Golden Neutral Gray Heavy Body Acrylics in a watercolor sketchbook

I’m starting to really love doing these monochrome studies. They are such wonderful practice for improving the way we see values. Having the pre-mixed Neutral Grays has made all the difference in the world, and has turned this from a tedious chore into a fascinating adventure.

I sat outside in the yard in a comfortable chair after standing up and painting all morning, and painted this study under the shade of my favorite tree, with a cool breeze blowing.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I’m still continuing on with my exploration of the waterfalls in the Catskill Mountains. Old Mills Falls is exquisite, with a beautiful, large, transparent pool at the base. I really want to go back and do a larger version of this as well. It’s a pretty steep descent to the falls, so I just stuck my little painting box in my backpack and went hands-free.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | No Comments »

12×9″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Yep, back to Hell’s Hole again in the Devil’s Kitchen area of Platte Clove to do what I seem to enjoy most these days — painting waterfalls! This eastern section of the Catskills is so loaded with waterfalls. Many of them are challenging to get to, but some are roadside and easily accessible.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | No Comments »

8×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is the farm where I buy all my fresh produce. Nestled in the Hudson Valley just to the east of the escarpment of the Catskills, they have acres and acres of strawberries, corn, zucchini, and all other kinds of vegetables. The beautiful setting against the mountains is an artist’s dream, and it makes for a dramatic scene under any weather conditions. I happened to catch it this time just as a storm was getting underway. I took a picture and then painted it from the photo, under the roof of my patio in the rain.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Farm Scenes, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This waterfall in the Catskill Mountains provided the perfect cool, comfortable spot to go painting on a hot day last week! The water was crystal clear and glistened against the moss-covered rocks.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | No Comments »

12×16″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on Canson Board
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted on location yesterday overlooking the Hudson from the grounds of the beautiful Vanderbilt Mansion property in Hyde Park, New York. A group of us were painting up there behind the mansion. We just about finished our paintings when it started to rain. I was using Golden Fluid Acrylics because I just adore the pigment load and the consistency. It glides across the surface as easily as oils. If it had been any warmer and drier, I’d have switched to the slow drying Open line instead. I figured I’d probably be forced into making the change half way through, but was able to finish up with the Fluids.

This Canson board is one of my favorite painting supports for acrylic. It can be purchased in a number of different colors. I cut it to size, and although it’s not necessary, I size it twice with Golden Matte Medium diluted 20% with water. That decreases the absorbency of the surface, and the paint sits beautifully on top. Once I apply an isolation coat and varnish to the dry painting, the surface has a deep, glossy richness to it like no other, with that lovely MiTientes texture visible. I frame them just like oil paintings on hardboard or stretched canvas.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Dutchess County NY, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings | No Comments »

Continuing on with my monochrome value studies in acrylics, this one was added to my Shades of Gray sketchbook this morning. This was also done with the Golden Neutral Gray acrylics plus black and white. I think I’m starting to really enjoy these, much to my surprise!

Sketches | 1 Comment »

I set out Golden Heavy Body Acrylic Titanium White, Carbon Black, and all the Neutral Grays in between that Golden makes in a plastic container with compartments and a seal. Value studies are so important, but premixing all those grays ahead of time can be cumbersome enough to put it off time and time again. Now I have no excuses, and this container makes it so easy to pop the lid and paint at a moment’s notice.

This book is about 6×9″. I’m reserving it for my value studies in acrylic, and have dubbed it “Shades of Gray”.

Here’s the first page. The cow was painted from a photo I took on Friday. The little landscape was painted here by the lakeshore this morning.

Demos/Work in Progress, Sketches, acrylic paintings | 1 Comment »

8×10″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on Canson Board
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I went out to the lakeshore very early this morning to try to grab some morning color before a thunderstorm moved in. I was there just in time, because it started to rain just as I was putting the painting away!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Boats and Ships, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

It may seem like I’ve fallen off the face of the earth lately, but actually I’ve been so busy painting that I haven’t had a chance to post the paintings! This painting of Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top was done very early one morning. The contractor who is building my new studio wanted to beat the heat and cut through a masonry doorway at 6:30am! That gave me good incentive to make the most of the early light in the mountains.

There were cows out in the field. I was hoping they’d come close enough for me to be able to see them well enough to put them into the painting, but they stayed way off in the shade. Of course, as soon as I was finished, they all sauntered over to the fence to say hello and see the finished product!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Farm Scenes, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

12×16″, Oils on Raymar panel

This is the Hudson River vista from Poet’s Walk in Rhinebeck, New York. It’s a beautiful location, but painting the Hudson from there means carting painting gear a mile over this pathway to the riverfront! It’s a beautiful walk, but one that I am more inclined to do with a camera, little watercolor pan set and sketchbook, rather than a large easel, 12×16″ panel, paints, brushes, etc. So, this is being painted from a photo. If the weather were cooler, I just might lug all my stuff out there to be able to paint it on site, but Mother Nature is not in my corner with the record-breaking heat and humidity we’ve had the past few days.

