Not In-Between

Hoosic River at Stony Beach, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  When I arrived, the sun was shining and when I finished the painting the sun was shining again, but not in-between.

Not in the Water

Hoosic River, North Adams, MA.  9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  This time I went to the Hoosic in North Adams accessed via Ashton Avenue.  The beach area extends into the river, so it only appears that I was painting while standing in water.  

All Different

A Pond, Grafton, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  This pond I've painted many times in recent years. Like all bodies of water, it's never the same. The pond is never the same. The paintings are all different. Each experience of painting the pond is different.

Mainstream Event

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  While working on this one yesterday afternoon, I heard voices and laughter coming from down river.  I was on the beach at the confluence of the Hoosic and the Green Rivers.  A flotilla of over a dozen pool inflatables came by each with a person stretched out on them.  They were young Williams alums doing some alumni weekend event.  Two people praised my painting from the center of the river, a first for me: mainstream approval.

Like a Postcard

Plaza del Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela.  6x8 inches, watercolor and pen & ink.  Like a postcard, a remembrance of a place once visited not so long ago.

Santiago Sketch

 

Plaza del Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela.  6x8 inches, watercolor and pen and ink.

Smash and Crash

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  I haven't visited this spot in three weeks. It's now completely overgrown. While painting there yesterday afternoon I heard a loud smash and crash behind me, as if some large animal was coming through the thick bushes and decided to make an impromptu one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn around. I yelled and turned quickly only to see the branches still shaking.

Wild and Remote

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  The river is receding, so I was able to access another shore area seldom visited. The edges of rivers are often wild and remote.

Stony Plaza and Smart Phones

Plaza del Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela.  6x8 inches, watercolor, gouache and pencil on mixed media paper.  The hikers don't seem to mind stretching out on the stony surface to use their smart phones.

Santiago de Compostela

Plaza del Obradoiro, Santiago de Compostela.  8x10 inches, watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper.  First of a series of sketches of the plaza, usually filled with arriving hikers and visitors.  I think of them as postcards to recapture the experience of being there.

From a Beach with No Name

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  The river view from a beach with no name, east of Cole Avenue.  The water level is going down at this time making this beach accessible, but the coming weekend rain will inundate it again.

At Sandy Beach on the Hoosic

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  I'm no longer in Spain, so I went out to paint this afternoon at Sandy Beach on the Hoosic.  

Many Paintings

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 6x8 inches, oil on linen panel.  Testing out some pictorial ideas in a little painting.  The river contains many paintings.

A Rare Phenomenon

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 12x16 inches, oil on canvas panel.  From my wanderings along the edges of the Hoosic, my guess is that this overhanging willow is a rare phenomenon.  

Hearing Voices

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  As I was setting up to paint in a secluded spot on the river today, I heard a voice.  It came from the river.  I heard it again.  Only then did I see a pontoon boat appear around the corner with three people in it: one person in the front fishing, another in the middle rowing, and a third at the rear along for the ride.  I told the rower pilot that I was going to paint and that I thought the river was speaking to me when I heard him talk. He said, "I hope that it does speak to you."   Then the fisherman in front yelled "Plein Air!" a couple times and the boat disappeared around the next corner.

Looking at the Water

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  Here I am looking at the water to the other side of the river.  

Reacquaintance Drawing

Hoosic River Tree, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, pencil on paper. Since the weather is not cooperating, I will do a studio painting of the river.  I went back this afternoon to reacquaint myself with this location. 

Perilously Close

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  The river flows perilously close to the old footpath's edge, which is caving in at some places.  But it's a great view.

At the River Bend

Bend in the Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel. I went out earlier today. I was surprised when a walker asked if I was "Robert".  She said she's seen my paintings on FB.  Thank you, Lisa.

Never the Same

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  There aren't too many spots where the river is easily accessible for painting like this one right now, so pardon me for returning to a familiar site.  As the greenery expands and the water goes down, other views will become available for painting.  But even the same place is never the same.

 

On Top of the River

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  Trees leaning over the river are on top of the river in a painting so they tend to blend together.  I did this plein air painting this afternoon.

Study of a Tree

Study of a Tree at Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 12x16 inches, oil on canvas panel.  I've been working on this one for a while. It's a real study in the sense that I am trying to do something different and learn from it. When I first saw the tree three weeks ago, it was like Annie Dillard's tree with the lights in it. Time will tell what I've learned.

