10×8″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
Not currently available as this is my color reference for other paintings from the island, but paintings of this scene in any size/medium may be requested (Email me at link at top of this page)

This is a second oil sketch that I did on location on Bannerman Island in the Hudson River yesterday. It was a real challenge with time consraints on such a complex subject. This is the remains of the castle residence at the peak of the island.

I tried to walk around the island as much as possible during the time I was there, both to take photos to work from and to do some paintings/sketches on location. I’m pleased with this one in many ways, and look forward to doing some more from this area of the island with this color reference and my photos. I may or may not go back into this painting and bring it to a more finished state.

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8×10″, oils on canvas covered hardboard

Bannerman’s Island and the castle-like structures there are amazing sites in the middle of the Hudson River. They are a plein air painter’s dream. The island is currently owned by New York State, and access is prohibited except by special arrangement. A huge series of explosions on the island nearly leveled the buildings. The remains are barely standing and very dangerous—hence the need to limit access to the public. Today, Bannerman Castle Trust took me to the island for a day of plein air painting. I have a show at the Bannerman Island Gallery in October and will be selling some paintings of scenes on the island.

This is one of the oil sketches I did there today. It is the armory where Francis Bannerman kept his stash of munitions. I painted it sitting on the dock before it was time to leave. (It still needs a few tweaks to finish it up; I had to pack up to leave when the boat was ready to go!)

I’ll be keeping this one for awhile as a color reference so that I can do many more paintings from the photos I’ve taken and this plein air piece. Those will be for sale and I’ll post them as I do them. If you’d like a painting of this scene, please email me and let me know what size you’d like, and what medium you want it painted in.

Tomorrow and Sunday I’ll be posting other paintings that I did out on the island today, so stay tuned!

Hudson River Paintings, Landscape, Not Currently Available | 3 Comments »

8×10, oils

This is a work in progress, painted today at the Orange County Arboretum. The painting fell into my palette as I was nearing the finish line. I spent nearly an hour scraping off piles of pure red, yellow, blue and white from the canvas and repainting damaged sections. The background muddied in the process and lightened from the accumulation of a substantial amount of titanium white that landed there in a big glob. It was not a pretty sight! I’ll have to wait until it tacks up a bit and will do some value adjusting and retouching. Then I’ll repost it and add the Paypal link. Until then, you get to see my “WIP” (work in progress).

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I’m moving my blog next week to its own domain name! I’ll also be changing blog software. My designer suggested I come up with my own top banner for the blog, so I thought, what better banner for a Hudson Valley Painter than a panoramic scene from one of my favorite painting spots overlooking the Hudson River! I’ve done tens of paintings from this location. I went through photos this morning of this overview from Boscobel, taken through many years and seasons. The photo I chose from which to paint the banner was one taken on a chilly November day. This is gouache, painted on Fabriano artistico. It’s 3×12, which is about the actual size of the banner, so I had to break out the teeny tiny brushes. Next I need to break out the Nikon to get a clearer image of it!

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6 x 8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard, unframed
This is a 6×8″ compositional study in oils for a large painting I’m doing for the headquarters of Putnam County Land Trust, which is the building in the painting. (It used to be called Chickadee Haven by its former owner.) It abuts their 140 acre Peach Lake Natural Area. I felt like having a little color explosion today, so I did it using Charles Sovek’s cadmium orange/cerulean blue light/shadow underpainting. I always like the vibrancy and depth that combination yields. I’ll be doing the larger painting with more of a yellow/violet color harmony, rather than the orange/blue. I’ll be holding onto this painting until the larger one is completed so I can use it as a reference.

Here’s a little idea of how this was done. I started with a mix of cadmium orange and titanium white for the lights, and cerulean blue for the darks. All light areas were blocked in with the orange mixture, and darker areas with the blue:

This is the beginning of the color-adding process:

Demos/Work in Progress, Landscape, Not Currently Available | 2 Comments »

Oils on canvas covered hardboard, unframed

I spent a gorgeous fall morning at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Pound Ridge, NY. This county park is over 4,700 acres of rolling fields, beautiful trees, and hillsides with dramatic vistas. This is a 5×7″ plein air painting—done on location. The sun was in and out of the clouds all morning and it was a real challenge to catch the light!

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16×20, oils

I planted sunflowers in my fenced garden this year because they are such fabulous painting subjects, but the deer always ate them when I didn’t have them fenced. I didn’t stake them, however, and they got knocked over in a storm. I did the next best thing and bought a bouquet of them over the weekend. I finally got around to arranging them in a cobalt vase and painting them.

This painting is awaiting a few more tweaks, so is not yet available. I’ll repost when I consider it finished!

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