View Onto the Deck

Deck Door View, Williamstown, MA. 8x6 inches, gouache on mixed media paper.  While sitting on the couch, I made this little painting looking out onto the deck.  

The Second Sink

Pottery Studio Sink, Pownal, VT.  12x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  This is a second sink with a landscape view.  

An Interior Painting

Bedroom Interior, Williamstown, MA.14x11 inches, oil on canvas panel.  An interior painting is a cross between a landscape and a still life.  

Pottery Studio Drawing

Pottery Studio, Pownal, VT.  9x12 inches, charcoal and pencil on paper.  A drawing I did last week.  Drawings always help to prepare for painting. 

On a Dusty Dirt Road

Dirt Road, Mt. Hope Farm, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  I painted on the side of a dusty dirt road this afternoon instead of inside a studio. 

Studio Sink

Pottery Studio Sink, Pownal, VT.  12x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  Other painters have done studio sinks.  There's a tradition.  Three painters that come immediately to mind are Richard Diebenkorn, Lucien Freud and Antonio Lopez Garcia, though I know there are more.  

More Floor

Pottery Studio, Pownal, VT.  16x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  Today, I went back to make a larger version of yesterday's painting, which is basically replicated in the upper left two-thirds of this painting.  More floor helps.
 

Space Into Space

Pottery Studio Interior.  12x9 inches, oil on linen panel.  I'm still trying to settle on the right panel size for interior paintings.  Most that I see are vertical or squarish.  It's complicated making an interior space fit comfortably into a panel space.

The Old Milk Shed

The Old Milk Shed, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  When painting yesterday, I was standing where the milk shed's accompanying barn used to be.   The nearby road had a constant flow of traffic because the farm stand had just started selling sweet corn.

Turning Into Flowers

View Near Luce Road, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel. At a nearby farm, the weeds out of reach of the mower, horses and cows, have grown up and turned into wildflowers.  

Speaking Tree

Tree at Field Farm, Williamstown, MA.  8x10 inches, gouache on mixed media paper.  While walking the North Trail, this tree spoke to me.  It said, "Bob, look here."

So Much To See

Pottery Studio Wall, Pownal, VT.  9x12 inches, oil on gessobord.  There's so much to see and paint.

Studio Interior

Pottery Studio Interior, Pownal, VT.  12x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  An art studio is an intriguing place: a refuge for quiet and creativity, a chamber for noise and activity, a room to reexamine completed work and ponder new directions, and a space to reconnect to traditions and recognize that one is part of something larger than oneself (this is not an exhaustive list).

Field Farm Trail

Field Farm Trail, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, gouache on mixed media paper.  A painting I did yesterday after a walk at Field Farm on the North Trail.  It never takes long for these plants to grow above one's head.

Simple Classic

Farm Road, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  A simple classic plein air composition of a farmer's dirt road from yesterday.  In mud season the farmer's tractors create deep ruts and unearth large boulders in this "road" but by July the dirt becomes hard as concrete preserving the ruts until the next mud season. 

Signifying Nothing...

Plum Island, Newbury, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on cradled gesso panel.  Paint markings signifying nothing... much.

Out of Hand

Hopper and Greylock from Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, gouache on mixed media paper.  The clouds are out of hand, literally.

Front, Back and Two Sides

Tree Trunks, Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. Each 9x12 inches, charcoal stick and pencil on paper. The same trees, front, back and two sides.  

The Fourth Side

Tree Trunks, Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, charcoal stick and pencil on paper. The fourth side of the tree trunks.  They make more sense when seen together.

Another Perspective

Tree Trunks, Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, charcoal stick and pencil on paper.  The same tree trunks from another perspective done today. 

The Burghers of Field Farm

Tree Trunks, Field Farm, Williamstown, MA.  9x12 inches, charcoal stick and pencil on paper. The same tree trunks as yesterday's but from the other side.  I keep thinking of them as formidable bronze sculptures, like The Burghers of Calais.

Tree Trunks

Tree Trunks, Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, charcoal stick and pencil.  I should turn to drawing more often when the weather isn't great for painting, like it wasn't today.

Simple This Time

Old Farm Garage, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  I decided to keep it simple this time.
 

Not Too Architectural

Mansion, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel. What kept popping up in my head while thinking about painting the mansion are those Beach at Trouville paintings by Monet where he painted large mansion-like buildings on the right that are painterly and not too architectural.  I want to convey the sense of this building without being too architectural.

The Mansion This Time

A Mansion, Williamstown, MA. 12x16 inches, oil on linen panel.  I tried a different approach this time, pre-mixing six colors to block in the painting as quickly as possible, instead of drawing it with one color and changing colors on the fly.  I will try yet another approach the next time. 

 

Not Another Shed

Mansion, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  Definitely not another shed.  This one was tough to do, to just suggest the details without painting them. I painted quickly and didn't look back too much.

One More Painting

The Barn at Haley Farm, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  Yesterday afternoon I commiserated with the farmer, who was trying to get as much haying done as possible, in between the recent and expected rains.  Following his lead, I did one more painting ahead of today's rain.