Beginnings and Endings

I've been thinking about this post for a while, trying to figure out exactly what I want to say. Anyone who's been following along knows that I recently left my job to pursue my artistic interests. I've been looking forward to doing this for a long time. However, it's been a rocky start, to say the least. As mentioned in previous posts, I hurt my back in September...nerve root compression in my neck that left that left me unable to do much of anything for almost 2 months. That in turn set back my work schedule and delayed my "retirement" by over a month. But I finally finished up at my old job at the end of January and began preparing to paint paint paint...cleaning and organizing my studio, ordering some supplies, and even doing some small studies to get back into things.

But then life threw another curveball. In mid February my father became very ill. He'd been battling myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) for about 5 years. MDS is a disorder of the bone marrow that causes problems in the blood. In his case, it mainly affected his red blood cells, causing anemia that made him extremely tired and weak. Over the past year he had been in and out of hospitals with various problems. Then in mid February he went in for what was supposed to be a blood transfusion...but he was also complaining about stomach pain. After several tests it was found he had an intestinal perforation which required emergency surgery. He made it through that (the surgeon used the term "miracle") and seemed OK for a few days, but then went into a rapid decline. He passed away on March 12.

The last 4 years have been rough. My grandfather (my mothers father) passed away in March 2005. A year later my mother was diagnosed with cancer, and she passed away 2 months later (May 2006). We're thinking about doing away with the month of March in our family. Anyway, since both of my parents are now gone, we have the estate to deal with. They lived in their house on Long Island for over 40 years, but never did much work on it. So we have some renovating to do in order to prepare to sell it. I'll be heading down there for about 3 weeks to see how much we can get done...clean up, paint, replace kitchen cabinets, etc. I'm hoping to be able to start spending some serious time painting (art, not walls) sometime in May.

We (myself and my brother and sister) used to joke that going home was like entering the dark ages, as my parents never got a computer or internet service. In fact, I don't know if either of them ever looked at a web page. Well, they may never have made it onto the information superhighway while they were alive, but they will now...the picture below shows them in 2002, at my house in Virginia...a few days after my 40th birthday. Happier times for certain.

William and Sandra O'Handley

Just Some Garlic

Today's mini-study was this 5x7 oil painting of a clove of garlic resting on aluminum foil. The foil provided some reflection, but getting the color and value of the foil compared to the garlic was quite tricky. I can see that I need to paint some metallic/silver colored items.

The colors on a clove of garlic are very subtle, it's almost like painting an egg or egg shell. I'll be returning to this subject. This one was painted on gesso'd matboard, but with a touch of pumice added to the gesso. This provides a little texture and "grab", so the first paint layer sinks in and doesn't slide around so much. It's nicer to work on, but can be tough on brushes. The key is to add just enough pumice to get the benefits, but no more.

I also spent some time trying to re-work the plein air painting from the other day, but that didn't go to well. Need to do some thinking about what I'm doing wrong.

Just Call Me "Rusty"

Well, since I last posted I have left my job and am now devoting all my efforts to painting. Obviously I have a lot of work to do! It's been 4 months since I've even touched a brush...first because of my back injury (which is better but still doesn't feel right), then because of the backlog of work that accumulated. Took me a few days to get the art room and supplies organized, but now I'm pretty much done with that. Time to put them to use!

On Friday I broke out the gouache and did a couple of "car paintings". Very rusty (I won't show them). Later in the day I dragged out the oil paints and did a couple of very small studies...partly just to get the feel of painting again, partly to try out a new canvas. Those studies won't ever be seen either! However, in the interest of almost full disclosure, I'll post the two I did yesterday. The first is an 8x10 oil painting, painted on site. It was great just being out there on a sunny, mild (35 deg or so) February day, listening to the creek and the birds. As for the painting, well I kinda missed with this one. It looked pretty decent outside in the bright light, but indoors it's rather dull and lacks contrast. I had lots of trouble overlaying tree trunks and branches onto wet paint, ran out of paper towels...as I said, rusty! But I like the scene and think I'm going to re-do the painting in the studio, to figure out where I went wrong. I think that's going to be the biggest benefit to having more time for this - the opportunity to try new things, solve problems, and not always feel rushed.

