Shadow Fingers

A couple days ago, after I was done painting, I walked the hay fields at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA, scouting for painting ideas, and I saw this.  So yesterday afternoon I came back and the conditions were almost identical, for a brief time.  A 6x8 oil on panel.

Unlimited View

Through the Gurney Journey blog, I learned of the marine painter John Stobart, who wrote a book called "The Pleasures of Painting Outdoors."  What is fascinating is his limited palette, which he has used throughout his career.  It consists of cadmium yellow, Winsor red, permanent green, French ultramarine, and burnt sienna, with titanium white.   I've substituted cadmium red light and thalo green for the moment because I don't have Winsor red or permanent green.  But I would think that one could swap out a color now and then.  A limited palette is certainly an asset for outdoor painting.

The accompanying painting depicts a hayfield in which the four outer edges were cut and baled first, and the cut hay of the inner section is spread out to dry.  In the background at the far left is the Hopper, as seen from Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  The main background mountain is Greylock.  6x8 oil on panel.

In the Foreground

To paint this view of Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road, I installed myself in the corner of the cow pasture.  I maneuvered myself carefully under the strand of barbed wire.  Eventually the cows spotted me, and they meandered over, behaving as if the grass leading up to me was suddenly the tastiest in the pasture.  Fortunately, they wandered off  shortly after getting within a yard of me.   I selected this spot in the pasture because I wanted to include the shadow across the foreground, and also paint in the shade because it was so hot.  9x12 oil on panel.

Tractor View

Mowing has made some fields accessible at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  Here's a seldom seen view of the Hopper, except from a tractor, which I painted yesterday afternoon. In fact, the farmer has told me how much he loves to look at this landscape as he mows.   8x10 oil on panel.

Off-Center

Hopper Road, Williamstown, MA. 6x8 oil on panel plein air painting.

Recently Mowed

One of the hay fields at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  with the Hopper in the background.  I was able to paint in the field because it had been recently mowed.  6x8 oil on panel.

A Reason To Paint Them

To paint this scene on Thursday this week, I set up right next to the telephone pole at the end of Hopper Road across from the barn in Williamstown, MA.  Dirt roads that vanish into the distance are as cliche-ish as red barns.  But that's only a reason to paint them.  6x8 oil on panel.

Mowing and Moving

A quick, small painting looking towards the Hopper on a day when the clouds kept obscuring the sun.  I painted this at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  I was attracted to the bands of thatch, grass, shadow, weeds, mowed field, trees, mountains, and sky, as they moved from front to back. This venerable place is generally quiet and still (unless the farmer is mowing or the clouds are moving).   6x8 oil on panel.

A Nice Shape

This is one of a series of little paintings that I've started, a 6x8 oil on panel.  Painting small forces one to concentrate, as in simplifying what is in front of you, and trying to paint one thing well.  When I painted this view a couple days ago, I was at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  The dirt road takes on a nice shape.

The Challenge of Painting Weeds

A fun and educational blog is Gurney Journey  (see gurneyjourney.blogspot.com), maintained by artist James Gurney.  While looking at his posts for the topic of Plein Air Painting, I found that a couple years ago he held a Weed Painting Challenge.  So the idea of going into your back yard or neighboring lot and painting weeds has been out there for a while.  I did this weed painting yesterday morning in my back yard.  There is a slight opening in the thicket at the left, which must be a path used by night visitors.  The painting is an 8x10 oil on panel.

Tapestry of Weeds

At the edge of my backyard are tall weeds, taller than I am, which form a natural fence.  You wouldn't dare try to penetrate this 'fence'.  The weeds have weird, menacing shapes.  Here's a small painting that I did yesterday morning while contemplating this tapestry of weeds.  8x10 oil on panel.

Another Hopper

The Hopper, as viewed from the top of the hill near the high school in Williamstown, MA.  When I painted this last week, the clouds were obscuring Mount Greylock.  9x12 oil on panel.

Souvenir

A souvenir of Toulouse, France: the old Pont Neuf, the Garonne River and the Hotel-Dieu Saint Jacques.  The foliage is new.  Everything else is old.  14x18 oil on canvas.

Chesterwood Fountain

Every time I visited Chesterwood in Stockbridge, MA this summer, I wanted to paint the water fountain in the garden behind the studio.  A frieze of putti wraps the base, which gives off a warm glow, even on cloudy days.  So here it is, from a short session yesterday morning, in oil on a 9x12 panel.  

Invisible Path to the Top

A day without rain is an opportunity not to waste.  So I found myself at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  No one was at the farm, and the parking lot had only one car.  The end of Hopper Road is a trail head for several hiking trails, Money Brook, Haley Farm, and the Hopper trails, that can take you up to the top of Mount Greylock.  I set up in the middle of the main trail path that goes through the clump of trees, which you see in the middle of my painting.  The trees hide the Hopper, the sharp and steep valley visible in the background at left.  12x16 oil on panel.

I Don't Know

The two other paintings I did yesterday afternoon with my head in the clouds: one is 8x10 and the other 9x12 oils on panel.

I found an old how-to Watson-Guptill book by John C. Pellew called Oil Painting Outdoors.  He asks "Why do so many people want to paint pictures?"  His answer: "I don't know."  Actually he then tries to answer the question, but I like his first response.  He has one good suggestion: instead of painting from a photo, make a drawing from the photo, and paint from that.

