12×9″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$350.00 via PayPal, $15 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is my favorite place to go for a walk, so it’s not surprising that I’m turning it into a series! You can see a progress image of this painting on this post. So far, the series consists of just this painting and The Road Home in Fall. Late winter, spring, and summer versions will be coming as the seasons emerge. I’ll probably paint those on location.

9x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Winter and Snow Scenes | No Comments »

8×10″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$250.00 via PayPal, $15 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

I was out walking my dog through the snow-covered meadow when I spotted these long shadows leading toward the house. Fortunately, I rarely go out without my camera! Long shadows in the middle of the day are one of the benefits of winter. Although I’ve used many compositional elements to lead into my paintings, I don’t think I’ve ever used winter shadows like this. Now that I’ve given it a try, I want to do more!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Winter and Snow Scenes | 1 Comment »

7×5″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I was out walking my dog on a snowy morning last week. The snow would start and stop, and there were some occasional, dramatic breaks in the clouds. I was fortunate to encounter one of those breaks as we came to where the path drops down a hill. I love this spot, with the tall evergreen sitting atop the rock outcropping as the path plunges downward. The cloudbreak added to the impact of the vista. I pulled out my camera and snapped a dozen pics! This was painted from one of those photos.

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Sold, Winter and Snow Scenes | 1 Comment »

16×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$440.00 via PayPal, $20 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This waterfall is just inside the entrance to our property upstate. From here, the water runs under the driveway and converges with another stream and waterfall on the other side. After a rain, they are at their very best! There are two more waterfalls along this rock ledge that I’ve also wanted to paint for quite some time. I guess at this point I’ll probably get to them in the spring.

I started this painting en plein air several weeks ago. It was finished up in the studio this morning. Below you can see a photo of it as I worked on it outside. The waterfall was totally in shadow by the time I took this photo. That’s why I had to stop and complete it in the studio.

9x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | 1 Comment »

8×10″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
$250.00 via PayPal, $15 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

This is one of my plein air paintings that hung around the studio for months waiting to be finished. Well, today was the day!

There is a magical, little brook that comes down from South Mountain and through our property upstate. It flows under a bridge that spans our driveway, and cascades down moss-covered rocks in a small waterfall. I didn’t even know it was there until after we’d bought the house, but I’ve been entranced by it ever since. It seems to be compositionally perfect from nearly any angle. So far in addition to this one, I’ve done one gouache sketch of it from the other side, a monochrome painting sitting on one of the rock ledges where the water cascaded past me, and an oil painting from the other side of the brook while the phlox was blooming in fall. In spite of all these views of the scene, I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of the hundreds of fantastic compositions possible from this special little place. There are numerous other waterfalls in and around the property, and although this one is the smallest, I feel it is by far the most beautiful.

I lost my favorite old palette and had to replace it this week. I went over to Jerry’s Artarama in Norwalk to check out what they had, and came away with this wonderful new palette. Today was my first opportunity to test drive it; I love it to bits! Now I’m glad I misplaced the old one.

The birds got to take turns coming out to play today. I love that I have more time with them during the winter months when I’m working more indoors. Here are the adorable ones: Mango and Coconut. They are extremely sweet and gentle. Mango goes to anybody and loves to socialize. Coconut is extremely handsome, but is not so well endowed in the brains department. LOL

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | No Comments »

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

I set out on a beautiful sunny day with my easel. When I came to this gorgeous spot, I set up in the middle of the road to paint.

As soon as I had my easel out and started to lay in color, the clouds thickened, shadows vanished, and colors changed!

I decided to stay with the moody, atmospheric day it had become. Most of this painting was done on location. I had plans to paint with a friend at Olana that afternoon, so I had to pack up before I was quite finished, and added the finishing touches in the studio today.

9x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$150.00 via PayPal, $10 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

All the leaves are down now, and the temperature has dropped substantially. I fear that we won’t be seeing anymore 60+ degree days until spring emerges! I sat outside with my little pochade box this afternoon and painted this with just three colors (and white):
Winsor Newton Cadmium Yellow Pale
Winsor Newton Bright Red (Pyrrole)
Utrecht Ultramarine Blue Deep
Utrecht Titanium White

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

7×5″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

My friend Claire came to visit a few weeks ago. We both set up our easels in my driveway to catch the dramatic foliage against the cooler blue-greens of the mountain. The late day light was fleeting and the mosquitoes were fierce! I didn’t quite have time to finish on location, so I finished this up in the studio today.

The leaves are already gone from that bright foreground tree on the top of the rock. Fall always passes so quickly!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Fall, Greene County, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | 4 Comments »

12×15″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Today I brought my new Beauport easel down to the beaver pond. I tried to send progress images to my Facebook page from the painting location, but it doesn’t look like they arrived there. I’ll have to get help from my daughter the expert! I don’t have my imaging software here, so the photo above is shown without any adjusting of the image.

