Jordan Pond 3

Another in the series of small paintings of Jordan Pond at Acadia National Park.  8x10 oil on panel.  I'm trying to work quickly in the moments that I do paint with these, though there are long pauses in between those quick sessions.

Jordan Pond Path

An 8x10 oil on panel of the planked path on the west side of Jordan Pond.  I tried to work with the positive and negative spaces of verticals in this one, and to keep it simple, the benefit of working small.

The Pond at Field Farm

This is an 8x10 oil on Yupo that I did on site today.  Alas, I didn't select a swashbuckling landscape for my first effort on Yupo.  Yupo is a synthetic paper that takes oil or watercolor quite well and easily.  I will do something a bit bolder for my next try.  I got my tip on Yupo from the great painter Randall Tipton, who uses Yupo like a master.

Jordan Pond

Quite a while back I had a vision, which I never acted upon until now.  I had the idea of doing a series of small drawings or paintings of locations around Jordan Pond where one naturally wants to pause and look.  This painting is an 11x14 oil on canvas.

Back to the Mountains

This afternoon's 9x12 oil on mdf panel done at Field Farm next to the "Folly" looking across the corner of the pond toward the mountains.  This one went rather quickly, about an hour.

Look

Another view from the Ocean Path in Acadia National Park.  Even though this day was warm, calm, and peaceful, the evidence of storms and winter was present all around.

Acadia

A view from the Ocean Path near Otter Cliff in Acadia National Park.  One could hear the buoy's bell ringing.

The Mountains and the Sea

Tonight two modest 9x12 oil paintings, both plein airs, the landscape done this afternoon and the seascape done earlier this week.   The landscape is a view from the top of Luce Road in Williamstown, MA.  The seascape shows Oarweed Cove in Ogunquit, ME.  More work to come.

Ninth-Smith Streets Subway

And now for something completely different: an 18x24 oil on canvas of the Ninth Street approach to the subway at Smith Street in Brooklyn.  This subway station, instead of being underground, is the highest station in the world, originally built in 1930 to allow for tall masted ships to travel the Gowanus Canal.  Once the subway/upway was completed the tall ships disappeared from the Gowanus.  You can look all this up on the Internet.   This may also be the only painting in the world of the Ninth/Smith subway, but I don't know how to find that out.  Just a hunch.

Not Another Barn

This afternoon I went out again to the homestead farm to paint this 9x12 oil on panel.  The tall grass has been cut and baled so I have access to areas where I was reluctant to step in,  never mind set up an easel.  I tried to work as fast as I could.  This took me about and hour and a half from the moment I started painting.  It may be the last barn I do for a little while.  I always wonder what, besides neglect, has been so tough on this barn.

Two Elderly Barns

When I first saw the barn in the first painting, an 8x10 oil on panel, back in April of last year, the vines had no leaves.  They wrapped the barn in a black net making it look very foreboding.  It looks just as scary in green.  It's actually the other end of the barn that I painted yesterday, which is vine free. The other 8x10 oil on panel is of the barn previously painted that has as much wood missing as present.  I did both paintings today on site, though again 'reviewed' them in the studio.

Another Old Barn

A few years ago I wrote how old barns reminded me of...old, and wise folks.  Some are falling down, some are in good shape, and they are always fascinating because of what they represent, what they have seen, and undergone.  Anyway, this painting is an 11x14 done yesterday at the site (with some slight changes later).  The field in front of the barn entrance had just been mowed allowing me to take this vantage point.  Previously the grass was about four feet high.  I worked on this thing for two hours.  I took a photo just before I started, and one right after I finished.   It's amazing how things change in two hours, as recorded by the photos.  God only knows where the painting fits in.  After a while, you realize that the only thing that counts is what is on the canvas. I'm not thrilled with it, but it was a good experience, in a long line going back and going forward.  Sort of like an old barn.

One Barn, Two Paintings

Two 11x14 oil paintings of an old barn at the homestead.  This barn is hanging on literally by one post or beam from collapsing.  When you look inside every piece of wood seems broken.   The close up painting I did on site yesterday, and the middle distance one I did today.  I did do a small bit of work at home on both.  The third photo shows my easel this morning.  I took it to show that this place really exists.

Hoosic River

Early this morning I went painting at the edge of the Hoosic River with John MacDonald, a fabulous painter who lives in Williamstown.  He's already done some beautiful paintings from this location.  The above is my 9x12 oil on panel.

On the Farm

The wagon, a 9x12 studio oil on canvas, I completed earlier today from yesterday's start.  Two large horses pull the wagon, which is used to give rides around Sweet Brook Farm.  The wagon maker informed me that the metal understructure once belonged to a Freihofer Bread wagon.

The old barn, a 9x12 oil on panel, I did later this morning at the homestead farm.  I'm planning on doing several paintings at this location since the barns are eventually going to be torn down, assuming they don't fall down first.