Demos/Work in Progress | No Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

8×16″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is a plein air painting that I did in May at Garrison Landing. It needed a few minutes of tweaks in the studio before posting and still needed signing, so I had to wait until I had the Fluid Acrylics out again!

I really enjoyed doing this painting; I need to do more street scenes! I so love the serenity and natural beauty of the Hudson Valley that it’s hard to pull myself away from that in order to paint more of our contemporary and man-made environment.

Fluid acrylics are so much fun. When I first started using acrylics, I used heavy bodied paints and diluted them to a more fluid state. It was very frustrating that this would also dilute the pigment load, and the paints would go streaky on me. Then I learned that the Golden Fluid Acrylics are formulated to have a very high pigment load already in that perfect fluid state. I was in heaven! I’ve loved using these ever since. They do dry quickly, so on a warm, dry day of plein air painting, I switch to Golden OPEN. The Fluids are also perfect for underpainting because they dry so quickly. Then I can finish the painting with Golden OPEN, which gives me extended working time and stays wet on my palette. These two products are so much fun that I sometimes wonder why I ever bother with oil paints!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cityscape/Townscape/Urban paintings, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings | No Comments »

5×7″, Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This past weekend, my husband and I hiked out to Huckleberry Point in the Catskill Mountains. From the vantage point of these rocks, you can see east over the Hudson Valley to the Hudson River and beyond, south across Platte Clove, and west toward the Catskills and through the clove. It is truly one of the most spectacular places I’ve encountered in these mountain meanderings. We found the hike to be more strenuous than what the guide books described, so if you go, be prepared! We brought our walking sticks along, plenty of water, and lunch to have a picnic — things I’d definitely recommend to others who venture out there.

The painting above was done from one of the photos I took there. You can see the Hudson River near the horizon, working its way southward, and disappearing behind the Gunks.

I pulled out the acrylics this morning. Every time I paint with acrylics I ask myself why I ever paint in oils. These are just too much fun to be legal. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics today, with plenty of Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid to keep the paint workable. My palette for this painting was:
Hansa Yellow Opaque
Diarylide Yellow
Pyrrole Red
Cerulean Blue Deep
Prussian Blue Hue
Jenkins Green
Titanium White
I loved this palette!

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold, acrylic paintings | 2 Comments »

5×7″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

This was one of those mornings with more atmosphere than I could dream for. The conditions kept changing dramatically every few minutes, so I picked out what I could of the sky, ground and water, and challenged myself to try to make a cohesive whole out of all those bits!

The highest peak in the painting is Kaaterskill High Peak, and to the right is Round Top. These two peaks dominate the landscape of Kaaterskill Clove, home to the Hudson River School painters…and me!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

12×24, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

If you think you already saw this recently, you did! I decided to work on it more in the studio, so above is (hopefully!) the final image of the completed painting. These long, horizontal formats show so small on the blog page, so here is another image that you can click on to enlarge it a bit:

I love this view of the barns against the eastern escarpment of the Catskill Mountains. This was painted on location, on this warm, breezy day of changing clouds and moving light. I loved the contrast in color temperature between the orangy fields and blue-green mountains, with the red spots of color contributing a nice focal point.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Farm Scenes, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

8×10, Oils
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I didn’t quite have time to finish this today, but should be able to wrap it up tomorrow. This was painted from a photo taken along Florida’s Gulf Shore by my daughter, Sarah. It’s one of those paintings that I thought wouldn’t take nearly as long as it’s taking, but it will be worth the struggle in the end! With a little luck, the completed painting will be posted tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Demos/Work in Progress, Sold | 1 Comment »

16×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

While driving around Amenia, New York with Tarryl last week, we came upon this wonderful hillside with cows grazing and a converted barn at the top. We pulled our cars over to the side of the road to take photos. The cows were extremely friendly and came right up to us. The owner of the house came out and told us that this cow’s name is Mary. (I don’t remember the name of the calf.)

I love these 1:2 ratio compositions, but it can be difficult to find one that works vertically for a landscape. This one gave me the perfect opportunity, with the house set up so high on the hillside, and the cows down below.

My palette for this painting was the same as yesterday’s, with the addition of Williamsburgh Cadmium Yellow Light and some RGH Transparent Yellow Oxide.

8x12 to 12x24, Dutchess County NY, Farm Scenes, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold | 1 Comment »

5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

There’s a little bridge that goes over the east end of Titicus Reservoir in North Salem, New York. It’s quite narrow, with a fair amount of traffic, and definitely not a good spot to try to set up an easel! The western view at sunset from that location is beautiful, so from time to time I make a quick stop to take photo references when it looks like the sunset will be especially inviting. This was painted from a photo taken on one of those evenings.

