8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized archival matboard
$250.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

My friend Nancy and I went up to the top of Kaaterskill Falls yesterday morning. We didn’t expect it to be so cold and blustery out there on the ridge at the mountaintop! We weren’t dressed for those kinds of conditions. We thought we’d been there for hours because we were so chilled, but when we asked a passing hiker what time it was, we learned it was only 9:39am!

Back in the days of the Hudson River School painters, there was a dam constructed near this site. Tourists would pay to see the falls (from the bottom), and water would then be released from the dam for a spectacular display. The dam is no longer there, but there was still plenty of water rushing over the edge while I was painting!

For this venture, I used the foamcore pochade box I made. It weighs almost nothing, fits in my backpack, and even holds four wet panels. When I’m painting in the Catskills, I know I can always find a rock or fallen tree trunk to sit on, so instead of a stool, I carry a very light closed cell foam cushion in my backpack. They can be found in gardening centers; they’re actually made for gardeners to kneel on as they work.

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

6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$150.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

Our back yard along the brook is too wet to mow this time of year. The sweet Forget-Me-Nots take over there and create an exquisite mass of tiny blue flowers beneath the Purple Martin house.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

I did it! I know I’m way behind the times, but I finally got onto Twitter. You can follow me by clicking the “follow” button on the JamieArtist widget on the left sidebar <---- . Hopefully over the next couple of weeks I'll be able to figure this thing out. I'm hoping this keeps me more in touch with everybody as I run around my crazy life!

I didn't paint today, as I'm getting ready for my Rhinebeck show. The Opening Reception is June 5 from 5:30-7:30pm, at 6423 Montgomery Street, Second Floor, Rhinebeck, NY. You’re all invited! Come see Hudson River Valley landscape paintings done by four members of the juried, international Daily Painters group. There are 167 artists in the group, and four of us who are within a couple of hours of Rhinebeck are gathering ourselves and our work together to meet and greet our viewers. Come join us for a wine and munchies celebration with great art. Here is the front of our post card for the show. Can you pick out which painting is mine?

Shows and News | 3 Comments »

12×16″, Oils on Raymar canvas panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

One more amazing day along the Hudson River at Nyack Beach State Park….I was surprised to find the Royal Paulownia trees still in full bloom. Everybody was out walking along the path with smiles on their faces in the warm breeze.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Nyack Area, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$150.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

I went to paint by a lake in Newburgh, New York with some friends from the Lower Hudson Valley Plein Air Painters. This little boat by the shoreline beckoned me. I sure he was disappointed that he attracted an artist instead of a fisherman!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Boats and Ships, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

12×16″, Oils on Raymar canvas panel
$495.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

I got to Nyack very early yesterday morning, while the sun was still very low in the sky. It glowed at the horizon, and struck the face of the Palisades cliffs head on. The purple Royal Paulownia trees were blooming all over the base of the cliffs. I had to walk a half mile along the path with all my painting gear, but as soon as I arrived at this location, I knew I’d met my muse for the day!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Boats and Ships, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Nyack Area, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

While painting this yesterday in Nyack in the cold and intense wind, many people stopped to chat and admire the painting. One woman, after commenting on the diversity of the New York landscape, said, “I love New York! I love the Hudson River, the fall colors, the skies, and even the snobby New York City folks!”

Aside from any snobby New York City folks (and I haven’t encountered many!), I have to agree with her. So, I named the painting I Love New York. It’s hard to beat a view of Paulownia Trees along the Hudson River with dramatic skies!

8x10 and smaller, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Nyack Area, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

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

My plein air painting buddy, Sue, wanted to go paint at Nyack Beach State Park this morning. Conditions were freezing cold, very windy, and overcast. I was honestly not thrilled about this idea, but didn’t want my friend to have to go alone. I packed my winter coat, a thermos of coffee and lunch, and hit the road at 7am.

Imagine my joy upon arriving there and seeing these exquisite Royal Paulownia Trees along the path beside the Hudson River as it wound through the park. (I confess that I didn’t know what they were, but I asked the Park Ranger!) We didn’t get much sunshine, but the skies were a lot more interesting than just those silvery, heavily overcast days. I’m so glad I went. In fact, I’m going back tomorrow!

