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1×4″, Acrylics on Museum Board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
The quarter in the image above is to show you how tiny this painting is! I think this is the most challenging miniature I’ve done to date, though it was also really fun to work on this!
You can click the image above to enlarge it.
These days, there are so many fabulous options for painting with water, if one doesn’t wish to use solvents. A reader made a comment on my blog, asking a question about these choices which I thought would make an interesting blog post.
From Dennis (Edited a bit for brevity. You can see his full comment in my February 25 post.):
….I am curious as to which paint you prefer to work with-artist grade water mixable oil colors or the Open acrylics by Golden? They both seem to be able to allow you the time needed to blend color. ….although I enjoy using Golden Heavy Body,{one of several brands in my paint box} for now when I need an acrylic with more open time I choose Atelier. What brand of water mixable oil do you prefer? Several years ago I tried the Artisan by W&N for plein air, and after two painting sessions, I went back to acrylics. At this time for plein air I am using pencil and/or colored pencil and those wonderful Pitt brush pens This year in addition I may choose to also use oil pastel and watercolor.
Thank you for the thought-provoking post, Dennis. My favorite medium is actually traditional oils, and I don’t mind using odor free solvents in and out of the studio. That being said, there are times when it is either wiser, or more convenient, or both to avoid solvents completely. There are also times we need other advantages of faster drying, easier to transport, quicker to work with, able to paint in a sketchbook, etc. One of the things I love about being an artist is the seemingly endless exploration of mediums, materials and possibilities. Let’s examine some of these other options.
Water mixable oils, even those labled “Artist Grade,” are never as pigment-loaded as traditional oils. They also do not handle exactly the same way. I feel I am already giving something up when I sacrifice pigment load. This is why I don’t use them all the time; I need to get something in return for what I give up — that is, the ability to paint in a place or situation where I would not be able to use traditional oils. The highest grade H2O oil paints I’ve found so far, that are of a consistency I like right out of the tubes, are Holbein Duo and Cobra. I have tried a few other brands, but these are the ones I try to keep stocked in my 5×7″ painting box, which travels with me all the time. I know I can use them anywhere, and can use my drinking water instead of a solvent.
Fishing at North South Lake
Water Mixable Oils, 5×7″
Golden Open Acrylics are also excellent for these situations where you need longer blending time and workability, and cannot use solvents. Again, I have to sacrifice significant pigment load compared with my traditional oils, but the acrylics have the advantage of drying faster, and being able to get varnished and out to buyers sooner. Disadvantage: the larger tubes and jars that acrylics come in don’t fit in my 5×7″ paintbox! Also, I need to use about three times the amount of paint compared with my oils. The small palette in my 5×7 box just isn’t big enough for the amount of paint I need to mix, even for a tiny painting. For these reasons, my little box is stocked with the water mixable oil paints.
Golden OPENs still have a place in my life. They’re wonderful in the portrait/figure studio (especially short pose sessions which generally do not allow solvents). I love painting on sized matboard, which I cannot do with oils. Golden OPENs perform very well for plein air work on hot sunny days when I want to use acrylics. I can mix my colors, and they remain workable throughout a painting session. They don’t skin over on the palette, yet thicken to the point where when I reach the end of an outdoor session and it’s time to lay on the highlights, I have nice thick paint to do so!
Old Truck at the Farm
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics
Painted on a blazing hot day in the sun, these acrylics performed miraculously!
If it’s not too hot outside, or if I’m in the studio, I can use my all-time favorite acrylic paints —- Golden FLUID Acrylics. When you dilute heavy body acrylics to a more fluid consistency, it dilutes the pigment and the paint goes streaky. Golden FLUID Acrylics are made with a much higher pigment load than a diluted heavy body paint. I find them to be the perfect consistency, and combined with the use of Golden’s Acrylic Glazing Liquid, the drying time is extended so that they are perfectly blendable, yet tack up fast enough to overpaint. The 1 oz. bottles are a perfect size to take out in the field with me, and I refill them from large bottles that I leave in the studio. For plein air work, I get to travel home with a dry painting, so I don’t have to bring a wet panel carrier out into the field. They dry and cure so quickly that I can have them varnished and out the door in a week. They are also wonderful for underpainting, then using Golden OPENs over the top, and the underpainting stays perfectly in place. Disadvantages: They will dry out on your palette and on your brushes if you’re not careful. You need to be able to work quickly and mix on the fly, and spray the palette frequently to keep the paint wet.
