Prospect and Greylock

Mounts Prospect and Greylock from Sheep Hill, Williamstown, MA. 6x8 inches, oil on gesso panel.  

Bright Greylock

Mount Greylock from Sheep Hill, Williamstown, MA. 11x14 inches, oil on linen canvas.  Greylock is the mountain in the back on the right.  The other mountain is Prospect.

Mount Prospect from Field Farm

Mount Prospect from Field Farm in Williamstown, MA. 10x10 inches, oil on linen panel.  

Clear, Cloudless Sky

The same fields and trees next to Luce Road in Williamstown, MA, with yesterday's clear, cloudless sky. 12x9 inches, oil on linen panel.  

A Persistent Theme

It surprises me that winter has been a persistent theme, but it is winter, and we haven't gone anywhere.  This is a view from the path at the top of Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA, looking down towards the buildings.  Mount Prospect dominates the view with Greylock behind.  18x24 inches, oil on linen canvas.

A Winter Face

Another of the many winter faces presented by Mount Greylock, the mountain at the right, as seen from Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  The mountain at center left is Prospect with Stony Ledge coming in at the right edge.  18x24 inches, oil on linen canvas.

What To Do

Here is a slight charcoal drawing, perhaps, that I did prior to the painting I posted yesterday.  It was important for me to determine how to compose the painting as well as suggest the energy of the parts making up the whole of it.  9x12 inches.

Appearing Larger

With the corn stalks gone, the mountain appears larger.  It's Mount Prospect, which hides the taller Mount Greylock behind it.  The Appalachian Trail goes up to the top of Mount Prospect, where there's a clearing from which you can see most of Williamstown, MA,  but not this spot where I was standing with my easel. 10 x 20 inches, oil on panel.

Busy Road

 After the sun came out, I went back to my favorite dirt road.  While I was there, it was busy.  The farmer brought three trailer loads of young cows to add to the herd.  I was told the next step for the herd is being bred to become dairy cows.  The bull, who I was told is not trustworthy, is in a nearby pasture, which I will not attempt to visit.

The Dirt Road

 

This one I painted back on Monday morning.  It depicts the dirt road between the corn field and the pasture.  The cows came by to watch me, but left quickly when they realized that I had nothing for them.  The mountain is Mount Prospect over which runs the Appalachian Trail.

I Wasn't Looking

Some times things work out well.  This afternoon I painted with Thor Wickstrom at Field Farm in Williamstown, MA.  Here's the first painting, a 12 x 16 oil on panel, with the two pencil sketches I did before starting the painting.   Thor took my picture while I wasn't looking.  Actually I was looking at and drawing the tree and mountains.

Better Late Than Early

An 8x10 cloud painting from a couple days ago at Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  I tried to paint quickly, without thinking too much.  Afterwards, when I started thinking again, I discovered that even better clouds happen later in the day when I wasn't able to be out there.

A Musical Grand View

This long painting I conceived as if it were sheet music to be displayed on a piano, for a project supporting the Berkshire Music School.  Uncleverly, I call it "The Hills (of Williamstown) Are Alive...". It's a grand view of the mountains and hills from the top of Sheep Hill in Williamstown, MA.  I always feel like singing when I am up there.  The painting is 12 x 40 inches, oil on panel.

What Painting Is

Yesterday afternoon I also did a second painting of the mountains from the top of Sheep Hill: this one a 9x12 oil on a linen sheet.  As I placed and moved the paint around on the linen surface, I thought of the book that I've started to re-read,  What Painting Is by James Elkins.   He writes, "Paint is a cast made of the painter's movements, a portrait of the painter's body and thoughts.  The muddy moods of oil paints are the painter's muddy humors, and its brilliant transformation are the painter's unexpected discoveries.  Painting is an unspoken and largely uncognized dialogue, where paint speaks silently in masses and colors and the artist responds in moods."

Mountains, Mountains

This afternoon's weather was delightful, so I went to the top of Sheep Hill to paint my favorite view of the mountains, Greylock, Prospect, Stony Ledge and the Hopper, which is not a mountain but a distinct space in between the mountains.  Recently, I was in Provence where Mont Ste. Victoire seems so high because it stands alone, but Mount Greylock is actually a few feet higher, 3,317 vs. 3,491.  This painting is a 12x16 oil on panel.

A Splendid Prospect

Mount Prospect offers a splendid prospect of Williamstown and the Taconic Mountains in the distance.  I reached the clearing, which is on the Appalachian Trail, using the short hike accessible from Notch Road.   It took twenty minutes even though I carried up my painting gear.  Being so high up, I thought I would be an interesting sight for through hikers, but I only met one, who was in a hurry.  This painting is a 12x16 oil on panel.