8x10 and smaller, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Nyack Area, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

6×8″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Today was the big Artists on Location event in Garrison, NY. I was expecting the skies to clear, but that didn’t happen, and this was painted in the rain. Fortunately, I had my big “ShadeBuddy” umbrella with me, and the winds were calm enough that I could use it!

The huge sailboat off in the distance came by at just the right time, and provided the perfect element to scale the painting and give it a focal point.

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

8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard panel
$250.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

This charming lighthouse sits on a cement platform in the middle of the Hudson River between the towns of Athens and Hudson. I had the pleasure of viewing it from both sides recently. On this occasion, I chose to paint it from the Hudson side, but I’d like to go back and paint it from the Athens side soon too.

In case any of you think you saw this a few days ago, it’s not your mind playing tricks on you! I saw a bunch of things I decided to change. I added more darks into the foreground water, glazed the rocks there with some cooler color, popped in some extra darks in the tree, added greens and blues into the background, and popped the lighthouse a bit more. It was only about 20 minutes of touch-ups, but I feel it made a significant enough difference in the image to repost, and delete the old image.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Lighthouses, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

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

This was painted on location at the beautiful Hastings Waterfront Park on the Hudson River. There were a couple of fishermen there, and one of them was kind enough to pose for me. Thank you, Sean!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Boats and Ships, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Tarrytown and Hastings Area | No Comments »

8×6″, Oils on Raymar canvas panel
$150.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

I went to paint with a friend up in Clermont, New York along the Hudson River. Jan provided the perfect focal point for my painting, with her painting umbrella glistening in the strong morning light, and her rust-colored shirt against the spring greens. Clermont is a nice painting spot with mature trees, a lovely garden, and the Catskill Mountains rising beyond the river.

Jan and I have a show coming up in Rhinebeck, New York from June 5-July 15 with two other artists. The opening is on June 5 from 5:30-7:30pm. I’ll post more about it soon…Save the date if you can come! If you’re in the Rhinebeck area and interested in attending the event, I’d be happy to send you one of our show cards with images and location details. Please email your full name and surface mail address to me, and I’ll be sure you get one.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

18×24″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Today was another stunning day at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, NY. The Cherry Blossoms are all gone now, so I turned my attention to the overview of Constitution Marsh and the Hudson River. It was amazing how fast the light changed. The light and shadows on the hills reversed itself, and the marsh became cooler and darker as it was silhouetted by the light coming from the south. I kept my original plan with the morning light. The photo below shows the scene in the afternoon with my almost-finished painting.

This painting has wonderful presence in its large size with the strong color and light. I can’t wait to see it in a frame!

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 2 Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$150.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

The rain finally held off long enough and clouds parted to spill sunlight on the little field of alyssum through the trees. The backlit scene provided lots of contrast, adding to the warm yellow glow of the bright flowers. I sat in my folding chair with my new Guerrilla Painter 9×12″ pochade box in my lap. I love the additional palette space in this box. There’s an adapter to hold 8×10 and 6×8 panels, so I used that for the first time too, to paint this little 6×8. It worked out so well, and even carries the wet panel.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Permanent Alizarin
Burnt Sienna
Ultramarine Deep
Viridian
Ivory Black
Titanium White

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

9×12″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$325.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

What’s with the meteorologists these days? It was supposed to be overcast and raining, but I awoke to brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures. After all the rain we’ve had lately, I figured the trout stream at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation would present some good plein air opportunities. The water was rushing over the rocks, and the spring greens were out in force.

This was my first chance to try my new 9×12″ Guerrilla Painter pochade box. I absolutely love it! I sat with the box on my lap. It’s got so much more palette space than the thumbox, and as a bonus, an standard 9×12″ disposable palette pad fits right in the box, making clean-up a snap.