The second one is a simple study of a radish. It's also oil, 5x7, and painted on gesso'd mat board. This surface is very slippery and now I remember why I stopped painting on it...the first layer of paint slips all over the place and is hard to paint over. I eventually managed to make it work reasonably well. I'm planning to do a lot of these small, simple studies to improve my skills.

I'm also planning to post more often - at least once a week for now; more often when I start doing decent paintings again. Hopefully that won't take too long! Stay tuned as the journey begins...

4th Annual GVPAP Show

Just a quick post to update things...I had 5 paintings accepted into the GVPAP 4th annual show at the Pittsford Barnes and Noble. The show is up through January. The paintings on display have all been posted previously - "Pines Over Rocks", "Goldenrod Vista", "Cross-Country Trail at Salmon Creek CC", "Icy Marsh", and "Pittsford Roses". Pittsford Roses received a Merit Award, which surprised me because I like the other 4 paintings better. But what do I know?

One month left at my current job...counting the days until I can paint paint paint. It can't come fast enough!

Happy New Year to everyone...

Chris

Merry Christmas!

I don't have a recent seasonal painting to share, so I'm posting the last plein air painting I've completed this year. This was actually done back in September...since then my back problem and work commitments have conspired to prevent me from painting. But I've only got a month left on the job, and my back has recovered enough to get on with things. So this blog should get more active soon (and by that I mean February or thereabouts).

This is the back side of our house...I call it "Additions" because it's an older house (1900 - 1920 time frame), and has been added onto several times over the years. From this view there are 3 separate additions to the house that are visible. These additions add interesting shapes and shadow patterns, and that's what caught my eye. The painting is an 11x14 oil on canvas...this required 2 or 3 sessions to complete. I'm still not happy with the door area in the lower right part of the house, and may adjust that at some point. Note that the whites have been over-exposed in the jpeg.

Anyway, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to anyone reading, and best wishes for a great new year ahead.

Chris

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Thanskgiving. The two paintings here were done a couple of months ago, in Wyoming County...I think on Durfee Road. The first one, "Goldenrod Vista", was done in the early afternoon. It's a 6x12 oil on canvas. I don't know how it looks on your screen, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, and am thinking of using it as the basis for a larger studio painting.

The second painting was actually done earlier the same morning, at the same location. It was more of a warm-up painting and while there are some things I like about it, I don't consider it overly successful. It is OK as a study. It's also oil on cavas, 8x10 in size. This is a beautiful location that I plan to return to...it's actually very close to where my painting "Wyoming County Vista" was done (posted in January 2008)

This has been a difficult year painting. I've had to work a lot which has severely cut into painting time. Then about 2 months ago I had a flare-up of a disk problem in my neck...which made it impossible to do much of anything for a while! I think I'm healthy enough now to get back to painting, but of course everything else - including work - has piled up in the meantime. So the viscious cycle continues.

However, on the bright side - part of the reason for the heavier work load is that I will be leaving my desk job early in 2009 (end of January most likely) so that I can devote my time to painting. I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. At that point I plan to be updating the blog on a more regular basis - with paintings but also information about what I'm learning along the way. Hopefully it will be useful/interesting to someone.

Now, I have a request - I know there are people looking at the blog...I use a hit counter that reports the number of hits and their general location (but no specific information). A few of you have left comments, but not too many. So - I'm asking for you to write a quick comment, let me know where you're located, if you have a website or blog. Don't feel obligated to say anything about my paintings unless you want to - I'm just interested in who is looking (and I really want to know who keeps checking in from Trinidad and Tobago!)

Chris

Pines Over Rocks

This larger (12x18) pastel required several sessions to complete. The inspiration was, of all places, a highway interchange...where the Lake Ontario Pkwy intersects Manitou Road. There was a very nice field of grass and wildflowers with a clump of pine trees...and a few lonely small pines off to the right. I have a very difficult time with foregrounds and this one was a major challenge. I'm not entirely satisfied with that part, but I do like the painting overall. I may adjust the distant horizon...as I think it would look better if it was level. This painting received a second place (in pastels) award at the most recent SRAG Fall show.

The ever present problem of photographing paintings...this one looks pretty good on my laptop but the colors look a bit too saturated on my CRT (especially the greens). Who knows how it looks to you!

