I’ve been doing a bunch of small watercolors lately. Here’s an assortment of birds from this week. The larger ones are 5.5 x 7.5″, and each is $100. The miniatures are 3.5 x 4″, $75 each. There is a 20% discount for two or more. Mats and framing are not included in this special offer. Shipping is free within the continental US. If you’d like one of these sweet little chirpers, just send me an email (JamieWG at aol.com) saying which you’d like. The Nuthatch is no longer available.

This offer remains in effect until they are each photographed, matted, and posted with individual Paypal buttons at my regular prices.

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

8x10 and smaller, Animals, Available, Birds, Gouache, Pets Wildlife Animals, Sales and Specials, Sketches, Watercolor | No Comments »

16×12″, drawing media on Rives BFK paper (archival rag paper), custom matted and framed (included in price)

Special Price — matted and framed

$280.00 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 one of the many stunning, old trees at Olana, home of Hudson River School painter Frederic Church. This tree is right near the site of Church’s old studio. I went on a drawing/painting spree with trees this year, and especially enjoyed working in these warm sepia colors on toned paper.

This drawing is one of a series of three trees, all done in the same sepia tones. The other two will be posted over the next two days. They can be purchased individually, or subtract 20% if you’d like to have all three to hang as a triptych. They are framed with identical ivory mats and gorgeous custom gold frames, and make a beautiful grouping in a classic style.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Columbia County, Current Special, Drawings, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Monochromatic Paintings, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Trees, Uncategorized | No Comments »

16×12″, drawing media on Rives BFK (archival rag paper), custom matted and framed (included in price)

Special Price — matted and framed

$280.00 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 weathered pine leans over North South Lake, nestled in the Catskill Mountains. I loved its character, and the opportunity to draw in the company of friends on a beautiful day by the lake.

This drawing is one of a series of three trees, all done in the same sepia tones. One was posted yesterday, and the final one will be posted tomorrow. They can be purchased individually, or subtract 20% if you’d like to have all three to hang as a triptych. They are framed with identical ivory mats and gorgeous custom gold frames, and make a beautiful grouping in a classic style.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Current Special, Drawings, Greene County, Hudson River School, Lakes and Streams, Landscape, Monochromatic Paintings, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Trees | No Comments »

16×12″, Drawing media on Rives BFK (archival rag paper), custom matted and framed (included in price)

Special Price — matted and framed

$280.00 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.

A few days ago, I posted a painting of a tree from Olana, titled Cedar Overlooking the Hudson. This is a drawing I did of the same tree. As I said previously, I can’t seem to get enough of this one!

This drawing is one of a series of three trees, all done in the same sepia tones. The other two will be posted over the next two days. They can be purchased individually, or subtract 20% if you’d like to have all three to hang as a triptych. They are framed with identical ivory mats and gorgeous custom gold frames, and make a beautiful grouping in a classic style.

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Current Special, Drawings, Greene County, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Monochromatic Paintings, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Trees | No Comments »

7×5″, oil on board

$135.00 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.

Bash Bish Falls is one of those spots that’s been on my Must See list for several years. Nestled just over the state border in Massachusetts, the waterfall is in a park that straddles the state line. My husband and I went hiking there, entering from the New York side, and hiking up along the cascading stream, with its gorgeous green pools. When we arrived at the main attraction here, I found a perfect rock to sit on and do an oil sketch of the scene, while my husband tested his photography skills with different angles of the falls. It’s a great waterfall to visit, and the pool at the base is a beautiful teal color that shows in the painting, but refused to present itself in the photo of the painting! It’s a challenging scene to paint because the waterfall is only visible at the very bottom of this high, steep hillside. You can show some of the mountaintop and sky for depth, but that makes the waterfall appear tiny! Or you can paint just the visible part of the waterfall, which makes the scene lack depth. I tried to compromise by intentionally shrinking the height of the mountain in order to show a bit of the sky on top!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Columbia County, Hudson River Valley, Lakes and Streams, Landscape, Oil paintings, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Waterfalls | No Comments »

12×9″, pastel on Wallis paper
$190.00 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.

People pass by this beautiful waterfall around the horseshoe bend on Route 23a, heading through Kaaterskill Clove into the mountains. There is a big sign next to it that says, “Kaaterskill Falls”. But this is not Kaaterskill Falls; rather, the trail that leads up the mountainside to the base of Kaaterskill Falls begins at this point! This significant, but smaller charmer, is Bastion Falls. I’ve walked past it many, many times on my way up the trail to paint the famous Kaaterskill Falls. For once I decided to stay at the trail head and sketch Bastion Falls.

I had my little dog BB with me, and I’d spent the entire morning working on a larger painting from a second tier of this waterfall. I went home for a late lunch, returning with my dog, lightweight pastel setup, and a gardening cushion to put on a rock to sit on. I have to say, I really loved working on this one. It’s still in a sketchy stage and I was considering finishing it; but some things are best left with the spontaneous freshness and expressive strokes that further refinement can so often obliterate. I’ve decided to call it “done” just the way it is. It has the energy, movement, and high contrast that I wanted to capture. And I want to go back and do another!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Drawings, Greene County, Hudson River School, Lakes and Streams, Pastels, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Waterfalls | No Comments »

15×20″, acrylic on illustration board
$350.00 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 in my series of large acrylic sketches on illustration board. They are really fun to paint, and I’ve found that calling them “sketches” sets me free to experiment with brushwork, drips, colors, compositions, and other boundaries that I might be hesitant to explore if I call them “paintings” from the outset. I go into it thinking “sketch”, and whatever emerges is what it is!

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

16x20 and larger, Acrylic paintings, Available, Boats and Ships, Brewster and North Salem, Fall, Hudson River Valley, Lakes and Streams, Landscape, Peach Lake and Brook, Sketches | No Comments »

16×20″ custom framed with an archival ivory mat and classic gold frame (included in price). Oils on sealed rag paper. Painting image size is 1/4 sheet (11×15″) in a 16×20 mat. It looks especially elegant with the mat and frame!

$675.00 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 on location overlooking Hudson River School artist Frederic Church’s estate, Olana. It is the famous Hudson River classic view from the property. This started out as a monochromatic oil sketch on location, but as the it progressed, I was unable to avoid the temptation to start putting in color!