Below are images I took with my camera phone and attempted to email to Facebook. It’s not the greatest camera, but at least I remembered to take progress images this time! My viewers are always asking for them, and I never remember to take them.

Just as I got this easel set up, it started to sprinkle. The Beauport sets up easier than you’d think. It can hold a really BIG canvas! Look at how small this 12×16 looks on this big easel! LOL

Fortunately, the sprinkles were short-lived. The sky was looking better and better, though it doesn’t show up in the photo. That’s one of the wonderful things about painting plein air. We see so much better than a camera lens. I started blocking in my darks and then local color.

I waited to put in the sky because it kept on improving. I was glad I waited, because by the time I decided to put it in, it was much better than it was when I started the painting. I was surprised by how much fall color there was out by the pond. The rest of the property is barely showing hints of fall. Here is the painting nearly finished.

I am really loving this easel. I used a covered Masterson palette with a pad of 12×16″ palette paper in it. That and a 12×16″ panel carrier fit into a Creativo backpack, along with my paints, brushes, camera, paper towels, and brush washer. I was surprised by how quickly and easily the easel set up and broke down. The lid of the Masterson palette worked out well to hold my turp container and some paper towels. I found the holes in the easel legs to be handy brush holders!

9x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Demos/Work in Progress, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard

This little waterfall presents a nearly perfect composition from any angle. I think I’ve painted it from five different spots now, and I feel I’ve only just begun to explore it’s potential as a painting subject. This past weekend, its charm multiplied as the phlox bloomed profusely along the shoreline of the creek.

With all the rain we’ve had this season, the mosquitoes have been out in full force. I doused myself with heavy-duty bug repellent and stayed out painting for as long as the mosquitoes would let me!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Currently In Gallery, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | 3 Comments »

8×10″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$250.00 via PayPal, $15 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

On Saturday I had a show opening at the Palenville Library. From there, I drove up the mountain to South Lake, where Thomas Cole did his famous painting, Lake with Dead Trees, and many other Hudson River School painters did their renditions of Round Top Mountain’s peak looking down upon the lake. It was my intention to finish a painting I’d started there on Friday. However, the light was totally different, and I saw a beautiful sunset emerging. I decided to do this new painting instead, and chased the sunset to the very end.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River School, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sunrise/Sunset | No Comments »

Catskill Mountain House Vista: Hudson River Quadricentennial Series No. 28
8×10″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$250.00 via PayPal, $15 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

When I arrived at the site of the Catskill Mountain House atop South Mountain early in the morning, I was above a heavy cloud cover. It felt like I was in outer space looking down at the earth! As I painted, more and more of the clouds gave way to the rolling fields below, and the Hudson River appeared out of the hazy covering.

It is from this exact spot that Frederic Church did his famous painting, Above the Clouds. This was a popular painting location for many of the Hudson River School painters.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$150.00 via PayPal, $10 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

We packed up at Olana amidst the thunder and lightning and crossed the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, heading to my Palenville house. Once we arrived there at the foot of South Mountain, we were greeted by a beautiful sunset even though we were facing east from the back porch. I pulled out a panel and set down colors and shapes, then finished this in the studio on Sunday.

A week before, my husband saw a bear back here in the late afternoon! No signs of Smokey while painting this!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sunrise/Sunset | No Comments »

3×5″, ink and watercolor on cp watercolor paper
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I am finally back from my painting trip! I’ll be posting those paintings during the week as they are photographed and finished. Some were completed on location, while others need some studio work to finish them up. I wanted to post them as I went about my trip, but time and imaging software didn’t allow! Much as I wanted to take photos of the paintings and scenes like I did at Boscobel, I completely forgot the rest of the time! I’d get back to the house and realize I never took out my camera while I was painting. It seems I get that one track mind once I have brushes in my hand.

I took a trip to Cedar Grove, the Thomas Cole Historical Site, with a group of 11 painters last week. I’d done the house tour before, and commented here that I saw the River Views show there a few weeks ago. But the show was so wonderful that I was happy to be able to see it again with so many of my plein air friends. Visiting the home of the father of the Hudson River School is a pilgrimage that I like to do from time to time.

The day started out overcast and drizzly, so most of us just sketched rather than setting out all our equipment and not being able to pack up fast in a downpour! A few of us sketched the Thomas Cole house together from the same angle, sitting side by side. Here’s my version.

I’m using an upgrade of my image editing software, which sizes images differently than the previous version. I hope this image comes out large enough to see!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Greene County, Hudson River School, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Watercolor | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

The DEC said that we couldn’t build a pond along the stream in the woods, but the beavers kindly did it for us! I set my stool out there yesterday and enjoyed listening to the frogs and birds as I painted this. Occasionally, a duck would come in for a landing, plunking down into the water.

I used my little 6×8″ Guerrilla Painter Thumbox. I love that thing! With the palette extension on, there is enough mixing space for 5×7, 6×6 and 6×8 paintings.

