Sunny But Breezy

It was sunny, but breezy and cold at my workplace today, Canoe Meadows in Pittsfield, MA. 9x12 inches, oil on Guerrilla Painter carton board. 

 

A Life-Experience

From the path that goes through the pond at Canoe Meadows in Pittsfield, MA, I painted this view for my third painting of the day.  

Ever wonder why the painting or drawing of something appeals to us more than the actual thing?  John Berger wrote, "To draw is to look, examining the structure of appearances. A drawing of a tree shows, not a tree, but a tree-being-looked-at. Whereas the sight of a tree is registered almost instantaneously, the examination of the sight of a tree (a tree-being-looked-at) not only takes minutes or hours instead of a fraction of a second, it also involves, derives from, and refers back to, much previous experience of looking. Within the instant of the sight of the tree is established a life-experience."   

So this painting represents my trees-being-looked-at.  8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.

From The Bridge

The only solid thing that I saw, when painting the stream, was the concrete slab on which I stood that bridged the stream.  The water, the leafless bushes, the gleaming grasses, formed and unformed edges, appeared and faded away.  From the bridge at Canoe Meadows in Pittsfield, MA. 8x10 inches, oil on linen panel.

Canoe Meadows

This morning I painted at a new location for me: Canoe Meadows in Pittsfield, MA.  I didn't see any canoes but did see a few people watching birds. This is the first of three paintings. 8 x 16 inches, oil on linen panel.