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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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!
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
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!
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
6×8″, Oils on Raymar canvas panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This was painted on one of those gorgeous spring days when everybody should be outside painting! I went to Tilly Foster Farm to take in the beautiful view of the pond and rolling hills.
I used a wash of raw sienna to start off this painting, and a little Liquin Fine Detail to help it start tacking up. The painting was done with a limited palette:
Williamsburg Cadmium Yellow Light
Rembrandt Permanent Red Medium
Winsor Newton old tube of Ultramarine Deep (now French Ultramarine)
Winsor Newton Raw Sienna
Winsor Newton Titanium White
6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This was painted from a photo I took while vacationing in Virginia and Washington DC. The magnolias and cherry blossoms were absolutely stunning! There was no time on the busy family trip to paint or even sketch, but I stopped outside The White House and some of the monuments to take some photos for spring paintings. No signs of President Obama out on the lawn that day!
My palette for this painting was:
Cadmium Lemon
Raw Sienna
Permanent Red Medium
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian
Chromatic Black
Titanium White
5×7″, Golden Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Every once in awhile, we see something so extraordinary that we almost can’t believe it, even when witnessing the scene with our own two eyes. This pink, rising mist on the Hudson River that I saw one morning in Cold Spring as I arrived to paint, was one of those occasions. Initially, it totally obscured the mountains of the Hudson Highlands. As the pink shroud lifted from east to west, the towering hills emerged from the mist.
Click painting for a larger, sharper image:
8×10″, Oils on linen
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I saw this couple walking among the cherry blossoms in Washington DC. It was the perfect photo op! Blossoms were everywhere—on the path, on the grass, and even on the trees!
Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Cadmium Yellow Light
Permanent Red Medium
Permanent Alizarin
Phthalo Blue
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Viridian
Chromatic Black
Titanium White
Golden Fluid Acrylics, 2″ x 1.75″, including frame
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This is the third time I’ve painted this little Monet copy of Red Poppies at Argenteuil in miniature format. I love doing these little jewels! There are a couple more I want to do soon. They’re such a nice change from my larger pieces. I take them as far as I can with just my glasses on, then switch to a lit magnification lens to finish, all with teeny tiny brushes!
These miniatures are always sent out in gold gift boxes and make elegant gift items for that special occasion. You can commission a scene of your choosing, a scene from one of my other paintings, or a copy of an Old Master that is no longer under copyright protection.
5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
If you’re feeling a sense of deja vu, you’re right! This is an updated version of the painting I posted a couple of days ago. The picnic bench at the park was lopsided. I thought it was kind of cute and put it that way in the painting, but then decided to straighten it out. I also popped the white sailboat in the background. Initially, I liked it subdued, so that it appeared as a surprise when noticed. As I thought about it and looked at the painting, I felt a more prominent boat would make for a better painting. I also added a few more darks in the background and reds in the foreground. I’m leaving the previous version below so that viewers can see the changes I’ve made.
Today was absolutely gorgeous. I took the opportunity to finally get out of the studio, and went to paint with some friends at the waterfront park in Hastings-on-Hudson. The colors were soft, muted cool and warm tones of spring, so I included the bright red, somewhat-lopsided picnic table to throw a spot of more intense color into the painting.
I love the way this palette of colors is working, so I think I might stick with it for awhile. I used only Prussian Blue, Pyrrole Red, and Raw Sienna (plus white of course). Raw sienna was definitely the dominating color of the landscape today, so using that as my only “yellow” played into the scene perfectly. There aren’t any strong greens or yellow-greens in the landscape yet that would require the addition of a stronger yellow.
7×5″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
This is another painting from the Hastings Waterfront Park — a different bench, different cluster of trees, different section of the Palisades, and different angle from the one I posted yesterday, plus it’s a vertical composition. The colors on my palette, however, remained the same.
I’ve gone back into the one I posted yesterday. Tomorrow I’ll post the new version of that one and explain the small changes I made. Stay tuned!
8×10″, Watercolor on 300# Fabriano Artistico hp
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
This is one of my favorite areas of the Catskills to go hiking, picture-taking, and painting. The mountains are so dramatic, and there are places where the road winds through the clove and drops off so steeply that it takes your breath away! This one was painted from a photo. Doing this made me eager to get back there again. I can’t wait till spring arrives!
6×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on mounted linen
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
This vase belonged to my great aunt, who was one of the sweetest, kindest ladies I’ve ever known. She lived to be 106, and I’m sure would be thrilled to see her vase in this painting! I love this little vase with the colorful plums circling the ultramarine blue. The beautiful linen color and texture is visible, and the surface is a joy to paint on. Many artists pre-prime boards or canvas to this warm linen color, but there’s nothing like the real thing, using a clear primer.
Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red Light
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White
Sunrise Footprints
5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
This is another sunrise view from my living room window. I really enjoy painting “plein air” from there in real time, but this one was done from a photo I took one beautiful winter morning.
Love is a canvas, furnished by Nature, and embroidered by imagination — Voltaire
4×2″, Golden Acrylics on gallery wrapped canvas, miniature easel included
The quote above is inscribed around the stretcher bars on the back of the canvas. Quarter is in the image for size reference only.
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
I immediately thought of this quote when I set up to do this painting. The canvas is gallery wrapped, and the image is painted around the sides of the canvas, so that it can be viewed from all sides. The miniature easel will be shipped with the painting.
