This is a progress image of the 28×42″ commission I’m working on. It all started when my client and her dear hubby met at Hunter Mountain in New York State! She saw this painting on my website, which I did from the top of Hunter Mountain, and purchased it through RiverWinds Gallery, where I had it displayed.

She decided that she wanted a large version to take up a wall of her dining room, and wondered if I’d be willing to incorporate some of her room colors in the painting, and omit some of the colors of that smaller version that didn’t go with her decor. She sent me these color photos of her carpets which displayed rich earth tones perfectly suited to landscape work, but far different from my usual palette.

Because both the color palette and proportional ratio of the painting were to change for the commission, I decided to do this third painting using the same ratio and colors as the commisioned work, which I posted the other day. (See below the previous post below or click the link.)

From there, I moved onto the full size version of the painting. Here’s the large, white canvas looming before me in the studio:

The first steps were to tone it, place the compositional elements, add the dark areas and pull out the lights.

Then I started going in with color. The first photo in this post shows the current state of the painting. From here I’ll be pushing the lights and darks, adding in more of the colors from my client’s samples, and making adjustments as I go. I’d like to drop that foreground horizon line a touch too….It keeps on creeping up all by itself when I’m not looking!

16x20 and larger, Catskill Mountains, Demos/Work in Progress, Greene County, Landscape | 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 »

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 | 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 »

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

This large painting was done on location in Cold Spring, New York over a period of several days. It was pretty windy some of that time, and I thought the painting was going to act as a sail and carry off the entire easel from time to time! I was exhausted by the time the painting was completed, with the long days and long drives over to the location, but it was worth it.

16x20 and larger, Available, Boats and Ships, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

20×24″, oil on stretched canvas
$960.00 via PayPal, $35 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is a fall plein air painting looking toward North Salem, across Peach Lake. It’s quite large for a plein air painting at 20×24″, and took several sessions on location to complete.

16x20 and larger, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Fall, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

36×24″, Oils on stretched canvas, unframed
$1725 $1,725.00 via PayPal, $50 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This large oil painting is a scene painted from a photo I took on Indian Hill Road in Garrison, New York. It is a mostly-unpaved road that leads down to Constitution Marsh. The fall foliage there is always the best anywhere!

For those who like to see things in progress, below is an image of how things began. I worked off both a computer monitor and printed photo, and used them more or less as a springboard to create the painting. I washed the background with yellows to start. This would give the feeling of the light filtering through the fall leaves as I added more layers. Once that yellow wash was on the canvas, I went right to the darkest darks and mapped out the painting in light and shadow.

The image below gives you an idea of how I go about laying in the leaves and colors.

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | No Comments »

(Shadows along top of image are from the easel holding the painting)
24×18″, Oils on stretched canvas
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Although there were heavy clouds overhead today, I spent another day on location with this painting to finish it up. It is such a beautiful and tranquil spot. I was entertained by a little grebe in the pond, some friendly passers-by, and a friendly chipmunk! I’d like to go back in a couple of weeks when the foliage is further along and do another painting….maybe an even larger one next time!

16x20 and larger, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

18×24″, Oils on stretched canvas

This is a work in progress that was started on location today. I’d like to get in at least one more plein air day with it, and a third day in the studio should finish it up.

You can see how much the light and colors changed once that thick cloud layer rolled in!

16x20 and larger, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | No Comments »

16×20″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$640.00 via PayPal, $25 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is one of those situations when I used the scene for inspiration, but made many changes for the sake of color and composition. Below is a photo of the scene, so that you can see what I was working with. Using elements found in the landscape, I arranged them to create my painting. I removed part of the fence so that we could enter the scene, painted in a path to draw us into the composition, gave some leaves to the bare tree, and warmed up some of the color.

Here’s a pic of my setup with the painting and the scene.

16x20 and larger, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Tilly Foster Farm | 1 Comment »

16×20″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$640.00 via PayPal, $25 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is painted from a photo I took on a morning with an amazing sunrise. I saw the turquoise and pink sky, threw on my jeans, shirt and coat, and dashed out to the lakeshore to take pictures. At 16×20, this is a nice size for that special wall. In spite of the brilliant colors, it has that wonderfully serene feel to it that only a spectacular sunrise can bring.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue
Viridian
Titanium White

16x20 and larger, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook, Pets Wildlife Animals, Sunrise/Sunset, Winter and Snow Scenes | 1 Comment »

16×20″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard

Below is the painting in its initial form, as it came home from my plein air expedition. I was always bothered by that large piling so close to the center of the painting. Adjusting the composition, in this case, was very simple. By enlarging the piling to the right, I was able to remove that focal point in the center, rebalancing the painting. I think it works very well now! Below is the original, so that you can compare. Color and value differences that you see are due to the paintings being adjusted on different computers. (That gives you an indication of how different paintings can look from one computer to another, depending on our monitors and settings.)

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:

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Currently In Gallery, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

18×24″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$860.00 via PayPal, $30 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

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 »

Click painting for a larger, clearer image:

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

I started this painting a couple of weeks ago from a photo I took in Palenville, and worked on it a few days since then. For some reason, it seems to have taken me forever to get this one off the easel, but I think it is finally done.

Fifty years or so ago, you’d have seen the grand Catskill Mountain House looming on the escarpment to the right of the peak of South Mountain. Today it’s just an amazing view from up there that extends for hundreds of miles, and takes in over sixty miles of the Hudson River. The spring melt cascades down the mountain in streams and waterfalls that gave Palenville its nickname as “The Village of Falling Waters”.

This painting was done with a limited palette of Raw Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Primrose, Red Iron Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, and Titanium White.

