Click painting for a larger, clearer image:

8×10″, Oil on Raymar linen panel
$265.00 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.

Spring has certainly sprung today. The forsythia is in bloom and the temperatures are soaring! This is one of my personal favorite springtime paintings, so I thought it appropriate to pull it up to the top in celebration. Below is the original post that I wrote when I did the painting.

After braving yesterday’s cold and windy temps up on a hillside overlooking the Hudson River, I decided to opt for something more springlike today, and pulled out some of my favorite spring photo references. The red barn and forsythia really caught my eye here, and the children playing nearby were an added bonus. I remember this day at Muscoot farm like it was yesterday. I was out painting there and these adorable children (clearly budding artists) came over with their mom to look at my painting. They couldn’t wait to get home after that so that they could paint! The painting I did that day sold last spring; I’m glad to have a bunch of photos to work from to paint this barn again with the bright yellow forsythia.

My palette for this painting was Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Lemon, Raw Sienna, Venetian Red, Ultramarine Blue and Cerulean Blue. I adore these Raymar linen panels. They have wonderful texture and always seem to give a painting that extra refined touch.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Farm Scenes, Figures, Flowers, Gardens and Flowering Trees, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Oil paintings, Spring, Westchester | No Comments »

(Click image to enlarge.)

8×10″, oil on linen panel
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

This commissioned New York City wedding scene was a surprise gift for the bride and groom from one of the guests at the wedding.

8x10 and smaller, Animals, Cityscape/Townscape/Urban paintings, Figures, Oil paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sold | No Comments »

6×9″, Acrylic on multi-media board mounted to hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

My husband and I were out hiking on a beautiful fall day in the Hudson Valley. I snapped a photo of this couple walking down the trail, which became a great painting subject. This painting went out to my Hudson Valley Hues solo show at RiverWinds gallery before I had a chance to put it up on my website, and has sold at the show. Thank you, RiverWinds! The show will run until July 3 for anybody who has not yet had a chance to go see it. The gallery is at 172 Main Street, Beacon, NY. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Monday, 12-6pm, closed Tuesdays.

8x10 and smaller, Acrylic paintings, Fall, Figures, Gallery, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sold | No Comments »

16×20″, iridescent and interference acrylic on archival matboard
Varnished to be framed without glass (like an oil painting)

$400.00 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 montage was done in open studio, using iridescent and interference acrylics. It makes the painting hard to photograph due to the glimmering of the paint. It is a very challenging way to work because you never know what pose the model will take next! You can end up with an empty space on the panel, and a pose that doesn’t suit the space. Some of them work out compositionally and some don’t. I felt this was one of the lucky ones, where all the poses could work together. I love doing these. It’s so different from the other work I do, and gives me the opportunity to work outside of my box.

Below is an image of the painting that you can click on for a larger, clearer view:

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1.75×2″, including frame
Acrylic
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Do you have a favorite painting by an Old Master? These miniature copies are done on a commission basis. Please contact me at JamieWG@aol.com if you’d like me to paint one for you. I am currently accepting holiday commissions. If you or your Special Someone have a favorite, this is the time to place your order for the holidays. These miniatures are $150 including the frame and easel, plus $10 shipping and insurance. Collect a bunch of your favorite paintings for a beautiful table display!

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12×15.5″, Interference Acrylics on sealed Mi Tientes paper
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Every once in awhile, an experiment takes place that makes me so happy I want to sing and dance. That’s what happened here. In preparation for a life drawing session, I decided to experiment last night with some of the Golden Interference Acrylics. I’ve been using them quite a bit for my surface preparation on dark supports, but I hadn’t actually tried painting with them. I am so happy with the way this turned out. The figures almost seem to move as the light dances across the shimmery, metallic paint.

I was initially sorry I didn’t have any sketchbook pages prepared with the Golden Black Gesso. However, given the way this turned out, that was actually a good thing. I had a 12×16″ spiral pad of black Mi Tientes paper. I’d even previously sized a page of it with Matte Medium, which I cut out of the pad (hence the reason why this montage is 12×15.5″ instead of 12×16″) It was ideal for this purpose.