There are several brands that I use pretty much interchangeably, but I thought I’d pull out mostly Williamsburgh paints for a change. My palette for this painting was:
Cadmium Yellow Medium (Williamsburgh)
Cadmium Red (Williamsburgh)
Red Oxide Transparent (Rembrandt)
Cerulean Blue (Williamsburgh)
Ultramarine Blue (Williamsburgh)
Titanium White (Utrecht and Griffin mixed)
Medium: Liquin Fine Detail

8x10 and smaller, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sunrise/Sunset | 1 Comment »

8×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is the finished painting that I started on location a couple of days ago. This time of year unfinished paintings often sit around my studio for a long time while I’m busy outside painting plein air pieces. I’m glad I had some studio time to get this one done — a blessing in disguise!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Dutchess County NY, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

I finally got out to paint yesterday, traveling up to the rolling hills of Amenia, New York to explore with my friend Tarryl. In the afternoon, we stopped briefly at this overview to paint for awhile. I wasn’t able to finish on location, but got a nice start to wrap up in the studio.

I was really sick for a couple of weeks and then my dad was in town for a week. We had a great time together traveling all over the Hudson Valley. Now I need to get back to the brushes. I’m so rusty! It’s time to shake off the rust and enjoy my painting life again!

Dutchess County NY, Hudson River Valley, Plein Air--painted on location | 2 Comments »

18×24″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted on location at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, NY a few weeks ago. It needed a few finishing touches and signing in the studio, which I finally got to do today.

This painting is not an exact scene, but rather a composite of elements that were there at the time. There was a row of cherry blossoms in full bloom that were stunning. There was also a path alongside them; however, that path is actually on the other side of the trees, and runs parallel to the river, rather than toward it. I wanted to switch things around for a change, have the pathway lead the viewer’s eyes to the overview of Constitution Marsh, and bring the cherry blossoms into the painting as well. Fortunately, as artists, we can use our artistic license to have our cake and eat it too!

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings, spring | 1 Comment »

7×5″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard, custom framed to 11×9″
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is a painting I did some time ago. It is seasonal and has always been one of my favorite little garden/fountain paintings, so I am reposting it today.

Although this scene was an enormous challenge to paint, I think I had an even more difficult time trying to get the photo right! I can’t seem to get the dark trees in the background light enough without bleaching out the foreground flowers. This painting will be available here on my website for only a couple of weeks.

Since this scene presented so many interesting challenges, I decided to take a few extra pictures to share.

Here is a photo of the scene:

I was immediately drawn to the strong contrasts, and the L-shaped composition created by the flowers, fountain and figure. I also love painting stone walls, so it was a plus to have that in the composition as well. Fitting all this onto a 5×7 panel didn’t prove to be easy.

Here’s my pack stool and lightweight painting box. The umbrella clamp is affixed to my stool. I was using a Pittman bag, which can hold my box flat so the paint won’t shift as I change locations. My panel carrier and extra paints fit in there too, and even the umbrella.

Here’s a closeup of the box, ready for paint. The panel is affixed to the box lid with blu-tac. It works great. The panels and paper stay put, and there are no clips or clamps obscuring parts of the painting surface. My paper towel is clipped onto the box lid to allow more room alongside the palette for paints and my sprayer.

The plastic paint storage containers were purchased in the camping section of Sports Authority. They have a rubber seal around the outside so the paint stays fresh. I find it much easier to set out paint this way, rather than having to search for a tube and open caps.

The box further to the back contains my standard plein air palette:
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Pyrrole Red
Transparent Red Oxide
Phthalo Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

The box in the front contains add-ons that I use in the figure studio. I bring it along for plein air too, just in case….It has
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Oxide of Chromium
Cerulean Blue Chromium hue
Permanent Alizarin
I also carry quinacridone magenta with me for these garden scenes.

Whoever said that every painting has to have an ugly stage sure knew what they were talking about. There’s mine! I toned the upper part of the painting with transparent red oxide, and painted the figures a dark, greyed blue. That way, even in the underpainting, I could judge the figures more carefully. Then I worked in the green background. I blocked in the area of strong yellow below to reserve it—-a useful tip given to me by wonderful plein air artist, Lee Haber.

From there, it was lots of fun getting the painting to emerge. I feel like my painting process doesn’t really get underway until after this block-in step is done and I have a layer of paint down. Getting this much done didn’t take all that long, but I forgot to stop and get more pictures once I got past this beginning stage. It did eventually get done.

I started another painting later in the afternoon, but it started to rain and I had to pack up. I’ll finish it from a photo on a rainy day later in the week. I hope you’ve enjoyed these extra photos!

