From The Other Day

 From the other day at the pond, the second painting.  12x12, oil on linen panel.

Return To The Pond

The pond beckoned one more time.  This is the first of two paintings done yesterday. 12x12 inches, oil on linen panel.

On The Other Side

A second painting done on the opposite side of the pond.  I took advantage of the painting's ground for the near right tree trunks, and the pond reflects a distant tree on the other side, making for an interesting contrast.  10x10 inches, oil on linen panel.

 

The Edge Of The Pond

A little painting from the edge of the pond in Hoosick, NY.  10x10 inches, oil on linen panel.

The Pond

The pond in Hoosick, NY. 9x12 inches, oil on linen panel.  

Return to the Pond

Having seen this view yesterday to the left of where I was painting, I went back to the pond today to see what I could do with it.  The painting evokes what I was looking at, the late October sun coming through the trees which have lost many leaves and the pond reflecting the sky in the middle ground.  This is a 9x12 oil on linen sheet.

Pond Painting

Trying to get back into the painting routine again, I went to the pond just over the border in New York state where I've painted earlier this year and at this time last year.  The pond scum is now gone leading to nice sky reflections and more painting opportunities.  Even when painting something that moves all the time, like water (and light and shadow), I used the tree trunk and the diagonal pond edges to provide structure.   This painting is an 11x14 oil on multimedia board.

No Mas

For the first day of summer, this morning I painted a driveway.  The breeze was gentle and persistent with the sun going in and out.  I pretended that I was in Provence painting on a country road, except the building alongside the driveway doesn't look like a mas, the Provencal farmhouse, but is a Federal style house in Hoosic, NY.  9x12 oil on panel.

Bouquet of Branches

Yesterday I painted another pine tree near the pond.  This tree looks like a huge vase or a bouquet of large branches.  The painting is a 9x12 oil on panel.

Large Pines at the Pond

Yesterday I didn't go to Toulouse, but to the pond instead.  I concentrated on some pines next to the pond which appears slightly at the right.  I'm attracted to large pines.  I like their sky holes, the green against the blue.  This is a 9x12 oil on panel.

Culminating

This 18x24 oil on canvas painting is a culminating point, for the moment, in my paintings of the pond.  Though it doesn't, at first glance, look like it, the painting is three-fourths water.

Pond Again

Yesterday I was at the pond again.  This is an 8x10 oil on panel.

Jumble

This tree at the pond, I've been told,  is a black willow, not a weeping willow.  Wikipedia says they are given to "frequently forking near the base," which happened with this tree.  I tried to reduce the complexity of what I encountered when making this painting.  I liked the way the sun struck the mass of foliage, and the small sky reflections underneath, but I realized quickly, and maybe too late, that this jumble would require a lot of work to organize. The painting is a 9x12 oil on panel.

Mostly Water

There's not much real estate in this 8x10 oil on panel, but I had to work hard on it (at least, it felt that way).  Most of this painting is water.

Before the Fall

Another 9x12 oil on panel from last Thursday at the pond.  The tree that is at the left, whose branches hang down, is the one that fell during the storm that night.

From the Far End

A painting from the far end of the pond, a 9x12 oil on panel.  This was done on site several days ago.

From my reading: Cezanne built a studio building in 1902 in Aix.  After the studio was shut following his father's death in 1906,  Cezanne's son Paul never returned to Aix .  He indicated that it was because the people of Aix had so little respect for his father.   Of course, that has changed today.

A Sadness in the Sun

This time, a 9x12 oil on panel of a couple more willow trees at the pond, which I painted yesterday morning.   In Ross King's book on Monet's water lilies, Mad Enchantment, he writes how willows signify loss and sadness and how that sadness is part of Monet's late paintings.  On a brilliant morning when the sun illuminates the willow trunks, it's hard to think of sadness...

With this painting, I tried something that had not occurred to me before: paint without using a medium.  It worked out well, and I think that it makes it easier to layer paint.

Willows

The pond at the far end has several big, old willow trees that stand at the edge of the water.  This painting is a 12x12 oil on panel that I did early in the afternoon at the pond.

Reaction

After the duckling rescue, I completed this 12x12 oil on panel.  It seems that it's better if I just react to the pond instead of thinking about it too much.

From One End to the Other and a Daring Rescue

This morning I went back to the pond.  I was standing at one end of the pond looking toward the other end and painted this view, a 12x16 oil on panel.  I may paint this view more than once, since it changes dramatically during the day.

After I finished this painting, I moved to another location to start another painting, but I became involved in a duckling rescue operation.  I learned later that a duckling was born last night, and at mid-day I saw it running after three other ducks, and it promptly went into the pond while the three ducks went back to their duck house.  The duckling tried to get out of the pond, while, in the meantime, the bullfrogs were signaling that lunch had arrived.  Anyway, the duckling was eventually successfully removed from the pond and put back in the duck house with its careless mother, who is sitting on a pile of eggs.  Hopefully the duckling will still be there tomorrow.