A Good Time

Painting the image of an old milk shed under an umbrella might not be most people's idea of a good time, but I had a good time this morning.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

A Skyhole Bonus

This view of the barn in Williamstown, MA I've wanted to do for a while after I noticed the parallel slope of the roof and the distant mountain.  The skyhole in the barn is a bonus. 9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Main Street

An urban painting: Main Street in North Adams, MA, a view going up the sidewalk towards the Toyota service building.  12x16 inches, oil on panel.

A Slight Constant Breeze

At the top of this hill in Williamstown, MA there was a slight but constant breeze despite the heat.  That's the main reason I set up there to paint.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

An Old Pre-Fab

For this one I moved closer to the barn.  I set up in the pasture under a tree where the cows would congregate if they were there: the ground is bare, worn and hard.  The barn is old, and neglected.  It has the feel of an old pre-fab. 8x10 inches, oil on panel.

Pasture

Pasture, Williamstown, MA.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Something Is Discovered

Sometimes, when I'm not sure what to paint, while standing in a mowed hayfield, looking around at the sky, the brightly-lit grass and the shadows from the bordering trees, I find a shady spot and just put up my easel, and start working.  It's not a formula for guaranteed success but often something is discovered.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

Where The Corn Is Growing

This morning's painting at the old Spruces site in Williamstown, MA.  Actually the painting site is a little farther in along the dirt path where the corn is growing.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

A Bend In The Road

From a few days ago, a little painting of the bend in Luce Road in Williamstown, MA.  Painting small forces one to simplify.  The farmer's vegetable stand is just around the corner.  6x8 inches, oil on panel. 

One Corner To Another

Here I am, even though you don't see me, looking across the road from the corner of one hayfield to the corner of another hayfield with the Taconic mountains in the background.  The road is Sloan Road in Williamstown, MA.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

An Assembly Of Paint

A slight, little painting that I did this afternoon from the corner of a just-mowed hayfield in Williamstown, MA.  I set up in one corner of the rectangular field in the shade looking across the shorter side towards the other corner  where the entrance from the road is located.  I am more convinced about the rightness of what Corot said about plein air painting: it is an expressive assembly ("un assemble") of visual perceptions transformed into paint.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

On A Sunday Morning

In the shade of a giant oak tree next to the statue of the Union soldier on the Williams College campus looking across Main Street in Williamstwn, MA on a Sunday morning.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Chicken Coop and Chickens

This painting of a chicken coop with chickens was a commission recently completed.  I found inspiration from well-known artists on the internet who have painted chickens and chicken coops (believe it or not). When I was a teenager I built a chicken coop for my sister, who kept the chickens.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Things Are Never The Same

By the time I had finished the painting, I was standing in the sun,  the farmer's grandson was unloading haybales, and the farmer, who had visited on his four-wheeler, had departed.  He said that on this grassy spot had stood a house, demolished fifty or sixty years ago.  Next to the milk shed in the painting used to be a large barn, which burned down some years back.   Even in the country, things are never the same.

In The Shade

This morning, on a beautiful day, I went to the college campus in Williamstown, MA to paint.  This is the back of a dorm on Park Street.  I chose this spot because the composition was interesting, and foremost, I was in the complete shade of a giant tree.

Trafficky Country Road

This painting went very quickly, fortunately, because I had to stand in the sun, on the edge of the road, to get this view of the dirt entrance to the pasture.  It's located on a country road in Williamstown, MA.  Amazing how much traffic there is on a country road.  Both the drawing and painting are 9x12 inches.

The Cows Are Gone

The sun went in, as they say, when I photographed my painting on site, the other day. The scene is the entrance in Williamstown, MA to the pasture where I painted this spring with the cows.  The cows are now gone and the grass is tall.

Beckoning Mountains

The mountains beckon from afar.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Permethrin and Glaciers

A painting from a couple days ago at a site that is familiar to a few local artists in Williamstown, MA.  The grass is tall now and I boldly went in again with my permethrin treated pants. The contour of that glacier-scoured mountain always amazes.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

At The Corner Of The Quad

At the corner of the Quad.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Plein Air

Though it was hot, this location was shady and breezy, and the view is quite spectacular.  9x12 oil on panel.

Campus Sketches

This morning I wandered around the campus, scouting out some views to paint, and made a few pencil sketches. 

Quick and Quick

A quick pencil sketch and a quick oil sketch from one corner of a quad at Williams College in Williamstown, MA.  Both 9x12 inches.

Jumping Dog

When I was painting this view of the pond at Field Farm in Williamstown, MA, a large black dog was periodically running and jumping into the pond to my left.  At least the dog was having fun. 9x12 inches, oil on panel. 

Looking Across The River

From yesterday morning, looking across the Hoosic River in Williamstown, MA.  12x9 inches, oil on panel.

Shallow and Wide

The Hoosic River is shallow and wide at this location in Williamstown, MA. Both the painting and drawing are 9x12 inches.

Sky and Water

A painting of Mauserts Pond at Clarksburg State Park from yesterday.  9x12 inches, oil on linen.

Tunnel City

A painting I recently completed of Tunnel City Coffee on Spring Street in Williamstown, MA, for a Williams alum.  It's an autumn view from five years ago.  A similar painting is on view at Tunnel City.  12x24 inches, oil on panel.

Adrift

Another painting from yesterday, while at Mauserts Pond at Clarksburg State Park displaying an inlet that slowly morphs into vegetation.  It's narrow enough that I was able to talk with kayakers who drifted in.  9x12 inches, oil on linen.

Looking North

Even though there's not a body of water in sight, there's still, thankfully, plenty of green.  This is the view I saw at the top of Luce Road in Williamstown, MA. looking north this afternoon.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Unknown Pond

When I first heard of this small pond, I never imagined how overgrown and impassable would be its edges, except for one access point.  And it's in eastern Massachusetts in a fairly well-developed area.  While quietly painting yesterday at the pond, I witnessed numerous splashes, sources unknown to me, and a muskrat crossing over from one side to other.  There's an old beaver lodge on the opposite shore, but all the  dropped trees and chewed stumps are not recent. 9x12 inches, oil on linen; 9x12 inches, pencil on paper.