December 2024

 After the Plein air event in NY state I returned to my local scenes.  Driving to  the monthly meetings of the Sussex County Art Society I pass a fallow corn field and this tractor resting, waiting to be put to work.

Red tractor

Always looking for inspiration from other painters I find some very good ideas in art magazines.  This sunrise view of Lake Mohawk is totally fictitious.  The sun does rise this way, but there would not likely be as many boats out to greet it. That would be more at evening sun set. with the sun at the west.

October is the height of fall foliage in the hills of  Sussex.  And although color comes later and lingers longer as one travels to the coast, it is always a joy to get the peak first.  This view from our deck, looking toward the club struck me as worth capturing.

 

Autumn at Lake Mohawk

Next it was time to think about a Christmas card.  And first I though of my usual capture of our local area which lends itself to winter and Christmas themes.  So at first I did a snow scene of the club and boardwalk.  I liked it well enough, especially the lighted tree.

Club and festive tee

But I felt the urge to move my painting into something more active, like the sledding which takes place on the hill by the golf course which is always a tradition when we have enough snow.  Since it was still too early in the season for snow I had to use my imagination and created two scenes, one inspired by a photo of sledding in Amsterdam--curious because the city if mainly flat.  I had to change it to a wooded area and update the types of sleds.  This became the Christmas card.  In the second I made the hill a long vista to a setting sun.  Totally imaginary.

Sled riding

Sliding down the hill

 

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Autumn 2024

    Looking for new ways to  depict familiar scenes I decided to get a reflected view of the Lake Mohawk Country clubhouse.  This scene views the club and reflection from the boardwalk area of the sunken garden.

Lake Mohawk Reflection

I also tried for a wide angle view of some of the old shops in the Lafayette shopping area , near the Antique "Barn" along the Paulinskill river bridge.

Paulinskill Bridge at Lafayette

The annual Hudson Valley Plein Air Festival was once again held in October, sponsored again by the Wallkill River Center for the Arts.  This year the quick draw competition was held at the little hamlet of Sugar Loaf, which s an small arty, crafty town with fun shops and a good tavern.  Rather than paint one of the shops or a busy street scene I chose a caboose located by the old railroad station at the eastern end of the hamlet.  Happily I could finish enough in the two hours allotted and won second prize.

Old Rail Car

Spring and summer 2024

 This spring I was thinking about the Sussex County Fair and also some new views of old sites that I like to paint.   Also I wanted to get out and do some plein air work.

For the fair that means  cows and barns and local sights.  The first image was inspired by a painting I  saw in Plein Air magazine.   I liked the muted colors  and tried to emulate them

                                   Cows in wild flowers

The second was inspire by a plein air sketch up route 206 near Flatbrook Road.  I always see cows grazing as I drive up to Highpoint to golf.

                                       Flatbrook grazing

One more for the cows.  I liked the way these critters are moving toward the viewer with an endless trail behind them/.

                                   Coming Home

Florida Plein Air 2024

 This winter I was on my own looking for sites to paint as I missed hooking up with Shawn Dell Joyce.  The first place I visited was The Boyd Hill nature center that had a magnificent  collection of caged raptors, owls, eagles, hawks.  I wander to the marshy mangrove area where I caught some water fowl feeding.

As my host and good friend Larry wanted to go fishing we rode to the coast off of New Port Richie.  I left him casting, hoping he would catch some grouper.   A bit farther  down the beach I spotted  a family  starting to fish with the accompanying local who thought he owned this spot.

                                                                     

My next trip was a solo drive to a state park, called Honeymoon beach.  It is also the access to Calista Island state park which is only reachable by a ferry.  I painted this view from the terrace of a small cafe at the rest and parking area.

Before I left Florida to return to the chilly north I sought out a nature park in the Trinity area where I was staying.  About two miles from my friend's home was  the perfect spot.  I chose the park information office.

Autumn

 Once again the Walkill River Center for the Arts hosted the Hudson Valley Plein air Festival.  This year it was held at the Warwick Railroad green  in the center of town.  I tried to capture  the old station from a west view.  Over a hundred artist participated using  oils, acrylics, etc.  I worked as usual in watercolor.  Once again the time frame was an issue.  It's hard to feel finished when you have to complete, mat and frame  a picture in two hours. But the group atmosphere is exhilarating.  It is almost a sepia monotone.

Warwick NY station

Another plein air I worked on, back in Sussex County is the Balesville Community Church seen from the rear, looking over the graveyard.

Balesville Community Church

One of the invited demonstrator's at the Sussex County Art Society showed how to do "coffee painting."  It was fascinating, especially creating three values, dark, medium and light of the almost sepia brown. from a mixture of instant coffee and water.  When I tried this in my studio I decided to add a little green and orange tones.

Cafe Pierot in Sparta

                                                                                   

NJ County Fair 2023

 Art in Sussex County, our local group that runs the art show for Sussex County residents has set "TOYS" as the theme for invited members.  At first I found this daunting as I was stuck in a play and games perspective until I ultimately arrived at the objects, toys themselves.   Thanks to my wife I found her trove of toys gathered for our grandchildren's play and set about to feature them in my paintings.  The first is a gathering I call "Friends" featuring Sponge Bob but also echoing a perennial favorite, the Teddy Bear.  What a great range of emotions, from Patrick's manic glee, Puss in Boots smugness, Squidward's melancholy to Teddy's affectionate embrace.

Sponge Bob and Friends

A second entry has more of a Victorian era feel to it.  I propped our young straw hatted lady friend in the rocking chair and placed the infant doll in the young girl's arm.  I also thought that the doll house over her right shoulder echoed the "toys" theme pretty well.

Rocking chair girls.

A few other paintings for the Little Gallery.  The first is a plein air I did at Millbrook Village a recreated colonial village,  Recreated here means, I think,  the buildings are authentic but have been moved to this site to create what a village looked at in that time.

Spandenburg cabin

Another intriguing  building is this cabin deep inside Stokes State Forest.  It is located near a lake and swimming area/.  I caught in in Autumn.

Cabin in Stokes State Forest

I have also been painting some farm animals since the fair is mainly agricultural.

Guernsey cow.

 

Mules

Bull (Akayushi)

 

Spring

 This spring the Sussex County Art Society renewed our do-your-own-thing sessions where members paint or draw and share critiques with others.  In preparation for the County Fair where the theme for the art show is TOYS  JW brought in a unique teddy bear which I used and fashioned an office scene.

The Professor

In the plein air mode I once again tackled the white clapboard Presbyterian Church in town.  With some studio work and a critique at our spring picnic  I reduced the foliage so that the church caught the eye more strikingly.  The goal was to capture the vertical and joyful thrust of the steeple in tension with the horizontal angle of the trees pointing toward the grave yard.  Heavy stuff!

Also on the agenda was preparing some works for "The Little Gallery" at the upcoming Sussex County (and NJ State) Fair this summer.  I chanced on some photos of sailing/racing boats and thought a group of them would make an appealing splash.

Sails 1

Sails 2

Sails 3

Sails 4