I worked from some photo references. That sure did make it easier in terms of selecting poses that would work in the piece. Since I always do these in open studio with a model, I am used to taking whatever pose the model gives the group, and trying to make that work within the composition. I can certainly see the benefit to doing some of these from photos for that reason, though I do prefer doing them from life.

What I was trying to find out was whether or not I’d like painting with the interference paints on a dark ground. I have to say, I like it lots! I will definitely be doing some of these on my 16×20 boards too, now that I see the results on paper.

Below is an image that you can click on to see a larger view of the painting. I might try to make a video of it later, so that you can see how it shimmers in the changing light.

8x12 to 12x24, Acrylic paintings, Figures, Portraits and Figures, Sketches, Sold | No Comments »

16×20″, Acrylic on archival board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

These montages are such an interesting challenge. You never know in advance what pose will come up next, so getting them to fit together compositionally is sometimes like attempting to make a jigsaw puzzle out of mismatched pieces! I like the way these poses came together though, and when she decided to do the last pose lying down, it gave me that nice horizontal element across the bottom.

This surface is a black archival drawing board. I coated it front and back with matte medium to protect and seal it, as well as provide additional tooth. The matte medium keeps the paint workable a bit longer also, since the water doesn’t absorb into the surface. After sealing the board, I put a stencil rid over it, and sprayed it with diluted interference and iridescent acrylics to give it some visual texture, depth and shimmer. Then I painted the figures in acrylics over the top. It will be clear-sealed again, this time with gloss medium, and varnished. That way, it can be framed just like an oil painting, without glass.

Below is an image that you can click on to see it larger:

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16×20″, Acrylic on archival drawing board
$295.00 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 figure montage was done in open studio life drawing from poses that ranged from 30 seconds to 20 minutes. I prepared a 16×20″ black and iridescent support in advance, then layered the poses on top of that background. I did blue and purple figures on the shortest poses that began the session, since those colors tend to recede. I layered warmer colors over cooler colors, and let the poses overlap and interweave. Great fun!

This painting was done as an acrylic on board so that it can be framed without glass like an oil painting. The archival board was sealed on both sides before painting. It will be signed and then receive two isolation coats, followed by a coat of beautiful gloss varnish. It will fit any standard 16×20″ frame.

Below is an image that you can click on to get a larger, clearer view:

16x20 and larger, Acrylic paintings, Available, Figures, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

12×9″, Watercolor on Mi Tientes paper
$100.00 plus $5 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 watercolor painting from open studio life drawing last week. We had a fabulous new model. Most of the session I painted in my sketchbook, but I pulled out some nice paper for this pose.

You can also see a montage of the very quick gesture poses in my sketchbook at this link. I really like the way this experiment came out, so I’ve prepared some black supports to upgrade my materials and do more this week. Stay tuned!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Figures, Portraits and Figures, Sketches, Watercolor | No Comments »

1.5×2″ (unframed size), Golden Fluid Acrylics
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

Here’s another of my tiny “Micro Master” paintings, this one after a Monet favorite. Figures are especially difficult in this diminutive size, but I love the challenge! The quarter in the photo is for size reference, so you can see how small these really are.

These miniatures are so difficult and time consuming that I only do them on a commission basis. It’s a labor of love! If you either have a favorite painting by a Master in mind or would like me to choose one for you as a commission, you can email me at JamieWG@aol.com.

8x10 and smaller, Acrylic paintings, Figures, Miniature Paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sold | No Comments »

18×12″, soft pastels on Wallis
$395.00 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.

I haven’t done any pastel work for quite some time, so I decided to bring my large Dakota box of pastels to open studio this week.There’s everything under the sun in that box, all mixed together and sorted by value and color.

This has been a tough week. My poor husband got food poisoning, and I hurt my back yesterday trying to move a cabinet, so my artwork may well be a little sporadic for the next week or so. I miss it already.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Figures, Pastels, Portraits and Figures | 1 Comment »

5 x 7″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$130.00 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.