Greece Ridge Mall Show

I will have work on display (and for sale) this Friday (Nov 7) and Saturday (Nov 8) at the SRAG Fall Show at the Greece Ridge Mall (Rt 104, Ridge Road, west of 390 interchange). The show will be open during Mall hours (9:30 am to 9:30 pm both days), and will be located in front of Macys. Stop by and check it out! Over 20 artists from SRAG will be represented. I'll have about 15 pieces at the show, including some that have not yet been posted on this blog.

Unfortunately, for the past month I've been dealing with a back problem that has prevented me from painting (or doing much of anything, for that matter). It's a flare-up of a disk problem in my neck that causes severe pain in my back and left arm, along with numbness and weakness in my left arm. Fortunately I am right-handed! The symptoms have improved considerably but I'm nowhere near 100% yet. I hope to start doing some artwork in the very near future...so check back for new paintings soon (I hope!).

Artist Row 2008

I participated in the 4th annual Artist Row festival at the Rochester Public Market last Sunday (September 21). Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate...it was cloudy and cool with mist most of the day. No steady rain, but the conditions definitely kept the crowds down compared to last year. Still, it was a nice way to spend the day. I didn't sell any paintings this year, but did get lots of nice comments and a possible commission for a barn painting.

Here are a couple of pictures of my set up. I had six racks and a total of 32 paintings displayed. Some of the paintings are new and haven't been posted here yet, so check back for updates.

High Falls #2

This 12x8 pastel was painted May 5. It is the second time I've painted the 100 foot tall High Falls in downtown Rochester (the first one is here). This time I zeroed in on the falls themselves, from the western side of the Pont de Rennes foot bridge. The backlighting was wonderful. I almost gave up on this painting half way through, as I was having a real hard time finding the right colors for the shaded part of the waterfall (just to the left of the rocks) but I'm glad I kept at it, I like the way this one turned out. The whites in the photo are a little too bright, which masks some of the subtlety in the spray/most to the left of center.

Pittsford Roses

This 8x10 pastel was painted Friday, June 13 in Pittsford.

I'm not usually interested in painting buildings, but was drawn to the contrast between the large blooming rose bush and the edges of the porch. It was a tough morning...started out cloudy and threatening rain (thunder in the distance), so the contrasts were muted. Later on the sun broke through and cast highlights onto parts of the rose bush and the porch, especially the roof. The painting was looking a little dull, so I added some of those highlights but may have lost the overall coherency. Had a real tough time with the color and tone of the white parts of the porch, especially those in shade.

Chimney Bluffs

Chimney Bluffs State Park is a wonderful spot about an hour east of Rochester. It consists of bluffs that rise up to 250 feet above Lake Ontario. The forces of nature have eroded these bluffs into a variety of shapes, including some spectacular razor-sharp pinnacles. This is a place where I intend to paint, but haven't had the opportunity yet. A few weeks ago I did some hiking, scouting out possible painting locations. I didn't take as many photos as I should have, but hopefully the few below will give you some idea of the possibilities. Clicking on the images will bring up full-sized versions.

I drove to the eastern parking area and hiked west along the narrow, rocky coast. It was already early afternoon, and the sun had shifted far enough that I couldn't really take good pictures looking to the west. These views would be best in the morning.

As I returned eastward along the coast I took this picture, which shows some of the dramatic formations. There are hiking trails atop the bluffs (see pictures below), if you look carefully at the large version of this picture you can see a couple of people standing on the right-most bluff.

This view is a little further along the coast, still looking east - back toward the parking area. I think this spot would make a good afternoon painting.



I then hiked up to the top of the bluffs. There are some spectacular views. However, it is a difficult hike from the eastern parking lot, very steep and not really a trail. I'm not sure whether it could be done with all my painting supplies! You can also hike in from the western parking area, it's a longer trail (over 1/2 mile), but it may be a less strenuous climb...I've never done it, so cannot say.

This is one of those razor-sharp pinnacles, viewed from the bluff trail.









This is my favorite picture. That's a mature, full-sized tree clinging to the top of the left-most pinnacle! I don't think it's alive at this point, but it's still quite a sight!

A view from the bluff trail, looking west across some of the bluffs.

