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.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Dutchess County NY, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings | No Comments »

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!

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold, acrylic paintings | 2 Comments »

18×24″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted on location at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, NY a few weeks ago. It needed a few finishing touches and signing in the studio, which I finally got to do today.

This painting is not an exact scene, but rather a composite of elements that were there at the time. There was a row of cherry blossoms in full bloom that were stunning. There was also a path alongside them; however, that path is actually on the other side of the trees, and runs parallel to the river, rather than toward it. I wanted to switch things around for a change, have the pathway lead the viewer’s eyes to the overview of Constitution Marsh, and bring the cherry blossoms into the painting as well. Fortunately, as artists, we can use our artistic license to have our cake and eat it too!

16x20 and larger, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings, spring | 1 Comment »

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!

8x10 and smaller, 8x12 to 12x24, Available, Demos/Work in Progress, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

With the cherry blossoms gone at Boscobel Restoration, I turned my attention back to the Hudson River, and the channels weaving through Constitution Marsh. The afternoon light turned the marsh a beautiful, dark reddish color.

I used three of the new Golden OPEN Acrylic colors coming out this month for this painting: Diarylide Yellow, Quinacridone Crimson, and Prussian Blue Hue. I also added Raw Sienna and Cadmium Yellow Primrose. I love these new colors.

If you think you saw this painting before recently, it’s because you have! I posted it a couple of weeks ago, but decided to do some additional work on it. While I was painting on location, a wonderful ship went by out on the river. It was too early in the process to put it into the painting at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it in the painting. I added the ship the other day from a photo, and reworked a little of the foliage too while I was at it.

Here’s a photo of my setup and the painting with the scene, before I put in the ship. It’s always fun to see the painting and vista together!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings, spring | 1 Comment »

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

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

11×15″, Watercolor on Fabriano paper
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

It was so windy along the Hudson River that my easel kept blowing over! I liked these benches under the big tree, awaiting visitors. The Athens Lighthouse is visible from this vantage point, but I decided not to put it into the painting. Initially I’d thought to include it, but in the end I thought it would be a distraction.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Watercolor, spring | 1 Comment »

9×12″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

On Friday morning, I dashed back to Boscobel, hoping that the cherry blossoms would still be in bloom. To my dismay, most of them had come down in the strong winds during the week. I found this one tree that still had blooms on it, and pulled out my artistic license to add a few more.

From this vantage point at Boscobel, Constitution Marsh stretches out below, and the West Point Military Academy is on the hillside across the Hudson River. You can barely make out the buildings of West Point on the hillside in the painting.

Palette: Hansa Yellow Opaque, Diarylide Yellow, Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Crimson, Transparent Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Prussian Blue, Titanium White

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, acrylic paintings, spring | No Comments »

11×15″ (quarter sheet) watercolor on Fabriano Artistico
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

It was a beautiful evening on Friday along the Hudson River in Beacon, NY. My painting buddy, Sue, went with me to Long Dock after we left Boscobel, and I did this quarter sheet watercolor before sunset. Facing Cold Spring, this cluster of trees was leaning toward Breakneck Ridge, creating a wonderful composition.

I love my new Plein Air Pro watercolor easel. Since it has the little shelf, I’m thinking I can probably use it for smaller oil and acrylic paintings too, though I haven’t tried that yet. Here’s a photo of the scene and the easel:

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Beacon, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Watercolor, spring | 1 Comment »

11×14″, Oils on mounted Multimedia Artboard (ready to frame)
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted on a gorgeous, warm spring day. I headed out to Boscobel Restoration overlooking the Hudson River in Garrison, New York, and took in the spectacular cherry blossoms there. The saturated pinks against the blue sky were intense! Going back tomorrow……

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Raw Sienna
Permanent Rose
Alizarin Crimson
Cerulean Blue
Ultramarine Blue Deep
Viridian
Titanium White

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, spring | 1 Comment »

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.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, spring | 1 Comment »

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.

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | No Comments »

8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of days looking at my photo references. Usually I set aside photos that I take that appeal to me for paintings, and place those in a separate file. From time to time, I look back through ones I did not select, and usually find many that appeal to me now, though for some reason they did not grab me at the time. This photo is one that I took a couple of years ago, but happened to stumble upon it yesterday and saw it in a new light.

I did this painting with four of the new Golden OPEN colors: Prussian Blue Hue, Cadmium Yellow Dark, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, and Quinacridone Crimson, plus Titanium White. In the end, I also used a little Cadmium Yellow Primrose in the greens to increase the “sparkle factor”. I love these new colors! The Cadmium Yellow Dark mixes rich, warm greens. The Prussian Blue Hue is clean enough for skies, yet muted enough to not take over the painting, and mixes very deep darks (as I was hoping). The Quinacridone Crimson is going to become the new cool red on my palette. Transparent Yellow Oxide is a color I frequently use for underpainting and glazing in both oils and Golden Fluid Acrylics. I’m so glad that I have it now in OPEN as well!

