Trinity Falls

I found this location completely by chance because I was sitting in front of the Keene Valley post office( the only place that has cell phone coverage) when I ran into a fellow artist who needed to phone as well. She told me about the falls and together we searched it out. This magnificent spot is in the backyard of some very generous folks who let Tim and I come back and paint the following day. Thanks , Hedvig for showing us the way. 8x101n oil on panel

Dawn at Chapel Pond

Caught the dawn light as it came over the mountain. I may move the shadow back up a little. It moved so quickly as I painted. This turned out to be a wonderful painting day. I started with this one and later painted on Johns Brook. Three paintings today!

Painting on Johns Brook

Friend and painter Bear Miller took me to one of his favorite painting spots on the Johns Brook yesterday where we painted all day. The first one iI did was of this crooked tree. It was a small 6x6in piece and I had a lot of fun with it. I think the background needs to recede more so I will play with it when I get back to the studio. The rock painting was a no holds barred barrel of fun. It is larger , 11x14in and I used my largest brush. I created a thick impasto of texture and built the painting rock by rock. Once the paint covers the canvas it is great fun to move it around.   SOLD!  AT THE  MAPAPA SHOW at the Subtl Rebellion Gallery , Abingdon MD

revised version. SOLD

Island in a Sea of Grass

It's very challenging to paint Plein air in the Adk's. You can go from overcast to bright sunshine and back in seconds. Sometimes little openings in the clouds will illuminate a hillside and you go "oh, WOW!" and you want to paint it in and then it's gone. Decisions must be made. That's why I like to paint small. This little hump of land is a local landmark in Keene Valley. Some say its an Indian burial ground but I got it from the source(Pat Quinn of Mountain Meadows) that it is a KAME , something the glaciers left on their journey back north some thousands of years ago. This feature has been painted by artists since they've been coming up here in the 1800's. The field was once a farm but being state land now, is gradually reverting to forest and wetlands. There is on old barn nearby that is the most photographed barn in the park . We both chose not to do that. I have to thank my painting buddy Tim for picking the spot and getting me out here to paint early in the morning. We had a very limited time (1hour ) so we had to paint fast and furious, the only way to do it.As much as I like painting as a solitary experience , painting with a friend is like running or hiking. It gets you out there when you might be sleeping late or reading the paper. And it"s great to bounce ideas off each other and see just how differend each persons vision can be. We arrived after 7 and set up our stuff and walked around for a vantage point. We set paint to canvas at 8. From there it was a light show, every second bringing new revelations. What do I paint? What do I leave out? I decided to"break the rules" and place the kame dead center. It works in a square, like an island in a sea of grass. 6x6in oil on birch . SOLD