You can see that by the time I was nearing the finish line on this painting, it became overcast and I lost my light:

My palette for this painting was:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Permanent Alizarin
Burnt Sienna
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Viridian
Titanium White

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation | 3 Comments »

5×7″, Oils on Ampersand Gessoboard
$125.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

This was painted from one of the photos I took on my walk last night. The yellow tinge to the sky at sunset, and the little red boat, glowed all the more with the muted colors surrounding them.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Boats and Ships, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook, Sunrise/Sunset | No Comments »

Usually I don’t post if I don’t have a completed painting to show, but I’ve been thinking lately about how many fascinating things artists are involved in on the days when they don’t paint. Perhaps I should post about that sometimes, like right now!

Each spring, the U.S. House of Representatives has a high school art competition. The winners from each district are then hung together in the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Today I was one of five artists hanging the show for Congressman John Hall’s 19th Congressional District. We hung over 90 paintings by area high school students at the Putnam Arts Council gallery space at Tilly Foster Farm, in Brewster, NY. Congressman Hall will be presenting the awards on Monday, May 11. You can read more about it at the Putnam Arts Council site and also on Congressman Hall’s website. Congratulations to all the students who are in this show! Be sure to stop in to see it if you’re in the area. It’s always worth a trip to Tilly Foster Farm to see the newest arrivals in historical animal species, antique farm equipment, shows at Putnam Arts Council, and the change of seasons!

Other artistic ventures today included cutting a huge bouquet of lilacs from my yard. If it pours tomorrow as it’s supposed to, and I don’t feel like working from a photo, I’ll have these beautiful flowers to paint and smell in my studio.

Last but not least, I took a walk outside this evening, where I was hoping to get some photo references from which to paint the yellow sky I saw over the lake just before sunset. In the process, I inadvertently scared off a Pileated Woodpecker exploring a rotting tree stump, saw a Green Heron flying overhead, and enjoyed a cute muskrat swimming in the brook. I almost didn’t notice the deer on the other side of the brook. He was so well camoflaged that he was nearly invisible. He stood there staring at me for a long time, before turning around and trotting off. I took a picture of him, though I’m sorry it’s not a sharper image. Can you spot him?

Here’s a closer crop to show you where he was “hiding”:

Tomorrow I’ll be doing a frame inventory and ordering frames for some upcoming shows (more on that soon…), but hopefully there will be some time to paint too!

Shows and News, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

12×16″, Oils on Raymar canvas panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This painting was started on location along the Hudson River waterfront in Athens, NY last weekend. I started setting up to paint at 9am, admiring the way the sun lit up the side of this little red building by the shore. Within an hour, the light was completely gone and the building was in shadow! Then the water got brighter and brigher, until by 11am, all the values in the scene were the reverse of when I began painting. Plein air work sure can be a challenge!

Fortunately, I’d taken a photo just as I started to paint. Working from that, what I had captured on location, and my memory of the way the scene appeared when I began, I finished this up in the studio.

There are a couple of other paintings I’d like to do from this waterfront park in Athens. I’d never been to this location before, but I will definitely go back again! I’m told that the recreation of Henry Hudson’s ship, The Half Moon, will be docked here permanently in the not too distant future! I’ll be wanting to paint that for sure.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on 8 ply 100% rag board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

The Cherry Blossoms at Boscobel wind around this little path. It goes along the Hudson River, and then circles around behind the herb garden, where the Cherry Blossoms are joined by dogwoods in bloom and apple trees.

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold, spring | No Comments »

8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Saunders Waterford 100% rag watercolor paper, 300lb cp. Painting will be beautifully varnished and will be mailed with a backing board, to frame it exactly like an oil painting (without glass) if desired.
$250.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

Every spring, it’s a race to paint the Cherry Blossoms before they go. It seems that as soon as they bloom and rain comes along, which it does constantly this time of year, they are gone until the following spring. I love this view of them against the mountain.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

5×7″, Oils on Ampersand Gessoboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

….Back to my favorite subject this time of year! Not to worry….The season for Cherry Blossoms is so short-lived. In a week the blossoms will probably all be gone, and I’ll have to wait another year to paint beside them again.

There are five Cherry Blossom trees in this arc by the Hudson River at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, NY. Each one has such character, and although they all have those bushy, bright pink blossoms, their shapes are quite unique, and the light hits them differently. I enjoy picking out different ones to feature in each painting, exploring their similarities and differences, and the way they fit into the total scene with the Hudson River and Constitution Marsh behind them.

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »