It Happens So Fast

Yesterday morning I was at the Green River again: a 9x12 oil on panel.  Rivers are tough to paint.  Not only does the water surface keep changing (and quickly), but the sunlight changes as well (more slowly so that you don't realize it).  Some artists claim that they remember what it was like when they started to paint.  How can they remember when the changes are staring them in the face, and may be more appealing?  Work fast? I think (and I hope) we end up with a fast moving painting.

Rushing By

A 12x24 oil on canvas of the Green River rapids at the Hopper Road bridge at Mount Hope Park.  All the rocks seem like liquid also since either water or light runs over them.

Need to Rediscover

The poet Charles Simic writes, "Emerson asks in his famous essay 'Nature' why Americans should not also enjoy an original relation to the universe and have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition.  This notion that the truth has to be rediscovered time and time again makes sense in a country with a population of diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds, and his call for self-reliance has continued to inspire whatever originality our literature and arts have accomplished to date."

The 12x9 oil on panel I did the other day at Sheep Hill trying to rediscover something.

Rapidly and Calmly

Yesterday morning I went back to Mount Hope Park to draw the  Green River from one particular spot where the water shoots by.   I was sitting there quietly and still next to the river, except I was probably drawing as furiously as the water was jumping, so the image I just conjured up, of being passive next to an active fury, maybe is not right, since this pen and ink image that I first conjured up is quite feverish.  The day before when I made the other drawing, I saw an otter or marten, a sleek black animal larger than a cat with a long tail, jump into the river and with spurts quickly move through the rapids to the other bank.  The animal moved against the water quite calmly, as if the rapids weren't there.

Imagining Spring

Maybe today is the first day of spring.  It wasn't yesterday.  All I could manage is this drawing of the Green River.   It shows the bend at the Hopper Road Bridge.

I've been trying to catch up on my reading.  In an essay in the NYRB the poet Charles Simic wrote last summer, "I live between two worlds, the one I see with my eyes open and the one I see with my eyes closed.  Unlike other people, I regard the two as equals and trust my eyes as much as my imagination...  Poetry is not just a record of things seen and remembered but a deeper reading of them with the aid of the imagination."

Green River on the Rocks

Another version of the Green River at the Hopper Road bridge, a 12x12 oil on canvas.  After looking carefully at the bridge, which appears to be disintegrating, I wonder about it every time I drive over it.

Green River Boil

A 9x12 oil on canvas of the boiling waters of the Green River at the Hopper Road bridge.  Several large boulders squeeze the water into narrow channels as it passes the bridge and makes a left.  In the summertime this location is a calmer swimming hole.

Drawing Green River Water

From the calm waters of Josiah's Pond to the boiling cauldron of the Green River at the entrance to Hopper Road is but a short distance.  I started with some drawings the day before and yesterday, two of which are here, though I had to depart yesterday morning when it started to rain, and it hasn't stopped yet.

Josiah's Pond at Sheep Hill

An 18x24 oil on canvas of Josiah's Pond, the gazebo and the shed at Sheep Hill.  I tried to maintain that low sun effect from yesterday's drawing, provide an interesting composition, vary the brushstrokes, and keep the painting relatively simple.

Silvery Sheep Hill

The weather hasn't been ideal, as in warm and sunny.  I went to Sheep Hill to draw again instead of painting.  The light was silvery.  Now if I can only capture that in a painting.

The Sun at Sheep Hill

Yesterday morning the sun rose early and bright, so I went to Sheep Hill.  I made a couple drawings of this view, though the wind was gusty and made drawing difficult.  Gradually the clouds moved in, and I left.  The above 12x12 oil I did in the studio.

Sheep Hill Barns

As it turned out, I opted to make just a few slight changes from the first draft.  These two barns look related, almost like twins, but are different upon examination.  When you enter the tiny courtyard between them and face out, its tightness is effective in augmenting the expansive view of the steep Sheep Hill in front of you.  Behind the barns, as you see here, is a row of trees lining the road at the base of another steep mountain side.  The barns have been refurbished but still pleasantly reflect their age.

Three or Six Barns

The first two are a 9x12 charcoal drawing and a 9x12 oil on panel on site studies of the barns at Sheep Hill.  The last is an 18x24 oil on canvas developed from the first two.  The large painting is not quite done yet, but very far along.  Unfortunately, on the Internet they look the same size, but the large painting is, well,  larger.

Going and Coming

Almost all the snow on the hill above Josiah's Pond at Sheep Hill is now gone.  This 9x12 oil on panel I did the day before yesterday before the rain and higher temperatures arrived last night.  I was there again yesterday and did a charcoal drawing and an oil sketch of the barns as preliminaries for a larger painting.  I'll post those tomorrow.  The painting may take some time.

Snow on a Hill

Painting outdoors at Sheep Hill went well yesterday afternoon.  I did two paintings.  The second I will post tomorrow.  This one is 12x12 oil on panel, and demonstrates that snow on a hill melts in the sunshine.  You can compare it to the oil sketch of a similar view that I posted a few days ago.