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

16x20 and larger, Available, Columbia County, Farm Scenes, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Oil paintings, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches | No Comments »

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 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 »

Click image for a larger, sharper view:

This sketch is already matted to 12×16″, with an archival custom ivory mat and backing board in an archival polybag. It will fit any standard 12×16″ frame. The drawing was done on an eighth sheet (about 7.5×11.25), colored leads on Stonehenge paper.
$290.00 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.

My regular viewers here have seen this waterfall painted from many different angles and seasons, in many mediums, and various sizes and formats. Now you can see the tonal sketch version! I am really enjoying working this way, with a light and a dark on toned paper. I sat on a gardening cushion on a rock at the water line to do this sketch, with my little dog Rondo wading in the pools of the waterfalls.

8x10 and smaller, 8x12 to 12x24, Available, Catskill Mountains, Drawings, Fall, Greene County, Hudson River Valley, Lakes and Streams, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Waterfalls | 1 Comment »

This sketch is available already matted to 12×16″, with an archival custom ivory mat and backing board in an archival polybag. It will fit any standard 12×16″ frame. The drawing was done on an eighth sheet (about 7.5×11.25), using colored leads on Stonehenge paper.

$290.00 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 was a drawing I did from the studio window on a rainy day. I’ve been wanting to sketch or paint this view for a long time and finally got my chance! I was looking at sketches last week by Hudson River School artist BBG Stone, and became captivated by the way he would zero in on his focal point in a certain area of his drawing, leaving the rest in a more unfinished state. I liked the way it created a vignette within the scene, and I’m looking forward to exploring this style in my drawings and sketches.

Usually I use this approach of a dark and a light on midtone paper in the figure studio, but BBG Stone employed it very successfully in many of his landscape sketches, so I had to give it a go too. I loved working this way! More like this will definitely follow in the near future!

Here is an image you can click on to get a larger, sharper view:

8x10 and smaller, Available, Catskill Mountains, Drawings, Greene County, Hudson River School, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Palenville and Catskill, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches | 1 Comment »

I did this little 9×12″ watercolor across a two-page spread in my Fabriano Venezia sketchbook to show you what my new blog looks like! If you’ve enjoyed seeing my sketches, hearing my rambles about the artistic process, and looking on while I varnished paintings, primed panels, mixed paint, and built foamcore pochade boxes, most of those things will be posted only on the new “Sketches” blog from now on. That blog is at http://HudsonValleySketches.blogspot.com. You can click here to head over there now, and subscribe there to continue to receive all my posts online.

Don’t worry; this This Hudson Valley Painter blog isn’t going away! It will still be here, and will contain my completed paintings that are available for sale. The sketches, product reviews, and thoughts on the artistic process will be on the new site.

How to Make Paint, Landscape, Not Currently Available, Personal Collection, Product Reviews, Shows and News, Sketches, Watercolor | No Comments »

Psssst…..Would you like to have a sneak peek at my new blog for my art journals, sketches, ideas, and experiments with materials? It’s over here! I’ll be making an official announcement in a few days. I still need to do a little housekeeping at the new site. Let me know how you like it if you pop over there! Comments and suggestions welcomed!

All of my paintings in progress and completed works for sale will continue to be posted here at the Hudson Valley Painter site. 🙂

Sketches, Uncategorized | No Comments »

6×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.

I had a true painting marathon on the day I did this painting, leaving the house at 7am and not returning until after 8:30pm. It was a fabulous day of great weather and beautiful scenery in Cold Spring, New York, along the banks of the Hudson River. I can well understand why some of the Hudson River School painters loved to paint from this very spot; I love to paint here too!

This was the last one of the day—attempting to catch the fleeting sunset colors during the few minutes before the light faded into darkness. There’s never enough time to “finish” one when painting sunsets on location. It’s really a matter of grabbing color as it emerges, and hoping for the best!

8x10 and smaller, Cold Spring and Garrison, Hudson River Paintings, Hudson River School, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Sold, Sunrise/Sunset | 3 Comments »

Click painting for a larger, clearer image:

Sketches | 3 Comments »

6×8″, Sepia ink pen and watercolors

My daughter and her friend had a photography class today, so while they were in class I pulled out my sketchbook in a shady spot and did a “Saturday Sketch” at Tilly Foster Farm. I struggle with architecture, so it’s always a great challenge for me when I’m out sketching.

Sketches | No Comments »

Click for clearer, larger image:

I’ve made a pact with myself to start doing sketches every Saturday. I have some Saturday paintouts coming up, so there may be times when I need to do “Saturday Sketches” on a different day instead, but I’m going to try to stick to posting them on Saturdays. I’ve received so many comments from viewers who enjoy seeing my sketches, and the drawing practice is very important.

I almost always sketch from life, but today I checked into the Wetcanvas Weekend Drawing Event and couldn’t resist doing some watercolor sketches from those beautiful reference images! Check it out sometime; there is a different host every week, and the images are usually posted on Fridays, in plenty of time for everybody’s weekend enjoyment.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

Click for a clearer, enlarged image:

Sketches | 1 Comment »

There are many fabulous sites along the Ocean Path in Acadia National Park, but it’s hard to beat the views from the very end, when you arrive at Otter Point. I’ve done lots of paintings from this location, and I’m sure there are many more to come.

Sketches | No Comments »

I had a meeting up at Olana today, home of Hudson River School artist, Frederic Church. Although I didn’t have time to pull out all my gear to paint, I couldn’t resist at least doing a sketch while I was there. I saw a nice bench under a tree next to the mansion, so I pulled out my sketchbook, fountain pen, and watercolors, and took advantage of the shady spot while sketching. (You can click the image to enlarge it.)

Materials:
4.5×6.5″ Derwent journal
Lamy Safari fountain pen with converter
Noodler’s Bulletproof black ink
Winsor Newton Artist watercolors

Hudson River School, Olana and Hudson NY, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches | 1 Comment »

When I don’t feel well or just don’t have time to do a “real” painting, or sometimes when life seems way too serious, I hop on over to the Wetcanvas Artwork From Life forum to see what’s on the current Scavenger Hunt List. Since I hurt my back, I haven’t been able to get out to paint, so I pulled out my watercolor sketchbook, my new fantastic Lamy Safari fountain pen (with converter cartridge and Noodler’s Black Bulletproof ink loaded), and my little pan set of watercolors. One little sketch was about as long a time as I could remain upright. I managed to get this 7×10″ page done yesterday and the day before in really short spurts, and started another.