Under the Bridge at Devil’s Kitchen
16×20″, Golden FLUID Acrylics
You mentioned the Atelier Interactive Acrylics in your comment, and as you can see from the photo, I have a set of my regular colors in that brand as well. I think they are very nice paints —- high pigment load and reasonably priced. As the Chroma company explains, these paints “interact” with the artist through a series of mediums that you can also see in the photo. These mediums can increase or decrease drying time of the paints, or even unlock dried paint to a workable consistency. What I’ve found is that without the mediums, the paints behave just like traditional, heavy body acrylics. I need to thin them to the consistency I want, and they skin over on my palette and dry quickly. No amount of spraying with water revives the dried paint, just like regular acrylics. Even though I could alter that with the Interactive mediums, I’d rather use paints that have the characteristics I need right out of the tubes. When painting out on location, the less I need to cart around with me, the better off I am. Those of you who work in the studio may find it’s no problem to deal with the adjustments of the paint.
The Phantom Tollbooth — Fall at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation
7×5″, Atelier Interactive Acrylics
This brings us to another option…..Gouache! Using just a watercolor palette, sketchbook, and a few small tubes of paint, gouache enables me to paint with all the opacity of oils and all the transparency of watercolor, in a fast-drying, water-based medium that illustrators have used for generations. Companies like Holbein and Winsor Newton have been making more lightfast, archival, artist grade versions of these paints, and they have gone from the illustrator’s desk to a fine art medium in a very short time. Disadvantages: Artist grade gouache is very expensive. When working in an opaque manner, it’s possible to go through quite a bit of paint in a short time. Although it shares the same binders as watercolor, gouache does not rewet easily. When the paint dries out on the palette, it cannot be revived to the juicy, creamy consistency necessary to work the same way as with paint just out of the tube. Some of the new palettes with seals around the edges do a pretty good job of keeping the paint moist and workable. A damp sponge left inside the palette helps to maintain the moisture.
Garrison Castle and the Hudson River
5×7″,Winsor Newton and Holbein Gouache on Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper
Watercolor remains the ultimate sketching medium for the artist on the go. Although most of us prefer fresh paint from tubes out on the palette, watercolors revive quite well if not left sitting too long. A small pan set can go anywhere, and tucks inside a purse or shirt pocket with a small sketchbook or watercolor block.
Leaning Toward Breakneck Ridge
11×15″, Winsor Newton and Holbein Watercolor
In Dennis’ post, he brings up colored pencils and Pitt pens as ideal plein air mediums. I agree with him! In addition, there are water soluble colored pencils that can bridge the gap between watercolors and colored pencils, Cretacolor color sticks in sepia, white and black for sketching on mid-tone paper, charcoal, inks in many colors, and marker sets. It seems that every time I turn around, there is something new and exciting to try in my sketchbook!
The Hickory Tree
Sepia and White Cretacolor leads in a 10×10 kraft paper sketchbook
I hope this post has left my viewers inspired to try something new, or to pick up an old favorite you’ve left by the wayside for awhile. There are so many fabulous choices out there, and each has unique benefits and possibilities.
Now, go paint! 😀
1.75×2″, including frame
Acrylics
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
These little Monet interpretations are so much fun to paint! This was my first go at one of his many Haystack paintings. I wish you could all see it in person, because it looks so much better than this digital representation!
These framed miniatures come with a mini easel to set them on, or can be hung salon style from a gold thread or ribbon. They are sent in gold gift boxes with gold bows to complete the “gem” effect!
7×5″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This is my first painting of 2011. It felt great to get back to my brushes again after a rather extended holiday vacation! This painting of Kaaterskill Falls was done from two studies done on location plus a photo reference. I think I’ll do a 20×30″ or 24×36″ version of the scene soon.
Kaaterskill Falls is the tallest waterfall in New York State, and was a favorite painting spot of the Hudson River School painters. It’s one of my favorite spots too!
1.25×1.5″ (excluding frame)
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
These Monet Minis are so much fun to paint! I loved working with the orange and blue complements he used for his sunrise painting. Since it’s so tiny, I bumped up the saturation a bit in my version. Postage stamp size paintings tend to disappear if there’s not enough color and contrast! Here’s a closer view:
These tiny copies of works by famous painters tend to get done on a commission basis, so if you’ve got a favorite you’d like done that is now within the public domain, let me know. They are sold framed and with a small easel stand, and come in a tiny gold gift box with ribbon.
16×20″, Acrylics on archival board
$695.00 plus $30 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is a painting done partially on location during the summer. I drove around with my friend Karen looking for a painting spot near the Hudson, and we finally came upon this marina view in Catskill. Around the bend in the painting lies the Hudson River. I loved the blue of this sail cover, and the colorful floats piled up on the bow, waiting for adventurous souls to go out for a sail. I didn’t have time to finish it on location and it’s sat in the studio for a few months now, just waiting for the finishing touches! I finally pulled it out this morning and finished it off.
