inch sketch -

Sketch and a Night in Boston -

I was called suddenly away to see LA GRANDE-DUCHESSE DE GÉROLSTEIN in Boston at the Cutler Majestic Theater, Emerson College. I painted part of the set for the production and it was such a thrill to be able to see it in person. It was absolutely fantastic! The music, orchestra, voices - all superb - and so incredibly funny!!! A great night out!

I had breakfast in Quincy market the next morning - gorgeous day! A bit of sight seeing and then back to Home-Sweet-Home!

The sketch above is from last Mon night. I used the ground that I'd wiped twice a few Wednesdays before. I put some English red down and a few other colors and then - really it seems to me that I'm carving/drawing. Pushing, pulling, looking for darks, lights, edges and where edges disappear. I carve a lot before beginning to apply flesh tones - fun and good practice!

Baby Bellas

I've been very inspired by some of the super nutritious foods we've been eating lately -

Thirteenth Cup 'O' Jo

I'm trying a new template and a new order of adding things to eliminate the blue text and lines - so far so good.....

This is cup 13 - obviously - - - My coffee cup was snuggling up to my Boston pencil sharpener. I've been drinking more herbal tea lately too - Love Lemon Zinger, so I'll be painting cups 'o' tea too ; 0 )