While out painting at Bannerman Island with friends two weeks ago, we were offered a show at Bannerman Island Gallery! The opening is this Saturday, November 14, 4-8pm. I’ll have some of my new fall works there, including the one featured below.

Available, Bannerman Island, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Shows and News | No Comments »

5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$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 beautiful view of the Hudson River was painted from a photo I took. I love the look of the Hudson Highlands as the trees lose their leaves. They take on the most beautiful pinky-violet color until the greens of summer re-emerge. I have done an 18×24″ painting of this scene as well.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape | 1 Comment »

12×16″, Pastels on Wallis sanded paper, custom matted and framed to 16×20
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I did a tiny, 6×6″ acrylic painting of this scene and liked it so much that I’d been meaning to do a larger version for quite some time. I broke out the pastels for this 12×16″ rendition. I hadn’t worked in pastel for quite some time, and really enjoyed the immediacy of the medium and color brilliance. I think perhaps there is a still larger version to be done at some point down the road!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Boats and Ships, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, pastels | No Comments »

24×36″, Oils on stretched canvas
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar 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, Boats and Ships, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

7 x 5″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard, unframed
$115.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

There’s quite a collection of wonderful objects, architectural treasures, and river overviews to paint at this favorite spot along the Hudson. I was drawn by the strong contrasts of light and shadow as the sun began it’s shift to the west, and the rusty undertones of the statue.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

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

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 »

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

This was painted early yesterday morning for Artists on Location in Garrison, NY. There was a misty drizzle on and off, so I found a spot off to the side of the dirt road where I could paint in my car! Each time it started drizzling, I’d take my pochade box into the car, only to re-emerge as the precipitation paused. When I was nearly done, the police asked me to move because they were afraid I was going to get run over! I moved over to that field on the right to finish the painting.

I’d really like to go back there soon to do a larger version of this painting. If anybody wants to commission it, please email me! This one is sold.

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

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

It’s not often that you can paint fog, haze, and bright sunlight simultaneously, but that’s what was happening at Boscobel yesterday! The fog was rolling down the river from north to south, so the southernmost mountains of the Hudson Highlands were still completely obscured by the fog. The closer hills were faded by the remaining haze, and the clearing skies overhead let the sun shine through onto the marsh and water.

Constitution Marsh is just starting to turn color. I could see the oranges and shades of rust beginning. Soon they will overtake the green and the marsh will be ablaze with its fall splendor.

What a time I had with this photo….The painting is warmer and brighter than I seem to be able to adjust for. I think maybe it’s time to start using a better camera to photograph my paintings!

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

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

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 »

You can click this image to see a larger view of the painting.

Summer Greens at Boscobel: Hudson River Quadricentennial Series No. 26
6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Today began my five day painting trip. I started out this morning at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, New York, on the Hudson River. This was my first visit to Boscobel this year since the summer greens took over the landscape. The day has been picture perfect, and I had a wonderful time doing this painting!

I don’t have my image editing software on my laptop yet, so during this trip, I’ll have to just post the images as they come out of the camera, without any adjustments. I tried to take this picture to take in part of the scene as well as the painting, so you’d get an idea of what I was painting. When I get back to my desktop system next week, I’ll add adjusted images of all the paintings to their posts.

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Painting/Pochade Box, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | 3 Comments »

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

I’m doing a lot of small studies for larger paintings lately. This is a scene painted from a photo I took up at Garrison Castle, overlooking the Hudson River. It’s not surprising that Frederic Church of the Hudson River School painters selected this site for the Osborn family to build their castle in the sky!

This is a view straight up the Hudson River, where the currents are the most treacherous, and the river channel narrows and wraps around West Point Military Academy. Those are the buildings of West Point silhouetted in the painting in the foreground peninsula.

The scene is so complex, and takes in many of the most famous spots in the Hudson Highlands. You can see the point of Breakneck Ridge on the right, and Bannerman Island even further upriver. The mountain farthest back on the left is Storm King, and the Catskills are straight ahead off in the distance. The Hudson illuminates at sunset from this high vantage point.

