Fall at The Brass Anchor on the Hudson River

Fall at The Brass Anchor on the Hudson River
10 x 8", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Life for an artist doesn't get much better than painting along the Hudson in the morning, going out to lunch with a friend, and then coming home to find out you've been given a huge show in a beautiful gallery starting in a month!

What a fabulous, warm fall day to spend along the shores of the Hudson River! The Brass Anchor is a lovely restaurant in Poughkeepsie right on the river, with a marina. It has a spectacular river vista, great food, and the owner is very kind about allowing some artists to paint there. There is a juried art show always ongoing, curated by Virginia Donovan, one of the owners of the River Winds Gallery. The restaurant closes for the winter, so today was the last day to empty the walls. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to paint the view on this gorgeous day, so I arrived a few hours early to get some plein air work done before collecting my paintings.

Below is a picture of the painting and the scene. I seem to like painting in parking lots. *big grin* When painting on a small panel with a large french easel, it's easier to secure the panel to a larger panel with tape on the back. That not only enables me to paint all the way to the edges, but also by turning the easel, I can shield my palette from the sun! That little blue-grey hut is the harbormaster's hangout, and you can purchase sodas and ice there.

I really wanted to paint this scene 16x20. The fall colors were so gorgeous that they seemed deserving of a larger format, but time was short. Perhaps I'll do a larger version in the studio someday.


After a delicious lunch with a friend, I came home to find a message on my answering machine from Putnam Arts Council, offering me an invitational show. It looks like I'll have their large gallery to hang my paintings during the time of their annual craft sale.....and that starts in just a month! To say I'm ecstatic would be an understatement. I'll have three other shows going on simultaneously plus my paintings at The Paint Box down in Bedford Hills. I'll post info on all of them soon.

Fall Stroll in Garrison

Fall Stroll in Garrison
36x24", Oils on stretched canvas
This painting will go to a gallery in a couple of weeks when dry, but I haven't yet decided which one. I'll post that info as soon as it's on the way.

Today's work consisted of finishing off this big painting. Whew! For those wo like to see things in progress, below is an image of how things began. I worked off both a computer monitor and printed photo, and used them more or less as a springboard to create the painting. I washed the background with yellows to start. This would give the feeling of the light filtering through the fall leaves as I added more layers. Once that yellow wash was on the canvas, I went right to the darkest darks and mapped out the painting in light and shadow.



The image below gives you an idea of how I go about laying in the leaves and colors. From there, I probably had about another six-eight hours to go to complete the painting.

Gallery Sitting II

Gallery Sitting II
7 x 5", Gouache on 100% rag paper
$100 unframed via PayPal, free shipping within US (email me for international rates)

I was gallery sitting at the Belle Levine Gallery today. A different show was up this time. Sculptor Paul Yarden had a beautiful piece close to one of my paintings, so I took a seat nearby and painted them together. (In reality, there would be another painting in between them, but I soooo wanted to do a vertical format! His sculpture is titled Torso D, and my painting is Winter Stroll. Painting while gallery sitting makes the time go so quickly. A couple of the artists stopped in too, so it was nice to see some familiar faces and meet some new ones.

Fall Reflections and demo

Fall Reflections
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Fall Reflections was painted from a photo I took at Muscoot Farm in Somers, NY. I'm mainly a plein air painter and haven't worked much from pictures, but I take photos wherever I go to paint. Over the years, I've accumulated thousands of photos that I have yet to paint from! It's been fun to dig some of them out at last, and paint the scenes I envisioned on canvas years ago, but never got around to painting. I've always wanted to do a painting that featured reflections like this, with fall leaves floating on the top of the water. This was a lot of fun to paint, and I'm eager to have a go at a similar subject en plein air soon, perhaps at the brook behind my house.

When I work from photos, I prefer to paint directly off the computer screen, rather than printing them out. The color is much better, and I can crop the image, move it around, enlarge and reduce at will. I can even rotate both the image on the screen and the painting, and work on them both upside down! Here is my initial setup. You can see that I secured the small canvas board to a larger board to make it easier to work with. That way, I can hold the board in my hand, paint right to the edges, and rotate it easily. The canvas is toned a greyed violet, since I saw that as the optimum background for this particular painting. I added a touch of liquin and used an alkyd white to get it to tack up a little faster, knowing I'd want to do a lot of layering alla prima for this painting.



I selected just four colors for this piece (though additional colors are on the palette). I used cadmium yellow lemon, cadmium red medium, ultramarine blue deep, and transparent red oxide, plus of course titanium white. I blocked in the reflections and placement of the grasses, and worked that stage until it was completely finished.


