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12×16″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This 12×16 oil painting was started on location, and finished up today in the studio. It highlights the strong oranges present in the landscape in fall. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the blazing orange-red fields at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, where the brilliant tree in the foreground is lit up with additional rusty and orange tones.
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized Canson board
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Painted on location in Acra, New York.
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized Canson board
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Painted on location in Acra, New York.
Click for clearer, larger image:
I’ve made a pact with myself to start doing sketches every Saturday. I have some Saturday paintouts coming up, so there may be times when I need to do “Saturday Sketches” on a different day instead, but I’m going to try to stick to posting them on Saturdays. I’ve received so many comments from viewers who enjoy seeing my sketches, and the drawing practice is very important.
I almost always sketch from life, but today I checked into the Wetcanvas Weekend Drawing Event and couldn’t resist doing some watercolor sketches from those beautiful reference images! Check it out sometime; there is a different host every week, and the images are usually posted on Fridays, in plenty of time for everybody’s weekend enjoyment.
5×7″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This is a scene from Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Pound Ridge, NY. This county park is over 4,700 acres of rolling fields, beautiful trees, and hillsides with dramatic vistas. This is a 5×7″ plein air painting—done on location. The sun was in and out of the clouds and it was a real challenge to catch the light!
16×20″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This was painted on location in Cold Spring, New York, facing Storm King Mountain. I paint all over the Hudson River Valley, and the Hudson Highlands region certainly rates as one of the most dramatic along the river. I had to wait a long time for the clouds to break before they struck the mountain, but once the sun broke through it was quite spectacular.
For those who like to see some of the process, here is a photo of the Quinacridone Gold underpainting that I did for this one:
12×12″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
The Catskill Mountain area has some of the most exquisite vistas in the Hudson River Valley. Roads that wind through woodlands suddenly open up to fields with tremendous, breathtaking blue mountains looming in the distance.
This scene fell so perfectly into a square format that I considered myself very fortunate to have a 12×12″ panel with me! I started this painting in early afternoon, and the light on the scene got better and better as the afternoon went on.
Click image for a larger, clearer version:
18×24″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This painting was done from a photograph and a small color study of the scene that I painted a few weeks ago. You can see the color study here.
It is a fall view overlooking the Hudson River from private property in Garrison, New York. I may still tweak a few things on the larger version and will try to get a better photograph of it soon!
6×8″, Oils on board (sealed, primed hardboard)
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I just got back from a plein air painting trip to the Catskill Mountains. This little 6×8″ oil painting was done beside a charming pond in Acra, New York. As I approached the pond from the far side, it didn’t look all that interesting. Then I turned around and saw that huge mountain looming in the distance! Wow! I’m told it is Windham High Peak.
It felt wonderful to pull out the oil paints again! I’ve gotten really hooked on the Golden OPEN paints, but oils sure are great too.
6×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on linen, mounted on rag board to frame as an oil painting (without glass)
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
These little wooden figures are so much fun to paint. I paired them with three small, old books for my Full House painting.
Click for a clearer, larger image:
5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on clear-sealed linen. Can be purchased beautifully double matted in ivory/gold to 8×10″ to fit any standard 8×10″ picture frame
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This was so much fun to paint!
My palette for this painting was:
Cadmium Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Pyrrole Red
Ultramarine Blue
Phthalo Blue
Titanium White
Click to enlarge:
24×18″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This large painting was done using my plein air study, “The Base of Kaaterskill Falls”, as a reference image, along with a photo I took at the scene. I did a value underpainting in Transparent Red Oxide before going in with local color. One of the things I love about the Golden OPEN paints is the way the underpainting shows through without mixing and muddying the color. I would have had to wait for my oil paints to dry before continuing in order to achieve some of the effects I got here with Golden OPEN.
This was one of the spots painted by many of the old Hudson River School painters, and many of the new ones too! This painting is just the bottom tier of the falls; there is another tier above!
Four artists who have been using the new Golden OPEN paints were selected to do interviews with Mark Golden for his online magazine Just Paint. I was one of the lucky few who shared my experiences with the OPEN acrylics in the article. You can click here to read a full color, PDF version of the magazine with images, or instead you can read a text version with no photos on the website. Either way, I hope you enjoy it!
You can post any comments you have to me about the article by clicking “comments” below.
6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I once knew a wonderful painter named Mike Pacitti, who passed away a few years ago. He used a few different colors to underpaint with. One of them was called Burnt Carmine, made by Rembrandt. I remember it as a strong carmine/crimson color mixed with black. Even with black in the mix, I was surprised by how strong the color was when I saw Mike use it, and yet his paintings were filled with beautiful subtleties.
I decided to try something like that while waiting for clouds to break along the Hudson River in Cold Spring. I mixed Quinacridone Magenta half and half with Carbon Black, and used that to do the underpainting for this little plein air. It was much stronger than the colors I normally use to lay out my composition and values. No matter what you use to paint over it, the magenta seems to work its way through. Part of me thinks it still comes through too much. Another part of me thinks I’m just not used to it, and that I kind of like the effect.