8x10 and smaller, 8x12 to 12x24, Available, Demos/Work in Progress, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

With the cherry blossoms gone at Boscobel Restoration, I turned my attention back to the Hudson River, and the channels weaving through Constitution Marsh. The afternoon light turned the marsh a beautiful, dark reddish color.

I used three of the new Golden OPEN Acrylic colors coming out this month for this painting: Diarylide Yellow, Quinacridone Crimson, and Prussian Blue Hue. I also added Raw Sienna and Cadmium Yellow Primrose. I love these new colors.

If you think you saw this painting before recently, it’s because you have! I posted it a couple of weeks ago, but decided to do some additional work on it. While I was painting on location, a wonderful ship went by out on the river. It was too early in the process to put it into the painting at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it in the painting. I added the ship the other day from a photo, and reworked a little of the foliage too while I was at it.

Here’s a photo of my setup and the painting with the scene, before I put in the ship. It’s always fun to see the painting and vista together!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings, spring | 1 Comment »

8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I dragged myself out of bed this morning with a sinus infection, ear infection and strep throat (That’s why you haven’t seen any paintings coming off my easel for a few days!) and drove to Garrison to participate in the twice-a-year Artists on Location event. It was cold and windy along the river. I didn’t want to travel far to do my painting, so I set up right on the landing behind Garrison Art Center and painted this view of West Point. I loved the way the deep shadows cast by the foreground trees set up the painting.

There were several other artists painting on the landing too. Everybody was having difficulty holding onto their stuff with the stiff gusts of wind. Several paintings blew off the easels and of course we couldn’t use our sun umbrellas. I was cold and not feeling so great already, so I just did a small panting, finished it up as quickly as I could, framed it in the car, and brought it into the auction venue.

Of course, leave it to me to forget my camera. Grrrr! I took a quick photo of the scene and painting with my camera phone, since I won’t get it back again to photograph it if it sells at the auction. The painting ended up in the shade with most of the scene in the light, so it looks dark, but is not in real life. My phone takes terrible photos; it also can’t focus on something this close, but at least you get a little idea of what I did out there this morning. The auction is at 5:30pm tonight.

Palette:
Raw Sienna
Cadmium Yellow Medium and Deep
Pyrrole Red
Prussian Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | 1 Comment »

11×15″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico paper
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This street scene of Coxsackie, NY, was painted last week during my one week workshop with the amazing Alvaro Castagnet. We all scattered about the little town, painting these beautiful old buildings near the Riverfront Park. I’m looking forward to exploring more of Alvaro’s techniques and subject matter in the weeks to come!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cityscape/Townscape/Urban paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Watercolor | 2 Comments »

11×15″, Watercolor on Fabriano paper
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

It was so windy along the Hudson River that my easel kept blowing over! I liked these benches under the big tree, awaiting visitors. The Athens Lighthouse is visible from this vantage point, but I decided not to put it into the painting. Initially I’d thought to include it, but in the end I thought it would be a distraction.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Watercolor, spring | 1 Comment »

15×11″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140#
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This little stone well caught my attention as it stood out in value and texture from amidst the tall evergreens.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Watercolor, spring | 1 Comment »

9×12″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

On Friday morning, I dashed back to Boscobel, hoping that the cherry blossoms would still be in bloom. To my dismay, most of them had come down in the strong winds during the week. I found this one tree that still had blooms on it, and pulled out my artistic license to add a few more.

From this vantage point at Boscobel, Constitution Marsh stretches out below, and the West Point Military Academy is on the hillside across the Hudson River. You can barely make out the buildings of West Point on the hillside in the painting.

Palette: Hansa Yellow Opaque, Diarylide Yellow, Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Crimson, Transparent Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Titanium White

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings, spring | No Comments »

Gouache in my 10×10″ kraft paper art journal

Text: The forsythia came and went before I even had a chance to paint it this spring. I only saw my beautiful hyacinths blooming in the distance from the studio window! I went outside the studio this morning and cut these lilac blooms, determined to capture some of the essence of spring from my yard before it was too late! Hopefully the cherry blossoms at Boscobel will still be blooming tomorrow.

Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Sketches, Still Life, spring | 3 Comments »

11×15″ (quarter sheet) watercolor on Fabriano Artistico
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

It was a beautiful evening on Friday along the Hudson River in Beacon, NY. My painting buddy, Sue, went with me to Long Dock after we left Boscobel, and I did this quarter sheet watercolor before sunset. Facing Cold Spring, this cluster of trees was leaning toward Breakneck Ridge, creating a wonderful composition.

I love my new Plein Air Pro watercolor easel. Since it has the little shelf, I’m thinking I can probably use it for smaller oil and acrylic paintings too, though I haven’t tried that yet. Here’s a photo of the scene and the easel:

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Beacon, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Watercolor, spring | 1 Comment »