I think this sunset view through the Hudson Highlands from above is deserving of a really, really big painting sometime in the not too distant future!

This painting is Number 21 from my Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, celebrating the 400 year anniversary of Henry Hudson’s travels up the river.

8x10 and smaller, Bannerman Island, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | 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 »

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 »

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 »

10×8″, Oils on mounted Multimedia Artboard
$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.

Here’s a little break from all those Cherry Blossoms! I’ve painted this Dogwood overlooking Constitution Marsh in its bright red, fall splendor nearly every year, but never in the spring flowering stage. The real challenge for me was to decide how I could best display those white blossoms against the very light blue sky.

This painting is done on the new, mounted Multimedia Artboard. It is an archival support that can be framed just like a hardboard panel. I’ve enjoyed painting on this surface from time to time because of the way it takes both oils and acrylics. As the support itself is brittle, I back it with acid free foamcore for framing. They have just come out with a new version of the product which is already mounted on the foamcore, making it more durable for travel purposes while maintaining the lightweight benefit.

For small paintings, I sometimes feel the weave of canvas interferes with the painting. As you can see here, the smoother surface of Multimedia Artboard allows me to work without that concern. I don’t feel I need to fight with unwanted texture.

I tend to like fairly absorbent surfaces. I can put more paint onto them, and avoid some of the streakiness of slick surfaces. I give the Multimedia Artboard a coat of Golden Matte Medium diluted 20% with water to cut down on just a bit of the absorption. The paint applies beautifully to the surface.

I’ve used it now for both oils and acrylics, and highly recommend this archival material. You can read about the product at www.multimediaartboard.com. You can order it by writing to the company through the link on the website. I’ve put up a link to the site from the right sidebar on my blog too, so you’ll always be able to find it here.

8x10 and smaller, Available, 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, spring | No Comments »

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

Today began with a light haze, giving a silvery glow to the atmosphere over the Hudson River. The cherry blossoms are in full swing at Boscobel, and the reddish color is coming into Constitution Marsh as it springs back to life from winter dormancy.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Permanent Red Medium
Permanent Alizarin
Transparent Red Oxide
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Chromatic Black
Titanium White

My apologies for the slight glare on the left side of the painting. I’m a terrible photographer. That glare is only in the digital image, and not on the painting.

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 | 2 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.

Today was heavily overcast, with showers predicted. I had a hard time deciding whether or not head over to the Hudson River to paint at Boscobel. In the end, I figured that any day of plein air painting is better than a day without plein air painting! For my efforts, I was greeted by this striking yellow sky, and extremely dark blue background hills. I’ve done many, many paintings of this view, but have never seen it quite the way it looked today.

Boscobel Restoration is in Garrison, New York, along the Hudson River. The view overlooks Constitution Marsh and West Point Military Academy.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Raw Sienna
Permanent Red Medium
Venetian Red
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Titanium White

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, 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.

This is the 400 year anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage up the Hudson River. I am doing a series of Hudson River paintings to commemorate that event, and this is the first! This fabulous, huge yellow ship came down the river past West Point as I stood on the shoreline in Garrison snapping photos. Some of the works for this series will be done en plein air and some will be from photo references.

My palette for this painting:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon (Winsor Newton)
Raw Sienna (Williamsburg)
Venetian Red (Classic Artist Oils)
Ultramarine Blue Deep (homemade from Lukas pigment and alkalai-refined linseed oil)
Cerulean Blue (Classic Artist Oils, drained on a paper towel)
Titanium White (Winsor Newton)

8x10 and smaller, Boats and Ships, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold | 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.