Many of my finishing touches are done at this ArtQuest desk. The easel part adjusts to any angle, and there is a support for a monitor/laptop. I use the keyboard shelf for my palette. I love this thing!
Here is another image which you can click to see a larger view of the painting:
These images are looking quite dark to me, but the painting is not this dark.
12×12″, Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$425.00 plus $20 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
“First Warm Day at the Falls” might sound like a funny title for a painting that I’m posting in late autumn. This painting was actually started in the spring, on location. It needed a few touch-ups in the studio, so finally that’s been done and it’s ready to be revealed at last. It so nice to see it finally finished up. This painting will look fabulous in a warm-toned, wood frame. I have just the one!
Here is a photo of the work in progress on location:
12×16″, Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$525.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting was done at Tioronda Falls in Beacon, New York. There is a beautiful park there where the Fishkill Creek empties into the Hudson River. This waterfall is conveniently located very close to the parking lot, making it an ideal painting location!
Here’s an image of the painting in progress, on location:
If you’d like to see it a little larger, you can click on this image to enlarge the photo:
Click image to enlarge:
12×24″, Golden Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$720.00 plus $30 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I went with a group of seven plein air painters to paint at Cooper Lake in Woodstock, New York. The lake is gorgeous, deep blue and clean, with views of the Catskill Mountains in the background. We ended up separating into two groups. Three of us went down the road and found this nice spot with a fallen tree, which added an interesting foreground element to the scene. We later found out that the other four painters had been told to leave because they’d strayed off the road, and this lake is the reservoir for the city of Kingston. Fortunately for the three of us, you are apparently permitted to paint from any public roadway, so I got to stay.
Here is an image of the finished work, which you can click to enlarge:
16×20″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on archival Canson board
$750.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is another painting from one of my favorite locations in the Catskills. The chasm to the right, “Hell’s Hole”, goes down over 100 feet. My friend Tarryl was standing to my right as I painted this, and I wanted to tether her to a boulder to be sure she wouldn’t take a tumble!
I loved the way the strong light illuminated the foreground rock ledge, and drew the eye through the tunnel to the waterfall beyond. I feel like I could paint this scene a hundred times and not get tired of it.
Here’s another image that you can click on to see a larger version:
16×20″, Acrylics on archival board
$750.00 plus $30 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
It’s hard to beat a beautiful fall day of painting at Boscobel Restoration, along the Hudson River in Garrison, New York. The warm color in the sky was there when we arrived, but it didn’t last long. The water was shimmering, and the rusty oranges were just starting their assault on the greens in Constitution Marsh. In a couple more weeks, the marsh will be ablaze with reds. Helicopters came and went from West Point, birds chirped, and tourists strolled the grounds. The barge and red tug making their way upriver were the crowning touch. It was a stellar day!
Here’s another image that you can click to enlarge:
8×16″, Acrylics
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
My friend Melissa invited a group of us to paint at her family farm in Millerton, NY. It was hard to choose what to paint because there were so many beautiful scenes in this charming valley between two mountains, but the red mailbox flags against the blue house, with the country road and layers of fields, was my first choice.
8×10, Acrylic on archival canvas board
Custom framing included
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This was painted from the boat dock during a recent trip out to Bannerman Island. Opportunities to go out to the island are so rare, and I truly cherish the painting time out there! The castle structures are exquisite. A winter storm brought down two large walls on the other side of this castle. 50% of the proceeds of the sale of this painting go to Bannerman Castle Trust for protection and maintenance of the castles on the island.
8×10″, Acrylics
$260.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was painted at the top of Kaaterskill Falls, which is the tallest waterfall in New York State. The stream comes down from South Lake and disappears here over the edge of the cliff.
Catskill Serenade
16×20″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on archival board
$695.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
Here a clickable image, if you’d like to see a larger version of the painting:
This painting features a view of the famous of Kaaterskill High Peak and Round Top mountains as seen from the Hudson Valley, where one enters Kaaterskill Clove. I did a small, 6×8″ version of this scene a few weeks ago and liked it so much that I returned to do a larger version.
Click image to enlarge:
16×20″, Acrylics on archival board
$695.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I went back up to the Catskill Mountain House site, eager to do a larger painting overlooking the Hudson River Valley from up there. It was a fairly overcast morning, and looking out from the cliff’s edge, the most striking feature below me was the silver ribbon of the Hudson River off in the distance. The Berkshire Mountains merged into the sky beyond the river. Bits of farms and buildings peeked up from below as the morning went on and the haze started to lift, so I put some of those in too as they came into view.
