12×16″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is another painting that was started on location and completed in the studio this week. I showed the work in progress with an image of the scene in a previous post. The humped peak in the painting is Breakneck Ridge. The marsh is where Fishkill Creek empties out into the Hudson River.

When I brought the painting back to the studio and put it up on the easel to add the finishing touches, I pulled up all my photo references from this location. I’d gone there several times during the falll, so I had photos from much of the season. I decided to go back a few weeks in time to when there was more fall in the air and leaves on the trees. I think it added a lot to the painting to be able to fill out that foreground tree.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

16×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

This waterfall is just inside the entrance to our property upstate. From here, the water runs under the driveway and converges with another stream and waterfall on the other side. After a rain, they are at their very best! There are two more waterfalls along this rock ledge that I’ve also wanted to paint for quite some time. I guess at this point I’ll probably get to them in the spring.

I started this painting en plein air several weeks ago. It was finished up in the studio this morning. Below you can see a photo of it as I worked on it outside. The waterfall was totally in shadow by the time I took this photo. That’s why I had to stop and complete it in the studio.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | 1 Comment »

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

Available for direct sale for a limited time only.

This began as a plein air painting this past October. Just as the sun sank below the horizon, the sky lit up like a fireball. As often happens (especially with sunsets), color and light are just too fleeting to finish on location. I’m so busy painting outdoors at that time of year, trying to catch the last bit of fall color, that many of these don’t receive their finishing touches until winter sets in and I’m working in the studio.

I was so happy to pull this one out today and finally get to finish it up. I never get tired of painting these Olana sunsets. Every night there is so different; I can understand why Hudson River School painter Frederic Church chose this location for his exquisite Moorish castle on the hilltop. One of my favorite Frederic Church paintings is a winter view from Olana that he painted en plein air. I’ve never painted from there in winter, but I am determined to brave the cold and do it this winter!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location, Sunrise/Sunset, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

20×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I was eager to work in a medium that would enable me to layer quickly today, so I grabbed my Golden OPEN Acrylics and a 16×20 canvas covered board for open studio portraiture. I left most of my acrylics upstate, so had to make due with what I had: Cadmium Yellow Primrose, Pyrrole Red, Transparent Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Carbon Black, and Titanium White.

These paints are just sooooo much fun. I prefer them on paper or smooth hardboard rather than canvas, so next time I’ll have to remember to size some watercolor paper or matboard before I go.

Leigh was a really great and beautiful model. We’ll have her for another sitting in January, so I’ll get to sketch her again!

16x20 and larger, Available, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

8×10″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

This is one of my plein air paintings that hung around the studio for months waiting to be finished. Well, today was the day!

There is a magical, little brook that comes down from South Mountain and through our property upstate. It flows under a bridge that spans our driveway, and cascades down moss-covered rocks in a small waterfall. I didn’t even know it was there until after we’d bought the house, but I’ve been entranced by it ever since. It seems to be compositionally perfect from nearly any angle. So far in addition to this one, I’ve done one gouache sketch of it from the other side, a monochrome painting sitting on one of the rock ledges where the water cascaded past me, and an oil painting from the other side of the brook while the phlox was blooming in fall. In spite of all these views of the scene, I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of the hundreds of fantastic compositions possible from this special little place. There are numerous other waterfalls in and around the property, and although this one is the smallest, I feel it is by far the most beautiful.

I lost my favorite old palette and had to replace it this week. I went over to Jerry’s Artarama in Norwalk to check out what they had, and came away with this wonderful new palette. Today was my first opportunity to test drive it; I love it to bits! Now I’m glad I misplaced the old one.

The birds got to take turns coming out to play today. I love that I have more time with them during the winter months when I’m working more indoors. Here are the adorable ones: Mango and Coconut. They are extremely sweet and gentle. Mango goes to anybody and loves to socialize. Coconut is extremely handsome, but is not so well endowed in the brains department. LOL

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

My friend and fellow artist, Gretchen Kelly, is writing articles about some of her favorite artists. Please check out her blog post today, featuring yours truly! Many thanks to Gretchen for this special commentary. It’s been wonderful having Gretchen as a friend and painting buddy.

While you’re there, take a look at Gretchen’s expressive figure drawings and paintings, and her vibrant landscapes. I especially like her use of gold leaf in some of her multi-media landscape paintings.

Shows and News | No Comments »

Hudson River Splendor — Hudson River Quadricentennial Series No. 22
5×7″, Oils on Ampersand Gessoboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This is the gorgeous Hudson River view from Olana, home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Church. I was there one night when there was a stupendous sunset, and took as many photos as I could! This is a color study for a larger painting I’d like to do. It gave me a chance to see if the sky colors and values would work, and I’ve decided that they do!

Olana is one of my favorite places to paint, with this stunning overview of the river and the Catskill Mountains in the distance. On the right evening, the scene lights up like a torch.

In celebration of the Hudson River Quadricentennial, I am doing a special series of Hudson River paintings. This one is Number 22 of that series.

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | 1 Comment »

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

I set out on a beautiful sunny day with my easel. When I came to this gorgeous spot, I set up in the middle of the road to paint.

As soon as I had my easel out and started to lay in color, the clouds thickened, shadows vanished, and colors changed!