This was painted yesterday at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, New York, when the sun finally emerged from the heavy cloud cover as promised. The light shimmered on the Hudson River, and the backlighting on the red tree made it glow like Christmas bulbs.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

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

Although I go to Boscobel several times every year in fall, I never get tired of painting Constitution Marsh as it turns from the greens of summer to the blazing colors of fall. The Hudson River was shimmering brightly this morning despite the clouds, as if the sun somehow sought out the river in spite of the overcast skies. It was another fabulous fall day to be out painting.

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Currently In Gallery, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

12×24″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This painting was done this morning at sunrise at Cold Spring waterfront park along the Hudson River. It was sooooo cold. Brrrrrr!!!! Storm King mountain was initially shrouded in fluffy pink clouds. It was an awesome sight, but the clouds had risen by the time I was set up to paint.

8x12 to 12x24, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | No 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 »

6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$160.00 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 once knew a wonderful painter named Mike Pacitti, who passed away a few years ago. He used a few different colors to underpaint with. One of them was called Burnt Carmine, made by Rembrandt. I remember it as a strong carmine/crimson color mixed with black. Even with black in the mix, I was surprised by how strong the color was when I saw Mike use it, and yet his paintings were filled with beautiful subtleties.

I decided to try something like that while waiting for clouds to break along the Hudson River in Cold Spring. I mixed Quinacridone Magenta half and half with Carbon Black, and used that to do the underpainting for this little plein air. It was much stronger than the colors I normally use to lay out my composition and values. No matter what you use to paint over it, the magenta seems to work its way through. Part of me thinks it still comes through too much. Another part of me thinks I’m just not used to it, and that I kind of like the effect.

What do you think? (Please click “comments” at the bottom of this post to let me know rather than emailing, because I’m getting swamped! )

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 2 Comments »

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

This was painted late in the afternoon on location in Cold Spring, New York. It was one of those perfect pre-fall days, filled with the glow of the late day light and the Hudson River breezes. I took the photo below after completing the painting, so the light and shadows had changed somewhat from the time I started. I kept going out to the car to get more things, so you can see that by the end of the day, I had accumulated enough stuff on site for three artists!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 2 Comments »

6×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Above is the completed painting, and below is an image of the work in progress. I’d initially planned to put in foreground grasses, but after doing that, I felt the painting was more effective without them. So, I worked on it yet a third time, and took the foreground grasses out!

It’s interesting how much the color of light affects what we see. The image of the finished painting was taken with the corrected light of my photo box, but the progress image was taken in cool daylight. The actual colors in paintings vary according to the lighting conditions where we view them.

I did the underpainting for this work with a color I’d not tried before from the Golden OPEN line—Quinacridone Gold. I love the warm glow that it brings to the work. I could get hooked on this color!

This is painted from a photo I took down in Constitution Marsh on the Hudson River. It’s been in my file of things I want to paint for a long time! With fall on the way, it seemed the right moment to pull out this lively autumn scene.

I’m still using an expanded palette because the paint is still wet from yesterday, and I’ve even added a few colors to the large assortment I was working with. So far for this painting I’ve used:
Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Red Light
Pyrrole Red
Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Red Oxide
Quinacridone Gold
Carbon Black
Jenkins Green

8x10 and smaller, Available, Boats and Ships, Cold Spring and Garrison, Currently In Gallery, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | 5 Comments »

5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Today is one of those unbearably hot and humid summer days, so I set out early for Boscobel Restoration in Garrison to beat the heat, and did just one small painting. The Hudson was shrouded in more than its usual share of haze with the high humidity. I found Golden’s Titan Buff color to be the perfect palette addition to capture that atmosphere. I painted the entire panel that color, then painted into it with my other colors. I love the effect it gave!

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold | 1 Comment »

10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$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.

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

6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on linen
$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 Lower Hudson Valley Chapter of New York Plein Air Painters gathered at Stonecrop gardens in Cold Spring, New York today. Usually when we paint in Cold Spring we paint along the Hudson, but this beautiful garden presented us with some welcome and varied changes of scenery. I started out down by this beautiful pond, with a stone bridge reflecting in the water.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 1 Comment »