Here's another image of the still-incomplete painting. After the colors were down, I swept a brush side to side to show movement in the water. Most of the work with the reflections and color was then complete:


Once the painting was at the stage above, I let it set up for a half hour so the paint wouldn't be so slippery, then went back and added in the leaves floating in the water, and the definition of the grasses at the top, tweaked it here and there, and signed it. Done!

Happy Days

Happy Days
7 x 5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Painting flowers always cheers me up, and believe it or not, those carnations are still kicking. They should get some kind of a longevity award. *big smile* There's a setup picture below for those who like to see what I'm working with. It's a good thing you can't see the rest of the studio; what a mess!

My Favorite Watering Can

My Favorite Watering Can
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$100 unframed via PayPal, free shipping within US (email me for international rates)

I love this little copper and brass watering can. I got it in a thrift shop, browsing for still life items several years ago. Its unusual shape and shimmer make it one of my favorite still life pieces. I don't think I've painted it for a couple of years, so it's nice for me to explore it with brushes again.

Late Day Dog Walk Along the Hudson

Late Day Dog Walk Along the Hudson
7 x 5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD

This painting was done from a photograph taken the same evening as the miniature painting I did yesterday. This woman was walking her dog, and came around the bend just as I was snapping the shutter. I told her it was perfect timing. She thought I meant that she'd ruined my photo, but I assured her that the backlit figures of her and her dog would make an ideal focal point! It was a warm fall evening, and she remarked how after 30 years of living in this area, she realizes how fortunate we are to have walks along the Hudson in that amazing light and tranquility.

I wish I could get far enough ahead on the daily paintings to be able to photograph my work when it's dry, instead of when it's wet and shiny, throwing glare all over the painting as well as altering colors and contrasts. This painting looks so much better in person, and I know I'll be able to get a better image of it once it's dry!

Chasing a Hudson River Sunset

Chasing a Hudson River Sunset
2.5 x 3.5", Oils on Canvas mounted to 100% rag paper

Here's yet another miniature painting. I really enjoy doing these, so on days when I don't have time to do a larger painting, they're an ideal format. This one was done from a photo I took a couple of nights ago while chasing the sunset from one location to another by the Hudson River. It was a beautiful fall evening, with lots of folks out enjoying the unseasonably warm fall weather that night.

In the art world, ACEO stands for Artist Cards Editions and Originals. They are collectible paintings in a standard, miniature format. The size is 2.5x3.5", like baseball cards and playing cards. They are so much fun to paint and collect that every so often I do a few of them. Some artists sell prints of paintings in that size as ACEOs, but mine are always one-of-a-kind originals. ACEOs are truly fun to collect for those who love art. Everybody can find a place for these little gems, and they are reasonably priced. It's an easy and relatively inexpensive way to acquire work from some favorite artists.

Waterfall in Miniature (daily painting) and Winter Stroll

Waterfall in Miniature (ACEO size) daily painting
2.5x3.5", Oils on primed acid free matboard


It's another wee painting off my brushes! This one is ACEO trading card size, 2.5x3.5". It was painted from a photo taken by Deb Leger. (Thank you, Deb!)

In the art world, ACEO stands for Artist Cards Editions and Originals. They are collectible paintings in a standard, miniature format. The size is 2.5x3.5", like baseball cards and playing cards. They are so much fun to paint and collect that every so often I do a few of them. Some artists sell prints of paintings in that size as ACEOs, but mine are always one-of-a-kind originals. ACEOs are truly fun to collect for those who love art. Everybody can find a place for these little gems, and they are reasonably priced. It's an easy and relatively inexpensive way to acquire work from some favorite artists.


And now for my big news.............


Winter Stroll
18x24", Oils on canvas
$1,100 custom framed (If interested, contact the Belle Levine Gallery of Putnam Arts Council at 845-628-3664)

My painting Winter Stroll was just accepted into the juried Fine Arts Show at the Belle Levine Gallery! This is a painting done from a photo I took while out for an evening stroll with my husband in winter. It was done with a limited palette of just four colors and white. The opening is tomorrow evening from 6-8pm, and although you're all invited, unfortunately I have to be somewhere with my daughter and probably will have to miss the event. The show runs through November 10. Hopefully some of you can get over to see it. I'm told it was very competitive, so I feel honored to be included!

Fun With Gourds No. 5-----Three's a Crowd

Three's a Crowd
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For the setup-pic-lovers among you, here's a photo below of the still life with the compositional placement of the painting. I usually do a painting in three stages. The first is the setup of the items and the basic positioning of them on the canvas. Because the gourds are such a warm color, I use transparent red oxide to sketch in the forms.

Once I have the placement set, I start putting in color for Phase 2, getting in the lights and darks and covering the canvas.