This week’s list of items to sketch included:
1: Tape dispenser
2: Scissors
3: Bookend or bookends
4: Lamp post
5: Mailbox
6: Dog collar or animal collar
7: Curly screw-in florescent light bulb (Challenge# 1- a broken one)
8: A lunchbox
9: A beauty aid
10: A place or object associated with a hair salon or barbershop
11: Something that hangs from a tree
12: An outdoor drinking fountain .
13: An object in a storefront window
14: A wheelbarrow (Challenge #2 A wheelbarrow full stuff )
15: A hanging basket
16: Something that requires a key to function and the key
17: A wrench or pliers
18: A bucket, or pail (Challenge #3 a bucket filled with stuff)
19: Clothes on a clothes line.
20: A traffic sign
21: A glove used in a sport or recreational activity
22: Something hanging on a garage wall
23: A bag or box of popcorn
24: A sconce
25: A fire hydrant
26: A garden implement

If any of you artists out there wake up with a strong case of “I Don’t Know What to Paint”, give the Scavenger Hunts a try! It’s a great group of folks who participate, and always fun to share sketches and comments on the forum.

Sketches | No Comments »

5×7″, Gouache on Stonehenge rag paper
$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.

Today I struggled in every way at every turn. Finally, near the end of this very long day, I set a Granny Smith apple on a red file folder and broke out my new tubes of Winsor Newton Gouache. It’s so nice to finally have the lush, cadmium colors available. Sometimes when life gets too complex, painting something simple and beautiful creates balance.

This was painted with a very limited palette:
Titanium White
Cadmium Red
Cadmium Lemon
Ultramarine Blue

8x10 and smaller, Available, Sketches, Still Life | 1 Comment »

4×6″, Watercolor sketch on Canson paper

This is another little watercolor sketch from my Poet’s Walk expedition in Rhinebeck, NY yesterday. There is a beautiful pavillion made with tree trunks and branches at the top of the hill. Even more importantly, there is a bench in a cool shady spot along the path nearby from which to paint it!

8x10 and smaller, Sketches | 2 Comments »

7×9″, Watercolor sketch on Canson paper

Since I had my show opening in Rhinebeck this evening, I spent the day up there at Poet’s Walk in Red Hook. I took a million pictures to have as references for paintings, and did this watercolor sketch of the view of the Catskill Mountains across the Hudson River. I packed very light, bringing just my camera, water, a small watercolor pan set, and my Canson watercolor book tucked into my pack stool. It was a beautiful, tranquil site. I can’t wait to go back! I would love to do a larger acrylic or oil painting of this scene.

8x10 and smaller, Sketches | No Comments »

It was dreary and overcast, so I spent a lot of time doing some sketches around the house. These were from the list in the current Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt. If you’re ever trying to decide what to sketch or paint, and like to share your work, jump in and join the fun!

I did all the sketches in gouache, in my 5.5×5.5″ Hand Book Journal. I’ve also been trying out the new Prismacolor markers, which are permanent and lightfast. They are similar to the Pigma Micron pens. I got a set of the black ones in different thicknesses, and like them a lot.

If you think one minute figure gesture drawings in open studio are hard, try drawing squirrels in your yard! They don’t stay still for an instant. This was a fun challenge.

The Scavenger Hunt had “pail/bucket” on the list, so I painted my favorite little travel water bucket.

Since my sketchbook is square, I load a single page at a time. Here’s how they look in the book as two-page spreads. If you click the images below, they should show about actual size of the book:

This is my first book in a square format. I think I like it a lot, but wish it were just a bit larger. I may go back to a 5.5×8″ size for my next sketchbook.

Sketches | 5 Comments »

9×6″, pencil in a Raffine sketchbook

I try to sketch portraits and figures whenever I can. This one was done from a photo reference while my husband was watching the news last night. It is the novelist Evelyn Waugh. This is just for my own drawing practice and is not for sale. I like this Raffine sketchbook for water media very much, but I feel the texture is a little rough for graphite work.

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

Today I participated in the Worldwide Sketchcrawl #18! I got a late start, but managed to squeeze in several pages in my 5.5″ square sketchbook, in between family activities. Here they are, in the order in which I did them.

This last one was painted from the kitchen window. This brook, with the little island in the middle, is the outlet to the lake. Springtime brings wood ducks, swans and snapping turtles to the scene. Any time of year, it is a favorite crossing for herds of white-tailed deer. Occasionally, I see a mink running across the island, or a beaver swimming upstream. There’s always something interesting happening out there.

Landscape, Sketches, Still Life | No Comments »

7×5″, watercolor and colored pencil on grey Stonehenge (rag) paper
$45.00 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 time, the title says it all!

8x10 and smaller, Available, Sketches, Still Life | No Comments »

Gouache on Strathmore 400 cold press watercolor paper
Cropped image size as shown above is 8×7″
Full page as shown below is about 9.5×7″

Full page:

We had a wonderful model in the life drawing studio who is a dancer. I saw this beautiful red dancing skirt and immediately thought—Degas! I hope she’ll be back soon to model for us again.

This is the first time I’ve used a scanned image of my artwork instead of a photograph. I think for small, completely dry work, and especially work on a white ground like this, it may be better to scan it. I can never get the white paper to show white when I photograph.

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 1 Comment »

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.

Available, Figures, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

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.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Figures, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 1 Comment »

Some days I’m so short on time or just can’t get into the painting groove. It’s nice to dive into my sketchbook on those occasions. I’m getting antsy for the weather to warm up so I can get back to my life of plein air painting soon. I did a few pages of sketches today in ink and watercolor, and some color swatch tests of new paints, so in spite of all the errands I had to run, it wasn’t a day totally devoid of art.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

I was in the mood for something different and experimental today, so I pulled out my Sumi brushes and a video that arrived via Netflix on Chinese Brush Painting, and popped it into my computer while I painted. Although humbling, it was actually kind of fun.

Here are two of the many. Both of these are about 14″ square. I painted them on a big roll of white butcher paper that I use for sketching.

Sketches | No Comments »

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.

Figures, Oil paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

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!

