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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.
8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This is the same composition as the painting posted yesterday, painted at 12 noon on location. Notice how the light is flatter in the middle of the day. Shadows are not as dark, and contrasts are less pronounced than they were in the morning.
6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
It was so cold standing in the wind at Olana while painting this that tears were running down my face!
8×10″, Oils on Raymar linen panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Palette: Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Permanent Rose, Ivory Black, Titanium White
Painted on location at Olana in Hudson, New York.
6×8″, oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This painting was done en plein air at Olana during the workshop. The palette is just Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Permanent Rose, black and white. It was an interesting exploration of warm and cool color without a blue on the palette.
Click image for a larger, clearer view:
8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Painted late in the day at Olana, overlooking the Hudson River.
8×10″, oils on Raymar canvas panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Painted on location at Olana in Hudson, New York. (Home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church)
Pathway at Olana
7×10″, Watercolor on 300# Saunders Waterford cp
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
It’s Watercolor Wednesday again! I still have Hudson River School images of Olana running through my mind, so I pulled out the photos I took while painting there the other day and did this one from my pictures. I worked on Cold Press paper this time.
Palette:
Raw Sienna
Cadmium Yellow Pale
Cadmium Red
Permanent Alizarin
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian
Burnt Sienna
6×8″, oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
When the haze lifted, the view of the Hudson River suddenly appeared in the distance!
6×8″, oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
It was raining pretty heavily at 6:30am and I wondered if I should go up to the beautiful home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Church for the day. I finally decided to take the chance, and drove up to Olana.
It was heavily overcast when I got there, but the rain had ended. I set up my easel along this path winding down through the fields, where I enjoyed the serenity, atmospheric light, and fading distances.
Click to enlarge:
24×18″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this 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!
6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
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! 
)
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!
6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I had a true painting marathon today, leaving the house at 7am and not returning until around 8:30. 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!
I’ll be showing the other paintings soon. Some need finishing touches, and then I’ll take the photos and upload them. I’ve got some images of the works in progress and nice location shots, so stay tuned!
I’m exhausted!
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized, “Pearl” Canson board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Many Hudson River School painters, including Thomas Cole and Jasper Cropsey, painted from this spot high above North South Lake. I can see why they derived so much inspiration from this location.
Although the view faces west and offers spectacular sunsets, my husband and I opted to make the one mile climb up there in the early morning to beat the heat. I sat on a large rock slab in the shade provided by the huge Sunset Rock, and used my small, foamcore pochade box, which was a real godsend on this trip!
8×10″, Golden OPEN on Multimedia Artboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
When Hudson River School artist Thomas Cole painted from this very spot, he had both eastern and western views. Now the western view is overgrown, but the eastern view still goes all the way past the Hudson River to the Berkshires.
The Catskill Mountain house was a popular resort back in the early 1800s, but like most of the Catskill resorts, later fell into disrepair as tourism in the area declined. All that remain are two stone pillars leading to the site, and of course the awesome view.
My husband and I set up by this ledge overlooking the valley. I was painting and he was taking photos. What a peaceful way to end the day.
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on “Pearl” Canson board
Email Jamie at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting or a commissioned version in any size.
Hudson River School artist, Thomas Cole, painted from this very spot for his painting, Lake With Dead Trees. All those dead trees around the lakeshore are now gone, and if anything, the lake looks even more pristine than it does in his painting! North and South Lakes used to be separated by an earthen dam, and South Lake was private property. Eventually the land went to New York State. The dam was removed, and the area has since been referred to as North South Lake.
This spot was, gratefully, very easy to get to. It’s right near the Recreation Center for the Catskill Park, run by New York State. Visitors can rent kayaks, rowboats and paddle boats to use on the lakes. There are swimming beaches and campsites. Although there was plenty of activity, there was also a beautiful serenity there.
After our strenuous hike up to Kaaterskill Falls, my husband and I found a shady, quiet spot along the lakeshore to spend a quiet afternoon.