This Canson MiTientes board has a fabulous surface texture, varnished to a beautiful sheen, and can be framed without glass like an oil painting. It’s my favorite surface for acrylics. Stay tuned for a special series on this surface sometime around November!
6×8″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on archival museum board (frame like an oil painting)
$165.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting was done on location on the cliff of the former site of the Catskill Mountain House on South Mountain. On a clear day, the view overlooks 60 miles of the Hudson River and a vista that extends all the way to Massachusetts. However, on this day, we were treated to a spectacular display of atmospheric clouds both below and above us, with occasional peeks through to farmland below and glimpses of the river. I love revisiting this location. It always has something special and new to offer. I guess that’s why Thomas Cole and Frederic Church kept coming back here too!
Another thing that made this day so special was that I was accompanied by friends L. Diane Johnson from North Carolina, and Ruth Ann Sturgill from Ohio. It’s not often that I get to paint with friends from so far away! We spent a wonderful couple of days together, and I’ll be posting more about what we did and painted as I have a chance to finish up and photograph the paintings.
I’ve been so busy painting up a storm out on location over the past couple of weeks that it’s been impossible for me to keep up with photographing work, blogging, and putting on finishing touches. Now things are settling down, and I’m hoping to get all these things up for you to see!
12×16″, Acrylic on Canson Board
$400.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was painted on location yesterday overlooking the Hudson from the grounds of the beautiful Vanderbilt Mansion property in Hyde Park, New York. A group of us were painting up there behind the mansion. We just about finished our paintings when it started to rain. I was using Golden Fluid Acrylics because I just adore the pigment load and the consistency. It glides across the surface as easily as oils. If it had been any warmer and drier, I’d have switched to the slow drying Open line instead. I figured I’d probably be forced into making the change half way through, but was able to finish up with the Fluids.
This Canson board is one of my favorite painting supports for acrylic. It can be purchased in a number of different colors. I cut it to size, and although it’s not necessary, I size it twice with Golden Matte Medium diluted 20% with water. That decreases the absorbency of the surface, and the paint sits beautifully on top. Once I apply an isolation coat and varnish to the dry painting, the surface has a deep, glossy richness to it like no other, with that lovely MiTientes texture visible. I frame them just like oil paintings on hardboard or stretched canvas.
8×10″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on Canson Board, unframed
$260.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I went out to the lakeshore very early this morning to try to grab some morning color before a thunderstorm moved in. I was there just in time, because it started to rain just as I was putting the painting away!
Click image to enlarge:
8×16″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$425.00 plus free shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is a plein air painting that I did in May at Garrison Landing. It needed a few minutes of tweaks in the studio before posting and still needed signing, so I had to wait until I had the Fluid Acrylics out again!
I really enjoyed doing this painting; I need to do more street scenes! I so love the serenity and natural beauty of the Hudson Valley that it’s hard to pull myself away from that in order to paint more of our contemporary and man-made environment.
Fluid acrylics are so much fun. When I first started using acrylics, I used heavy bodied paints and diluted them to a more fluid state. It was very frustrating that this would also dilute the pigment load, and the paints would go streaky on me. Then I learned that the Golden Fluid Acrylics are formulated to have a very high pigment load already in that perfect fluid state. I was in heaven! I’ve loved using these ever since. They do dry quickly, so on a warm, dry day of plein air painting, I switch to Golden OPEN. The Fluids are also perfect for underpainting because they dry so quickly. Then I can finish the painting with Golden OPEN, which gives me extended working time and stays wet on my palette. These two products are so much fun that I sometimes wonder why I ever bother with oil paints!
5×7″, Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This past weekend, my husband and I hiked out to Huckleberry Point in the Catskill Mountains. From the vantage point of these rocks, you can see east over the Hudson Valley to the Hudson River and beyond, south across Platte Clove, and west toward the Catskills and through the clove. It is truly one of the most spectacular places I’ve encountered in these mountain meanderings. We found the hike to be more strenuous than what the guide books described, so if you go, be prepared! We brought our walking sticks along, plenty of water, and lunch to have a picnic — things I’d definitely recommend to others who venture out there.
The painting above was done from one of the photos I took there. You can see the Hudson River near the horizon, working its way southward, and disappearing behind the Gunks.
I pulled out the acrylics this morning. Every time I paint with acrylics I ask myself why I ever paint in oils. These are just too much fun to be legal. I used Golden Fluid Acrylics today, with plenty of Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid to keep the paint workable. My palette for this painting was:
Hansa Yellow Opaque
Diarylide Yellow
Pyrrole Red
Cerulean Blue Deep
Prussian Blue Hue
Jenkins Green
Titanium White
I loved this palette!
18×24″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
This was painted on location at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, NY a few weeks ago. It needed a few finishing touches and signing in the studio, which I finally got to do today.