Up Close and Moving

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen canvas.  Today, I painted at the river.  The river always has more visual drama than a mountain view.  You are up close and it's moving quickly.  Also, exotic ducks fly by.

Painting Away

Mount Greylock from Sheep Hill, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  This beautiful afternoon the faint sound of the traffic on Route 7 drifted up to where I stood high on the hill painting away.

The Dome from Stone Hill

Stone Hill View, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  From this vantage point on Stone Hill, the horizontalness of the Clark constrasts nicely with the beautiful arch of The Dome in Vermont.  I once climbed The Dome.  The exact top was glacier-scoured stone, but the trees around it were so tall that no view was available.

Spring at Sheep Hill

Mount Greylock from Sheep Hill, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel. Yesterday afternoon I painted at the top of Sheep Hill.  The mud conditions are gone, but Bee Hill Road is still rough. Trees are starting to leaf out.

Drawing in Grafton

Pond, Grafton, MA. 9x12 inches, pencil on paper.  When there's no opportunity to paint, one can always draw.  

A Lively Tree

Tree on North Trail, Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  I saw this lively tree the other day and came back to paint it on site this afternoon before the clouds appeared.

Ahead of the Rain

Hoosic River from Stone Beach, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel.  Rain is coming so I ventured out to paint before it arrives.  

A Landscape

Mount Greylock from Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 6x8 inches, oil on linen panel.  A landscape that really happened.

Green Into Hoosic

Hoosic and Green Rivers, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on canvas panel.  Yesterday I went to the same spot as the day before but looked right instead of left. Here the Green River flows from the right into the Hoosic.

Swirling Hoosic

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on canvas panel.  Yesterday afternoon, looking upriver from the little beach where the Green River intersects with the Hoosic River, I painted this view of the swirling water.   

Coming Soon

Looking South from Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 6x8 inches, oil on linen panel.  Summer will be here soon.  

A Little Reminder

Greylock from Field Farm, Williamstown, MA. 6x8 inches, oil on linen panel.  A little painting of a high summer view as a reminder of what's coming.

Transitioning

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  The transition of going from painting in the studio to painting outdoors, just like going from winter to spring, can be immobilizing when the weather hesitates. Today it wasn't raining and it wasn't cold, so I ventured out for whatever I could achieve.

Painting in Early Spring

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on canvas panel.  When everything is still kinda dull in early spring, sunshine and moving water can make painting outside worthwhile.  This view is located off the Mohican Recreational Path.

Tracery of Tree Limbs

Hoosic River, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, conte crayon and pastel on paper.  I went down to the river to draw some water (pun intended). Actually, I was scouting out a place to paint when the weather improves. It's not meant to be a great drawing, but a study of the tracery of tree limbs against the river flow.

Wild and Rocky

Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas. The east facing Atlantic coast side of the island can be disorienting in its wild rocky robustness.

Slowly Awakening

Trees at Field Farm, Williamstown, MA.  9x12 inches, conte crayon on paper.  I went walking yesterday and made this drawing. I realized later that I drew some Ents slowly awakening.

Monhegan Boat

Boat on Light House Hill, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas. The sea is tucked into the upper left.

Monhegan Path

Walking the Path, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas. Life is a journey on a small island in a big ocean.  

D. T. Sheridan

Remnants, Monhegan Island, ME 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas.  The remains of the tugboat, D.T. Sheridan.

Backyard Pleinair

Backyard Melt, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel.  I painted outside today, albeit from the deck.  It's warm and sunny but the ground is sopping wet.  

Monhegan Paintings

Monhegan Paintings.  Each 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas. Completed in the two months from early January to early March.  

Clothesline

Hanging Clothes, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas.  For most people today, an active clothesline is a pleasant memento of the past.

An Arrangement

Alley and Ramp, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas.  An arrangement of island forms.

Monhegan View

Hill Top View, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas.  The view from Lighthouse Hill.  Shall we sit here for a while?

Monhegan Evening

 Monhegan Evening, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas. 

No Clothes

Clothesline, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas. This time the line is empty: no clothes. 
 

Confrontation

The Seascapist, Monhegan Island, ME. 12x16 inches, oil on linen canvas.  A long time ago I found her sitting calmly at her easel atop the threatening rocks at the south of the island. She was painting the diagonal edge where the water and shore confront each other.