Show at the Wehle Gallery

The Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters are having a themed show this summer at the Wehle Gallery at the Genesee Country Village. The show is titled "Under Open Skies: Nature Past and Present" and is based on paintings about life in the Genesee Valley in the 1800s. Approximately 300 paintings were entered by members, with this total reduced to 152 during the judging process. The paintings will be on display all summer, with an opening reception kicking things off on May 10. I was very fortunate to get 8 paintings accepted into the show.

The painting here, titled "Hamilton House", is an 11x14 oil on canvas. It was painted late last summer/fall on the ground of the Genesee Country Village, specifically for the show. I think it required 3 visits to the site to complete to my satisfaction. I will post more information about the show in the near future, so check back for updates. You can also visit the GVPAP website or the Genesee Country Village website for more details.

Winter Paintings

It's been a tough winter painting-wise. Because of other commitments, I had very little time to get out. These 3 represent pretty much everything I did, except for the gouache studies in the previous post.

This is a 5x7 oil on panel. It was painted at one of my favorite spots, Burger Park, on a day sometime in December between snows. There was a little puddle, partially frozen over, that I turned into a creek...made for a much nicer composition. A storm was approaching, giving everything a very hazy appearance. I feel this is one of my more successful attempts at painting dried grass.

This 9x12 pastel was done in November, just after I returned from my trip to California. I did not get the chance to paint out there and was itching to do something. It was a race against the weather as light snow/sleet began to fall...this created wonderful atmosphere but is not the best for pastel. When it turned to freezing rain I had to quickly pack up and leave. I wanted to capture the lonely feeling of rural winter, and also liked the way the homestead sort of disappeared into the brush. I'll have to try something like this again.

A sunny day painting! Done at Salmon Creek Country Club, we had a deep fresh snow cover, sun, no wind, and mild temperatures (upper 20s). A great combination, but this one fell short of my intentions...couldn't get the color relationships in the sunlit tree masses right.

Path to the Woodshed

Pastel painting done on Aug 31, 2007. This is the back side of an old (early 1800s) Greek Revival style farmhouse on the property of Hurd Orchard, in Orleans county. I was attracted by the large symmetrical shapes and the wonderful late summer light. The goldenrod framed path provided a natural lead in to the open door of the woodshed.

Gouache studies

These little gouache studies were done during January and February. I've been searching for a medium that I feel comfortable using in my car, for those days that one just cannot be outside. We get a lot of those during the winter here. Oils are potentially too messy, I don't want to breathing pastel dust in a closed car, casein smells to strongly, and I'm not good with acrylics or watercolor.

The gouache seems to have potential. It dries very quickly but can be re-wetted/re-worked, which allows modification of edges. I haven't quite learned how to handle the color/value shifts that occur during the drying process, and haven't found brushes I really like yet. But I can see doing a lot more of these.

All of the above are 4x6 inches (except the next to last one which is 3x6), and are done on a medium gray matboard. I've cut the board into 8x10 inch pieces, and during painting I mark the edges with tape, put the matboard on a standard office-type clipboard which is then clamped to the steering wheel. It is cramped, but working small makes it do-able.

Hubbel Road Farm, Evening

A friend and I went out one late afternoon/evening this past August (2007) and found this lovely little farm scene. The red buildings were enhanced by the warm evening light, which also cast its glow on everything else. Very peaceful, tranquil spot. This is a 6x12 oil (check out Colette's version which was done in pastel with a slightly different composition). The jpeg doesn't show the colors very accurately, for example the barns are not as bright red as they appear. This painting won the "Best of Show" award at the Suburban Rochester Art Group fall show (October, 2007).

Trailside Cottonwoods

Painted at Burger Park in Greece on a beautiful late afternoon...sometime in July 2007. Oil, 10x12. It was a long hike through some deep grass to get to this spot, but definitely worth it. Structurally, these are some of the best trees I've done. I like the composition, but need to work on the color relationships next time. I'll be returning to this location. Sold this one at Rochester's "Artist Row" at the Public Market, September 2007.

Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters Show

The Genesee Valley Plein Air Painters are currently holding their 3rd annual show at the Barnes and Noble in Pittsford, NY. The show runs through February 1. Over 70 paintings are displayed - check it out if you're in the area! The show was juried and judged by Steve Carpenter.