This painting is not an exact scene, but rather a composite of elements that were there at the time. There was a row of cherry blossoms in full bloom that were stunning. There was also a path alongside them; however, that path is actually on the other side of the trees, and runs parallel to the river, rather than toward it. I wanted to switch things around for a change, have the pathway lead the viewer’s eyes to the overview of Constitution Marsh, and bring the cherry blossoms into the painting as well. Fortunately, as artists, we can use our artistic license to have our cake and eat it too!
8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
With the cherry blossoms gone at Boscobel Restoration, I turned my attention back to the Hudson River, and the channels weaving through Constitution Marsh. The afternoon light turned the marsh a beautiful, dark reddish color.
I used three of the new Golden OPEN Acrylic colors coming out this month for this painting: Diarylide Yellow, Quinacridone Crimson, and Prussian Blue Hue. I also added Raw Sienna and Cadmium Yellow Primrose. I love these new colors.
If you think you saw this painting before recently, it’s because you have! I posted it a couple of weeks ago, but decided to do some additional work on it. While I was painting on location, a wonderful ship went by out on the river. It was too early in the process to put it into the painting at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it in the painting. I added the ship the other day from a photo, and reworked a little of the foliage too while I was at it.
Here’s a photo of my setup and the painting with the scene, before I put in the ship. It’s always fun to see the painting and vista together!
8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$425.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of days looking at my photo references. Usually I set aside photos that I take that appeal to me for paintings, and place those in a separate file. From time to time, I look back through ones I did not select, and usually find many that appeal to me now, though for some reason they did not grab me at the time. This photo is one that I took a couple of years ago, but happened to stumble upon it yesterday and saw it in a new light.
I did this painting with four of the new Golden OPEN colors: Prussian Blue Hue, Cadmium Yellow Dark, Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide, and Quinacridone Crimson, plus Titanium White. In the end, I also used a little Cadmium Yellow Primrose in the greens to increase the “sparkle factor”. I love these new colors! The Cadmium Yellow Dark mixes rich, warm greens. The Prussian Blue Hue is clean enough for skies, yet muted enough to not take over the painting, and mixes very deep darks (as I was hoping). The Quinacridone Crimson is going to become the new cool red on my palette. Transparent Yellow Oxide is a color I frequently use for underpainting and glazing in both oils and Golden Fluid Acrylics. I’m so glad that I have it now in OPEN as well!
I still vividly remember this bright, late afternoon at the Vanderbilt Mansion property along the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. It’s one of the best sunset locations that I’ve ever encountered, and one of the few parks where you can drive right to the river (though they do close the road to the river on weekends). I haven’t done any plein air painting there for a long time, but I think I will change that soon!
12×16″, Golden OPEN acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$535.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I stood out on a sand bar off Bannerman Island at low tide to take the photo from which this was painted. I also did a gouache sketch while I was out there on the sand bar. The tide came in before I realized it, and I had to wade back to shore!
16×12″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$535.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is a companion painting to Bannerman Archway to the Hudson, which I posted yesterday.
16×12″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$535.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting of one of the arches from the famous Bannerman Castle is but a memory of what was. A huge collapse of the castle wall destroyed this magical archway to the Hudson River. I feel so fortunate to have been able to paint there and take photos while much of the structure was still intact. It is my hope that enough money can be raised to strengthen the remaining portions of the structure and preserve whatever is left. Half the proceeds from the sale of this painting goes to Bannerman Castle Trust for repairs of the castle.
5×7″, acrylic on sealed, primed hardboard
$135.00 plus $12 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This beautiful view of the Hudson River was painted from a photo I took. I love the look of the Hudson Highlands as the trees lose their leaves. They take on the most beautiful pinky-violet color until the greens of summer re-emerge. I have done an 18×24″ painting of this scene as well.
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Canson board with backing board (To be framed without glass like an oil painting.)
$260.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
What was I thinking? I sat in the blistering hot sun at Tilly Foster Farm for hours to paint this. Even with my large beach umbrella for shade, the heat was too much. When I was finished, I walked over to where my smart friends were painting, under the shade of a huge tree! It felt 20 degrees cooler there. The great subject matter of this old truck was more than I could resist, even in the heat. The hay bales were glistening in the morning sun, and the large barrel of flowers provided the final, beautiful touch.
My palette for this painting:
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Pyrrole Red
Transparent Red Oxide
Ultramarine Blue
Phthalo Blue
Jenkins Green
Titanium White
16×20″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$800.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
Below is the painting in its initial form, as it came home from my plein air expedition. I was always bothered by that large piling so close to the center of the painting. Adjusting the composition, in this case, was very simple. By enlarging the piling to the right, I was able to remove that focal point in the center, rebalancing the painting. I think it works very well now! Below is the original, so that you can compare. Color and value differences that you see are due to the paintings being adjusted on different computers. (That gives you an indication of how different paintings can look from one computer to another, depending on our monitors and settings.)