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylic on “Pearl” Canson Board
Please email Jamie at JamieWG@aol.com if interested.
This is the second painting that I did at Kaaterskill Falls in my quest to follow the trail of the Hudson River School painters. Just as I was completing the first, the sunlight began to hit the falls. Tempted as I was to move on to another location at that point, I decided to stay and paint the falls from the top while I had the light. There were lots of hikers climbing up at this time. I was surprised that most of the hikers didn’t go early to beat the heat like I did!
On the first day of our trip, we visited the home of Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole. The house was part of a 100+ acre fruit farm during his lifetime, owned by his wife’s family. She had to sell off most of their possessions after he passed away, so there are a lot of reproduction and period pieces in the house, but few that were actually there when Thomas Cole lived in the home.
Here is a picture I took of the famous view from the porch of his home. Unfortunately, it was heavily overcast that day, and the wonderful Catskill skyline that Cole had was obscured by cloud cover.
Adjacent to the house was a barn. Cole converted half the barn into his studio. The interior has great north light from a ground level window and one above. The walls inside it are brick and wood, so even with the cool north light, it has a warm, cozy feel. Many of his things were still there in the studio.
Between the house and barn is an outhouse. You wouldn’t think it would warrant a picture, but I took one because it has the distinction of having three seats. Why, I can’t imagine.
I didn’t get a chance to paint there, but they have a fabulous, small exhibit now of his plein air works in the house. Back then, the Hudson River School painters would go out into the field and do these small works to use as references for their huge paintings. One thing that struck me about the small paintings done as “field studies” is the large amount of detail incorporated into the work. I suppose that because they didn’t have small cameras to bring along, the relied only on these studies to produce their large paintings, and needed to include as much information as possible to bring back to the studio with them. They were certainly stunning, complete works in small formats. Here is an example:
Starting at Thomas Cole’s house was a wonderful start to our trip. It set the stage for all the locations to come. I felt inspired, setting out to visit the spots where he had painted. Having seen the exhibit of his reference paintings for the studio works, I decided that I would keep whatever paintings I did on this trip, and use them as my own references, alongside photos I took, to do studio and commission paintings.
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on “Pearl” Canson board
This scene is available as a studio/commission original painting in any size/price range. Please email Jamie at JamieWG@aol.com if interested.
What is the tallest waterfall in New York State? Niagara? Nope, guess again. It’s Kaaterskill Falls!
My first opportunity to paint on our trip, following in the footsteps of the old Hudson River School painters, was after climbing a half mile up to the base of Kaaterskill Falls. You wouldn’t think one would have to climb so far uphill to get to the bottom of a waterfall, but it is indeed far up the mountain. I don’t think I would have made it without my new ultralight painting box in my backpack. I didn’t have to carry a thing, and my pack was nearly weightless. Here’s a photo of the new painting box and my palette for this painting. I’ll be posting more photos of how the box was constructed in the week to come. You can see that I’ve added an extension to it, which can hold my brushes and palette cup.
In the early morning light, most of the fall was in shadow, so I chose a scene that focused on the waterfall/cascade right at the base, where the light was strongest. By the time I was finishing up this painting, a little light was just beginning to hit other parts of the falls. I stayed to do a second painting that included the top tier of the falls as well. I’ll be posting that one tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Thomas Cole and many of the Hudson River School painters painted from this very spot. There are beautiful cascades all the way up the trail to the base, inviting a series of paintings. In fact, the beautiful Bastian Falls is right at the bottom before the trail even starts to ascend, but it’s definitely worth it to make the climb to the top to experience Kaaterskill. I’m sure I’ll be coming back here many times in the years to come to take advantage of other locations along the way.
We intentionally went the day after a heavy rain, figuring that there would be a significant increase in the amount of water coming over the falls and the drama it created. We were right! Most of the paintings and photos I’ve seen of this waterfall display a far narrower stream of water. We chose the right time to go, even if the way up was a little wet and slippery!