There is so much to paint from this one spot in scenic New Paltz, New York, that I think I could go there every day for a month and not run out of things to paint by just facing in different directions!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Farm Scenes, Figures, Hudson River Valley, Landscape | 2 Comments »

8×10, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Canson board
$250.00 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 painting is from today’s open studio—a great pose from our model Amanda, with lots of foreshortening to make me work extra hard!

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5×7″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on Canson board
$130.00 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.

I went to Marshlands Conservancy in Rye yesterday. It was a gorgeous day and although I didn’t have time to stop and paint, I got loads of wonderful photo references. Now I have some compositional ideas for when I return there to paint later in the spring, as well as some things to work on during rainy days.

This mom was having a lot of fun following her little boy around the beach on Long Island Sound. He went exploring every nook along the shoreline. It was a chilly, spring afternoon, but the bright sunlight made everything light up.

I used an expanded palette for this painting. I think I actually dipped into every single color here. It’s unusual for me to use so many.
Titanium White
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Red Light
Cerulean Blue Chromium hue
Ultramarine Blue
Oxide of Chromium
Transparent Red Oxide
Phthalo Blue

8x10 and smaller, Available, Figures, Golden OPEN Acrylic Paintings, Landscape, Portraits and Figures | 1 Comment »

8×6″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on linen
$115.00 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 is from today’s open studio. This is the first time I’ve done a figure on this clear-sealed linen, and I just love the way the colors work with it and the texture.

I used the new, lightweight painting/pochade box that I made for this one. It’s working out great! Here it is in the life drawing studio all set up and ready to go….

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This sketch from life was done with an umber, water soluble Cretacolor stick on Arches hot press watercolor paper. It’s about 6×11″.

$100.00 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.

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7.75×11″, watercolor on Arches 140 lb HP rag watercolor paper
$150.00 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.

We had to leave our usual life drawing studio due to a solvent spill. I was painting in oils, but when we moved to the clay room, there wasn’t room for my oil painting gear. Fortunately, I had a little Winsor Newton Artist watercolor pan set in my purse and a nice umber Cretacolor stick, and some Arches paper in the car, so I pulled those out instead. You know what they say….When life throws you lemons, make lemonade! So, that’s what I did.

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Click image to enlarge:

24×18″, oils on canvas
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in purchasing this painting

We had our wonderful model, John, for one more session. I pulled out a 24×18″ piece of canvas and did the painting in one fell swoop. It was about an hour and a half of painting time. I love painting this way—trying to catch the essence of a pose, and seeing how refined I can get it, in a single sitting. It makes me think of plein air painting, where the moving light sets the clock constantly ticking, and you need to be able to say what it is you want to say without fuss and deliberation.

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About 18×12″, oils on unstretched canvas
$395.00 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.

Kerri was back modeling for us again today. I was going to do a bunch of quick oil sketches of her, but I really liked the way this was coming along, so I decided to stick with it for the full session.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Figures, Oil paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

Click to enlarge:

24×18″, Oils on unstretched canvas

This is a fairly large oil sketch on canvas, painted from life this morning. It can be shipped when dry, rolled in a mailing tube. Nudes are wonderful paintings for bedrooms and private sitting rooms, and convey a feeling of intimacy.

I really enjoyed working this size today in the life drawing studio. I cut a bunch of canvas pieces this size from a large roll I have, and I think I’ll stick with these larger ones for awhile. When I draw with charcoal in open studio, I usually go 24×36″, so although lately I’ve been painting figures a lot smaller, the 18×24″ size didn’t feel overwhelming.

The longest poses in these Wednesday sessions are 50 minutes, so the real challenge is to try to capture something special in that period of time. Everybody usually draws rather than paints because the time is so short. A couple of my oil sketches this morning bit the dust, so to speak, but I really like the way this one turned out. If I can come back from a session of short poses with just one thing I like, I consider it a success!

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12×16″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas
$440.00 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.

Normally in life drawing and painting, artists avoid the hands. They are so complex, and difficult to render in a short time. I think everybody was glad that Jean took this pose with her hands behind her back! They were all on the other side of her. I finished my painting from the front last week, so this morning I went behind her to take on the enemy directly in my own, personal challenge. It was a three hour pose with breaks, and of course the hands changed a bit each time, making a tough subject even harder.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Figures, Portraits and Figures | 1 Comment »

24×18″, charcoal and pastel on brown craft paper
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

It seems I’m spending a lot of time in the figure studio this week…..