For some reason, the left side of the sky looks darker than the actual painting. It’s always impossible to get the digital image to exactly match. The room lighting must have been darker on that side when I snapped the picture!

16x20 and larger, Available, Catskill Mountains, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Winter and Snow Scenes | No Comments »

30×40″, oils on stretched canvas
This studio sale price is over 65% off! $1050 $1,050.00 via PayPal, $65 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is an older painting that has never appeared on my website nor in a show. I just took a picture of it yesterday for the first time. My style has changed quite a bit since I painted this. I thought it would be interesting for my viewers to see something I did many years ago.

I am offering this huge painting for sale now for the first time, and at a great price!

16x20 and larger, Available, Boats and Ships, Brewster and North Salem, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook | No Comments »

16×20″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# CP
$450.00 via PayPal, $20 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

The vibrant colors of this painting make me feel happy! This is a fairly large watercolor painting at 16×20″, and I wish I could get the whites to be that bright white color in the photo, like they are in the painting! It’s a good thing I’m a painter and not a photographer. This was a lot of fun…and a lot of work!

Whenever I make a clickable image, the smaller one looks a little fuzzy, so I’m putting up this extra image that you can click on to see this painting in a larger size:

16x20 and larger, Available, Still Life, Watercolor | 1 Comment »

18×24″, Oils on canvas
$860.00 via PayPal, $30 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is a painting done from a photo I took while out for an evening stroll with my husband in winter. It was done with a limited palette of just four colors and white. I love the way this turned out, with the dramatic light, contrast of the snow and branches, and harmonized color. It’s one of my personal favorite paintings.

16x20 and larger, Available, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook, Sunrise/Sunset, Winter and Snow Scenes | 2 Comments »

18×24″, oils on stretched canvas
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I used a smaller, plein air version of this scene as a field study to paint this larger work inside the studio. This painting is still wet, and since it’s too large to fit in my light filtering box, there’s some glare on the image. I’ll try to get a better photo of the painting before it goes off to its new home!

16x20 and larger, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Sold | 2 Comments »

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

30 x 24″, Oils on stretched, gallery-wrapped canvas, unframed

This painting was a long term project. It is on gallery wrapped canvas, with the sides painted to look like part of the shelf, so it does not require a frame. When the canvas hangs on a wall, it will look like a wall shelf mounted on the wall, though I think it would look fabulous with a rustic frame that looks like part of the shelf!

16x20 and larger, Available, Still Life | 3 Comments »

Click to enlarge:

16×20″, oils on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

From this spot nestled in the Catskill Mountains, there are gorgeous views from every angle. I can’t wait to go back in different seasons to experience the changes. This was painted from a photo I took while vacationing there with my husband, though I have painted here en plein air as well.

16x20 and larger, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold, Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

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!

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape | No Comments »

Click to enlarge:

24×18″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar 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!

16x20 and larger, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Greene County, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold, Waterfalls | No Comments »

Click to enlarge:

24×30″, oils on stretched canvas
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This painting was done over a period of several days on location from one of my favorite painting spots at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Cross River, NY. It is a view of an old farmhouse currently occupied by one of the preserve managers. The fields turn brilliant colors starting in late summer and continuing through the fall.

16x20 and larger, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation | 7 Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

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

This is a large oil painting done over a period of several days on location at the Boscobel Restoration in Fall, with some finishing touches completed in the studio. It is the famous view from the bluff above the Hudson River, overlooking Consitution Marsh. I’ve painted this scene many times in every season but winter! The marsh glows red in the fall and it’s a spectacular sight come late October.

Sometimes it’s hard to find these larger works among all the smaller ones on my blog, and many viewers have been asking to see more of my larger works, so I am bringing this up to the top today. Yesterday was a hectic day and I didn’t get to paint. This painting is varnished and ready to ship.

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »

16 x 20″, Oils on Canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This is a painting I did on location in springtime at Boscobel Restoration, enjoying the beautiful cherry blossoms along the path above the Hudson River. The painting is varnished, framed, and ready to hang on your wall!

16x20 and larger, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Sold | 1 Comment »

Click to enlarge:

16×20″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Here are yet more spring flowers and trees from Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, NY. This was painted on location in the garden courtyard.

16x20 and larger, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Sold | No Comments »

24×36″, oils on stretched canvas
$1725 $1,725.00 via PayPal, $50 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This large spring landscape is of the old Oak tree at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Pound Ridge, New York.

16x20 and larger, Available, Landscape, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation | 2 Comments »

16×20″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
$640.00 via PayPal, $25 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

Spring is on the way! This is a scene from Boscobel Restoration that I started a couple of years ago en plein air, but didn’t have time to finish on location. I pulled out the photo reference that I took at the time, and finished it up today. Better late than never. Now I can say that it took me two years to do this painting!

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Landscape | 2 Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

18×24″, oils on stretched canvas
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This is a the headquarters of Putnam County Land Trust. It will be housed permanently over the fireplace in the building. The Land Trust has been renovating this building for years, and the painting will be unveiled at the grand opening in the spring. PCLT owns about 140 acres here. A local resident, with property bordering the preserve, left her house to the Land Trust in her will, to be used as a headquarters and for educational purposes.

This site is only about a half mile from me, so I’m very excited about doing this painting for the Land Trust!

Below are various stages of the painting in progress.
Second Stage:

First stage:

16x20 and larger, Brewster and North Salem, Demos/Work in Progress, Landscape, Sold, Winter and Snow Scenes | 2 Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

18×24″, on brown craft paper

Marshall is a fabulous model with oodles of personal charm and charisma, and interesting features to draw. Here are some of my sketches from today’s life drawing poses.

Above: 36×24″

Below: 18×24″ (click to enlarge image)

16x20 and larger, Available, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 2 Comments »