Last One

The last small Brooklyn painting of the year, a view of Washington Avenue near Sterling Place.  May the coming year be fruitful, productive, healthy, creative, inspiring, and happy for everyone!

Anticipation

Back to work again after a brief break.  This 9x12 oil on canvas is the thirteenth in the current series of small Brooklyn paintings.  The setting is Underhill at Sterling Place where someone opened the back of the van in anticipation of loading a Christmas tree.

Sidewalk Tunnel

A 9x12 oil on canvas of a scene on Classon Avenue near Bergen Street.  These temporary tunnels covering sidewalks can be found all over Brooklyn, or probably any city.  In this nearly monochrome picture, my interest is the light and dark heightened by the sidewalk tunnel.

Up Is Down

A literal view of Conover Street in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn.  The street is always wet at this spot because its where a bus company washes its busses.  I always look down as well as straight ahead and up (sometimes behind me too).  You never know when you will see the sky in the pavement.

Burned Out

A 9x12 oil on canvas of a burned out van on Park Place in Brooklyn.

The Beauty of Grungy

This view of Red Hook is at the corner of Dykeman and Ferris Streets.  There can be beauty in grungy industrial settings, especially if the light is right.  This is a 9x12 oil on canvas.

Sun Behind Me

Another Red Hook view,  down Van Dyke Street near the corner of Dwight Street.  The sun was behind me.

Bright Corner

This 9x12 oil on canvas painting looks a bit surreal, but it demonstrates what I like about Brooklyn.  I'm still in the Red Hook section, with the early morning sun, at the corner of Richards and Commerce, where one building has been painted red, and another partly bright yellow, possibly to cover up graffiti.  It's the unusual and bright colors that I like.  Did someone just grab whatever paint was lying around to do the job?  I left off the graffiti that has since reappeared over the yellow,  only because the painting was too detailed as it is.  That was the challenge of this painting, how to simplify a complicated street corner.

Into Red Hook

This past weekend I spent Sunday morning in Red Hook.  This 9x12 oil on canvas is a view of Richards Street near Seabring.  When painting these pictures, I'm trying to be as direct and quick as I can.  

Time Passing

This past weekend I had a productive visit to Brooklyn, and also attended a Drawing New York drawing session in Manhattan on Saturday managed by artist Simon Levenson.   These are two drawings from the session, one a two minute sketch, and the other a twenty minute drawing.  Whether it's two minutes or twenty,  the time passes so quickly.

Cars Are the People

Another Brooklyn 9x12 oil on canvas of the corner of Third and Union.  Cars are the people.

Retreating Shadows

This 9x12 oil on canvas depicts the sidewalk on Bergen Street approaching Sixth Avenue.  There's a police station at this location, which explains the way the cars are parked.  I was attracted to the retreating shadows culminating in a parked car.

Simple and Not

Another in my current Brooklyn series: this time the corner of Bond and Union.  This is both a very complicated and a very simple painting.  It's a 9x12 oil on canvas.

Cut Back Tree

In the coming weeks I plan on painting more Brooklyn street scenes.  In the meantime this 8x10 oil on panel is my most recent plein air done on Wednesday  while standing in a hay field looking up Stratton  Road, a dirt road separating the hay field from a corn field.  The electric company has heavily pruned the tree on one side.

Dean and Grand

This 9x12 oil on canvas depicts the corner of Dean and Grand in Brooklyn.

A Little Brooklyn

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's a little Brooklyn: a 9x12 oil on canvas of the corner of Third Avenue at Carroll Street.

Toward the Sunlight

This is a small 5x7 oil on panel that I did a few days ago on top of Sheep Hill in the early afternoon looking toward the sunlight.

Shrinking Sunlight

Yesterday afternoon I went to the top of Sheep Hill again.  The daylight hours are shrinking.  I painted from two to three when the sunlight started to disappear on the other side of the hill.  The valley areas were still lit up but that didn't help me near the top.   I should mention that the actual top of the hill is covered with trees so I can't actually see the other side where the sun vanishes.

Peering

A 12x9 studio pastel of another cliff at Raven's Nest on the Schoodic Peninsula at Acadia National Park.

Light at the Top of the Hill

Another painting done at the top of Sheep Hill.  I started it the day I did two at once, since I had so much time, and repainted it the next day trying to catch the bright light.

Two of Two at Once

This is the second painting done simultaneously with another at the top of Sheep Hill yesterday.  This view looks east-southeast, with Greylock in the upper left, and the foreground hill sloping from right to left.

One of Two at Once

Earlier today I went to the top of Sheep Hill next to Bee Hill Road.  I painted two 9x12 panels at the same time.  This is the one on the left side of the easel with the hill sloping down from left to right.  The view is facing north-north east.   I'll post the second painting tomorrow.   Somebody asked me why I am painting two pictures at once.  Don't I already have enough?  I couldn't answer that question.  I certainly have to paint twice as fast, which is an experience worth trying now and then.

