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.
12×9″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
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Yep, back to Hell’s Hole again in the Devil’s Kitchen area of Platte Clove to do what I seem to enjoy most these days — painting waterfalls! This eastern section of the Catskills is so loaded with waterfalls. Many of them are challenging to get to, but some are roadside and easily accessible.
8×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
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This is the farm where I buy all my fresh produce. Nestled in the Hudson Valley just to the east of the escarpment of the Catskills, they have acres and acres of strawberries, corn, zucchini, and all other kinds of vegetables. The beautiful setting against the mountains is an artist’s dream, and it makes for a dramatic scene under any weather conditions. I happened to catch it this time just as a storm was getting underway. I took a picture and then painted it from the photo, under the roof of my patio in the rain.
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.
6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
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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!
12×24, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
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If you think you already saw this recently, you did! I decided to work on it more in the studio, so above is (hopefully!) the final image of the completed painting. These long, horizontal formats show so small on the blog page, so here is another image that you can click on to enlarge it a bit:
I love this view of the barns against the eastern escarpment of the Catskill Mountains. This was painted on location, on this warm, breezy day of changing clouds and moving light. I loved the contrast in color temperature between the orangy fields and blue-green mountains, with the red spots of color contributing a nice focal point.
16×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
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I posted the red oxide underpainting start of this work a few days ago. Today I finished it up in the studio. Hopefully it conveys at least a little of the magic that I feel beside this waterfall below the mountain. It is not an exact depiction of the location, but rather an attempt to capture the essence of the elements that lure me to this spot time after time. Pretty soon the foliage will be in full bloom and the scene will change dramatically, providing an opportunity to capture the vista in its newly-transformed state.
28×42″, Oils on stretched canvas
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Finished at last! This was such a great painting to work on. Those of you who have been following along may remember that my client for this painting sent me samples of her carpet colors to work into the landscape. They were gorgeous rusts, ochres and muted greens. Selecting a specific color palette is a great way to commission a painting that you know will go with your decor!
Here’s a link to the painting’s beginnings, if you’d like to see how I started it.
Here is a link to the color/compositon study for the large painting.
Lastly, here is a link to the plein air painting I did on location. I took my painting gear up on the chair lift!
9×12″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico
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This was my first go at painting this particular waterfall, but it won’t be my last for sure! I had to tiptoe across stepping stones to a little island in the creek to arrive at the ideal vantage point. The painting location was shaded by an overpass while the waterfall was in sunlight, so this will be a fabulous spot on a hot day! There’s been a lot of rain, and combined with the snow melt off South Mountain, the waterfalls were gushing this weekend.
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!
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!
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
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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.
12×9″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
This is my favorite place to go for a walk, so it’s not surprising that I’m turning it into a series! You can see a progress image of this painting on this post. So far, the series consists of just this painting and The Road Home in Fall. Late winter, spring, and summer versions will be coming as the seasons emerge. I’ll probably paint those on location.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
8×6″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I love this scene from the top of Hunter Mountain. I’ve painted horizontal landscapes from up here, but wanted to see if I could get something to set up well as a vertical. I think this works!
6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
All the leaves are down now, and the temperature has dropped substantially. I fear that we won’t be seeing anymore 60+ degree days until spring emerges! I sat outside with my little pochade box this afternoon and painted this with just three colors (and white):
Winsor Newton Cadmium Yellow Pale
Winsor Newton Bright Red (Pyrrole)
Utrecht Ultramarine Blue Deep
Utrecht Titanium White
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized Canson board
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
Painted on location in Acra, New York.
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized Canson board
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
Painted on location in Acra, New York.
6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.
This painting was started a couple of weeks ago on a very chilly morning at the top of Kaaterskill Falls. It just needed a few minutes of studio touch-ups to call it done. This is one of my favorite painting spots, and I go there often to paint the stunning cascades as they spill over the rocks before plunging down the 279 feet of Kaaterskill Falls. It is the tallest waterfall in New York State.
This was a favorite spot of the Hudson River School painters as well. Back in those times, there was a dam up here to hold back the flow of water. A bucket would be lowered to the viewers below, who would each pay into the bucket for a water release to view the falls. Snack and drinks would also be lowered down to complete the attraction.
7×5″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
My friend Claire came to visit a few weeks ago. We both set up our easels in my driveway to catch the dramatic foliage against the cooler blue-greens of the mountain. The late day light was fleeting and the mosquitoes were fierce! I didn’t quite have time to finish on location, so I finished this up in the studio today.
The leaves are already gone from that bright foreground tree on the top of the rock. Fall always passes so quickly!