I decided to stay with the moody, atmospheric day it had become. Most of this painting was done on location. I had plans to paint with a friend at Olana that afternoon, so I had to pack up before I was quite finished, and added the finishing touches in the studio today.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

24×36″, Oils on stretched canvas
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This painting has been a long time in process. It started out with a small monochrome study, followed by a color study, both completed on location. I then did an intermediate stage in the studio at 1/2 each dimension of the large painting. (Intermediate size was 12×18″.)

After a day and a half of working on the large painting in the studio, I took it back to the location a week or so later to work on it outside, where I could gather more information directly from the source once again. I felt lots of things were improved after that session of on site painting, but it still wasn’t finished.

I’ve put in more time on it here and there as it’s sat on the big easel in my studio, and I think I can finally call it finished! Here it is up on my studio easel during today’s session, with the studies next to it for reference. The studies are a progression toward the finished painting, but as you can see, I changed things that I wanted to improve upon in each version.

16x20 and larger, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Tilly Foster Farm | 2 Comments »

I’d like to remind my viewers that I am also on Facebook and Twitter. I post things there about my day-to-day life as an artist, tips and thoughts about the artistic process, and things not posted on my blog. It also gives me a chance to communicate in a more direct way with my friends, clients, family, and fellow artists and art-lovers. You can find me on Facebook here . Just click to add me as a friend.

For those who have Twitter and would like to follow me as I tweet away (which is maybe once a day), you can find me here and click to follow me on Twitter .

Uncategorized | No Comments »

Bench with a Hudson View
7×5″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140lb hot press

Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is a scene from a little park near the train station in Cold Spring, New York. I used a photo reference and a 5×7″ Fabriano watercolor block of their delicious hot press, rag paper. I began with a modified contour drawing alla Charles Reid:

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Watercolor | No Comments »

20×16″, Oils on Canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

You may remember two weeks ago when I sketched Troy in pastel. We had no open studio last Thursday since it was Thanksgiving, but today I went back, oils in hand, for another sketch. I used Rembrandt Ivory Black, Gamblin Torrit Grey, and Winsor Newton Artist Titanium White with a little Winsor Newton Griffin Titanium White mixed in to speed drying. I also used Weber Res-n-gel medium.

Troy will keep the same pose for three weeks, and most of the artists are keeping their spots and working all three weeks on the same painting. I waited until after the posing started for any returning artists to reclaim their previous spots before setting up in a new position, but go figure…. (Yes, you know what’s coming!)… As soon as I got set up, someone came in late and said, “You’re in my spot!”

I didn’t really care where I painted from; I just didn’t want to miss the posing time. There is never enough time with the model! Anyway, this ended up being about two hours of posing time altogether. I always seem to have difficulty getting the head situated exactly where I want it on the canvas. This time, I really took my time with placement and it ended up right where I wanted it to be! Amazing!

I like this model, Troy, very much. We’ll have him for one more week.

16x20 and larger, Available, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

1.5×2″, Golden Acrylics on 4-ply Rag Bristol, framed
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

These miniature gems are too much fun to be legal! This is a miniature version of an 8×10″ painting that I did en plein air in the spring. You can see that painting by clicking here. I enjoy doing different size versions of the same scene. It gives me a chance to play with the composition and colors and try to turn out something even better each time. In this case, I shortened the peninsula so that the eye has a path around it to travel to the lighthouse.

My miniature paintings come with a gift box and buyer’s choice of either a little table easel, or a golden thread affixed to the back and a tack for hanging salon style.

Here’s a slightly larger, cropped photo so that you can see the painting better. I wish this camera had a better lens so you could really see all the teeny tiny brushstrokes in there!

So much goes into doing one of these miniatures. They take me longer than paintings many times the size. The first step in the process is to cut the support for the painting. In this case, I used four-ply Strathmore rag bristol. It’s a very expensive support, but at this size I could probably get 100 paintings from a sheet! I size that with Golden Matte Medium, because I love the way acrylic paint takes to that sized surface.

Using a template previously cut to size for that frame, I place it on the new support and draw the rectangle around it. When I finish the painting, I’ll cut to the lines and will have a painting that will fit perfectly into the tiny frame.

I put a tiny dot of blue-tack on the back of each corner, and affix my support to a piece of black foamcore that has also been sized with matte medium. The black helps reduce glare as I work, and makes it easier to support the tiny painting.

I set up my painting reference next to my easel, and put a photo reference of the scene up on the computer. I can zoom in and out of the photo reference to help me with the details, while using the color from my plein air piece.

I sketched in my composition with just a few pencil lines, the coated the whole surface with Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide. That served the dual purpose of sealing the drawing and killing the white of the support.

This is as far as I was able to get without magnification! I have a goose neck lamp with a flourescent bulb and a built-in magnifying glass. I brought that over and worked a couple more hours to finish off the painting. The painting was then cut with an Xacto knife to fit in the frame.

For the sake of the photo of the finished painting, I put it into the frame temporarily. It will actually have to come out to be sealed and then varnished in a week or so. Once that is dry, it will be glued into the frame, and a backing put on that will cover the painting and frame from behind, so it will look like it came straight out of a high end frame shop!

Hopefully you now have an idea of what goes into turning out one of these little gems. They make great gift items.

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Paintings, Jamie's Jewels miniature gems, Landscape, Lighthouses, Olana and Hudson NY, Sold | No Comments »