Between Houses and Ruskin

On one of my standard walks, up Luce Road, across Benlise and Longview Terrace, and down Stratton Road,  I took photographs of the spaces between houses.  These spaces are intriguing because they hold mountains in the background, and add some interesting man-made geometry to the foreground/middleground.

I came across the following John Ruskin quote today when reading a review of a Gerard Manley Hopkins biography (http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/The-unspeakable-stress-of-pitch-4048):  "The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one."    

Canson Tree

The Canson paper buckles too much with the alcohol wash, so I am going to not use it for these small 5x7 pastels.  I will rub and scrape the pastel with paper, finger, and brush instead.  This is a view looking to the left of Pine Cobble from Stratton Road in Williamstown, MA.  

Luce Road Revisited

This is one of three pastels I did of sites on Luce Road this weekend.

Mortal Frame

The last time I did this old farm shed,  I wondered why I was attracted to it.  Yesterday I read an excerpt from Karl Rahner who described himself as "the abandoned hut of my poor, dim earthly life."  Old fallen down barns and ruined sheds are like ourselves in a sense: human structures, with character and many stories, still attractive though in need of repair, and maybe a new life.  I remember reading that Wolf Kahn does not want to be known as a painter of barns.  He manages to see them for what they really are: human structures that when viewed with imagination and compassion present an opportunity, in Kahn's case, to release a powerful and  colorful vision.  By the way, this pastel is 8x10 on colourfix paper.

Just Your Plain Everyday Neighborhood in Winter

This image dates back to early March when the snow was still around on Luce Road in Williamstown, MA.  It's 8x10 on Canson paper.    I think I might switch for a while to the colourfix paper.  I seem to have greater success working on the prepared paper.

Luce Road

I had a few minutes available today so I made this quick pastel sketch of melting snow on Luce Road in Williamstown, MA.  I hope all the snow is melted now.  There's a small farmstand in the middle ground, and the Taconic Mountains are in the background.  I love walking up this road.

Grandma's House and a Red Barn

This pastel is a larger version of the red barn and yellow house in Williamstown, MA, that I did a few weeks back.

This pastel is the first in a series that I call memory paintings. It's based on an old photo of my grandmother's house, which has a mythic presence in my remembrance of things past. I am not completely pleased with it, but more will come, and hopefully they will improve. My sister has compiled a group of old photos showing relatives posing for posterity, which she put on a cd for me. I am as much if not more so interested in the backgrounds of the photos. Little did I imagine years ago when I first saw the photos how important the backgrounds would become. This image is mainly the house with one of my aunts with the bicycle.

Early One Morning at the Canal

This is a view of the D&R canal looking north towards Lambertville from the Grant Street bridge in Titusville, NJ.  The sun has just come over the edge of the trees from behind on the right.

Early Morning View at the End of the Street

This is a more extended variation on the pastel sketch I did yesterday: placing the background in the foreground, and the foreground in the background.  The low rising sun strikes the other side of Delaware River in Pennsylvania first, giving the background the warm glow so it comes forward, leaving the New Jersey side, the foreground, in the cooler shadows, so it recedes.  It's more obvious if you view the image with your monitor upside down.  (Just kidding.)  I found this concept in a book on Bonnard, and realized I was looking at it at the end of the street.  So I wanted to try it.

The End of the Street

This view faces west southwest at the end of my street towards the Delaware River and Pennsylvania.  New Jersey is still in the cold shadows, while the rising sun is hitting and warming the east coast of Pennsylvania.

Water Break at Daybreak

I planned on being in the park at this place, where the roads intersect, just when the sun rises over the distant treetops on the right.  The sunlight hits the trees, and they seem this bright for just a few minutes.  I will return to the water tomorrow. 5x7 pastel on Canson paper.

Canal View at Bridge Intersections

Looking into the canal at the bridge leading to the main bridge over the Delaware river next to Faherty's pub on the left and the footbridge on the right.  Footpath at the top of the image.  There are submerged stone blocks at the bottom edge of the canal.  I like how this moves into and out of abstraction.  Very bright and sunny moment.  A 5x7 pastel sketch on Canson paper.  

Water

It came to me today that I am on a water course.  I will continue to ride it while it lasts.  This is the flooded entrance of a stream into the Delaware River at Washington Crossing Park on the New Jersey side.   When the river is very low,  a shelf appears on which one can walk out into the river.  I painted outdoors there last summer about fifty feet beyond the submerged tree.

Delaware River Early Morning

This morning it was still cold with rime in the shadows. This is next to the spot where Washington lands every year on Christmas day when he crosses over from Pennsylvania. There's an old cement wall on the right and a wall of water on the left. This one is 8x10 on colourfix paper.

Canal from Grant Street

Standing on the Grant Street bridge facing south, one can see the original tow path on the left, and the railroad bed on the right.