Vapor Trail

I've painted these white houses many times . I am drawn back to them because the morning light ccasts such cool shadows. The houses are like monopoly pieces set down on a gameboard. It was a hot  clear morning in Keene Valley,NY. these houses are next to the school and behind the firehouse. I left the vapor trail in the sky because I thought it leads the eye down into the pines. It also suggests this 21st cen presence of life in a limeless landscape. 12x16in

Two More for Keene Valley

 

Cold Frosty Morning - Marcy field 

We usually see Marcy field green with grass but This morning there was a silver frost on the grass that disappeared as soon as the sun came up. The footprints were mine. 10x10in oil 

Noonmark Mt 

I tried to be a little flatter with my paints. Painting a landscape should be like assembling puzzzle pieces. 10x22in oil 

"Old Mountain" Phelps

Orson Schofield (Old Mountain) Phelps (May 6, 1817 - April 14, 1905) was an early Adirondack guide from Keene Valley. Phelps named many of the Adirondack High Peaks, and cut the first trail up Mount Marcy.^[4] Phelps Mountain is named in his honor.Phelps' image was made famous in paintings by Winslow Homer, and photographer Seneca Ray Stoddard. . (Wikipedia) 
 Fellow artist and exhibitor,George Ludlow, came up with an interesting challenge. Last year when we were discussing some paintings he did of Old Mountain Phelps,he thought it would be fun if everyone in our next  show would produce a painting of Phelps. I couldn't stop thinking about it, especially when i saw the tangle of his beard. It reminded me of a topographical map. 
In a departure from  my usual techniques of oil and pastel  i created a collage  from a 1907 map of the high peaks (no actual map was harmed in this process) The pack he is carrying IS an contemporary map I used in hiking and was in tatters.   In his beard I included all the places Phelps might have been familiar with. After that I had to figure out what to make his shirt out of. I used actual birch bark. The vest and background are pieces of hand made paper. The face I drew with a quill pen. I framed it with an actual Victorian frame from his era.This project was a lot of fun and a real welcome break from my usual landscape painting. 11x14 Mixed media collage in Victorian frame.           

Johns Brook Sketch

In the shade the white water looked quite blue

11x17in pastel  

 

 

Wash Day

Just outside of Keene. I enjoyed the play of light and shadow. 9x12in oil  

Dawn on Chapel Pond

 

The first light of the morning as the Sun comes up over Giant Mt. 18x18in pastel   

First Sun in the Valley

At Dawn on Chapel pond the sun peeks over the mountain. This view is looking up at Giant Mt from the road at Chapel pond on the way to Keene Valley pastel  11x17in