Palette:
Rembrandt Transparent Oxide Red underpainting
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Cadmium Red Medium
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian
Ivory Black
Titanium White

8x10 and smaller, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sold | No Comments »

6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$150.00 via PayPal, $10 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

The rain finally held off long enough and clouds parted to spill sunlight on the little field of alyssum through the trees. The backlit scene provided lots of contrast, adding to the warm yellow glow of the bright flowers. I sat in my folding chair with my new Guerrilla Painter 9×12″ pochade box in my lap. I love the additional palette space in this box. There’s an adapter to hold 8×10 and 6×8 panels, so I used that for the first time too, to paint this little 6×8. It worked out so well, and even carries the wet panel.

Palette:
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Permanent Alizarin
Burnt Sienna
Ultramarine Deep
Viridian
Ivory Black
Titanium White

8x10 and smaller, Available, Flower Gardens and Flowering Trees, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | No Comments »

Click painting for a larger, clearer image:

12×16″, Oils on Raymar canvas panel
$440.00 via PayPal, $20 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

For the past several days, I’ve been craving a painting day up in the Catskills. I loaded all my gear into my car this morning and drove up to do this painting this afternoon, then turned around and drove back. It was worth the trip for the exquisite weather, spring buds on the trees, and beautiful mountain views. The grass was shimmering in the sunlight, and I could hear the rushing of a waterfall as I painted.

I need to get better at tree identification. I don’t know what kind of tree this is in the foreground. I know it’s not a maple because it doesn’t have those rich, red spring buds. I love the twists and turns of the branches, and the trunk glistened where the light hit. That’s South Mountain in the background.

9x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location | 2 Comments »

Click painting for a larger, clearer image:

16×20″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on archival canvas panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I started this painting a couple of weeks ago from a photo I took in Palenville, and worked on it a few days since then. For some reason, it seems to have taken me forever to get this one off the easel, but I think it is finally done.

Fifty years or so ago, you’d have seen the grand Catskill Mountain House looming on the escarpment to the right of the peak of South Mountain. Today it’s just an amazing view from up there that extends for hundreds of miles, and takes in over sixty miles of the Hudson River. The spring melt cascades down the mountain in streams and waterfalls that gave Palenville its nickname as “The Village of Falling Waters”.

This painting was done with a limited palette of Raw Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Primrose, Red Iron Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalo Blue, and Titanium White.

For some reason, the left side of the sky looks darker than the actual painting. It’s always impossible to get the digital image to exactly match. The room lighting must have been darker on that side when I snapped the picture!

16x20 and larger, Available, Catskill Mountains, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Winter and Snow Scenes | No Comments »

8×6″, oils on Raymar canvas panel
$85.00 via PayPal, $10 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

Monochrome studies are such a great way to work on values. When I don’t have time to do a full-color painting, a monochrome sketch is always a good way to spend the time. I mixed together leftover paint from a morning painting to create this reddish-brownish-purplish mix, took a seat on the nearest rock, and used that with titanium white for an oil sketch of a small waterfall.

Here’s a photo of my Guerrilla thumbox at work with this painting! Isn’t it the cutest thing? It holds everything I need for small paintings.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Waterfalls | No Comments »

12×16″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$440.00 via PayPal, $20 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

Kaaterskill Clove was one of the favorite painting locations for many of the Hudson River School artists. Thomas Cole, Frederic Church, Jasper Cropsey and many others painted these mountains in centuries past. It’s easy to see why they were drawn to this dramatic location. The Hudson River provided easy access upstate from New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley. The mountains are only 10 miles inland from the river.

Here is an image of the work in progress, after the underpainting and initial color layer:

Here’s how I set up to paint from the computer for works larger than 8×10″. I prefer this to using printed photos.

The colors I used are:
Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Raw Sienna
Cadmium Red
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Viridian
Ivory Black

These are the mediums I planned to use for the painting. It’s the first time I tried the Weber Res-n-gel, but it didn’t tack up as quickly as I’d hoped. I think I prefer just turp, or turp and a tiny bit of Liquin for the underlayers.

I use a glass palette in the studio with a sheet of brown kraft paper below it. It is so easy to clean. I had a glass store cut this 16×24 piece of 1/4″ glass for me and grind the edges.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the steps and materials used along the way.

9x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Demos/Work in Progress, Greene County, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Winter and Snow Scenes | No Comments »

5×7″, Oils on Ampersand Gessoboard
$115.00 via PayPal, $10 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

Welcome to my new backyard! As you can see, it’s going to be a pretty exciting place to paint. It felt great to pull out the oils again and get back to my favorite passion—landscape painting.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill | 1 Comment »

8×10″, Golden OPEN on Multimedia Artboard
$250.00 via PayPal, $15 shipping within the US. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for international rates.

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.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Greene County, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sunrise/Sunset | No Comments »

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.

Greene County, Hudson River School, Palenville and Catskill, Shows and News | 3 Comments »