What do you think? (Please click “comments” at the bottom of this post to let me know rather than emailing, because I’m getting swamped! 
)
12×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Raymar smooth canvas panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This was painted late in the afternoon on location in Cold Spring, New York. It was one of those perfect pre-fall days, filled with the glow of the late day light and the Hudson River breezes. I took the photo below after completing the painting, so the light and shadows had changed somewhat from the time I started. I kept going out to the car to get more things, so you can see that by the end of the day, I had accumulated enough stuff on site for three artists!
11×15″, Pastel on LaCarte sanded pastel card
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This used to be my favorite tree along the lakeshore here. It had such an interesting shape, and the colors were beautifully vibrant as they changed with the seasons, leaving the intricate branchwork in winter. The entire left part of the tree came down in a storm last winter, and I miss it! It was one of my favorite painting subjects. Now the fullness of the leaves is gone, and the shape is not as inviting. This one was done from a photo taken before the tree’s mishap.
6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I had a true painting marathon today, leaving the house at 7am and not returning until around 8:30. It was a fabulous day of great weather and beautiful scenery in Cold Spring, New York, along the banks of the Hudson River. I can well understand why some of the Hudson River School painters loved to paint from this very spot; I love to paint here too!
This was the last one of the day—attempting to catch the fleeting sunset colors during the few minutes before the light faded into darkness. There’s never enough time to “finish” one when painting sunsets on location. It’s really a matter of grabbing color as it emerges, and hoping for the best!
I’ll be showing the other paintings soon. Some need finishing touches, and then I’ll take the photos and upload them. I’ve got some images of the works in progress and nice location shots, so stay tuned!
I’m exhausted!
16×12″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I’m one of those lucky plein air painters who has a default painting location right outside the studio door. In previous years, I painted here by the lake quite a bit. This year I seem to be traveling more and painting at home less. I think it may have something to do with the fact that my favorite tree to paint was decimated by a storm during the winter. Somehow, painting here just isn’t the same without that tree, but it made me turn my attention today to a different tree.
This little point juts out from the shoreline, with a charming willow tree at the end. I love painting willows, with their graceful clusters of leafy branches, and subtle color and value shifts. The wonderful early morning light and serenity made me realize that I need to paint here more often!
6×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Above is the completed painting, and below is an image of the work in progress. I’d initially planned to put in foreground grasses, but after doing that, I felt the painting was more effective without them. So, I worked on it yet a third time, and took the foreground grasses out!
It’s interesting how much the color of light affects what we see. The image of the finished painting was taken with the corrected light of my photo box, but the progress image was taken in cool daylight. The actual colors in paintings vary according to the lighting conditions where we view them.
I did the underpainting for this work with a color I’d not tried before from the Golden OPEN line—Quinacridone Gold. I love the warm glow that it brings to the work. I could get hooked on this color!
This is painted from a photo I took down in Constitution Marsh on the Hudson River. It’s been in my file of things I want to paint for a long time! With fall on the way, it seemed the right moment to pull out this lively autumn scene.
I’m still using an expanded palette because the paint is still wet from yesterday, and I’ve even added a few colors to the large assortment I was working with. So far for this painting I’ve used:
Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Red Light
Pyrrole Red
Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Red Oxide
Quinacridone Gold
Carbon Black
Jenkins Green
12×16″, Oils
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Join me and the other members of the Hudson Valley Four for our show opening this Sunday, September 14, from 4-6pm. In addition to the small format works that Bannerman Island Gallery always carries of mine, I have many in this show ranging in size up to 12×24″. They are all oils and acrylics, beautifully custom framed with my wide, gold, plein air style frames. The show will run through the first week of October, in case you can’t get there this weekend. It’s already hung, so can be viewed before the opening as well, and on the evening of Beacon’s “Second Saturday” (Sept. 13). Call the gallery (phone number above) for their hours. I’ll be there on Sunday the 14th from 4-6pm.
My works for this show include work done in the Catskills area of the Hudson Valley, as well as paintings from Olana, Cold Spring, Garrison, and Hastings. My good friends Suhua Wood, Daisy Deputhod, and Phyllis Tarlow are also in the show. We all show together sometimes as the Hudson Valley Four.
5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I’m starting to go through fall images, thinking about places I’d like to go for plein air painting this upcoming season, and simultaneously doing some small color studies for large studio works. This beautiful view of the Hudson River was painted today from a photo I took last fall. I love the look of the Hudson Highlands as the trees lose their leaves. They take on the most beautiful pinky-violet color until the greens of summer re-emerge.
5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
A few weeks ago, my husband and I drove to the other end of the lake to get western views of the sunset. We took loads of photos. This is my first painting from that series of images. I managed to stop myself a few times along the way to take some photos and post a demo.
