A Last Three

 A last three: selection of recent drawings made before starting a plein air painting.  

Three More Drawings

 Three more recent drawings done in preparation for plein air paintings.

A Large Landscape

I've been working on a large landscape painting for the last week.  Here it is with some of its colleagues at the studio wall.  I'm thinking it's almost done.  36 x 48 inches, oil on canvas.

Some Drawings

When I paint outside, I continue to make a drawing first.  Here's a sampling (except for the first drawing, for which there's no painting yet).  

Like This

When the weather is like this, I am grateful there are places like this, where I can setup my easel and paint.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Going To Seed

 

For most of the afternoon the sun did not shine, but it was pleasant painting in this meadow, which also functions as a pasture when there are cows. Now everything is growing and going to seed.  The higher field has been mowed but not this one. 

Looking Up

 

So today I started to paint in a new spot for me, though it's just a bit lower down the road from where I've been painting this summer.  Now I'm looking up instead of looking down.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Sloan Sky

 

An oil study started in the studio and completed on site off of Sloan Road in Williamstown, MA this afternoon before the thunderstorm rolled in.  12x16 inches, oil on panel.

Summer Cloud Study

 

A study of summer afternoon clouds.  I walked to the top of a hay field, faced north, mixed all my paints, and started to paint. 9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Behemoths

 

To look towards the sun, I went up higher in the pasture partly off of the dirt road.   Halfway through the painting, I saw something in the corner of my eye.  In a few seconds, they came out of the woods.  I became surrounded by huge, fly-covered behemoths, loudly chomping the vegetation around me. Just as suddenly they all left going down the hill toward the barn.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Overgrown Pasture

 

An overgrown pasture where the dirt road begins.  The cows have many options here for eating, and the many plants they ignore come to fruition.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

Adventures On The Dirt Road

 

On the dirt road high up.  When making this one under the umbrella, I was visited by the farmer's wife, who saw its reflection from below and thought it was a car.  She drove up in an ATV to investigate, and when she saw me, she said something like, "Oh, it's you."  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Higher Up

 

Climbing higher offers a view over the trees, which includes more of the mountains to the north, including the Dome in Vermont. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  

Rising Above

 

A simple landscape, done quickly, looking west toward the Taconics in New York state.  I like the way the tree rises above the mountains.  The shadow at my feet kept sliding down.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Looking North

 

A view looking north from the steep dirt road in Williamstown, MA.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Looking and Going Up

 

Looking up the dirt road.  At the entrance to this pasture area, there's a sign indicating that a hiking trail going up the side of the mountain is located somewhere to the left.  I was told that a second sign identifies its location.  I've been looking for it for days.  I finally found it yesterday.  Someone had uninvitingly smashed the second sign.   9x12 inches, oil on panel.

'Evidence' Of Cows

 

Another painting, done a couple days ago, showing the gravel pit on the left and the uphill dirt road on the right.  This area in Williamstown, MA is used as a pasture but I only saw 'evidence' of cows for the first couple days.  They finally came out of the woods yesterday to examine more closely what a landscape painter was doing.  I didn't see them at all today.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Gravel Pit

 

The gravel from this pit, I'm guessing,  may have been used to fill washed out sections of the steep dirt road that I was standing on when I made this painting.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

The Dirt Road

 

This one I painted back on Monday morning.  It depicts the dirt road between the corn field and the pasture.  The cows came by to watch me, but left quickly when they realized that I had nothing for them.  The mountain is Mount Prospect over which runs the Appalachian Trail.

Remote Beauty

 

This spot, near the bottom of a gully, is close enough so that one can hear traffic noises coming from town, but the coyote scat reminds one also that it is remote. It has a wild beauty. 8x10 inches, oil on panel.

Gully And Stream

 

The dirt tractor road crosses a gully by going down and then up.  At the bottom of the gully, a stream crosses the road.  On the other side of the gully is a large grassy field, and more corn fields.  The stream always reflects the sky.  

I read yesterday the following from Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez: "Our first wisdom as a species, that unique metaphorical knowledge that distinguishes us, grew out of … an intimacy with the earth..."

8x10 inches, oil on panel.

More To The Left

 

So the next day I set up more to the left to include the tree overhanging the downhill dirt road.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

Splotchy Shadows

The tractor road goes downhill below a high overhanging tree on the right so that what is visible on the ground when looking back up the road is a mix of grass tufts, gravel, rocks, and shadows.  It's hard to have all this make visual sense when the tree is not visible in the painting.  Camille Pissarro was criticized for placing across the bottom of his paintings the shadows cast by trees themselves not visible in the paintings.  In his case, his shadows are more uniform than my splotchy ones.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Remote And Distant Corn Fields

 A view off of the dirt road next to a remote corn field.  I actually was on another tractor path, which is now overgrown, that leads to yet another corn field in the distance.  9x12 inches, oil on linen.

Metaphor

The dirt road in a painting is a visual cliche, but for me it's still a strong metaphor that transcends its compositional usefulness.  Since I walk this road looking for places to paint, it becomes my entry point into the real landscape.  It becomes me or anyone.  6x8 inches, oil on pane.

A Dramatic Landscape

The clouds kept the mountain dark for the most part, while the foreground remained sunny, so I painted  a dramatic landscape.  I had corn to my left and cows to my right.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

Corner Painting

The painter Thor Wickstrom has cornered the market painting this location in North Adams, MA but there's always room for another painting.  12x16 inches, oil on panel.

As Hard As Concrete

The dirt road behind the milk shed, running between a pasture and a corn field, leads to other corn fields and pastures. When wet in the spring it gets re-formed by the tractors, but its undulations are usually as hard as concrete.  8x10 inches, oil on panel.

A Portrait

The old milk shed.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Not Lavender

A hay field leading to a back pasture in Williamstown, MA: it's not lavender that is growing there. An invasive plant?  Purple loosestrife? I had to paint it. 8x10 inches, oil on panel.

On Exhibition

I am happy to report that my painting of Mauserts Pond was accepted into the juried exhibition Land & Light & Water & Air 2020,  to be held at the Bryan Memorial Gallery in Jeffersonville, VT from September 10 to November 8.