Flatbush Afternoon

Flatbush Avenue. Late afternoon.  12x12 oil on panel.

Flatbush River

Flatbush Avenue appears as wide as a river at the corner of Sterling Place.  Even when I would drive across it, I wondered if the light would stay green long enough to make it over, never mind trying to make it across on foot.  The pedestrian stripes are testimony to the frequent diggings, resurfacings, and repaintings that urban surfaces undergo, like a painter's canvas.  12x12 oil on panel.

Thickly Packed Flatbush Avenue

Walking on Flatbush Avenue in the direction of downtown Brooklyn reveals a whole new skyline if you haven't been here recently.  The buildings are as thickly packed as the people on the sidewalk.   I visited downtown last week.  The new construction is everywhere, inhuman in scale.  There are still some venerable, smaller buildings left, but for how long?  12x12 oil on panel.

Flatbush

The name "Flatbush" comes from the Dutch meaning a 'wooded plain', according to Wikipedia.  So it's nice to see a tree on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.  Actually, there are a number of trees along Flatbush Avenue, even though now it's essentially a hard-surfaced, heavily built-up, travelled and populated place.  I was trying to achieve a dense, textured surface in this painting.  It may become part of a series.  12x12 oil on panel.

Maybe I Did It.

This is the last of the three paintings I did last Friday when the late afternoon sun was shining at the top of Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  I worked quickly and maybe I exaggerated it a bit since I got carried away by how amazing it was.  8x10 oil on panel.

By the way, while trying to figure out why nobody seemed to be reacting in any way to my posts on my personal FB page, I found that for the last two months my posts were only visible to me and one other person.  How that change occurred is a mystery to me.  I do have double authentication in place.  Maybe I did it.

One Can't See It

The late afternoon sun is responsible for my interest in this view of the path and bushes at the top of Sheep Hill.  One can't see it, but the path abruptly turns left and downhill instead of heading directly for the row of trees, even though that's how it appears.  9x12 oil on panel.

Grateful I Am.

Spending one's afternoon painting at the top of a high hill in the warm fall sunshine is pleasant.  Again I was looking last Friday at Mount Greylock and the Hopper from Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA, a view whose offerings I can never exhaust.  Grateful I am.  9x12 oil on panel.

Under the Gowanus

This is a large 36 x 48 inch painting that I've been working on for the last couple of weeks showing the area under the Gowanus Expressway at Third Avenue and 20th Street in Brooklyn.  I did a small 9x12 painting of this scene a couple years ago.  It's strange seeing the postage stamp photo of the large painting in this post since it doesn't convey how much the larger painting makes you feel as if you were under the road, hearing all the cars and trucks moving loudly overhead.  The postage stamp photo makes the painting seem more representational than it really is.  When you stand close up to it, it's a bit eerie and abstract.  At least that's my take.

Hard To See It

As I pondered the sky and mountains yesterday from Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA, with a new panel on my easel, I happened to look at the trees behind me.  The late afternoon sun was trying to penetrate the density of trunks and limbs.  I just started to paint, trying to make sense of what I was looking at, even though it was hard to see it.  8x10 oil on panel.

Clouds and Clouds

The first painting that I did this afternoon at Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  The cloud shadows on the mountains reflect the clouds and the mountains become clouds.  This 8x10 oil on panel was done quickly to capture the quickly changing conditions.

Unpopular

Figure drawings don't seem to be very popular nowadays, but making them is an important aspect of being an artist.  This drawing, approximately 17 x 11 inches, pencil on paper, I did last week.  There's a mirror behind the model, which reflects the model and another artist working at an easel.

Changing Fast

A second plein air painting from Friday when the weather was so beautiful.  There's a timelessness about such a view, but you know as you are painting it that it's changing fast, and will not last.  The view is of the hill behind the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA.  9x12 oil on panel.

One Beautiful Day

The weather has gone back to its cloudy self today, but you can tell from this painting, done yesterday, that there was one beautiful day (finally) to paint this week on the hill behind the Clark Art Institute.  Actually this time our plein air group painted at the base of the hill.  9x12 oil on panel.

Now And Then

It threatened to rain several times, but the sun also appeared briefly now and then, so I tried to capture one of those now-and-thens in this painting of trees at the top of the hill behind the Clark Art Institute.  8x10 oil on panel.

Looking For Better Weather

A Clark hill painting done yesterday, under an overcast sky, while working with the students in the IS183 plein air workshop at the Clark Art Institue in Williamstown, MA.  Hopefully the weather will improve today.   8x10 oil on panel.

St. Ives

St. Ives, Cornwall.  12x16 oil on panel.

Rainy London

Rainy London: a street view in Covent Garden district, 16x12 oil on panel.

Weather To Paint

This week I'll be running a plein air workshop for IS183 at the Clark Art Institute, which is why I've been painting there in the last few days.  The weather has been and will again be a challenge.  Not every day is a sunny day, but one can still paint outside every day, if necessary.  Here's another recent painting done on the hill behind the Clark when the weather was not ideal.  8x10 oil on panel.