3″x2″ visible painting size, 5″x4″ including frame. Easel stand shown is not included, since the frame has an easel back so that it can stand up on its own. It also has a hanging hook on the back if you’d prefer to hang it.
Paypal buttons are temporarily disabled. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

I ran out of varnish and had to drive all the way to Norwalk CT to get the kind I wanted! I spend the remainder of the day varnishing paintings and then priming panels…..No painting for the weary!

So, today’s painting is an older work that I enjoy a lot, which has not been shown here. It’s a 3×2″ miniature painting of my friend’s boat out on the lake. The painting is already framed in this elegant, gold wood frame. It is the perfect accessory for a side table, coffee table, dresser top, or shelf.

Below is a picture of my setup, with the painting in progress.

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.

11×14″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This painting was a composite of two photos. Often when I work from photos, I need to find several in order to satisfy what I feel is necessary to make a good painting. When I’m out on location, painting en plein air, I can always move trees, mountains, clouds, or other elements that lie outside of the “picture frame”. Even nature needs to be moved around a bit from time to time!

10×8″, Oils on canvas
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This is a plein air painting that I did at New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. It was a beautiful day, and I set up in the courtyard garden facing the conservancy building. Just as I was finished setting up, an elderly couple came along. The man took a seat on the bench behind me, while the woman went off to further explore the gardens.

I lifted my brush to make the first stroke, and a strong voice behind me said, “Aren’t you going to draw first? I think you should draw first.”

I could see that I was going to have a critic on board for this painting. The woman had done a quick disappearing act, and already I suspected I knew why.

As diplomatically as I could, I explained to the man that I do my drawing with paint. He grumbled. And so, I began. Those who paint know that we generally start with the large masses and work to the details. I started laying in the dark foliage and the form of the building.

“What about the windows? You’re forgetting the windows! Put those in now!”

He continued to try to direct my painting, but I stuck to my methods. He became increasingly frustrated as I went about my work my own way. Finally his wife came back for him. The man turned to his wife, pointed to me, and said indignantly, “This lady didn’t want to paint the windows first.”

She asked me, “How is the painting going? Has he been giving you a hard time?”

“Well, I’m getting critiqued!” I replied.

She laughed and said, “I’m sure you are!”, as she helped him up and they went on their way.

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

This is a late afternoon, early fall scene of the Shawangunkill River around sunset. This magnificent waterway courses through the town of Gardiner, New York, near New Paltz.

16×12″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Paypal buttons are temporarily disabled. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

Visiting the Hudson River School show at the Thomas Cole Historical Site last Friday made me think about many of my own paintings of the Hudson River, and how our contemporary, plein air pieces fit into the grand scheme of things. The Hudson River School paintings are filled with details, and tell a story about man’s journey—past, present and future. In the years before paint tubes, it wasn’t so easy to transport paints and equipment out into the field. As I looked over those paintings, I recognized many bits and pieces of the locations. The artists would go out into the field and sketch these bits and pieces, then come back into the studio and combine them into a grand work with a foreground, middle ground, and horizon, incorporating figures and animals representing man’s mark on the landscape and his journey.

I look at the Hudson River as a theme that flows through my work. I think those of us who paint plein air have been heavily influenced by many factors through the generations. While there are ateliers and painting schools that teach the techniques of the Hudson River School painters of past generations, there are also those who have been heavily influenced by the Impressionists, and the immediacy necessary to capture a scene on location under the conditions of changing light. It will be very interesting for those in future generations to trace back through these Hudson River styles as a more direct painting approach evolved.

As for me, I plan to go out and continue to paint my favorite river. I suppose I will leave it to the art historians to determine how we fit into the spectrum of art history!

This is a scene painted from a lovely waterfront park along the Hudson River in Nyack, New York. It faces the Tappan Zee Bridge, which was just barely emerging from the fog as I set up to paint.

6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on 300 lb Saunders Waterford watercolor paper
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Painting along the shoreline of the Hudson River has great therapeutic value! This was painted on location at sunset.

I’m going to try to see this show asap….maybe even tomorrow! To read more about the show and the Thomas Cole Historic Site, click here to visit their website. There is a PDF file there that you can download with lots of information.

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

I’m doing a lot of small studies for larger paintings lately. This is a scene painted from a photo I took up at Garrison Castle, overlooking the Hudson River. It’s not surprising that Frederic Church of the Hudson River School painters selected this site for the Osborn family to build their castle in the sky!

This is a view straight up the Hudson River, where the currents are the most treacherous, and the river channel narrows and wraps around West Point Military Academy. Those are the buildings of West Point silhouetted in the painting in the foreground peninsula.

The scene is so complex, and takes in many of the most famous spots in the Hudson Highlands. You can see the point of Breakneck Ridge on the right, and Bannerman Island even further upriver. The mountain farthest back on the left is Storm King, and the Catskills are straight ahead off in the distance. The Hudson illuminates at sunset from this high vantage point.

I think this sunset view through the Hudson Highlands from above is deserving of a really, really big painting sometime in the not too distant future!

This painting is Number 21 from my Hudson River Quadricentennial Series, celebrating the 400 year anniversary of Henry Hudson’s travels up the river.