I set up to paint with more colors on my palette than usual in order to get the more highly saturated sunset colors.
As you can see above, I used a more expanded palette for this painting than usual. My color choices were:
Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Pyrrole Red
Quinacridone Magenta
Ultramarine Blue
Jenkins Green
Phthalo Blue
Carbon Black
When I paint on a small board like this 5×7″ Gessoboard above, it’s hard to hold it and paint edge to edge. I use “blu tack” and affix it to an 8×10″ board. Then I can hold the larger board and be able to paint all the way to the edges without getting paint on my fingers, or I can set it down on a little tabletop easel.
My computer monitor yields stronger, more accurate color and chroma than a printed out photo, so I like to set up like this for small works and paint right off the computer screen. I use the old telephone book on the right to wipe my brushes before rinsing. It’s a great way to conserve paper towels and simultaneously recycle and old phone book. When the page gets filled with paint, I just tear it off, toss it, and go to the next page.
When a painting has areas of light, highly saturated color, I always put that down first. That holds the chroma, and then I can paint into it. It’s a lot easier to dull down strong color than it is to get this kind of brilliance on top of a grey or dark color. You can see how I reserved all the areas of strong color here:
Once the base colors and values have been laid down, I can start painting into them, creating variation, adding details, and adjusting edges. From the step above, it isn’t a long way to the finish line:
I have 22 freshly varnished oil and acrylic paintings in these drying racks. Over the past several days they’ve been getting isolation coats and varnish coats. Many artists who paint in both mediums have asked me for information on my varnishing process, so I thought I’d take some time today to describe my process.
There are several different products that can be used to obtain a variety of finishes depending on personal artistic preferences. I love gloss varnish. It pops the colors and values and gives a shiny, professional appearance. I have chosen products to yield that result. There are many other good products on the marketplace too.
I start with Golden Soft Gel (Gloss) and relatively soft, synthetic brushes to do an isolation coat on the acrylic paintings. Oil paintings do not require this step. I use the small container shown above to measure. The Gel gets diluted two parts Gel to one of water. I mix it up thoroughly in a styrofoam bowl.
I clean off the painting surface with a lint free rag to be sure there are no dust particles on the surface. Then each dry acrylic painting gets a thin coating, following the direction of the brushstrokes. One coat is generally enough to seal a relatively non-porous surface, such as my sealed, primed hardboards. Rag paper and matboard, even if sized before painting, generally requires 2-3 thin coats. You can tell when you’ve put on enough coats because the surface develops a soft sheen.
Many acrylic painters make the mistake of eliminating the isolation coat. That results in too much varnish penetrating through the surface of the support, and can cloud your painting. Also, it will leave an uneven finish. Putting on enough isolation coats to prevent penetration of the varnish yields a beautifully even gloss. It is well worth the additional steps! The second isolation coat can be applied several hours after the first if necessary. Be sure the first coat is dry, and not tacky.
I like the Soluvar Gloss Varnish a lot for both oil and acrylic paintings. Be sure your oil paintings are completely dry before varnishing. That will generally take 6-12 months. Acrylic paintings can be varnished as soon as the isolation coat has cured. In dry, room temperature conditions, that should only take a few days.
Soluvar varnish is removable for cleaning, non-yellowing, and gives a great sheen. I used to use Gamvar, but found I had some adhesion problems on sections of some of my oil paintings, and the varnish would bead up as it was applied. I have not had that problem with Soluvar. I use the large, natural hair brush above for paintings 12×16 and larger, and the smaller natural/synthetic blend brush for smaller works. You need to work quickly with varnish before it dries.
I pour a small amount into a ceramic pot that I reserve for varnishing. I dip the bottom section of the brush in and wipe some off on the side of the pot. Varnish your painting section by section, overlapping sections as you go. I lie them face up once done until they are tacky. Although varnish should be applied too thin to drip, I always take that precaution. It’s better to be safe than sorry!
I got inexpensive, small letter holders (above) at Staples, and each can hold five paintings upright. They are only a couple of dollars each, and about 4″ tall. I bought them a couple at a time as I needed more and more of them. Once the paintings have tacked up, I set them in the letter holders. The first photo in this post shows what the paintings look like when they are set into a series of these letter holders.
You can also see on that first image, that a fan above the paintings draws the solvent fumes out of the room while I work. I have another fan on the other side of the room, by an open door to the garage, that helps push air across the room and out. That way, my paintings will dry faster and I can simultaneously vent the fumes out of my work space.
Once the paintings are varnished, I give them a couple of days to dry fully (in dry weather) before framing them. I hope this little demo helps some of you who have been struggling with varnishing. If you’ve been avoiding it, you’ll find it’s a lot easier than you thought, and the result is well worth the little bit of time and effort. Your paintings will glow with a new life!
You can read more about varnish application techniques in this article on the Golden website.