Blogck

	September-3 Today, I finished this painting of the "Lemon Squeeze" at Mohonk. I had begun the watercolor on site, but was quickly tired out by the heat of the day, and having a good start, did not want to ruin the beginnings of a good painting. I took note of colors, and photographed the subject so that I had a reference point for the shapes of the rocks as well at the shadows. This is perhaps my favorite subject...rocks. Trees, maybe second. Not sure what is next... What is the most unbelievable thing about this place is that there is a ladder trail that goes through this crack !		2010 June-7 June-16 June-17 July-1 July-7 July-9 July-28 August-23 August-29 August-30 August-31 September-3
	August-31 "Lily Pond" was painted at Mohonk Mountain House. A group of us, from the five to sixty, hiked up to the pond after breakfast equipped with easels, chairs, paints and water bottles. It is certainly a lot more fun to paint when you are around other people. It is also constructive to have their input while you are working. Of course the chorus of bullfrogs was also diverting. As were the occasional dragonfly landing on my painting ! I was most interested in the interaction of the elliptical shapes of the leaves, a la "Pac-Man", with the surrounding reflections. I took lots of photos, so don't be surprised to see a few more controlled paintings of this subject soon !
	August-30 "Mohonk Lake Swim" is another plein air painting with good karma, after a quick dip into the freezing water, it was nice to sit and warm up with my back to the sun, and a small slice of watercolor paper. This was a very small (4 x 9) and quick painting, which I brought home to finish, because I had forgotten my Chinese White paint which is really needed from time to time for fixes, when I haven't left enough whites of the paper. I like the drama of the late afternoon light.
	August-29 Plein air painting on the Spring Path at Mohonk. Three of us took our paints out to a place that we know the rocks almost personally. I have painted in this place before, and this time faced the challenge of shifting light. Most of the painting was completed on site, but again, I had to return to the studio to add in some white to represent the dappled light filtering through the trees. In this painting it was important to paint the light and shadow, keeping in mind the use of yellow ochre to warm up the shadows in which sunlight is being bounced around and reflected from other surfaces.
	August-23.............................................................. "Good Neighbors"...this is a gift for a friend. I worked from photos to create an unusual "dual" house portrait. To make the houses appear more intimate, I decreased the distance between them, and eliminated all of the extraneous houses and other distractions from the scene. Key to the painting was rendering the cool shadows in blue, which I find really brings out the architecture of a house as well as defining depth in the painting. The final touch was to place the family pets on the front porches.
	July-28.................................................................. "Mohonk Lake Gazebos" is a plein air painting with good vibrations. After having a dip in the refreshing water, I found a nice place in the shade and brought out the paints. The stiff rendering of the structures is balanced by a looser and livelier treatment of their reflection in the water.
	July-9................................................................... Loosened up this afternoon with a painting of a coleus that has very large leaves. This was a very quick one, done in less than two hours. Thankfully, the heat and humidity had died down so I sat on my back porch and painted from life, and was reminded of all of the times I used to paint with my dad. I sketched with paint only, and worked in the bright greens first, then the fun part, the reds and purples, the colors on my palette that are usually the least well used.
	July-7................................................................... Added finishing touches to the Beverly Free Library. Time to order a frame. And time to move on to something a bit looser !
	July-1.................................................................. Hooray...I get to paint in Rockport Mass ! My sister and I visited Cape Ann for a couple of days, and brought the paints. This work was done at Halibut Point State Park, an old quarry site. A beautiful day, a comfortable seat, and some shade: the perfect combination for a good watercolor experience. The still water in the foreground is fresh, and in the distance you see the ocean. A magnificent view, and a unique one, at that. I painted very quickly, working in the colors of the rocks and sky first. My dilemma was that the composition didn't look like it would work too well, (too heavy on the right and unbalanced) so I decided to leave the water in the lower right largely unpainted.
	Same day, after a good lunch of fish and chips, I found a good spot on the Atlantic Path near the Emerson Inn, called Cathedral Rocks. It was also a spot where huge slabs of granite were cut, so there are both natural and manmade forces going on here, and also some wide intrusions of black basalt giving interesting contrasts. In this painting I struggled with changing late afternoon light, and blinding heat one moment, a cold breeze the next ! But I persevered. I did a careful drawing first, and worked quickly to hit the shadowed areas before they all changed. Then I painted the rest, leaving the cobbles in the foreground to be finished at home, along with quite a bit of tweaking. I did have to resort to adding dabs of Chinese White here and there to bring out the shape of the rocks.
	June-17................................................................ I can never have enough hydrangea or iris paintings in my portfolio. This one is a larger version of a painting that can be found in the gallery on the Botanicals page.
	June-16................................................................ Brandy passed away last year, and her owners wanted her to be remembered through a painting that can hang on the wall and gaze down at the new canine in the household. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to successfully paint this one, but after finding a good combination of photos from which to work...to get that smiling dog expression right, I am happy with the result. In this case, keeping the painting loose and light was the key. Just don't send me any cats, please.
	June-7.................................................................. Finally started working on a painting for the benefit of the Beverly Free Library, one of many libraries in New Jersey that is suffering due to budget cutbacks. I took photos for reference in April, and compiled a nice layout to include the flagpole and the cherry tree at the left, while correcting the perspective to achieve greater balance. I have learned over the years, to paint in the backgrounds first, and leave the main subject until last, especially with house portraits. More often than not I fail at the sky while I can sail through the rendering of a few bricks ! ...June is full of "commissions", and I still have some catching up to do !