24×18″, charcoal and pastel on brown craft paper

Figures, Pastels, Portraits and Figures, Sketches, Sold | 1 Comment »

18×24″
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

We had Marshall back in the life drawing studio this morning. He is such a great model, with wonderful expression, a vivacious personality, and knows how to hold a pose! These are both 19×25″ on Canson MiTientes paper, charcoal and pastel. You can click either image to enlarge it to 600 pixels. The pose below was a lot harder to draw than I thought it would be!

18×24″

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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.

8x12 to 12x24, Acrylic paintings, Available, Figures, Portraits and Figures | 2 Comments »

Click to enlarge:

About 12×10″, Wolff’s Carbon Pencil and wash on acid free, heavyweight paper
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

This was about a 1/2 hour sketch of Michelle. The poses aren’t that long, so I focused mostly on her face. I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of the way these carbon pencils react with water. There is definitely a learning curve with them. I like that they can get way darker than graphite, and thus extend the value range when working in monochrome.

My apologies to those who tried to get to my site today and were unable to get the front page to load. The problem seemed to be caused by Mapstats. I took it off my site and now it’s loading like lightning.

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Click image to enlarge:

18×24″, on brown craft paper

Marshall is a fabulous model with oodles of personal charm and charisma, and interesting features to draw. Here are some of my sketches from today’s life drawing poses.

Above: 36×24″

Below: 18×24″ (click to enlarge image)

16x20 and larger, Available, Drawings, Figures, Pastels, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 2 Comments »

12×16″, pastels on Daler Rowney paper, unframed

I spend my Sunday mornings with a group of artists in a figure drawing studio, where we have a different model every week. We practice drawing from poses ranging from one minute to 25 minutes, in whatever medium we choose. It’s no wonder the great masters always worked on drawing figures from life. There is no better practice for the hand and eye, and it is a skill that carries over to all subjects.

The drawing above is in pastel on Daler Rowney pastel paper. I love the different colors it comes in and the woven texture. This was a 20 minute pose—the last pose of the session. We were all a little sleepy by then, even the model!

Below are some additional sketches from the session.
About 12 minutes (the cellphone interrupteth!), 12×16″ on MiTientes paper:

Below are two more 20 minute poses, also 12×16 on MiTientes:

At the beginning of each session, we do several quick “warmups”, which are poses that vary from one to 5 minutes. I thought it would be nice for you to see what the very short poses are like. Although it took longer to take the photos and upload them than it did to do the actual sketches, it’s nice to show them on occasion. They are just quick, gestural sketches. Here are a few from today:

I hope you enjoyed this trip to open studio life drawing with me!

Figures, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 2 Comments »

36×24″, 25 minute pose:

36×24″, 25 minute pose:

I love drawing on this crinkly brown craft paper, but taking photos of the results is always an insurmountable challenge. I’m finally arriving at the inevitable conclusion that if I like working on this color, I’m going to have to find a source for it that is in a form that stays flatter.

I finally got back to open studio life drawing today. It’s such a great break from my usual art routine. I’ll have 8 weeks of it on Sundays. That should almost get me back to plein air season! The poses were mostly one minute and ten minutes. We only got two, twenty-five minute poses out of the three hour session.

Both of these are available for purchase. Email me if interested.

Available, Figures, Sketches | 2 Comments »

The image above is a cropped version of the 36×24″ sketch of Amy. I never feel I come away from a life drawing session with a “finished” piece since the poses are so short, but it’s great practice to keep going after that elusive goal. This sketch was done on my favorite brown crinkly craft paper, which makes it hard to get a good photo. I tear off 24×36″ sheets from a huge roll and clip them to a big piece of foamcore. I like working on the midtone surface, since I can just add my lights and darks. Amy is a fabulous model and also an artist, so she always thinks about how a pose will fill the page. The medium is charcoal and pastels. The full image is below.

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