All 5 of my submitted paintings were accepted and are hanging in the main "gallery" (the community room). I received a "Judges Award" for Wyoming County Vista:











The other paintings accepted into the show included "Ice Fishing, Braddock Bay" and "Salmon Creek Under Snow", which have been previously posted, and the following two which have not been posted until now:

"Burger Park, Early Spring". As the title indicates, this 10x12 oil on canvas was painted this past spring, about the time the trees were just leafing out. Lots of nice subtle shades of green. Things were just starting to grow in the plowed field, making a nice contrast with the rich warm soil on this beautiful spring day.

"Peak Color", painted this fall at Burger Park. This is an 8x10 pastel. I just liked the way the trees framed the partial view of the house. The furrows in the recently plowed field provided a nice lead-in.

California Trip/Big Sur

I just returned from 10 days in California...this was a work-related trip to the Marina/Monterey area. I've been traveling to this area about 1 - 2 times a year since 2003. California has some of the most spectacular scenery anywhere, and my favorite area is the stretch of coastline south of Monterey called Big Sur. I didn't do any painting during this trip - actually took out some supplies (watercolor) but I only had 2 days at the end of the trip and all I wanted to do at that point was sit on the beach, do some hiking, etc. So here I'll post a few photos in lieu of paintings...perhaps some of these photos will be used to develop studio paintings. These were taken during the weekend of November 17-18.

Perhaps my favorite spot along the coast is the beach at the south end of Garrapata State Park. It's a windswept stretch of pristine coastline, usually empty or only a few hardy souls there. The waves can be very large and I almost got caught by one. On Saturday I started out at this beach, and this scene is looking north from the trail leading to the beach, a sliver of which can be seen just below the center of the image.

After spending some time at the beach, I drove down to the "town" of Big Sur and did some hiking at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The trail featured a walk through a redwood forest to a small waterfall, followed by another trail up to a high viewpoint overlooking the valley. On a clear day the coast can be seen, but it was too hazy/foggy on this day. Nevertheless, a nice vantage point.

On the way back down through the redwood forest, I found a big ole redwood tree that had a large hollowed base...large enough for me to fit inside quite easily. It was dark so I couldn't see how far up the hollow extended, so I aimed the camera up and used the flash to illuminate the interior. The hollowed out section doesn't appear to extend too far. Strange feeling standing inside a living tree!

On the way back, the fog that had been sitting offshore all day finally moved in. I spent the last half hour on a rock outcropping somewhere along the coast, watching the waves crash over the rocks. This view is to the south through a gap in the coastal rock formation, and if you look carefully you can see a bridge peaking through the fog (just below the center). I think this is the Rocky Creek Bridge, but it could be the Bixby Bridge.

On Sunday I started out at Garrapata Beach again, the sun was warm but it was very windy! So I sat behind a cliff out of the wind for a while, and even got a little sun burn. Afterwards, I did some hiking in the hills, in Mountain Lion country. Didn't see any lions but did hike through a nice redwood grove. I wasn't able to complete the hike to the top of the coastal mountains as my legs were too sore from the previous day. However, I took some nice photos along the coast...this one is stitched together from two images (I'm obviously not very proficient with photoshop).

Ice Fishing

This 9x12 pastel was painted late in March, 2007, at the Braddock Bay Marina. It was the warmest day of the year so far, about 65 degrees. The bay was still frozen solid (the ice fisherman reported the ice thickness to be about 14 inches), so I decided to venture out onto the ice to get a viewpoint that is not accessible most of the year. Because it was so warm, I could literally hear the ice melting all around me...it was a stange feeling.

I was trying to capture the warm light on the trees as they were just starting to bud - they made a beautiful contrast with the approaching clouds. The textures and colors in the ice were very interesting and quite difficult to pin down, but I feel that area came out pretty well. This painting just won a 2nd place in the pastel category at the October 2007 Suburban Rochester Art Group Show.

As a side-note, I was painting this day with Colette Savage, and though we were looking basically at the same scene, we came up with rather different interpretations. You can see her work on her blog, scroll down to find the painting also titled "Ice Fishing". We paint together quite a bit, but don't often choose the same scene...so it's always interesting to compare what we come up with.