I still vividly remember this bright, late afternoon at the Vanderbilt Mansion property along the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. It’s one of the best sunset locations that I’ve ever encountered, and one of the few parks where you can drive right to the river (though they do close the road to the river on weekends). I haven’t done any plein air painting there for a long time, but I think I will change that soon!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Boats and Ships, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Portraits and Figures | No Comments »

12×16″, Golden OPEN acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I stood out on a sand bar off Bannerman Island at low tide to take the photo from which this was painted. I also did a gouache sketch while I was out there on the sand bar. The tide came in before I realized it, and I had to wade back to shore!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Bannerman Island, Fall, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | No Comments »

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

This is a companion painting to Bannerman Archway to the Hudson, which I posted yesterday. Half the proceeds from the sale of this painting will go to Bannerman Castle Trust for stabilization and restoration of the structures on the Island.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Bannerman Island, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | No Comments »

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

This painting of one of the arches from the famous Bannerman Castle is but a memory of what was. A huge collapse of the castle wall destroyed this magical archway to the Hudson River. I feel so fortunate to have been able to paint there and take photos while much of the structure was still intact. It is my hope that enough money can be raised to strengthen the remaining portions of the structure and preserve whatever is left. Half the proceeds from the sale of this painting goes to Bannerman Castle Trust for repairs of the castle.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Bannerman Island, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | 1 Comment »

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.

8x10 and smaller, Boats and Ships, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold, Tarrytown and Hastings Area | 3 Comments »

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!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Tarrytown and Hastings Area | No Comments »

12×9″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was painted today from a photo I took on my last visit to Bannerman Island, which was just days before the recent major castle collapse. Half of the proceeds of the sale of this painting will go to Bannerman Castle Trust to assist their efforts to shore up the remaining structures and prevent further collapse of the magnificent ruins.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Bannerman Island, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Watercolor | 1 Comment »

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!

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | 3 Comments »

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

This is another painting that was started on location and completed in the studio this week. I showed the work in progress with an image of the scene in a previous post. The humped peak in the painting is Breakneck Ridge. The marsh is where Fishkill Creek empties out into the Hudson River.

When I brought the painting back to the studio and put it up on the easel to add the finishing touches, I pulled up all my photo references from this location. I’d gone there several times during the falll, so I had photos from much of the season. I decided to go back a few weeks in time to when there was more fall in the air and leaves on the trees. I think it added a lot to the painting to be able to fill out that foreground tree.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

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!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location, Sunrise/Sunset, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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.

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | 1 Comment »

Bench with a Hudson View
7×5″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140lb hot press

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

This is a scene from a little park near the train station in Cold Spring, New York. I used a photo reference and a 5×7″ Fabriano watercolor block of their delicious hot press, rag paper. I began with a modified contour drawing alla Charles Reid:

8x10 and smaller, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Watercolor | No Comments »

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.

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Paintings, Jamie's Jewels miniature gems, Landscape, Lighthouses, Olana and Hudson NY, Sold | No Comments »

Click image for a larger, clearer view:

8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

Painted late in the day at Olana, overlooking the Hudson River.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

I hiked into Constitution Marsh on the Hudson River while the skies were overcast, but they didn’t stay that way for long. Keeping up with changing light as I painted was a real challenge! I brought just my oil paints and my Guerrilla Painter Thumbox in a backpack. That’s about all one could comfortably carry in over the hill and along the trails and boardwalks.

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

9×12″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

Today I returned to the location where I painted yesterday. When I first arrived there, the sky was totally blue. I had to run back to the car to get my glasses, and by the time I returned, there were white clouds. Twenty minutes later, there was this dramatic yellow sky. I decided to stick with that! It wasn’t long before the sky changed yet again, but I really liked the drama of the yellow. When plein air painting, at some point we need to stick with the plan; otherwise we risk spending the day chasing the light and never finishing a painting!

I’m really loving this spot where Fishkill Creek empties out into the Hudson River, and the mountains of the Hudson Highlands loom in the distance. I’m so glad I found this place! After so many years of painting in the Hudson Valley, it’s always exciting to find a spot that offers new and varied scenery.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

Today I was painting along the Hudson River and it was quite the challenge! I went with two friends to this beautiful marsh/river view, where Fishkill Creek empties out into the Hudson River. The big hump-like mountain is Breakneck Mountain. It’s rather distinctive!

I didn’t have time to finish my painting before the light started to shift too much to continue, but I don’t think there’s all that much left to do. It will mainly be a matter of working on the foreground tree, a little sky finishing, and some adjustments to the background. I’ll repost it when it’s done. Here’s how far I got today on location:

This is the time of year when I’m trying to reap as much as I can out of what’s left of the milder weather. There will be plenty of bad weather days ahead to complete these in the studio, so I try to gather as much information about color and composition as I can while on location.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Cold Spring and Garrison, Fall, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location | 2 Comments »

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 »