This was painted on location in Cold Spring, New York, facing Storm King Mountain. I paint all over the Hudson River Valley, and the Hudson Highlands region certainly rates as one of the most dramatic along the river. I had to wait a long time for the clouds to break before they struck the mountain, but once the sun broke through it was quite spectacular.
For those who like to see some of the process, here is a photo of the Quinacridone Gold underpainting that I did for this one:
5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Fabriano Artistico hp watercolor paper, matted to 8×10″ (Mat and backing board included in price.)
$135.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was painted from the Waterfront Park along the Hudson in Athens, NY. I actually went there hoping that one of the Tall Ships would be there that will be parading up the Hudson next week. Unfortunately, no ship was there, but these red benches looking out over the river under the Chestnut Tree captured my attention. Without a ship, they became the focal point of my painting. Two women came along and sat down on one of the benches, chatting and gazing out onto the water, so I popped them into the painting too!
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Saunders Waterford 100% rag watercolor paper, 300lb cp.
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Every spring, it’s a race to paint the Cherry Blossoms before they go. It seems that as soon as they bloom and rain comes along, which it does constantly this time of year, they are gone until the following spring. I love this view of them against the mountain.
Click image for a larger, clearer version:
18×24″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$1,050.00 plus $40 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting was done from a photograph and a small color study of the scene that I painted a few weeks ago. You can see the color study here.
It is a fall view overlooking the Hudson River from private property in Garrison, New York. I may still tweak a few things on the larger version and will try to get a better photograph of it soon!
6×8″, acrylic on sealed, primed hardboard
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I once knew a wonderful painter named Mike Pacitti, who passed away a few years ago. He used a few different colors to underpaint with. One of them was called Burnt Carmine, made by Rembrandt. I remember it as a strong carmine/crimson color mixed with black. Even with black in the mix, I was surprised by how strong the color was when I saw Mike use it, and yet his paintings were filled with beautiful subtleties.
I decided to try something like that while waiting for clouds to break along the Hudson River in Cold Spring. I mixed Quinacridone Magenta half and half with Carbon Black, and used that to do the underpainting for this little plein air. It was much stronger than the colors I normally use to lay out my composition and values. No matter what you use to paint over it, the magenta seems to work its way through. Part of me thinks it still comes through too much. Another part of me thinks I’m just not used to it, and that I kind of like the effect.
What do you think? (Please click “comments” at the bottom of this post to let me know rather than emailing, because I’m getting swamped! 😉 )
6×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Ampersand Gessoboard
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Above is the completed painting, and below is an image of the work in progress. I’d initially planned to put in foreground grasses, but after doing that, I felt the painting was more effective without them. So, I worked on it yet a third time, and took the foreground grasses out!
It’s interesting how much the color of light affects what we see. The image of the finished painting was taken with the corrected light of my photo box, but the progress image was taken in cool daylight. The actual colors in paintings vary according to the lighting conditions where we view them.
I did the underpainting for this work with a color I’d not tried before from the Golden OPEN line—Quinacridone Gold. I love the warm glow that it brings to the work. I could get hooked on this color!
This is painted from a photo I took down in Constitution Marsh on the Hudson River. It’s been in my file of things I want to paint for a long time! With fall on the way, it seemed the right moment to pull out this lively autumn scene.
I’m still using an expanded palette because the paint is still wet from yesterday, and I’ve even added a few colors to the large assortment I was working with. So far for this painting I’ve used:
Titanium White
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Red Light
Pyrrole Red
Ultramarine Blue
Transparent Red Oxide
Quinacridone Gold
Carbon Black
Jenkins Green
12×16″, Golden OPEN on canvas covered hardboard
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A member of our plein air group got permission for us to paint very early in the morning at this fabulous location beneath the Palisades in Nyack, New York. It’s not long before the sun travels high enough to dim and cool the light on the cliff face. Although the sun was in and out of the clouds (mostly in), we did get some good color on the rocks. It was a fabulous location. I’d love to return in fall!
I just returned from my trip up to the Catskills, where I painted in the footsteps of the old Hudson River School painters. I visited the locations depicted in the paintings, and had an amazing trip doing my own versions from those famous spots. I’ll start posting photos and paintings from my trip beginning tomorrow. I’m still photographing the paintings and sorting through images. Please stay tuned!