Figures, Oil paintings, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

Yesterday, portrait artist extraordinaire Alan Reingold showed me how he teaches his Parsons students to speed paint figures in oils in 20 minutes from life. It was way fun! Each of these is a 20 minute pose, in order from the first of the afternoon to the last. I painted a couple and then moved my spot. The model kept the same pose.

The paintings are 12×16″ each, though I’ll be moving up to 16×20″ as soon as I cut some canvas! They are on unstretched canvas.

Here’s a look at the palette I used when all was said and done. I premixed a few colors to start, and adjusted with the colors on my palette as needed.
Colors:
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Yellow Medium
Cadmium Red
Oxide of Chromium
Ultramarine Blue
Burnt Sienna (Transparent Red Oxide)
Titanium White

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 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″

Available, Figures, Pastels, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No 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.

Available, Figures, Portraits and Figures, Sketches | No Comments »

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 »

16×12″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard

This oil sketch took about 2.5 hours, minus model breaks. Many thanks to Julia for being such a great model, and to Alan Reingold for a wonderful portrait class.

I’ve decided to dive back into some classes during the cold winter months, and take the opportunity to use my indoor, non-plein air time for artistic growth. Taking this time to work and receive critiques from artists I so admire is an opportunity I can’t pass up. Portraits and figures are great practice for any subject and style of painting, and I only have time to do a lot of that in the winter. More to come in the weeks ahead!

For my landscape afficionados, not to worry! You’ll be seeing some landscapes emerging over the next several weeks as well!

Portraits and Figures, Sketches | 2 Comments »

Click the image to enlarge, and then hopefully you’ll be able to read the text!

I was a little disappointed as I turned to do my daily origami, to see that the Origami Calendar I got for 2008 doesn’t have pages for the weekends! So, I turned to a couple of the items listed for the current Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt, and sketched the flowers and bow instead with the Golden Fluid acrylics left in my Stay-wet palette. I added some cadmium yellow light, needing the opacity for the gold edge of the bow.

I’ve started reading The Art Spirit by Henri. I came to a section where he talks about artists who do lots of sketching. That would be me! hahaha….. I copied it into my sketchbook. I suspect my sketchbook will be accumulating many quotes of his as the new year gets underway.

RiverWinds Gallery has asked to have some of my work there beyond the current show, so I’m hoping it will snow soon in order to get more reference images for winter paintings! I found one image last night in my files that I really like. I painted it once before, many years ago. The painting was sent off to the new owner, framed, via UPS. It got totally trashed in transit, and all that was returned to me was a piece of the broken frame and a shred of torn paper. I’ve been meaning to paint it again ever since then. Hopefully the new painting will meet with a better life!

Sketches | 1 Comment »

Click images to enlarge them.

Here are a few sketches done today using Golden Fluid Acrylics: Ultramarine Blue, Hansa Yellow Light, Pyrrole Red, Titanium White and (for the box only) Transparent Red Oxide. I diluted just with water where necessary (no medium) and used Taklon brushes.

Sketches | No Comments »

A month or so ago, I bought myself a 2008 origami calendar. It’s very cool! There’s a page for each day with folding instructions. I thought the shapes and colors would be fun to sketch from time to time and to use in some still life paintings.

I’ve been considering separating my sketches into a separate blog, rather than mixing them in here amidst my paintings. I’d love to hear what my viewers think of that idea. Would you rather see everything all in one place, or are you more interested in viewing a site with just the paintings, or just the sketches?

Sketches | 4 Comments »

This is what I did with much of my New Year’s Day—put up drying/display rails in my studio. See the post below this one for photographs and details about the installation and molding I used.

Click to enlarge:

The post below shows more images of the drying rails.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

Click on any image to enlarge it.

During the winter months, I really enjoy the “Scavenger Hunts” posted to the Artwork From Life forum on the Wetcanvas website. Every 8 days, a different artist posts a list of 26 items, which must be sketched from life (no photo references/imagination) using any medium. The ink and watercolor sketch of my studio (above) is one of the items in the Scavenger Hunt. The current list of items includes:
A clamp
A door handle or knob- Challenge: the whole door
A hinge
kitchen clock
A musical instrument
Your knee
An ear
A nose- Challenge: 3 different views
Something black
A bathtub
An egg
An orange
A potato
Piece of jewelry
Pair of glasses
Your studio (area) in ink in 10 min. or less
A wine bottle (or soda or whatever if you need to)
A comb
Your favorite pen
A flashlight
A pet (come on, (if you don’t have one, be creative)
A bottle of soy sauce
Your favorite mug or cup
Your favorite pen
A mushroom
A profile

You can click here to see the thread with all the entries from the different artists who are participating. I’ve been sketching items from the list over the past few days, in between paintings. Items are numbered in the order in which they are done, not the order in which they appear on the list. So far I’ve sketched 16 of them.

The first five items, above, are all sketched with an umber Prismacolor wax-based pencil. Watercolor washes were then applied over the top. All the sketches are done across two-page spreads in my Hand Book Journal, so they measure about 8×10″.

Items 6-9, above, are all black Prismacolor pencil. Next, I pulled out a Wolff’s Carbon pencil to do the sketches below. Then I used a brush with plain water to blend and shade the sketches.

Now I’m coming down the home stretch. I love using these scavenger hunts to play with different mediums. I pulled out some Derwent Graphitint pencils for the next ones. These are graphite pencils blended with watercolor. After sketching with them, the color can be blended with a wet brush.

This Scavenger Hunt ends in two days, so hopefully I’ll have time to finish off the remaining items before the next one begins. It’s a great way to stay in sketching practice and explore all kinds of subjects.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

12×9″, Oils on Art Spectrum Colourfix
$150.00 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.

Spending so much time sketching with watercolors in my sketchbook lately put me in the mood to do something sketchy in oils too. I really enjoyed painting these flowers that my husband gave me. It felt great to break loose from a more confining size and style and paint something with more expressive brushwork. I think I’ll do more of these!

Art Spectrum Colourfix is an archival surface for all media, but is generally used for pastels. I love the way it took the oil paint! I’ve used it for both pastels and acrylics, but this was the first time I tried it with oils. I’ll definitely be working on this surface a lot more!