An Experiment with Casein

I had been reading some interesting things about casein, a paint that is made from milk protein and thus is water-based - so I decided to give them a try. The obvious benefit is the ability to use water for thinning and clean up. Also, the paint dries pretty quickly but can be re-worked a bit even after dry. This may not have been the best day to try a water-based paint (sometime in March, 2007), as the temperature was hovering just above freezing. However, it worked pretty well - the casein paint has a matte finish when dry and that suited the overall tone of this day pretty well. I haven't used the caseins since, there's just not enough time right now.

Salmon Creek, Under Snow

This 8x10 oil painting was done during a paintout on February 28, 2007. The location was along the shore of frozen Salmon Creek in Hilton. It was quite cold (upper 20s) but fairly calm, so the painting conditions were pretty good. I was initially attrated to the houses peaking through the trees and the snowmobile tracks in the snow, which served as a good lead in. This may be the best winter oil painting I've done, and it recently won a First Prize in the oil/landscape category (Suburban Rochester Art Group, October 2007).

When this painting was done I decided to attempt a quick pastel, as the evening colors were fabulous this day. Since I didn't expect to be able to paint well (being cold, tired, etc), I pulled out a home-made pastel board and set to it. The result is actually not too bad:

As I said, pastel on home-made board, 8x10. Not a great composition, but I think I captured the light on the trees pretty well, and that was what I was after. This was painted very quickly, maybe 45 minutes...perhaps I should paint quickly more often!

Museum Roof, Snow

Pastel, 12x9. Done on an incredibly bright, clear morning sometime in February 2007, right after an overnight snowfall of about 6 - 8 inches. It was cold (mid 20s) but when we started there was no wind, so I was able to use pastels without too much trouble. I found the stark contrasts between the deep maroon of the building and the glaring white of the freshly snow-covered roof, coupled with the clear blue sky, irresistable. The violet shadows were also really clear.

Near the end of this painting (about 2 hours) the wind suddenly picked up and snow started blowing around. It quickly became too cold to continue, but it was worth it.

Mid Winter

This little 8x10 oil was done sometime in January or February 2007. I remember it well...a group of us were supposed to meet at Northampton Park but it was snowing and the paintout was cancelled. I decided to go anyway because the park is only a couple of miles from home. So I painted by myself, which was OK, but I later found out that I forgot to notify one of the group that the meeting was cancelled. Turns out he drove 45 minutes and found no one there (I was painting elsewhere by that time). Felt terrible about that!

Anyway, it snowed on and off so I set up under some pine trees, which blocked some of the snow. But it still got all over my palette and made the paint difficult to work with. They say you can use oil paints in rain or snow, and it's true to a point...but when snow starts getting mixed into the paint it forms an almost unworkable blob.

I feel this painting captures the coldness of a day in mid winter...yet there's just a subtle warmth in the sky (particularly along the horizon) that hints of warmer days to come. Not a great painting in terms of composition or paint handling, but it does capture the feeling of that day.

Late Glow, Salmon Creek (#1)

This pastel (9x12) was done in the late afternoon sometime in Janary or February 2007. The amount of color in the bare trees was amazing, and the contrast with the simple white snow covered ground was striking. It turned out to be a very difficult painting to photograph, and this is not really representative of the depth of color...but it's as close as I can get.

Northampton Overlook, Snow

This little 6x8 oil was done on a brutally cold, windy day in January 2007. Actually it was an experiment in "car painting", since it was too cold to be outside I sat in the passenger seat and painted. It's a good way to deal with the cold, but I find it really too cramped (having a small car doesn't help). It's something that I'm sure I'll do again, as sometimes the view is just too spectacular but the conditions are too difficult. I'm actually surprised I was able to get as much into this painting as I did, usually the 6x8 sizes are a little too small for me. But I do like this one.

Bruger Park, Fall

I did this little 8x10 oil in October 2006, after returning from California. It's just a simple autumn view at Burger Park.

California Trip, October 2006

In October I went to California for about 2 weeks for work. At the end of that trip I spent 5 days painting in and around Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur. I should say "attempting" to paint, as most of my efforts turned out quite poorly. If you've never been to that area, it's main attraction is the spectacular coastline, which begins along the Monterey Peninsula and extends south into the region known as "Big Sur". In many places, sheer cliffs rise up hundreds of feet from the pounding ocean. There are also scattered beaches, many scenic bridges...almost too much to paint.

