Never The Same

This painting I like, but there may have been an earlier stage of it that I liked better.  In any case, the water surface keeps changing, and there are some times when the surface is perfectly still, but not this morning.   The view is the kayak launch at Clarksburg State Park but from across the inlet.  I'll be doing this view again because it's never the same, and I'll get a different painting each time.

The Painting, The Drawing, and The Site In Vermont

The sun lasted just long enough to paint the big oak in Pownal, Vermont.  Here's the painting, the drawing, and the site.  The oil on panel is 12x16, the sketch 6x8.

Still In Vermont

I ventured out a little farther this morning, still in Vermont, first looking for the large oak tree that I was told about.  I searched for it yesterday but turned the wrong way.   When I found it, I made a drawing.  The majestic tree stands alone on the side of a steep hill.  Then I set up in the shadow of another tree to paint a long view of the Green Mountains looking north.  Both the oil on panel painting and pencil drawing are12x16 inches.

Up In Vermont

By the time I had finished my painting, the sun had faded behind the clouds.  But I got it in.  Of course I had to wander around first to scout out views to paint.  12x16 oil on panel.  The sketch is 6x8.

Camp Sarsaparilla

This morning I visited Camp Sarsaparilla in Pownal, VT, where I painted this view.  12x16 oil on panel.

Mauserts On My Mind

Mauserts Pond has been on my mind for the last several days.  I got back there this afternoon.  The light was so amazing.  It's probably even more amazing now two hours later as I type these words, and I'm not there.

The little pencil sketch was important because I had to locate the rock in the correct place in relation to the sides of the painting.  Once I had done that,  the painting sort of painted itself.  I was just watching.  It was hot so I used my umbrella to keep the sun off me.  You can't see it in the photo.  There was a picnic table conveniently placed next to where I set up to hold my stuff, especially since the ground next to the pond edge was very squishy.

A Week Apart

Here are two very recent figure paintings, done a week apart.  Same model, same pose, but differing vantage points. Both 16x12 oil on panel.

A Parking Lot Behind and In Front

This summer I've been participating in a pop-up gallery in North Adams, MA.  When its my turn to gallery-sit, I bring along a sketchpad.  There's a parking lot behind the gallery and a parking lot in front of the gallery.  So, naturally, I draw cars.

At the Beach

It's was a little chilly this morning, but I still went to the beach to paint.  This is Mauserts Pond again.  I've included the little sketch that I customarily do before starting a painting.  The painting is 9x12, oil on panel.  The sketch 6x8 inches.

In the catalog Impression: Painting Quickly In France 1860 -1890 Richard Brettel writes that another probable characteristic of Sisley, unlike the other Impressionists, was his practice of making a small drawing prior to starting a painting.  He bases this assumption upon the survival of one sketchbook, but it makes sense.  "By planning a composition using a rapidly drawn pencil croquis, Sisley could integrate his experimental graphism into the work...Planning the composition before he began to paint freed him from thinking about it later, so that he could then respond immediately and without adjustment to chromatic stimulate as he worked in color."

Back to Mauserts and Alfred Sisley

In the morning, I went back to Mauserts Pond at Clarksburg State Park.  What a magnificent place this is, especially for a landscape painter.  A beautiful pond, trees, mountains in the distance, big sky, and virtually no people.

I've been reading a lot about Alfred Sisley lately.  He is, I think, an underrated painter, mainly because we, today, look at his paintings through all the years and imitators that separate us from his time.  Who else was painting like Sisley back in 1872?  Monet, Pissarro, possibly Berthe Morisot and Renoir, and... Sisley was the only Impressionist who insisted on painting outdoors all-the-time.

I learned that he suffered a similar fate as Pissarro from the Franco-Prussian War.  Pissarro lost most of his paintings from the decade of the 1860s when the Prussians occupied his studio.  The same thing happened to Sisley, whose studio in Bougival was destroyed.  That's why there are few paintings by Sisley to be seen prior to 1870-71.

Another View

The second of two paintings that I did at Mauserts Pond at Clarksburg State Park today.  I walked a few yards down the road to paint the same view but this time with a dark background.  I mentioned in my previous post that the pond is irregularly shaped, so that it offers a variety of views.   Since I acquired a lifetime parking pass, I think I'll be here again soon.  9x12 oil on panel.

Mauserts Pond

This morning I went to a new venue to paint, at least for me: Clarksburg State Park, where there is a wonderful irregular-shaped pond, called Mauserts Pond.  I scouted out the site a few weeksago, taking the hike around the pond.  The hike was actually more strenuous that I thought it would be, but I don't have to hike anywhere to paint a view like this one.  9x12 oil on panel.

The Lure of Plein Air

A painting that I did on Monday while sitting under some pine trees in a suburban backyard.  This is a better photo of it than what I posted earlier on Instagram.   The lure of plein air is to look and respond with a paint brush.  9x12 oil on panel.

Not Enough

The second painting from yesterday's visit to Field Farm in Williamstown, MA.  It was a great sky day, especially viewed from the large flatness of Field Farm.  This painting barely suggests the immensity, movement and variety of the clouds that I witnessed.  First, I would need a large canvas, with the ability to paint as quickly as a cloud changes.  Yes, use your memory, and make it up as you go, but that isn't enough.  9x12 oil on panel.

I Wasn't Looking

Some times things work out well.  This afternoon I painted with Thor Wickstrom at Field Farm in Williamstown, MA.  Here's the first painting, a 12 x 16 oil on panel, with the two pencil sketches I did before starting the painting.   Thor took my picture while I wasn't looking.  Actually I was looking at and drawing the tree and mountains.

A Very Old Barn

First I did a quick 6x8 sketch for the composition and then the painting itself, a 9x12 oil on panel.  Yesterday the farmer told me that the original barn, in the midst of all these additions, dates back to the founding of Williamstown, MA.   That would be around 1765.

Scouting the Farm

The local farmers are very diligent in removing the bales from the hay fields.  Fortunate for me, since I was getting tired of painting them.  So I went on another scouting expedition today and made a few drawings for my next painting adventure.

Bales in a Field

Bales in a field against a wooded background. 9x12 oil on panel.

A Field Full

At another farm in Williamstown, MA, I found a field full of round hay bales.  These are held together with string only, presenting a slightly different look than those I did previously, which have a thin, see-through plastic covering.   These may be there for a while providing an opportunity to paint them at different times of the day.  This painting shows a mid-morning view facing north.  9x12 oil on panel.

Pont Royal

A small souvenir/postcard painting: Pont Royal, Paris.  6x8 oil on aluminum panel.