Palette:
Cadmium Red
Cadmium Yellow Lemon
French Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White

Here is an image of the painting cropped to about 8×10, so you can see it in a little closer:

There’s a lot of thick paint texture on the painting that, unfortunately, didn’t come through on the photo. I think I’ll have to switch to taking my photos with the Nikon and tripod, instead of hand-holding my little point-and-shoot!

8x12 to 12x24, Available, Sketches, Still Life | No Comments »

To see my studio tour, scroll down below this post!

The following are watercolor sketches done while sick over the past few days. They are about 8×10″ across two-page spreads in my bound Hand Book Journal—a wonderful heavyweight paper sketchbook.

Pears on Parade—I really like the composition of this one. I think I’ll do something similar in a larger format soon, in oils or acrylics.

Color Chart and Flowers

Collapsible Bucket and Waterbrush

Sketches | No Comments »

You may click images to see larger views.

My parents have this beautiful bronze statue of a dancer in their home. I’ve always wanted to paint it, and enjoyed sketching her from many different angles in ink and watercolor. The flowers below were sketched out on the lanai, and the chinese figure is from a set of three, but I only had time to start one, and didn’t get to finish it. These are all on two-page spreads in my sketchbook.

Sketches | No Comments »

I just returned from a couple of days of visiting my parents in Naples, Florida. They’ve got a wonderful lanai overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, so I did a couple of watercolor sketches out there. Above is a section of their seating area, and below is a quick sketch of the view of the Gulf from the lanai. Both are watercolor, 8×10″ across a two page spread in my sketchbook.

Sketches | No Comments »

Several weeks ago, I got a surprise package in the mail from my mom. I opened the brown, cardboard box, and inside was a beautiful red and gold silk box!

Imagine my surprise when I opened the box and found this exquisite set of Sumi brushes:

I think I must be the biggest art materials junkie of all time, so of course I was more than thrilled with this new acquisition. I went to the internet and read up on Sumi brushes and how to care for them. I washed the starch out of them, and made a hanger for them to dry out of a clothes hanger and paper clips:

I’ve been so busy getting ready for my solo show that I didn’t have much time to play with them yet, but I wanted to at least doodle a bit and say, “Thank you, Mom!”

Sketches | 2 Comments »

Click for clearer image and to enlarge:

The vase and carnations on the left is gouache, and the other sketches are watercolor. These sketches from the past few days have been done in a Hand Book Journal, sold by Dick Blick and other art stores. The paper is very thick and holds up to water media quite well.

Sketches | 3 Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

From time to time, I really enjoy doing more sketchbook work while I shift gears. These are both watercolor sketches.

Now that plein air season is coming to a close, I’m exploring other possibilities for winter subject matter. I’m excited about diving back into portraiture and figure drawing. I’m also getting ready for my North Salem show. Today I pulled out a lot of my paintings from the area and started sifting through to decide what will go into the show and what I won’t have room for. I’ve got to start varnishing soon and selecting frames…like tomorrow!

Sketches | 2 Comments »

One thing I learned as a result of doing these sketches is that if you’re going to paint mannikins, you should at least learn how to spell it. Now I know that it can be spelled mannikin, manikin, or mannequin. Leave it to me, with so many right ways of doing it, to get it wrong on my sketchbook page.

Anyway, moving on to the sketch itself, I’ve had this little mannikin for quite some time. She finally emerged from her box to pose for me. The two left ones are in gouache. The two on the right are done in Prismacolor pencil, then blended with turpenoid and a Q tip.

I can see lots of potential for her to make an appearance in still life paintings, posing with all sorts of props. Unfortunately, this one does not come off the stand. I’ll have to find one that can be positioned in sitting poses, and which has more versatility.

I only have 66 pages left in my sketchbook now! I’m aiming to finish it by the end of 2007. That means a little more than a two page spread every day in addition to whatever paintings I do. I am determined to dig into a new sketchbook at the start of the new year.

Sketches | No Comments »

Click picture to enlarge:

8×10″, watercolor sketch in my bound sketchbook

I am still determined to finish off this sketchbook before the end of 2007!

Sketches | 2 Comments »

I try to make the most of the time I have to spend waiting for my daughter here and there. One of my favorite ways to utilize that time is to sketch. This is 8×10, done across a two-page spread in my sketchbook with Pitt pens. Trying to capture the different foliage textures and the distances (not to mention the architecture!) is great practice.

I rarely let myself sketch in pencil, even with complex subjects. There’s something about the unforgiving quality of ink that is very appealing to me. You need to really think your important lines through in advance, and make a commitment before setting pen to paper. I find I make much more of an effort to get it right on the first try when I know there’s no going back!

This one is 8×5″, on a single page in the book. It is the side of the Howland Center in Beacon, NY. It seems nothing opens in Beacon until noon, so whenever I get there early, I have some time to sketch or paint.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

Pitt Pens, 8×10″ in my sketchbook

I bought a set of warm and cool grey Pitt pens a couple of weeks ago and finally had a chance to test drive them in my sketchbook. They were lots of fun to draw with, but the barrel values really don’t match the ink, which makes it a challenge to select the right pen! This is in my bound sketchbook, so is not for sale.

Sketches | No Comments »

5.5×8.5″, acrylic on sketchbook paper

After a full day of plein air painting yesterday, I came home and just couldn’t resist this red daisy. It was in a bouquet on my kitchen counter, and I’ve been dying to paint it all week. I snipped the stem, put it in this round vase, and pulled out my Golden Fluid Acrylics. I didn’t do any drawing—just went right in with paint. It was so much fun to explore that rich red color and the glass. I’m glad that tired as I was, I didn’t miss the opportunity for this painting.

Since this one is in my sketchbook, I can’t remove it to sell. However, I’d love to do another, so if you’d like to purchase one, just let me know!

Sketches, Still Life | No Comments »

I love to play in my sketchbook. I’ve had so many shows lately that the pressure has been on to turn out finished pieces, but sometimes I think this is how I like to spend my time the most. It enables me to test drive ideas, relax, and enjoy the “doing” of art.

The pears in the shallow bowl are ink sketches, with acrylic washes laid over while the ink was too wet. I get impatient. Below the pears are my new bottle of Sennelier Walnut Ink, and a little inkwell I got in the gift shop at Sturbridge Village. It’s made there in the pottery shop, and it works really well!

