Bee Hill Road

 Bee Hill Road, Williamstown, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on canvas panel.  Happy Holidays to you.

Upper Bee Hill Road

An autumn view of upper Bee Hill Road in Williamstown, MA. looking north.  12x16 inches, oil on panel.

Local Phenomenon

Here's a local phenomenon, Bee Hill Road, which climbs up Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA. I've painted it several times.  Each time I have a hard time believing how steep it is.  6x8 inches, gouache and watercolor on multimedia paper.

Sensational

Yesterday I painted again from the tree shadows looking out towards Mount Greylock and The Hopper from Bee Hill Road at Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  The landscape is as sensational as it looks. 12x16 inches, oil on linen panel.

From Atop

 Bee Hill Road from atop Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  12x16 inches, oil on panel.

Wintry Weather

Wintry weather on Bee Hill Road doesn't offer much color, so I used a limited palette.  The dirt road is like another tree branch.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Landscape Drama

 

A view of Bee Hill Road on the right and Sheep Hill on the left in Williamstown, MA.  I've had a flair for dramatic paintings lately.  9x12 inches, oil on panel.

Extreme Junction

This particular spot in Williamstown, MA  I visit a couple times a year, at least, because it offers an extreme junction of uphill road and steep hill, usually with amazing light contrasts.  The exposed hill on the left is Sheep Hill, and the tree-lined dirt road on the right is Bee Hill Road.  18x24 oil on panel.

Small Bee Hill

It's not a small Brooklyn painting, but at least it's a small painting: a view down Bee Hill Road in Williamstown, MA.  5x7 oil on panel.

Revisit Rework Repeat

Two paintings that I've reworked.  I visited the site of the tree and  mountains again yesterday for another look.  The reaching tree actually reaches out toward the cold mountains that are in the second painting.  

A Tree Reaching

If you walk along Bee Hill Road at the top of Sheep Hill, which I've never seen anyone else doing, you will encounter this tree.  It presumably looks this way with arms flying only in one direction because the limbs that would hang over the road have been removed.  The end result is a tree reaching for the mountains, with other mountains as a backdrop.  I get a sense of deep rooted yearning when I look at it.  This painting is an 18x24 oil on canvas.

Sheep Hill and Bee Hill

Ever since I discovered this view, looking up and looking across almost simultaneously, I wanted to paint it.  Left is Sheep Hill and right is Bee Hill road.  A thin line of trees separates the road from the steep hill.  The painting is a 12x24 oil on canvas.

Two of Two at Once

This is the second painting done simultaneously with another at the top of Sheep Hill yesterday.  This view looks east-southeast, with Greylock in the upper left, and the foreground hill sloping from right to left.

One of Two at Once

Earlier today I went to the top of Sheep Hill next to Bee Hill Road.  I painted two 9x12 panels at the same time.  This is the one on the left side of the easel with the hill sloping down from left to right.  The view is facing north-north east.   I'll post the second painting tomorrow.   Somebody asked me why I am painting two pictures at once.  Don't I already have enough?  I couldn't answer that question.  I certainly have to paint twice as fast, which is an experience worth trying now and then.

Up and Down

This 9x12 oil on panel I started this afternoon on site and completed in the studio afterwards.   Bee Hill Road goes up on the right, and Sheep Hill goes up and down on the left.  I walked up to this point from below Sheep Hill, which wasn't fun hauling my stuff, but a kind lady on Bee Hill, who was curious about what I was doing, offered her driveway for parking next time, which probably won't happen until all the leaves are gone.

Sheep Hill and Bee Hill

A small parking spot off of a dirt road called Bee Hill Road provides access to the top of a steep hill called Sheep Hill.  The location of this 12x9 oil  is just down to the left of the parking spot facing north where an opening occurs in a row of trees and a sunken stone fence.  I used a surreptitious zig-zag composition.   I do feel the need to find a site where there is something to contrast better with all the green that is everywhere.

Been Busy

Though I haven't posted in the last few days, I have been busy. Above are first, Sheep Hill Farm, 8x10 bw; second, top of Stratton Road, 8x10 bw; house in Ogunquit, ME, 6x8 oil; and an 8x10 bw of Sheep Hill near Bee Line Road, and an 8x10 oil of the same. I have been doing a lot of work outdoors. Degas may have been right about outdoor painting. He said it was a "sport". There are many more, but I won't post them, but will move on to new stuff.