Brooklyn Street

A large number of my paintings are Brooklyn, NY street scenes, so when I learned that there's a Brooklyn Street in North Adams, MA, I headed over there.  It's another street on a hill with a mountain view, paralleling Houghton Street.  Walking down Brooklyn Street, I heard a loud rush of water from a sewer grate.  At the bottom of the street, I saw a large culvert from which issued a steady stream.  Wheeler Brook as it turns out, runs under the street, and then eventually into the Hoosic River through an underground channel.  Streets are often named for natural phenomenon, so I wonder if Brooklyn Street, which dates back to the 19th century, was once known as Brook Lane.  This painting shows the street from near the middle towards the bottom.  18x24 oil on panel.

Exciting View In Winter

From this spot Houghton Street in North Adams, MA goes down the hill and the mountains go up across the not so distant background.  It's an exciting view in the winter.  The houses and their shadows propel one down the street.  I wonder how it will look in the summer.  18x24 oil on panel.

Pointy Rooftops and Smooth Mountains

The current state of a painting I've been working on in the studio: a view from Houghton Street in North Adams, MA, looking south.  The pointy rooftops contrast nicely with the glacier-smoothed mountains. 18x24 oil on panel.

I Could Not Resist

The other day seems so long ago.  Monday.  On Monday, when I stood on the wooden pallett to paint the yellow truck at Haley Farm in Williamstown, MA, at one point I turned to the right and saw that the diagonal of The Hopper and the shadows on the barn were in parallel.  Also, the ladder that is used to access the hayloft had been cast aside to a nice centripetal spot to assist the composition.  I couldn't resist making this painting.  12x16 oil on board.

A Long Ago Memory

Seventh Avenue at Eleventh Street in Brooklyn.  The ambulance was stopped at the light and in the storefront window.  The paint version of a long ago memory.  6x8 oil on panel.

Painting in February

Yesterday morning I painted on Sloan Road in Williamstown, MA.  The photo of my easel makes the mountains seem much farther away.  A gorgeous place at any time of the year with Mount Greylock in the distance.  8x10 oil on panel.

The Yellow Truck in a February Thaw

It's February but the weather was warm on Monday so I drove up a muddy Hopper Road to paint the yellow truck at Haley Farm in Williamstown, MA.  The truck sits in a cow pasture deep in muck.  I used a wooden pallett, conveniently nearby, to stand on while painting.   9x12 oil on panel.

Invisible Places

Sometimes I'm attracted to the banal, the mundane, the commonplace, places that are invisible only because we see them all the time, or there's nothing there to catch our attention.  For example: a street corner in Brooklyn.  Though the smart car might be unusual.   6x8 oil on panel.

A Simple View.

Washington Avenue near Sterling Place in Brooklyn.  A simple view.  6x8 oil on panel.

Somewhere in North Adams

A new biography of the art critic John Berger suggests why I've always been sympathetic to his writings.  The author Joshua Sperling writes "Painting, for Berger, was rooted in the experience of sight, and sight was rooted in the local and particular.  Visibility takes place somewhere."  The somewhere in this small painting is the middle of the incline of North Holden Street in North Adams, MA.  6x8 oil on panel.

Facing The Sun

The corner of Third Avenue and Butler Street in Brooklyn late in the afternoon facing the sun.  More totem poles.  6x8 oil on panel.

Drawing Is Good Exercise

When I go on a walk, I bring a small sketchpad and some pens or pencils to draw anything that strikes my fancy.  These are recent efforts.  It's always an opportunity to experiment and screw up.  Translating something you see in the real world onto a paper pad into something that makes graphical sense is a never ending challenge.

Brooklyn Survivor

This cute house is located on Carroll Street between Third Avenue and the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.  It is my most favorite building in the Brooklyn I am familiar with.  It pains me to think that many buildings like this have probably not survived, but so far this one is still there.  6x8 oil on panel.

Surreality

The abstract surreality of these building fronts on Third Avenue in Brooklyn I found striking.  6x8 oil on panel.

City and Country

At the top of North Holden Street in North Adams, MA not only does one get a series of houses descending the street, but a vista of mountains that includes Mount Greylock, a nice combination of city and country.  18x24 oil on panel.