The apple and pear on the facing page are from the Brewster Farmer’s Market. They are painted in Golden Fluid Acrylics, with no preliminary drawing; I just went in straight with paint—always my favorite painting method! For the pear, I experimented with the Irridescent Gold Deep, using it to mix my greens, and with ochre. The shimmer is quite subtle when combined with the other colors. When the light hits it just so, you see the sparkling irridescence. I think I like it!

I’m looking forward to the transition to studio painting for the winter. I’ve been rounding up ideas for still life paintings, some larger landscapes from photos, and doing more in my sketchbook on a regular basis. I’ve got a new sketchbook waiting for me. I’d like to start it in January with the new year, so that should give me some incentive to get through the rest of my current sketchbook before 2007 draws to a close!

Sketches | 2 Comments »

5×7″, Golden Acrylics on 100% rag Fabriano paper
$50.00 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.

I painted this acrylic sketch last night in anticipation of my exciting trip to Golden Artist Colors today. I’ve been invited to their headquarters in New Berlin, New York. Painting Golden Acrylics using Golden Acrylics seemed to be the perfect still life setup for the occasion. I’ll post all about it when I return tomorrow.

8x10 and smaller, Available, Shows and News, Sketches, Still Life | 1 Comment »

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

It was way too hot to be standing out in the sun doing this painting on location! My EasyL painting umbrella saved the day, though I was still pretty cooked by the time I was done. The late afternoon light against the side of the red building at Tilly Foster Farm made it glow red-orange.

This building is the current home of the Putnam Arts Council. They are renting the space from Putnam County while their old headquarters is being rebuilt following the terrible fire this past winter. The rolling fields, barns and pastures of Tilly Foster Farm are a perfect setting for artists!

8x10 and smaller, Brewster and North Salem, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Plein Air--painted on location, Sketches, Sold, Still Life, Tilly Foster Farm | No Comments »

SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
6 x 6″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard, unframed

Tilly Foster Farm is an old horse farm that was purchased a few years ago by Putnam County to retain as open space. It has beautiful rolling fields, old buildings and barns, and a fantastic overview of miles and miles from the top of the pastures. This painting was done from a photo I took there in the fall.

Making a Multi-Media Sketchbook
I’ve made a number of sketchbooks over the years and have recently been asked to share some of them. This is perhaps the easiest, most useful, and most versatile of them all. The biggest advantages to this design are that many different kinds of paper can be used for various media and effects, plus the paper can be removed easily for framing.

Use any kind of cardboard, foamcore, illustration board, or matboard for your covers. I used scrap pieces of matboard that I had around the house and cut two pieces to the same size. Purchase some ringbinder rings in an office supply store. I got mine at Staples (very inexpensive). Holes were punched in the matboard for the rings:

Next, cut various types of paper that you like to use for painting, drawing, and sketching. Be sure to cut the paper about 1/2 inch smaller than the matboard. When in use, you’ll be doubling over the matboard to serve as a firm drawing board. The matboard edges also serve to protect the edges and corners of the paper. Punch holes in the paper, making sure they line up with the holes you’ve punched in the covers. You can paint your cover to decorate your sketchbook, but I just left mine blank.

If you use a lot of wet media, consider a piece of foamcore for one or both covers, coated with a couple of coats of acrylic medium, to use as a painting board. You can even tape paper down to it that way after removing a sheet from the book, or use metal office clips to hold it. Oil pastel and soft pastel artists can include sheets of glassine with holes punched, to place between finished drawings.

Glue a pocket to the inside of the front cover. (See image below.) I used this to hold templates for standard sizes. If you have, for instance, a 5×7″ template in the pocket, you can pull it out to draw a quick 5×7 rectangle on a piece of the paper. Then you’ll have a drawing or painting that will fit perfectly into a ready-made mat and frame. The little pocket also comes in handy for photo references, drawings, a ruler, etc. I put a sticker on the inside of the cover saying “If found please return to” with my name, address and phone number.

You can click on the image below to enlarge it:

On the right side, the shiny plastic is a sheet of clear acetate. When working in colored pencil or graphite, I’d keep this under my hand to stop the pencil from smudging. I kept another sheet of it in the little pocket inside the cover. You can also keep glassine in the book, or whatever else you use to protect your finished work.

I hope this helps some of you who want a sketchbook that can do it all!

8x10 and smaller, Brewster and North Salem, Demos/Work in Progress, Hudson River Valley, Landscape, Sketches, Sold, Tilly Foster Farm | 4 Comments »

Click to enlarge:

Ink and Watercolors, across a two-page spread (8×10″) in my sketchbook

Here’s a grid of 14 of the items for the current Scavenger Hunt, which is ending today. You can read more about the Scavenger Hunt and see the list in this post. They’re lots of fun to do, and wonderful sketching practice. Combined with my Broxz Zoo trip the other day, I think I’ve met my sketching quota for the week!

Sketches | No Comments »

One thing I learned today is that I prefer to sketch things that don’t move! My friend Kay and I went to sketch at the Bronx Zoo. We brought just our sketchbooks, ink pens, and small pan sets of watercolors.

It seemed that every single animal started moving as soon as the pen touched my paper. I thought one minute gestures in the figure drawing studio were fast, but suddenly those seemed like long poses compared with what we faced today! They were also farther away than the models—sometimes so far away that seeing them clearly was a challenge.

Aha! Finally I got to sketch something close that didn’t move—the rhino statue in front of the Zoo Center! *grin* I could do more of these.

Camels are a really hard to sketch and don’t stay still at all, and even the bison turned away from us as we started to draw. Next time, I think I’ll focus on the architecture. hehehe…. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time enjoying the animals, the walk, and the company.

Sketches | 3 Comments »

I’m hosting the current Scavenger Hunt on the Wetcanvas website. Pick up your pens and pencils and come join the fun on this thread. There are 26 items listed to draw from life—no photo references permitted. You can post your results to that thread, or if you post them to a blog, feel free to leave a comment on this post with your link! I’ll be posting my sketches here as the week goes on.

