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6×12″, acrylic on canvas panel
$275.00 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 is one of my favorite spots on the planet to paint, meditate, or just listen to the sound of the rushing water. Serene! Below is an image you can click on for a slightly larger image of the painting.
10×8″, oil on linen panel
$280.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I spent two days painting this little waterfall on location, and then a bit of time tweaking it in the studio. Finally I’m happy with it! It’s all varnished and ready for a new home.
Don’t forget that my show opening is this Sunday, September 30, from 3-5pm at the Hendrick Hudson Library, 185 Kings Ferry Road, Montrose NY. Hope to see you there! If you can’t make it, the show runs until October 28. This painting and many more recent works, including some not yet on my website, will be on display.
16×12″, acrylic on Ampersand Gessoboard
$675.00 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.
At the northeastern edge of the Catskill Mountains lies Winter Clove, home to many stunning ravines and waterfalls. This one, along the Kiskatom Creek, has a beautiful covered bridge above it, and a clear, nearly viridian-covered pool at the bottom. I went for a hike here with my husband, and had to make a return trip with my paints!
7×5″, acrylic on board
$150.00 plus $12 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is one of the little waterfalls at our place in upstate NY. With all the rain we’ve had this year, my springtime retreat time has been extended, and this little gem is still running full force even though we’re almost into July!
16×20″, acrylic on board
$750.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
There are several wonderful views of Croton Gorge Dam, and great vistas from the bridge at the top as well. I was in a splashy acrylic mood on this day, and let the drips and splatters become part of the painting. This was painted mostly with the Golden High Flow acrylics, which have an ink-like consistency. They form a permanent shield just like other acrylics, so that they get sealed, varnished, and framed without glass, just like oil paintings. Below is an image that you can click on for a larger, clearer view of the painting. Stay tuned for the view from the top, coming up in a few days.
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This one has sold quickly, but you can see a similar painting of Kaaterskill Falls here if you’re interested in purchasing one.
This was painted on location at Kaaterskill Falls in the spring, but I didn’t get around to putting the image up until now! I sure am going to miss this place during the winter months. Can’t wait to get back there.
9×12, acrylic on canvas board
$325.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was a fun day out painting with friends at one of my favorite spots!
Below is an image you can click on for a larger, clearer view of the painting.
9×12″, acrylic on canvas board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This is a location that I discovered this year. The first time I painted here I completely bombed out. The challenge had me returning again and again, and I was finally able to work through the problems and get some paintings I liked. I was especially pleased by this one. Below is an image you can click on for a larger, clearer view of the painting.
Finally you can see 19 of my waterfall paintings in one place! For the month of November, I have a show of Hudson Valley Waterfalls hanging at the Ruth Keeler Memorial Library in North Salem, NY. The show can be viewed during regular library hours.
The paintings are for sale both at the library and here on my website. To see the paintings that are in the show, you can click the Ruth Keeler Library Gallery category here on my blog, and scroll down the paintings. I think there are still a couple that haven’t yet made it onto my blog, but they will be added soon. Or better still, go check out the show and you can see them all in person!
16×20″, acrylic on canvas-covered board
$850.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This waterfall is nestled deep in the woods behind my house, so I go there to paint frequently. Following a rainfall, the sound is a roar as the water hits the base of the falls and rushes down the many cascades below.
Here is an image you can click on for a larger, clearer view of the painting:
8×6″, acrylic on board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Painted on location in the Catskills.
6×8″, acrylic on canvas board
$160.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was painted on location a few weeks ago — a charming spot on a beautiful day!
12×9, oil on canvas panel
$325.00 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.
Driving into the Catskill Mountains through Kaaterskill Clove on Route 23a, there is a spectacular waterfall around a horseshoe bend in the road. A large sign there marks the trailhead for Kaaterskill Falls, and so many people mistakenly think this lovely cascade is the famous Kaaterskill Falls. Beautiful as it is, clearly it is not in the running for the title of the tallest waterfall in New York State, but it is certainly much easier to get to! It’s another half mile up a steep and rocky mountain trail to arrive at the base of Kaaterskill, so I can almost understand those who would rather mistake it than do the hike!
