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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

I have painted this scene many times at different times of day. This one was 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.

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

It was so cold standing in the wind at Olana while painting this that tears were running down my face!

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Sunday was the Olana Paintout, an annual event at the estate of the late Hudson River School painter Frederic Church. As I drove along the road that runs through the grounds to the top of the hill overlooking the Hudson, I was immediately captivated by this brilliant red tree standing alone out on the field. I pulled my car off the road and set up my easel on the spot.

This was my first time painting since my hand surgery, and it sure was a challenge with a cast!

12×16″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar 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, 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. In the studio, 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?

Breaking Blues at Olana: Hudson River Quadricentennial Series No. 29
6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
For purchase information, please email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

This oil sketch was done from just outside the home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Church. He had this classic view of the Hudson from most of the terraces and many of the rooms in his beautiful Moorish-styled mansion. The land was nearly all farmland back then. The trees have taken over since he lived here, and many of the vistas he enjoyed have become obscured by the overtaking foliage. I’m told that they will be doing some clearing in the not too distant future, to bring back some of those farmland views present in Church’s time.

There were a lot of visitors to the site while I was painting this. Occasionally the blue sky would poke through the layers of clouds as I painted, and I would snatch the opportunity to include those hopeful, fair-weather breaks of cerulean in the painting. Two minutes later, it would be completely overcast again. I found myself having to explain to visitors more than once that I really, really did see that blue sky just a minute ago!