For reference, here is the list:
A jar of a liquid used in your studio
An interior scene that includes a plant or flowers
A coat, sweater or shirt hung/draped over a chair back
Your mug of morning brew, whatever that may be
A cold drink
Favorite kitchen appliance
The chair or sofa you hang out on the most
A pet
Fish or aquarium (fish for dinner can count )
Statue or sculpture
View from a window
Window curtain/drape/valance
Wooden box
Easel (any type)
Birdhouse
Pet’s food dish or water bowl (substitute with your own dishes if necessary)
Stove top
Tree
Flower or bouquet
Object with its reflection in a mirror
Musical instrument
Pencil sharpener
Camera
Shiny object
stool or bench
rock or pebble

Have fun!

Sketches | 2 Comments »

I finally hauled myself down to the studio late this evening and did a bunch of quick sketches inside little rectangles in my sketchbook. The two page spread measures 8×10. Most of these sketches are from the Wetcanvas Weekend Drawing Event photos, with a couple of other things thrown in, like my Jenday conure, Lulu. I didn’t quite finish up the page tonight. It’s getting late, so I’ll have to wrap it up as I go through the week. Sketching is a wonderful way to get in a little artwork on those days when I don’t have a large block of time for oil painting.

Lulu and Lucy came down to the studio to look over my shoulder and keep me company. Sometimes it gets lonely down here, so I have an extra birdcage and bird play gym in the studio to bring down some avian companions when I’m not working in oils. They are slowly getting over their camera shyness.

I’m itching for the weather to warm up and the spring colors to arrive, so that I can get out for some plein air painting!

Sketches | No 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 »

Today was the International Sketchcrawl #13, and although I didn’t get nearly as much sketching in as I’d hoped, I did finish up a two-page grid in my sketchbook that I’d started a couple of weeks ago. This is 8×10″, across a two page spread. They are: the view from my father-in-law’s apartment overlooking the Hudson River, inside another relative’s home, scenes from the car while waiting for my daughter outside the gym, a compositional sketch for a painting, the office building for the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, waiting again in a waiting room, and a couple of things in my studio.

Sketches | 7 Comments »

Click to enlarge images:

Today was a busy day and I knew I wouldn’t have time for a full-fledged painting, so I began the day by making a two-page grid of boxes in my sketchbook. That way, I could do small thumbnail sketches as I went about my day.

I used a Uniball Vision Micro pen to do all the drawing. For some of them, I used the little Koi watercolor box that’s in the sketch, with a water barrel brush; for others, I used the palette below with an Escoda #6 travel brush (the gold cylinder in the photo). I loved doing this “grid” approach to quick sketches. It made them feel managable on a day when I otherwise would not have done any artwork at all. It looks pretty cool in the sketchbook too!

Demos/Work in Progress, Sketches | 6 Comments »

All images can be clicked for larger versions.

I drove up to Massachusetts today to have brunch with my son, and decided to sketch at Old Sturbridge Village while I was in the vicinity. What a fabulous place to draw and paint! It’s an old colonial village, with everything from farms and sawmills to pottery demonstrations and hot mulled cider over an open fire. They do not allow photography nor artwork for commercial purposes, but they had no problem with me bringing my sketchbook around.

These are ink and watercolor in a 5.5×8.25″ Hand Book Journal. They’re done across the two-page spreads, so each image is about 8×10″. The images are a little distorted because the paper doesn’t lie perfectly flat.

I started out in the Towne House (above), on the recommendation of the sweet woman working the Admissions counter. I could have spent the whole day drawing there, but there were so many other things to see!

The Fenno House was my next sketching stop, where this big fireplace with oven and built in cabinets above captured my interest (below). I didn’t realize there was a person spinning wool in the next room! We chatted for awhile about all the interesting things there, and I sketched a couple of them. She gave me a piece of unspun wool to bring home. The little house in the drawing below is the Fenno House.

The District School (below) had a sloping floor so that the students in the back would be able to see the teacher! The benches were built so that the backs served as desks for the students behind.

On the upper right, that brick structure is a huge pottery kiln. When I say, “huge,” I mean about 20 feet tall! The kiln takes 3-5 cords of wood to stoke the fire, and can handle about 800 pots at a time. They fire up the kiln a few times a year.

The image below that one was sketched in the kitchen at the Freeman House and Farm, where I was served hot mulled cider by a woman dressed as a farmer’s wife in colonial times. She was cooking bread pudding over the open hearth in the kitchen. On top of the cabinet is a sugarloaf. The farmer’s wife would break off pieces and grind them with the mortar and pestle.

When I left the farm and continued walking down the road, I saw this picturesque covered bridge over a frozen pond (below). I walked past the blacksmith, sawmill, and some other buildings and crossed over the bridge, heading back to the Village Green.

The bank in the Village Green is really pink! It was getting late, so I headed back to the main building to quickly check out the Clock Museum before it was time to go. On my way there, I came across an artist painting a wall mural based on a colonial woodcut. He’d project a transparency of the woodcut onto the wall, and then do an interpretation in black acrylic on the white wall. It looked fabulous.

I only had enough time left to get to the gift shop. I wanted some kind of a small souveneir, made there at Old Sturbridge Village, to bring home with me. I found the perfect item; it’s a little ceramic inkwell!

Sketches | 9 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 Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt #25 ends tomorrow, so I slipped in in a few more sketches from the list of 26 items. These are 7×11 pages from the sketchbook I made last week. The sketches are Uniball Vision ink pen and watercolor. No time for an oil painting today.

Tomorrow starts a new scavenger hunt, and I’m the host this time! It will run from January 20-January 28 (nine days). I’ll post a link here for anybody who’s interested in joining in. I’ll put the list up early in the morning, and will post it here on my blog as well. Stay tuned!

Sketches | No Comments »

Here’s another watercolor sketch set across two pages of the new journal from this past weekend. You can click the image to enlarge it.

I did an oil painting today, but it has lots of darks in it which are causing a lot of glare. I’ll get a much better photograph of it if I wait a day for it to dry a bit, so you’ll see that one tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the sketches from my trip. I love working in this new journal. Can’t wait to try some other mediums in it.

Sketches | No Comments »

My husband and I just returned from a wonderful weekend away. I had some time to do some watercolor sketches in the hotel suite and simultaneously test-drive the new Hand Book Journal that I got from Dick Blick. The one I got is 8.25×5.5″, portrait format. I used it as an 8×10 sheet, painting across the two page spreads. This book by far exceeded my expectations! The surface takes watercolor quite well with minimal wrinkling and it has a wonderful texture for drawing too–not too slick and not too rough. The paper is thick; I’d say it’s not quite the weight of Stonehenge with a similar surface texture. Highly recommended! I’m looking forward to trying it out with colored pencils, acrylics and gouache too. It’s also available in a very cool square format, and in a pocket size version.