Edit: I just checked the image above on a different monitor and it looks a little too light, so depending on your monitor, this image below may be more accurate:
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Raymar canvas panel
Email JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I was down painting in Hastings-on-Hudson this morning. The Hudson River view was gorgeous as always. The sun hit the cliffs in the early morning light, giving them a reddish color. As the morning wore on, they became darker and more violet. I am always amazed by how much the color of the cliffs changes so quickly there. I stuck with my early morning version.
After painting, I went to a wonderful exhibit at the Hudson River Museum of the work of Anna Richards Brewster…..highly recommended!
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!
I had a meeting up at Olana today, home of Hudson River School artist, Frederic Church. Although I didn’t have time to pull out all my gear to paint, I couldn’t resist at least doing a sketch while I was there. I saw a nice bench under a tree next to the mansion, so I pulled out my sketchbook, fountain pen, and watercolors, and took advantage of the shady spot while sketching. (You can click the image to enlarge it.)
Materials:
4.5×6.5″ Derwent journal
Lamy Safari fountain pen with converter
Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink
Winsor Newton Artist watercolors
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Please contact RiverwindsGallery.com if interested in this painting.
The other day, I stayed at Olana until sunset to paint the Hudson River overview from the top of the hill. The river has a very distinctive shape from here. You can always spot a painting of the Hudson done from Frederic Church’s home.
12×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This was painted on location in the heart of the Hudson River School, at Frederic Church’s Olana estate in Hudson, NY. You can feel his presence on the property and all that inspired his work. There is a complex of red barns with views over the valley and out to the Berkshire Mountains. I couldn’t have picked a more perfect morning to paint there.
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Saunders Waterford 300lb rag watercolor paper
Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I’ve been so busy out painting on location that I haven’t even had time to take photos of the paintings! This one was painted in Hudson, NY at Olana, home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church. This overview of the Catskill Mountains is up by the top of the hill near the residence. There were wildflowers in bloom all over the fields, and the day was picture-perfect.
12×16″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I went back up to the castle today and finished this one finally! You can see the work in progress and a photo of the scene I was painting on this thread.
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I was able to get permission to paint at the old Garrison Castle today. I stood out on an upper floor balcony, with a straight shot above West Point, upriver, through the Hudson Highlands and beyond. You can even see Bannerman Island next to Breakneck Ridge from here. The river does a complete, tight “S” curve at this point between West Point and Constitution Island. It must be quite the navigational nightmare for a large ship. It is a staggeringly beautiful view.
It started out as a sunny day, but quickly changed over to cloudy, and then the rain showers moved in. (The photo above, painted toward the end of my session, was clearly after the light had changed!) This is a very complex scene, with layers of hills and mountains extending all the way through the Highlands, to the cliffs of the Shawangunks, and even to the Catskill Mountains beyond the Gunks. Plus, all those buildings at West Point! The shifting weather made a tough scene even harder. I had to pack it in before I could finish. There’s not too much left to do on this; I’ll either finish it from a photo I took, or else try to get permission to return.
Here it is in its current unfinished state. It’s 12×16″, oils on canvas covered hardboard. I’ll post it again when it’s finished.
12×16″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me if interested in this painting.
There is nothing for a Hudson River painter quite like standing in the yard at Frederic Church’s estate and looking up at his home, paintbrush in hand. Spending an occasional day at Olana makes me appreciate the history and drama of painting in the Hudson Valley.
This painting, done on location at Olana a few weeks ago, needed a few studio tweaks before I could call it done. As you can probably tell by looking at the painting, the drawing of the mansion took up most of my painting time on site! The sun was moving quickly and the lighting changed dramatically before I had a chance to wrap it up. Today I touched up the trees a bit and altered the slope on the left side. Now it’s ready for a special wall—maybe yours?
8×16, Oils
Email me if interested in this painting.
I went up to Frederic Church’s estate, Olana, to paint and soak up some of that Hudson River School aura! This one was done sitting on the side steps of his mansion, just before sunset. It was cool and breezy, with the glow of the late day light overlooking the breathtaking Hudson view.