Looking At You

Moving to a different spot a few feet away, I painted another view of the unwieldy old tree at the mirror pond.   The tree blends in with the mountains in the back and the pond in the front.  There is something to the idea that when you look at something intently, it looks back at you.  12x12 oil on panel.

The Handsome Willow Tree

At Caretaker Farm in Williamstown, MA there's an old willow tree standing by a small, round mirror pond.  The tree is quite disheveled but I suspect the tree doesn't care even though it can see itself every day in the pond.  Most of the time the tree may be looking in the other direction at the mountains.  I spent part of my day looking at the tree, which I found quite handsome.  12x12 oil on panel.

Collision Center

At the corner of Bedford Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn is a large, red armory building (the 23rd Regiment Armory, built in 1891-95 in Romanesque Revival style, according to Wikipedia).  At the back end of the armory on Atlantic Avenue is an auto collision shop.  Here in this painting one can see a wrecked car, awaiting repair, neatly tucked into the corner where the collision center buts up against an armory tower (I could write that the shop collides with the armory).  In the background is the Franklin Avenue Shuttle bridge that spans Atlantic Avenue.  The geometry of the city is plainly evident forming a nice composition.  12x16 oil on panel.

Trains, Monet, and Understanding a Poem

There's a precedent for putting a train on a bridge in a painting.  Monet at Argenteuil did several paintings with the train on a bridge.  In this painting it is the Franklin Avenue Shuttle crossing Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a 12x16 oil on panel.

I came across an interesting quote in Helen Vendler's  book, The Odes of John Keats:

"I know no greater help to understanding a poem than writing it out in longhand with the illusion that one is composing it--deciding on this word rather than another, this arrangement of its masses rather than another, this prolonging, this digression, this cluster of senses, this closure."

That is the attitude that I have when drawing or painting, trying to understand what I am looking at, and creating an illusion that I am composing with sensibility what it is that is there.

Simple Landscape

This 9x12 oil on linen I did last week before the snow came which has now disappeared.  Instead of facing east where Mount Greylock is, I was looking north across the stream that is at the bottom of the painting.  The field that I was standing in I would not enter during the summer for fear of ticks, another reason for doing outdoor winter painting.  The hill really does have that gentle curved shape, which the stream parallels.   The tree form ties the horizon to the stream.  Simple.

Without The Snow.

In the snow field yesterday, without the snow, which has all melted away, I painted this view of Mount Greylock and the Hopper from nearly the same spot as before.  Since I was standing and moving in one place, my feet started to suck up the water, which must be just below the surface.  Eventually I was standing in a puddle.  The sun eventually came out after I was finished, lightening the mountains more than is visible here.  There's a beautiful stream that runs through the field that can be seen at the bottom left.  9x12 oil on panel.

Silent Landscape

At the same spot as the day before yesterday with slightly warmer temperatures and less snow, I painted this horizontal view of Mount Greylock and the Hopper (9x12 oil on panel).  Fortunately, I was almost done when it started to rain.  I now often clean my brushes and my palette when I get home, so I can break down my setup very quickly when the weather gets nasty.  One item I didn't mention earlier, is that behind us were some cows who periodically bellowed at us, so this silent landscape was animated by sound.

Moody Place

A rare vertical painting, a 12x9 oil on panel.  The view is towards the Hopper and Mount Greylock yesterday on a gray day from a snow field off of Sloan Road in Williamstown, MA.  A moody place.

There Isn't Any Sun

Until recently I've shied away from painting on cloudy, rain threatening days.  The main reason is that there isn't any sun, but since there isn't any sun, the light remains constant for a long time.  This 12x16 oil on panel I did on the slope of a hillside off of Route 7 that faces the Hopper in Williamstown, MA near Five Corners.  There's an intervening stand of pines screening the mountains, and the horizontal Route 43 down below contrasts with the undulating mountains above in the distance.

Encountering a New Place

It's always exciting to encounter a new place to paint, this time a farm in Williamstown, MA that I've looked at from a distance for a long time.  This is a contre-jour plein air view of two barns and the space between them, a 9x12 oil on panel.

Geometry of Brooklyn

Spending a few days in Brooklyn has motivated me to paint a Brooklyn painting.  This painting shows the Shuttle overpass at Pacific Street near Franklin Avenue.  A label for a Cezanne landscape that I saw this past weekend at the Met says that Cezanne wanted to paint the hidden geometry of nature.  I like to paint the overt geometry of Brooklyn.  12x16 oil on panel.

Monochrome Morning

On a monochrome morning after a short snowfall I painted on Sloan Road in Williamstown, MA.  The painting is a 9x12 oil on panel.  The view is towards the west and the Taconics.  My selfie stick is long and invisible.

Sunny and Windless at the Green River

This morning since it was sunny and a windless 18 degrees I went back to the Green River at Five Corners in Williamstown, MA, where the water bends into an "S".  I wanted to paint the sun reflecting off of the water. The result is this 9x12 oil on panel.  I picked this spot because I wanted to include the tree to counter the strong down flow of the water.

Impossible Painting

Some things are nearly impossible to paint.  This painting shows an "s" bend in the Green River in Williamstown, MA when the sun was striking the surface, a "contre-jour" effect, where I was facing the sun when painting.  The benefit is that the sun is not hitting my panel, but one can only hint at the intensity of the light.  The painting is a 9x12 oil on panel done a couple days ago.

Joyful Barn

This barn is located in Pownal, VT.  Even though it's old and looks no longer used, it was singing a joyful song the other day when I set up to paint it.  The painting is a 9x12 oil on panel.