And therein lies the problem. Never having painted in the area before, I bit off more than I could chew. I tried to make almost every painting a masterpiece, but trying to capture the enormity of the region proved impossible. Next time I plan to paint simpler snippets - a group of rocks as opposed to the entire coastline, etc.

Anyway, here are the only 2 paintings that turned out decently.

This one is a 9x12 oil painting of the Carmelite Monastery, located along Route 1 just south of Carmel. I had seen this the previous day and thought it would make a good morning painting, with the sun catching the side of the building. I set up on the beach and worked on this for about 2 hours. Surprisingly, no one bothered me the entire time...it was wonderful! Though I don't feel I really captured the light on the building, and the trees are kind of clunky.


The second painting is called "Mountain Peak", it is a 6x8 oil. I had spent a couple of hours struggling with one of those majestic views when a fog bank suddenly blew in, obstructing my view completely. I was starting to pack my supplies when I just happened to glance inland, where I saw the top of one of the mountains glowing through breaks in the clouds. The contrast between the blue of the sky and the warm glow on the mountain was beautiful, and something I just had to try to capture. Considering how tired I was I think I did pretty well.

Goldenrod, Sunny Evening

This was painted the day after the previous painting, in completely different lighting. It was late afternoon, with the sun behind me. The goldenrod field was a blaze of yellow, and there was much more color in the distant tree line. This is basically the same scene as the previous painting, with a lower horizon line. Oil, 8x10...this one was entered in the same shows as the previous painting and it won 1 award. I'm not sure which one I prefer, they both have merits. However, I felt that I was unable to capture the intense color in the goldenrod field - but I'm still not sure how exactly to do that! Try again next year.

Goldenrod, Cloudy Morning

Burger Park, which I've mentioned before as being a favorite painting spot, has acres of fields covered in goldenrod. Driving past one day in September, I noticed the fields in full bloom, and decided I had to try. So the next morning I went out to paint it. It was a cloudy, dreary morning, but I liked this view of the goldenrod fields leading up to this old barn. Colors in the goldenrod were actually surprisingly subtle. This is an oil, 9x12, and has won awards in 2 shows.

Kirby's Market

This 9x12 pastel was done on a cool morning in September 2006...one of those first days where it feels like fall. The sky was a stunning combination of turquoise blue with puffy white clouds, and the sunlit white building with purple shadows echoed the clouds nicely.

This painting won first place in pastels at the October 2006 Suburban Rochester Art Group show. It was then shown in a group show in early 2007, and I have to say that I received more compliments on this painting than any other. Which I find interesting, because it's nowhere near one of my favorites. It is much more colorful than many of my other paintings, especially the oils, and I think people may have been responding to that. This is also the first painting that I have ever sold.

Kathy's Cottage

Painted at a friend's lakshore cottage one afternoon in late summer, 2006. This is a 9x12 pastel. I had done a morning painting looking the other direction, and this afternoon view with the sun on the red cottage was very attractive. There was so much green, and I didn't have very many greens in my pastel box. However, I feel I was able to get enough variation through careful layering.

Marsh Morning

This 12x18 pastel was done in July 2006 at Burger Park. The colors in the jpeg are stronger than in the actual painting (i.e. the blues appear too saturated). One of my large plein air paintings, it won a Merit Award at the January 2007 GVPAP show. I like the composition, the sky and the marsh grass, but am not happy with the trees - too clunky. This is a spot I'll be returning to again.

Conesus Lake Morning

This 6x12 oil was painted on a very humid July morning (2006), at the north end of Conesus Lake. This is one of the finger lakes located a short distance south of Rochester. Although this one has never won an award, it is one of my favorite paintings, as I feel that I captured that beautiful hazy morning light so typical of summer...when almost everything appears in shades of blue. Some have commented that they feel there's too much open space in the water, that I should have added one or more boats. I don't know, I don't think it's necessary as my goal was to capture that lazy calm feeling - thus the centrally located horizon line and lack of any man-made objects or bright colors. One area that bothers me is the bush to the left of the trees, it just doesn't look right and I keep meaning to go back and tweak it...maybe some day.