Eighth sheet (about 7.5×11.25), colored leads on Stonehenge paper
$130.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

My regular viewers here have seen this waterfall painted from many different angles and seasons, in many mediums, and various sizes and formats. Now you can see the tonal sketch version! I am really enjoying working this way, with a light and a dark on toned paper. I sat on a gardening cushion on a rock at the water line to do this sketch, with my little dog Rondo wading in the pools of the waterfalls.

I’m disappointed with the way these toned drawings reproduce digitally. The paper color is so much warmer and more inviting than the color I’m able to capture with my camera, and the shadows have more depth. The tone of the paper is slightly darker than what I’m seeing on my monitor too, but when I adjust that, I lose the sparkle on the lights. All I can say is, the original looks much better than the image in this case!

Sepia and white lead on Stonehenge archival rag paper
1/8 sheet size (7.5×11.25)
$130.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.

This was a drawing I did from the studio window on a rainy day. I’ve been wanting to sketch or paint this view for a long time and finally got my chance! I was looking at sketches last week by Hudson River School artist BBG Stone, and became captivated by the way he would zero in on his focal point in a certain area of his drawing, leaving the rest in a more unfinished state. I liked the way it created a vignette within the scene, and I’m looking forward to exploring this style in my drawings and sketches.

Usually I use this approach of a dark and a light on midtone paper in the figure studio, but BBG Stone employed it very successfully in many of his landscape sketches, so I had to give it a go too. I loved working this way! More like this will definitely follow in the near future!

Here is an image you can click on to get a larger, sharper view:

I did this little 9×12″ watercolor across a two-page spread in my Fabriano Venezia sketchbook to show you what my new blog looks like! If you’ve enjoyed seeing my sketches, hearing my rambles about the artistic process, and looking on while I varnished paintings, primed panels, mixed paint, and built foamcore pochade boxes, most of those things will be posted only on the new “Sketches” blog from now on. That blog is at http://HudsonValleySketches.blogspot.com. You can click here to head over there now, and subscribe there to continue to receive all my posts online.

Don’t worry; this This Hudson Valley Painter blog isn’t going away! It will still be here, and will contain my completed paintings that are available for sale. The sketches, product reviews, and thoughts on the artistic process will be on the new site.

All of my paintings in progress and completed works for sale will continue to be posted here at the Hudson Valley Painter site.

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!

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

I was eager to work in a medium that would enable me to layer quickly today, so I grabbed my Golden OPEN Acrylics and a 16×20 canvas covered board for open studio portraiture. I left most of my acrylics upstate, so had to make due with what I had: Cadmium Yellow Primrose, Pyrrole Red, Transparent Red Oxide, Ultramarine Blue, Carbon Black, and Titanium White.

These paints are just sooooo much fun. I prefer them on paper or smooth hardboard rather than canvas, so next time I’ll have to remember to size some watercolor paper or matboard before I go.

Leigh was a really great and beautiful model. We’ll have her for another sitting in January, so I’ll get to sketch her again!

10x10", gouache in my sketchbook

6×8″, Sepia ink pen and watercolors

My daughter and her friend had a photography class today, so while they were in class I pulled out my sketchbook in a shady spot and did a “Saturday Sketch” at Tilly Foster Farm. I struggle with architecture, so it’s always a great challenge for me when I’m out sketching.

I’ve made a pact with myself to start doing sketches every Saturday. I have some Saturday paintouts coming up, so there may be times when I need to do “Saturday Sketches” on a different day instead, but I’m going to try to stick to posting them on Saturdays. I’ve received so many comments from viewers who enjoy seeing my sketches, and the drawing practice is very important.

I almost always sketch from life, but today I checked into the Wetcanvas Weekend Drawing Event and couldn’t resist doing some watercolor sketches from those beautiful reference images! Check it out sometime; there is a different host every week, and the images are usually posted on Fridays, in plenty of time for everybody’s weekend enjoyment.