Return to Drawing

While I was sitting behind the old white farmhouse at Haley Farm yesterday morning, planning to do another drawing, I looked at the old fruit tree (a pear tree?) located there, and started to draw.  The tree appears on the right side of the previously posted drawing.

I return to drawing in times of transition, trying to decipher where to proceed, hoping maybe this time the tree would tell me.

Clapboard Brilliance

This drawing depicts the little farmhouse at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road.  I thought that I could draw it faster than I could paint it.   The afternoon sun seems to move more quickly now that the day light hours are fewer.  I've been told that the farmhouse will be torn down at some point.  There's a big hole in the roof suggesting the end is near.  But it still has a clapboard brilliance in the sunlight.

What Was Behind Me

So there I was, in the middle of the pasture, on the edge of the woods.  It was quiet, warm in the sun despite the chill in the air.  What am I going to paint?  Should I just give up, go somewhere else, or find something here where I'm standing?  Why am I here?  So I placed my easel facing towards the sun to keep the light off the panel, and painted what was behind me.

Simpler

Another view from the Schoodic Peninsula facing east.  I tried to keep this one simpler, an 8x10 pastel.

Precipitous

A 12x9 pastel of one of the precipitous views at Raven's Nest at Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park.

Inlet Outlet

An inlet off the Schoodic Loop Road on the west side of the peninsula just before reaching the right turn for Schoodic Point.  The tide is out.  8x10 pastel.

Sun Struck Shoreline

What appealed to me about this view of the Schoodic Point shoreline was the dark foreground emphasizing the sun struck background.  This is an 8x10 pastel.

A Rocky Spot

An afternoon view of a rocky spot on the Schoodic Peninsula, in the form of a 9x12 pastel.

Late Afternoon Sun

This is an 8x10 pastel of the late afternoon sun streaking across the rocks at Schoodic Point at Acadia National Park.

Paint Two at Once

When in Acadia last month I encountered the problem of too much to paint.   Painter Cynthia Rosen offers a solution: do two paintings at once.  So a couple weeks ago I tried it, mounting two 9x12 panels side by side.  On my left was an old barn with trees beyond still with fall color, and on my right was another old barn with weeds to the side and mountains in the rear.

The Opposite Direction

A week ago Friday when the trees still had fall color, when I painted the Hopper glow painting, I turned my easel in the opposite direction, and made this smaller 9x12 oil on panel.  It depicts the Taconics in New York State in the background and the old Haley Farm house in the middleground.

The First Painting

A month ago we were in Acadia to paint.  This 9x12 oil on canvas panel was the first painting that I did.   It took a while to figure out what to do since there was so much around.

Bright Tree Tops

On Wednesday morning this week, while searching for the remains of fall color, I wandered down a dirt path, went past the old milk shed and a pasture, and saw some glowing tree tops in the distance.  I kept going until I stood below the trees with the bright hair where I painted this 12x16 oil on panel.

One Drawing

While at Acadia National Park last month I did one drawing.  I wish I had done more.   This 9x12 drawing is a view from Schoodic Point done with charcoal and pastel.  

Searching

The weather has been so magnificent that I keep going out to paint.  However, the fall color is now restricted to a few isolated (and unapproachable) trees on the side of the mountains.  It's over.  In my search yesterday afternoon, I walked quite a way with my gear, and settled for this view.

Two Fogs

These two 9x12 oil on panel paintings are not as exciting as the fall color ones I have posted lately.  They are from the group I painted at Acadia National Park during Plein Air Magazine's Fall Color Week, but they were done on the rainy, foggy Tuesday of that week.  As you might expect, they were done quickly, which is a discipline I am getting to appreciate more and more.  Both were done at Schoodic Point.  When the panels were covered with rain drops, that's when I decided to stop working on them.

The Same Tree

Yesterday morning I went to the same small tree that I had painted earlier on Saturday since it was still bright with color, but with many fewer leaves.  I set up in a different position with the mountain setting it off.  I was almost looking into the sun.  This, a 9x12 oil on panel, was the first of two paintings I did yesterday.

Afternoon Painting

This 12x16 oil on panel depicts the old farm house at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road.  I painted it this afternoon at the farm.  Occasionally the wind would gust up so I had to hold the easel in place, but otherwise the conditions were ideal.  Unfortunately, in the last couple days most of the leaves with color have dried up or fallen away.

I Painted the Mountain

I wandered at the edge of a large hay field yesterday, the expanse of grass on one side, and a steep forested hill on the other.  In front of me was Mount Prospect, and a band of trees that had already lost  their leaves.  The forested hill hid the Hopper to the right.  The sunlight streamed over this hill and caught the tree tops.  I painted a picture of the mountain.

Three Rocks

They're all kinda rough, were done quickly, and I like them that way as a kind of memento.  All are 9x12 oil on panel.  The top one is from a location near Thunder Hole and the other two are from the Schoodic Peninsula.

Three Coreas

On Sunday during Fall Color Week at Acadia National Park I went to Corea, a small fishing village nearby.  The sun appeared infrequently.  These three paintings are 9x12 oil on panel.