A Favorite Street in Brooklyn

Atlantic Avenue is one of my favorite streets in Brooklyn.  This view shows the Shuttle bridge near Franklin Avenue.  I used only three colors: ultramarine blue, raw umber, and yellow ochre for this one.  12x16 oil on panel.

Fourth Avenue and President

A painting of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and President Street in Brooklyn facing east.   12x16 oil on panel.

Halloween Under The Gowanus Expressway

Today I visited the Southern Vermont Arts Center to see the current exhibition.  I missed the opening so I wanted to see where my large painting "Beneath the Gowanus Expressway" was hanging.  The SVAC just held a "Halloween on the Hill" day, so the decoration was still there and fit in with my painting.  I don't know how intentional it was, but the bottles and the underpass seem to go together.  The bottles have labels such as "Wing of Bat," "Arsenic," "Witches Brew," "Red Blood," and "Poison."  I should have received the best background painting award.

The Fragility of Things Beautiful

A painting about the fragility of things beautiful.  9x12 oil on linen panel.

A Great Advantage in Vermont

This afternoon I went to Pownal, Vermont to paint.  It was a bit windy but my gear stayed in place without my having to hold it while I painted, a great advantage.  You can see that it was a beautiful day.  12x16 oil on linen panel.

Hanging On

The sun was bright, the wind was blowing, and the clouds were scudding...  I've always liked that word.  Here's a slightly different view of the top of Sloan Road and the distant Hopper, with some brilliant leaves hanging on, from this afternoon.   12x12 oil on panel.

A Different View

The previously posted painting is the typical view, so to get something different I moved my easel down the hill to where a group of bright leaves was hanging on in front of the mountain.   The Hopper is no longer visible but Mount Greylock looms in the back.  12x9 oil on linen panel.

A Good Day To Be Out Painting

Late this morning I did indeed return to the view of Mount Greylock from Sloan Road in Williamstown, MA.   Not a cloud in the sky for the entire day.  It was like heaven.  One wishes it could last forever, or at least for a while.   Several people driving by stopped to tell me it was a good day to be out painting!  I guess they meant for me to be out painting.  9x12 oil on linen panel.

An Affront

If the weather is agreeable, I'll spend more time at this location this week: the top of Sloan Road looking east towards the Hopper and Mount Greylock.  A well-situated telephone pole seems to "affront" the majestic mountain.  9x12 oil on linen.

Cezanne at Mauserts Pond

Fall is a great season in which to paint outdoors.  I visited Mauserts Pond again this morning.  The sky was cloudless and blue.  The pond reminded me of Cezanne's paintings of l'Estaque.  9x12 oil on linen.

A Canal in Amsterdam

A canal in Amsterdam.  9x12 oil on canvas.

Figure Painting

A recent figure painting. 16x12 oil on linen panel.

Just A Bit

On Thursday after completing the first painting, I turned to the right just a bit, and painted a second one.  I would have turned more to the right again after that, since another painting presented itself, but I didn't have any more panels.  The scene awaits the next opportunity, if only the leaves would last a little longer.  This week has seen the peak of the fall foliage, the best for a few years.  9x12 oil on linen.

Not A Tree

A drawing from a couple weeks ago.  Not all my drawings depict trees. 12x9 pencil on paper.

The Brilliant Sunshine

The weather forecast originally called for clouds and possible rain, but the brilliant sunshine lured me to Sheep Hill again.  I went to a small, flat, out-of-the-way spot that I painted from several years ago.  It's easy to get to, but more difficult to climb out of afterwards.  I was huffing and puffing when I finally reached my car, after completing my two paintings.  I should have brought more panels.  This is the first painting. 9x12 oil on linen.

Edges

Another drawing from last week when I was scouting out the farm at the end of Hopper Road for painting the next day.  This tree resides at the edge between the pasture and the hay field.  I went under the barbed wire to stand in the pasture.  This pasture is interesting because it's located right at the edge of the woods, partly in and partly out.  Edges in drawings and edges in reality.  12x9 pencil on paper.

The Same and Not The Same

The view from the top of Sheep Hill is one of those places that stays the same, and changes all the time.  So whenever I go there to paint, like this afternoon, I always find something that I want to do.  9x12 oil on panel.

Monhegan Sun Light House

This is one of those paintings that have been in my painting closet for a long time. I've not been sure whether to throw it away or keep flogging it.  It depicts a building near the main pier on Monhegan Island when the last burst of late-day sunlight strikes it before quickly fading away. 14x18 oil on canvas.

Dead Pear Tree Before The Hopper

A drawing from the other day while at Haley Farm at the end of Hopper Road: it shows a dead pear tree that stands before The Hopper in the background.  9x12 pencil on paper.

What One Remembers Seeing

The third painting that I did on Saturday, this one from the top of Sheep Hill looking towards The Hopper.  I've cropped out Mount Greylock on the top left.  Shame on me.  My panel wasn't big enough.   There is something mesmerizing about this view.  It has been my experience that people will appear at the small parking spot, up to my right, and just look for a while.  On this day, late in the afternoon with an incredible sunlight, people were showing up to take pictures.  They will discover later that the view is impossible to photograph in a way that will match what they remember seeing.  9x12 oil on panel.

Out Of Time

For the first of the three paintings that I did yesterday, I set up in the middle of the hay field, and faced The Hopper.  It was a beautiful day.  I was both aware of time passing, that such beauty would not last, and while I painted, I forgot about time, except as the shadows changed ever slightly on the row of trees with the movement of the sun, but even that I forgot for a while.  9x12 oil on panel.

Line Up With The Sun

This was the second of three paintings that I did today.  I scouted it out yesterday late in the day when the sun eventually came out.  I was stunned by how brilliant the tree was.  This morning I stood in a different spot in the hayfield so that the sun would still line up behind the tree as it did late yesterday.  9x12 oil on panel.

Painting Exhibition at Tunnel City

Here are two photos that I took last night after hanging an exhibition of 37 of my paintings at Tunnel City on Spring Street in Williamstown, MA.  The paintings will be up for a while, so please visit Tunnel City, and let me know what you think.

A View of Amsterdam

A view of Amsterdam.  A memory painting.  A memento painting.  9x12 oil on panel.

At The Edge

This afternoon I found myself at the edge of Mauserts Pond again.  8x10 oil on panel.