Sketches | No Comments »

Click image to enlarge:

This is the inside, 2-page centerfold spread of the Art Journal “Gallery-in-a-book” that I’m working on. It measures a little larger than 7×22″. The painting on the left, plus all of the gold frames, are painted directly on the paper. The other three abstract paintings are original “Art Card” paintings, 2.5×3.5″ each, affixed with removable tape to the paper. I liked the idea of presenting my original miniature paintings in a gallery format without destroying them as individual works. It’s fun to see what they’d look like if they were actually enormous paintings hanging on a gallery wall instead of just a couple of inches top to bottom! The titles of the paintings, from left to right are:
Jester
Struck by Lightning
Evening Music
Dueling Boxes

The work on the two pages is done with black ink, gold ink, acrylic, and watercolor. The writing just above the floor describes the paintings.

You can see my January 6 post below for more information about this 8 page journal. Five more pages to go! The journal will be posted here for sale when it is completed. You can also see larger versions of the individual paintings in my posts from the past couple of weeks by scrolling down the blog page.

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.

Drawings, Figures, Pastels, Personal Collection, Sketches | No Comments »

Click to enlarge image.

Scavenger Hunt 22 (See my Dec. 20 post) contained a list of 26 items. These are the five I had left. I arranged them in a still life to finish up the hunt. They are sketched with a Uniball Vision pen and watercolors. The items are:
22. Something cold: ice cube
23. Puddle: The melted water from the ice cube
24. Coaster: What the ice cube is resting on
25. Cutlery: My favorite Henkle knife
26. Something you dislike: Dead flowers!

I’m glad that I managed to finish up all 26 items in spite of a heavy holiday schedule here. It’s been a lot of fun to have this sketching break from the usual finished painting routine. With 14 coming for lunch tomorrow, it’s likely that I won’t be able to get any painting done until at least Thursday, but I hope to get back to the oils soon!

Sketches | No Comments »

These are all Prismacolor pencil in my 7×10″ Canson Montval cold press watercolor book. Click on the image to enlarge it.

These are items 19-21 of the 26-item scavenger hunt, so I’ve only five left to do by Wednesday to complete the hunt. (See my December 20 posting for more about the Scavenger Hunts.) Hopefully I’ll be able to do at least a couple of paintings after that and before the New Year. The most challenging item by far in the hunt this week is to draw/paint a piece of crumpled foil. I put that one off about as long as possible, and you can see why; mine doesn’t at all resemble crumpled foil. Actually, I crumpled it into the vague shape of a swan in the hope that if it didn’t make it as crumpled foil, it could be loosely identified as a swan. Very loosely. Imaginatively. *smile* I’m giving up on that one for now, though I might throw in some gouache highlights and try to salvage it later. I’m looking forward to seeing what the other scavenger hunt participants do with that one.

The ear belongs to my nephew, Tal, who is one of our houseguests till Wednesday. He was sketching a clementine while I drew his ear.

I cut a twig from a forsythia bush and brought it inside to sketch, to satisfy the “twig” component of the hunt. I loved the little buds forming along the twig stems. Pretty soon, it will be time to force bloom some for a late winter painting.

Sketches | No Comments »

Since I’m so busy through the holidays, I’ve joined an online sketching “Scavenger Hunt” this week, where participants draw as much as they can from a list of 26 items. At least I can keep doing a little artwork, without the pressure of having to turn out finished paintings every day. Sketching is such great practice, and I try to do a day of sketches at least once a month. These are all pen and ink with watercolor in my 7×10″ Canson Montval Watercolor book.

Click on the images to see larger versions. See the post from 12/20 for more information about the Scavenger Hunts.

Sketches | No Comments »

Click to see a larger image.

Read about the current Scavenger Hunt on my December 20 post below. These are four more list items, done on a page of my 7×10″ Cotman watercolor book.

Sketches | No Comments »

Click to view larger images.

The Wetcanvas art website has a Scavenger Hunt that starts every 8 days. Since my time is so interrupted now with holiday goings-on, I figured I’d jump in there and do as much sketching as I can when I don’t have a long block of time for oil painting. You can find the rules and the current list here:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=389272
Anybody is welcome to jump in and participate! Basically, you find items to sketch from life from the current list. You can do as many or as few as you like, but it’s a nice challenge to try and complete them all within the 8 day period. You may do them in any size, time frame and medium, but they must all be done from life—no photo references allowed. You can see the current list by clicking on that first image; I wrote it down at the bottom of the page. Some scavenger hunts also include special “challenges” in addition to the 26 items, but this one did not.

It’s such a fun break from the usual routine. For the sketches above, I used a Sharpie marker (just on the first one), Uniball Vision Micro pen, Prismacolor pencils, Koi watercolors, and Golden Fluid acrylics. They are in my 7×10″ Cotman watercolor book.

Sketches | 1 Comment »

I spent much of today doodling in medical offices. Thank goodness I had my Moleskine sketchbook with me. I sketched in ink while waiting, then added a light watercolor wash later. Here you see my left hand holding the sketchbook as I was sketching with the right, and the basket affixed to the wall for patient forms. Chauffering my daughter later in the day prevented me from painting when I finally got home, but there’s always hope for tomorrow!

Sketches | 1 Comment »

One day a month, I do a day of quick paintings or sketches as I go about the rest of my life. Today I had a blast with a sheet of 12×16″ black MiTientes paper and Prismacolor pencils. I woke my daughter shortly before 11am by bribing her with an iced latte. That became my first sketch of the day. The green object on the right is my framing gun. I don’t know how I ever lived without that!

I framed ten paintings today for the Buone Feste Show at the River Winds Gallery in Beacon, NY. The opening is Saturday, November 11 from 5-8pm, and you’re all invited! It is a holiday gift show of fine arts combined with handmade crafts by local artisans. The show runs through January 8, so please stop by if you have a chance. Maybe you’ll find something there for that special someone on your holiday gift list. They’ll even gift wrap it for you!

Sketches | 3 Comments »