It is so difficult to get good photographs of miniatures. They always look much better in person. This one has a fairly dark background with some sheen, so it was impossible to get rid of all the glare from the lights when I took the photo. Here’s another image of it, with a Coke can for additional size reference:
For such a little painting, I used a tremendous palette! Colors:
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Pyrrole Red
Cadmium Red Medium
Alizarin Crimson hue
Cerulean Blue hue
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Oxide of Chromium
Jenkins Green
Titanium White
I had a few other colors out there as well, but the ones listed above were the ones I used.
I toned the mini canvas and the sides with a mix of Transparent Red Oxide and Ultramarine Blue Golden Fluid Acrylics. Those dry quickly, so with a little help from my hair dryer, I was then able to use Golden OPEN Acrylics to paint the rest over that toned canvas.
I started working on the basic placement of shapes, and then worked more and more toward contrasts and details. I use blu-tack to adhere the mini canvas to a larger piece of foam board. That way I can hold it securely in one hand when necessary, while painting with the other.
7×5″, Golden Acrylics on New York City map mounted to archival board, fits into standard frame
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
I had a great time preparing surfaces with cut up old maps. I glued the map pieces to archival, acid free foam board with Lineco acid-free bookbinding adhesive, rolled it with a brayer, and weighted it down to set. Then I applied a couple of coats of Golden Matte Medium, mainly because I love the working properties of the surface once the matte medium is applied, and it will also help to seal and protect the maps.
I painted this New York City map with roses for Valentine’s Day. What could be better than Love in the Big Apple? If you’d like to commission a similar painting of any size with your own city and choice of flowers, please contact me at JamieWG@aol.com for details.
This painting can be popped right into a standard 5×7″ frame.
8×12″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
If you like this painting, please cast your vote for it in the Art Guide competition! You can do so by clicking the “like” button on this link.
This is a color and composition study for a 28×42″ painting that I’ll be starting soon. I wanted to keep the palette as limited as possible, and also to keep the colors a bit more muted and earthy than is typical for me. My colors for this painting were:
Raw Sienna
Venetian Red
Prussian Blue
Cadmium Yellow Pale (just a very small amount)
Titanium White
I tried to do the painting with just the first three colors, but in the end it really needed a bit of Cad Yellow Pale, so I gave in based on sheer need!
5×7″, Acrylics
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Just a few miles from this location, Thomas Cole did his famous painting Lake With Dead Trees. That became one of the most important works of the Hudson River School painters. I saw this scene along Schoharie Creek nearby and snapped a dozen photos, determined to paint it at some point as an homage to Thomas Cole, who shared my appreciation of this little corner of the earth.
8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
I was out walking my dog through the snow-covered meadow when I spotted these long shadows leading toward the house. Fortunately, I rarely go out without my camera! Long shadows in the middle of the day are one of the benefits of winter. Although I’ve used many compositional elements to lead into my paintings, I don’t think I’ve ever used winter shadows like this. Now that I’ve given it a try, I want to do more!
6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I had a true painting marathon on the day I did this painting, leaving the house at 7am and not returning until after 8:30pm. 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!
7×5″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I was out walking my dog on a snowy morning last week. The snow would start and stop, and there were some occasional, dramatic breaks in the clouds. I was fortunate to encounter one of those breaks as we came to where the path drops down a hill. I love this spot, with the tall evergreen sitting atop the rock outcropping as the path plunges downward. The cloudbreak added to the impact of the vista. I pulled out my camera and snapped a dozen pics! This was painted from one of those photos.
10×8″, Acrylic on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
It’s hard to believe that 2010 has arrived. Where did the year go? Each year seems to go faster than the next. You’d think I’d get tired of doing all these paintings, or run out of ideas, but I seem to feel more motivated as the years go by. I have so many exciting projects in mind for 2010; I can’t wait to get started!
You’ll be seeing some portraits as well as large commissioned paintings, and a number of larger landscapes, coming off my easel in the next couple of months. I want to get back to doing some of my “Jamie’s Jewels” framed miniatures too. Those are so exciting to paint and favorites among my collectors. I can’t seem to keep any of them “in stock”. I have some ideas for new working methods in acrylics too, so you will see a return to some acrylics over the winter as I experiment with new ideas, and large ones will emerge from outdoors when the weather warms up in the spring. I keep meaning to get some more paintings done of my pets — Lulu, Lucy, Mango, Coconut and Rondo. Then of course there are all those landscape locations that I’ve recently discovered; can’t wait to get back to those come the spring, and to do some larger studio works of those places during the winter. So, that should give you an inkling of what’s to come on these Hudson Valley Painter pages in the near future. I’m excited!
If you’d like to follow me around a bit more as I paint and share thoughts on the process, you can visit me here on Facebook. Just send me a friend request there, and let me know that you follow my blog. I often send mobile uploads from my painting locations, converse with my Facebook friends, and share my blog posts.
Occasionally I post on Twitter as well, with information not posted to Facebook or here on my website. You won’t find yourself flooded by tweets by me, but if you’d like to receive the ones I send, you can follow me @JamieArtist. I hope to be making more use of Twitter technology in the coming year for sharing art tips and pictures.
I wish all my viewers and followers and collectors a joyous and fulfilling New Year. Keep those New Years’ Resolutions coming!
The painting above will be at Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery on Main Street in Hunter, NY, from January 16 through February 7. I have five more going there too. The show opening is on Saturday, January 16 from 4-6pm.
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!
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
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.