Head in the Clouds

This afternoon, even though the forecast called for "heavy rain" I kept my head in the clouds and painted away.  Here are two of the four paintings I did.  The unsettled weather has made tremendous clouds available, so if it's not raining, I have to paint.  These are 8x10 oil on panel.  All were done at Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA, which offers a special vantage point for painting clouds.

Mirror Image

A figure painting from one of last year's drawing sessions.  I use these sessions to paint instead of drawing (or I draw with paint).  I took advantage of the mirror, which wasn't always there, since the space is used mainly for other activities.  The painting is a 16x12 oil on panel.

Hidden Order

Here's a key statement by Bernard Dunstan from his book Painting Methods of the Impressionists:

"However much a painter thinks he is recording with total objectivity, he cannot help bringing out certain aspects as he works from nature; he will emphasize a connection between different parts, or 'lose' one tonal area against another, or stress a contour that forms an important direction.  Even the fact that some parts may give him trouble and have to be repainted adds to this process of emphasis. 'Rhymes,' connections, rhythms are discovered in the scene as he goes on working, for to any subject there is bound to be more of what we may term 'natural design' than we think at first.  This gradual discovery of order which was hidden from the casual eye is surely one of the greatest satisfactions of working from nature."

The accompanying painting is a 9x12 oil on panel done at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA last week.  The weeds have overtaken the place obscuring the 'natural design'.

Do Them!

Inspired by Bernard Dunstan, I'm feeling irreverent today.  I offer one last ironic thought from his how-to book, Learning To Paint.  Referring to the "rules" about painting, Dunstan writes, "Think of all the things you were told... not to do, and do them!

Alas, this 9x12 oil on panel is an indirect irreverent view of a street in Provence.

Accepting Chaos and Clutter

In his book Learning to Paint Bernard Dunstan writes:

"Choosing a motif from the chaos and clutter of the visual material that surrounds us is, obviously, the essential decision in all painting based on nature.  What is not always appreciated, though, is that once you've made this choice, you'll probably have a greater chance of creating an interesting design if you accept all the accidental oddities that your motif contains, instead of trying to tidy it up by leaving out elements which seem unessential or tricky to handle...

The desire to label everything in a picture--this is a tree, that is a fence, and that is a house--can be a very limiting approach to selecting a motif.  Don't forget that leaving out invariably means making blanks, which your imagination or memory will the have to fill.  Most painters, experienced ones as well as beginners, aren't nearly as ingenious as the accidental effect of nature at producing formal relationships that are lively and interesting."

Apropos to those words is the accompanying painting, which I painted yesterday afternoon at the farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA, while hearing thunder claps slowly approaching.  I didn't want to paint the wagon by itself, so I moved slightly to the left to include a portion of a tractor (a wheel with a piece of plywood behind it).  Old farms always have equipment and junk strewn all over the place.  The painting is a 9x12 oil on panel.

The Hopper and Learning To Paint

By chance, I discovered that one of my favorite painters, Bernard Dunstan, had written some of those 'how-to" Watson-Guptill books.  Here's an excerpt from the book "Learning to Paint":

"It isn't until we start painting that we find out how little we have seen before...

The painter, perhaps, is almost the only person in our very specialized society who uses his eyes really objectively and without blinkers.  He is able to accept without choice or preference all the visual stimuli that come to him.

This type of looking is one of the justifications for drawing and painting in a figurative way, however bad the results may be.  At least the painter uses his eyes in a way that they can seldom be used in everyday life: at full stretch, accepting and examining a totality of experience.  This visual experience can be an important extension of the human consciousness, one that requires a certain humility on the part of the artist--an absorption in the character and reality of the subject, rather than merely in the production of an acceptable end-product, the picture."

Today's painting is a 9x12 oil on panel that I did yesterday morning at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road in Williamstown, MA.  It's a hot, steaming view of the Hopper.

Affinities

This painting I did earlier this year.  It's 12x16 oil on panel.  It's not a landscape, obviously, but a reclining figure has affinities to a landscape.

Chesterwood

This small, intense painting I did last week at Chesterwood, the home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, where I've been teaching a few students plein air painting for IS183, the art school in Stockbridge, MA.  The painting is 9x12, oil on panel.

Farther Back and Higher Up

This Saturday I visited the Manchester Vermont backyard while the sky was full of dramatic clouds, slightly overlapping the mountain edges, and putting the whole range in shadow.  The view is farther back than the previous paintings.  This painting is a 14x18 oil on canvas.

Midday in Provence

Another quiet street in St. Maximin la Ste. Baume in Provence, France, at midday when the sun is high. 9x12 oil on canvas.

A Road in Provence

A road through a town in Provence. 9x12 oil on panel.  Provence for me is a province of the mind, the sun shining, ancient buildings, deep shadows, brilliant sky, a timeless stage.

A Street in Provence

The main street in St. Maximin la Ste. Baume in Provence, France.  9x12 oil on canvas.

Old Street

A 9x12 oil on canvas painting that I reworked slightly.  It depicts an old street in St. Maximim la Ste Baume in Provence.