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Raymar canvas panel
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I was down painting in Hastings-on-Hudson this morning. The Hudson River view was gorgeous as always. The sun hit the cliffs in the early morning light, giving them a reddish color. As the morning wore on, they became darker and more violet. I am always amazed by how much the color of the cliffs changes so quickly there. I stuck with my early morning version.
After painting, I went to a wonderful exhibit at the Hudson River Museum of the work of Anna Richards Brewster…..highly recommended!
12×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$495.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I had a wonderful excursion to Nyack today to paint along the Hudson River. The day was supposed to be very hot, so I left home early this morning to beat the heat. When I arrived at this wonderful path along the river, I was captivated by the yellow, atmospheric sky over the far hills across the river, and the shapes of the trees. This spot is very close to the parking lot, but I saw no reason to venture further, and set up my easel.
I used more than my usual limited palette for this one, expanding my colors to a whopping seven tubes!
Buff Titanium
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Primrose
Cadmium Red Light
Transparent Red Oxide
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White (hardly used it at all)
The buff titanium and naples yellow were great additions to my palette for this particular scene. I think they’ll likely become staples for these atmospheric, early morning paintings.
12×24″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$600.00 plus $30 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
It’s hard to beat springtime in the Hudson River Valley. This is a scene from Teatown Lake that I paint every spring. This morning, it seemed like I didn’t have my head screwed on quite right. I left the house feeling disorganized, had to pack up on location before leaving the car, and ended up forgetting my water. You can’t paint with acrylics without water! I went back up to the car to get the water, got back to my painting spot, and realized I didn’t have paper towels or my glasses! I managed to use old, somewhat soggy paper towels that were stuck in a zip-lock bag in with my painting gear. That didn’t solve the issue of the glasses, but sometimes painting without my glasses can help me see the big shapes without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. The swans were nesting again to the right of the bridge, where I see them every April. It’s a tranquil spot with a magical feeling.
Palisades in Lifting Fog
5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canson board
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When I arrived at the Hudson Riverfront this morning, it was totally fogged in and I couldn’t see anything but this tree and picnic bench! I decided to paint that while waiting for the fog to burn off. It lifted as I was painting, revealing the striking cliffs of the palisades on the far shore, so I had to put that into the painting!
6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
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It didn’t look like the clouds were going to break today, but I decided to take a chance and drove down to Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining, New York. The sun was in and out, but it did peek through long enough to light up the scene for me a few times. The swans are back there nesting on the other side of the bridge, and one would swim under the bridge past me, and back again, every so often. The last time he swam by, I was just finishing up the painting. It was the perfect time to put him in!
I paint this scene every spring, but usually from the other side. I’ll be going back again next week, so there’s still a chance for me to do my usual vantage point. There are a few scenes that I like to paint every year. They serve as a sort of barometer for me as the years go by. I can see changes in style, color, and ability as the years go by. I’ve always found this scene extremely challenging, which is why I like to paint it every year.
8×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on linen, matted to 10×8″
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Wow, this one was harder than I thought it would be….but I’m pretty happy with it after a day of struggling!
16×8″, oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$360.00 plus $20 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This morning in open studio, I finished off this painting of Jean. I wanted to take it a bit further than this, but at 16×8″, the painting was just too small to work it more—at least until I get new glasses! The head is only about an inch and a half high or so, so you can imagine trying to paint facial details standing at an easel.
My palette for this painting consisted of:
Transparent Red Oxide
Cadmium Red
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Naples Yellow
Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White
Once I was done with that, there was still an hour or so of studio time left, so I started a monochrome oil portrait of her, then wiped it off at the end of the session. Why’d I do that? I have no idea! I was actually pretty pleased with it, but after the first wipe with the cloth, it was too late to go back.
Jean will be back next week and I’ll paint her from a different angle.
8×6″, Golden Fluid and OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard, custom framed
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This is a scene that I’ve been wanting to paint for over three years, and I finally got around to it! It is a view of the Hudson River from Hyde Park, New York.
12×12″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
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My painting buddy, Suhua Wood, found this amazing spot along the Hudson River in Cold Spring for us to paint! I started this painting on location a few weeks ago, but didn’t have enough time to finish it there. I finally finished it up from a photo.
I took pictures of the various stages as I painted. First I underpainted with Golden Fluid Acrylics, using Transparent Red Oxide for all but the lightest areas. Some light areas then got a wash of Transparent Yellow Oxide, and cool darks got some Ultramarine Blue.
I pulled out some heavier bodied acrylics, and laid in the sky and water. You can see an image of my scene and setup here as I was working.
Then I started working with the local colors I saw. The image below shows how much I completed on location, and how far I still had to go.
I used a photo of the scene to finish up the painting, in combination with the information already there from having worked on location. Being able to do even a portion of the piece en plein air always makes a difference in the outcome.
