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.