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

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.

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.

12×16″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on Canson Board
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted on location yesterday overlooking the Hudson from the grounds of the beautiful Vanderbilt Mansion property in Hyde Park, New York. A group of us were painting up there behind the mansion. We just about finished our paintings when it started to rain. I was using Golden Fluid Acrylics because I just adore the pigment load and the consistency. It glides across the surface as easily as oils. If it had been any warmer and drier, I’d have switched to the slow drying Open line instead. I figured I’d probably be forced into making the change half way through, but was able to finish up with the Fluids.

This Canson board is one of my favorite painting supports for acrylic. It can be purchased in a number of different colors. I cut it to size, and although it’s not necessary, I size it twice with Golden Matte Medium diluted 20% with water. That decreases the absorbency of the surface, and the paint sits beautifully on top. Once I apply an isolation coat and varnish to the dry painting, the surface has a deep, glossy richness to it like no other, with that lovely MiTientes texture visible. I frame them just like oil paintings on hardboard or stretched canvas.

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!

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

12×16″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Today was one of those early, overcast spring days, with the foliage just emerging, and the flowering trees starting to bud. As always, the view overlooking Constitution Marsh and the Hudson River was spectacular.

In order to maintain the limited color out in the marsh, I stuck to a two-color palette of Transparent Red Oxide and Ultramarine Blue until the very end, when I added a touch of Cadmium Yellow — just enough to mix a hint of green for the foreground shrubs and treetops.

16×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

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.

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!