Click image to enlarge:
8×10, acrylic on Multimedia Artboard
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This was painted on location from Cold Spring, New York, along the shore of the Hudson River. Crow’s Nest Mountain is actually 42 feet higher than neighboring Storm King, but doesn’t get as much of the publicity. The moon was setting over the cliffs, presenting an irresistible scene. I thought I’d show a demo of my process, so I took some photos along the way.
I started by mixed up a painting “medium” of Golden Acrylic Flow Release in a ratio of 1:10 with water, poured some of that into a little palette cup, and added about 25% Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid (Gloss). I used that to dilute paint for my underpainting, so as not to underbind the paint, and to help the flow of the color.
I began drawing in a couple of lines with heavily diluted Transparent Red Oxide. Once the placement lines were in, I started blocking in darks with thicker paint, and used thinner washes on the midtones. Then I used Transparent Yellow Oxide over the light areas (except for the sky). Areas of this photo appear blue due to sky reflection; those areas are actually white.
Next, I pulled out some Ultramarine blue, and used that combined with the transparent yellow and red oxides to block in cool darks and start a green wash on the foreground. Adding Titanium white and just a dash of phthalo blue to the ultramarine, I blocked in the sky and some sky holes in the tree.
Below is a photo of the painting on my easel, with the scene in the background, so you can see what I was working on. Compositionally, I’d have needed a wider canvas to fit in these elements if I wanted to keep everything to scale. Instead, I compressed the scene, shortening the width of the mountain, and bringing the moon over and down toward the peak. (You can just barely see the moon in the photo of the scene, in the upper right corner.)
I added Hansa Yellow Opaque and Napthol Red to my palette, and started working on the local color. I wanted to bring out the warm tones in the cliffs, so started putting in the pinks and violets early on. The red underpainting helped with that, as well as giving that orangy fall atmosphere. Here it is at the “almost done” point:
Lastly, I added cooler colors to the cliff face and did a once-over throughout the painting, adding finishing touches and making adjustments.
I hope you enjoyed the demo and plein air painting with me!
Golden OPEN Acrylics on Fabriano Artistico hot press 100% rag watercolor paper
Double matted and custom framed to 8×10″
$240.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
There has been a lot of interest in my acrylics on watercolor paper, so Bannerman Castle Trust took me out to Bannerman’s Island by boat to paint more for the gallery! It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. *big grin* I always have the time of my life when I go out there to paint, and this time was no exception!
To give you an idea of how tough it can be to get around parts of the island, here’s a picture of where I was when I painted this painting. I had to lug my equipment up the slope, and then down this side, then back up again. I initially set my chair where you see it here, but then moved it down to where I took this picture from, for the better vantage point closer to the water.
8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas
$400.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is another plein air painting done along the Hudson River from my favorite spot in Cold Spring, NY. I just can’t get enough of this location! Storm King Mountain is on the left, and Breakneck Ridge on the right, with Little Stony Point jutting out into the river. Watching the huge barges, tugs and beautiful sailboats pass through the middle could become a favorite pastime! The clouds were truly amazing in the morning, and the chroma was so strong that I had to pull out the phthalo blue to get the beautiful almost-turquoise color low in the sky.
5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylic on Ampersand Gessoboard
$125.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was painted on location at Benedict Farm Park in Montgomery, New York. The late afternoon light was absolutely stunning, but I had to pack up to leave just before I was finished with the painting. I added the finishing touches in just a few minutes in the studio.
5×7, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Fabriano Artistico rag watercolor paper, unframed
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I just got in from a couple of days at Lake George, New York. What a beautiful place to relax and paint. I usually don’t get to paint much during family trips, but one morning when we were all at the beach, I pulled out my little pochade box and did this 5×7 under the shade of a nice, big beach umbrella.
Here’s a photo of my painting setup at the beach (You can click to enlarge this image):
Here’s what the scene looked like before I started, from the vantage point of my comfy beach chair. That dot up in the sky is actually somebody parasailing! If you click the image to enlarge it, you can just make out the parachute:
I did get some great photos to work from one night when we went on a sunset cruise. We also drove up Prospect Mountain, which has 100 mile views, and took some pictures up there. So, there should be more Lake George paintings coming along in the near future. Stay tuned!
8×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
Custom framed in a gold plein air style wood frame
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This painting was done on location at Boscobel Restoration. It is the famous overview of Constitution Marsh and the Hudson River. I set up my easel in the cool shade under a big tree along the bluff. I think I’ve painted from this spot in nearly every season and every size. It occurred to me that I hadn’t done an 8×16″ summer view of the scene, so here it is for the very first time!