Once that stage is done, I take a short break to get my eyes off the subject for a few minutes, usually with a cup of tea and a browse on www.wetcanvas.com. When I come back to it, I do a check of each item, adjusting shadows, adding highlights, and putting in reflected color, plus pushing the lights and darks a little more.

Gourds No. 4---Sunbathing

Gourds No. 4: Sunbathing
8 x 12", Pastels on Wallis professional sanded paper


Yep, I'm still having a blast with my lil gourds! I pulled out the pastels today for a change. Below is a picture of my setup, with the painting in progress.

Gourds No. 3----Contemplating a Carnation

Contemplating a Carnation
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard


I think I'll be painting these gourds from life until they rot and die! This is #3 in the Having Fun With Gourds series. I'm still putting those carnations to use too.

Just Before Dark, ACEO (Miniature Painting)

Just Before Dark, ACEO Miniature painting
2.5x3.5", Oils on primed matboard

This image is posted at about the actual size of this tiny painting. I painted this today during this weekend's WDE (Weekend Drawing/Painting Event) at www.wetcanvas.com. For those not familiar with the WDEs, the host of the week posts 16 images for artists to work from. This week's host is Deb Leger. I took her sunset image, cropped it, changed some of the cloud formations to better fit the composition, and added a background land mass and water from my imagination.

In the art world, ACEO stands for Artist Cards Editions and Originals. They are collectible paintings in a standard, miniature format. The size is 2.5x3.5", like baseball cards and playing cards. They are so much fun to paint and collect that every so often I do a few of them. Some artists sell prints of paintings in that size as ACEOs, but mine are always one-of-a-kind originals. ACEOs are truly fun to collect for those who love art. Everybody can find a place for these little gems, and they are reasonably priced. It's an easy and relatively inexpensive way to acquire work from some favorite artists.

Artists On Location, Fall in Garrison plein air

Fall in Garrison, plein air
5x7", Gouache on Fabriano Artistico HP
Sold

Today was the bi-annual Artists on Location day in Garrison, NY. 85 artists contribute paintings to be auctioned at the Garrison Art Center. Most submit paintings for the silent auction only, but plein air painters can also go out today and paint on location, return by 3pm with their framed plein air paintings, and have those in a live auction in the evening.

I arrived at 8:30 am and submitted a painting for the silent auction, then drove to a nearby location to paint along the Hudson River. It was freezing cold out! Wimp that I am, I painted this 5x7 from inside my car parked at the scene, took some photos of it, put it into a frame, took another pic of it framed, and delivered it back to the gallery at the art center.

Unfortunately, my camera jammed. The only photo that downloaded was this one of the painting framed behind glass, with all the glare and reflections that entails. You can even see the image of the camera reflecting in the painting. Grrrr! I hate it when that happens!

Hitching a Ride, #2 of Gourd Series

Hitching a Ride
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard


These are just proving to be way too much fun to be legal! My palette was a little more limited this time. I used Cadmium yellow pale, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Red, Transparent Red Oxide, and Ultramarine Deep, plus titanium white of course. I made the ultramarine paint myself, and this was by far the best batch I ever made. Yummmm!

Everybody seems to like setup photos and to see work in progress, so I've included a couple more images below. The first one shows my still life setup plus the basic block-in of the composition, done using just transparent red oxide to position the elements on the canvas before going in with full color.



After that, I got carried away and didn't stop until I was almost finished. Here's the update pic with the setup, just shy of being completed. There were still some highlights, reflected light, deepening of some shadow areas, and overall tweaking here and there remaining to be done:



I haven't decided yet what I'll do for another encore, but these little guys are just so cute...I'm sure I'll come up with something!

Fun With Gourds No. 1: Nestling

Nestling (Fun With Gourds No. 1)
7 x 5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard

I had big plans to paint red carnations today, but after a trip to the local Brewster Farmer's Market, I saw these exquisitely-colored, graceful gourds and knew I'd have to paint them instead. I cut some carrot tops and put them in a bowl with the gourds nestled into them. After moving them around for awhile, I settled on this intertwined composition, like a fire-colored pair of swans. I think I see a series of them in my near future!

People often ask to see my pochade box. It was hand made for me by Loretta Louviere. Unfortunately, she is no longer making her gorgeous boxes. I use this for much of my small plein air work in oils as well as most of the 5x7" studio paintings. It goes everywhere with me. I cut a glass palette for it, which is easy to scrape clean, and I keep a full selection of artist quality paints in it to handle any painting situation. Here is the box with today's setup, palette, and painting:


The colors on the palette, from left to right, are:
Titanium white
Cadmium yellow lemon
Cadmium yellow pale
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Venetian Red
Transparent Red Oxide
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian

I don't generally paint with all those colors, but I have them all handy, and usually select about six plus white. This painting was something of an exception and I think I dabbled in everything except the venetian red and alizarin!

Morning at the Boscobel Pond

Morning at the Boscobel Pond
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$100 unframed via PayPal, free shipping within US (email me for international rates)

The fall light was so gorgeous early in the morning. The dark backdrop of trees showcased the foreground birches. I just had to stop right there to capture the moment in paint.

Tree Overlooking the Hudson River en plein air

Tree Overlooking the Hudson River, plein air
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard

It was a spectacular fall day to be painting on a bluff above the Hudson. About six or seven of us from the Lower Hudson Valley Plein Air Painters were there enjoying what just might prove to be the last really warm day of fall. I've painted this Hudson River scene on location in just about every size in every season, but I don't think I've ever done a 5x7 with this tree in it. So, here it is!

Swinging on the Porch

Swinging on the Porch
7x5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Not For Sale

This is my little buddy Mango. He loves to swing on just about anything. Here he is on his playset swing out on the porch, doing what he does best. He'll be a year old next week. Maybe I'll have to do an annual portrait of him. Mango loves to sit on my shoulder in the studio, but he's not allowed down there when I'm working in oils. This one is currently not for sale because...well....because he's my lil baby! Besides, there are still one or two little things I need to tweak in the painting.

Red Fields and the Stone Barn at Ward Pound Ridge, Plein Air

Red Fields and the Stone Barn at Ward Pound Ridge, Plein Air
5x7", Oil on canvas covered hardboard
This painting is at The Paint Box gallery in Bedford Hills, NY. You can contact the gallery at 914-666-8692.

I've been wanting to paint this stone barn at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation for years, and finally got my chance! There's so much to paint there that it just took me awhile to get to this one. Now I'd like to do a series of them! It proved to be a wonderful and very challenging subject.

Fall Beginnings en plein air, Daily Painting

Fall Beginnings en plein air
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard

This is one of my favorite trees along the lakeshore, painted en plein air. I plan to do a series of paintings of this tree from different angles throughout the different seasons and times of day. The trunk and branches have so many interesting twists and turns, and the foliage turns a bright gold later in the fall. Winter could be a problem since I'm such a wimp, but I'm going to try to get out there for one or two in the snow and ice!

Fall in the Parking Lot

Fall in the Parking Lot
7 x 5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard

I dropped my daughter off for physical therapy and was going to paint at a nearby park, but when I saw the color of the trees in the parking lot, I stopped right in my tracks and painted there instead!

Eat Me!

Eat Me!
7x5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard
This painting is at The Paint Box gallery in Bedford Hills, NY. You can contact the gallery at 914-666-8692.

Apples are impossible to resist this time of year! I painted these in my studio yesterday, from life of course.

A Hazy Sunrise on the Lake

A Hazy Sunrise on the Lake
5 x 7", Oils on canvas covered hardboard

Another beautiful sunrise to paint on location! All the mornings have been like this lately, with dense fog over Peach Lake, which burns off as the sun comes up.

Bench With a View

Bench With a View
14 x 11", Oils on canvas covered hardboard


It was a gorgeous fall day at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation to paint this on location, "en plein air". One of the preserve managers lives in the house at the bottom of this hill. The red fall fields and views of the surrounding hills make this one of my favorite spots on the 4700 acre property. There is a paintable scene in every direction! They recently put in the bench by the tree, providing weary hikers with a perfect resting spot to view the serene landscape.

Gallery Sitting

Gallery Sitting
7 x 5", Oils on canvas covered hardboard

Yesterday I was gallery sitting at the Belle Levine Gallery. I brought my pochade box along and the laptop, figuring I'd work from some photo references, but decided to paint the gallery instead! The tall sculpture is titled Hawk of the Hudson, by sculptor Paul Yarden. There were some nice visitors, and painting while gallery sitting sure does make the time go fast!

Sailing in Florida, ACEO gouache painting on Ebay

Sailing in Florida
2.5 x 3.5", Gouache on 100% hot press rag paper
$37 unframed via PayPal, free shipping within US (email me for international rates)

Sailing in Florida is a miniature, ACEO size painting, done from a photo yesterday at the Wetcanvas Weekend Drawing/Painting Event. When my husband saw the painting, he said he could imagine it framed on his desk for a mental vacation from time to time!

I have such a great time painting occasional ACEO size works. ACEO stands for Artist Cards Editions and Originals. They are collectible paintings in a standard, miniature format. The size is 2.5x3.5", like baseball cards and playing cards. They are so enjoyable to paint and collect that every so often I do a few of them. Some artists sell prints of paintings in that size as ACEOs, but mine are always one-of-a-kind originals. ACEOs are truly fun to collect for those who love art. Everybody can find a place for these little gems. It's an easy way to collect work from some favorite artists.