I actually don’t mind doing the hike, so when I go here, I’m always hiking all they way up to the larger falls and painting Kaaterskill. I figured it was time to give this little beauty its due, so I planned a day to paint with friends at the more diminutive (but still gorgeous) Bastion Falls. I found it a more difficult subect than Kaaterskill in spite of its smaller size, and loved both the location and the challenge.
8×6″, acrylic on canvas board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This was the second of three paintings done this season at Kaaterskill Falls — one of my favorite painting spots!
10×8″, acrylic on linen panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This is one of a series of three Kaaterskill Falls paintings done on location in acrylic. It’s the tallest waterfall in New York State, and was a favorite spot for the Hudson River School artists. There is a lot of construction going on by the falls now to improve access for the public. In the short term, that has meant limiting access so that they can do the work! Fortunately, I did a bunch of paintings up there early in the season, so I don’t mind taking a little break from it now. I’m looking forward to checking out any new vantage points once the trail work is completed.
10×8″, oil on canvas panel
$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 is yet another waterfall, painted out on location in early spring when the runoff from the mountains is spectacular! I call this one Mossy Falls, since the wet ledges become covered with moss as the temperatures warm.
12×16″, oil on linen board
$675.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting has been in progress for a really long time. I spent a few days out on location painting the falls, trying to capture the light very early in the morning, while the foreground was still in shadow. I worked on it in between in the studio. Finally I am considering it finished. In fact, it is varnished, framed, and hanging in it’s new space at Bistro Brie & Bordeaux in Windham, New York!
Here is an image of the painting that you can click on for a larger, clearer view:
12×9″, oil on canvas board
$325.00 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.
The waterfalls by my house are raging this time of year as the snow melts up on the mountain. This waterfall is always the first one to dry up, so I was determined to paint this one first! Most years, by the time I get out there, it’s already dry. It used to be a split waterfall, running in two cascades, but for some reason, that second water trail is blocked, so I just painted it as a single fall. I’ll have to climb up there to see what’s blocking the left side! The most dramatic feature to this waterfall is the large, white slab of rock that juts off to the right.
20×15″, Acrylic on illustration board, custom framed
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Come see this painting and 16 others that I just dropped off at RiverWinds Gallery, 172 Main Street, Beacon, New York. The opening reception is this Saturday, November 8, from 5-8pm. I’d love to see you there! Bring a friend and do some early holiday shopping. The show will remain up through the holiday season. If you can’t make it this Saturday, you can check out RiverWinds during their regular business hours. You can find directions and their hours on their website.
My friend Johanne and I went on a hunt to find out how folks were getting up to the top of the bridge over Croton Dam. We were surprised and delighted to find out that although there is very limited parking, there is an easy paved path and fantastic views from all angles. We went back with our paints and some more friends last Friday and had a wonderful day here, up on top of the world. The weather was picture-perfect, and the slight mist created by the wind and waterfalls kept my acrylics from drying out too fast! I have really fallen in love with this location, both from the bottom facing the dam, and from here at the top.
12×6″, oil on canvas board
$275.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was possibly my last fall hike up to the base of Kaaterskill Falls, one of the Hudson River School painters’ locations that I love the most. It was a cold day, and I was the last of my painting group to leave the spot. One of the park rangers was up there with me, with occasional hikers coming along to view the magnificent waterfall. I was glad to see they finally had a ranger there to try and dissuade hikers from venturing up the sides of the falls, where two have already died this year.
I’ve done so many paintings up here, but I think this was the first time I did a 2:1 ratio at this spot. I really like the way it works with these proportions. I think this layout gives a truer impression of how tall the falls are.
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!
5×7″, oil on linen panel
$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.
A couple of weeks ago, I went painting at this beautiful cascade that feeds into the Hudson River. Although I’d planned to do a Hudson River painting, it was raining when I arrived. The mountain views across the river were obscured and this more intimate scene was ever so much more appealing on a low-light day! I ended up falling in love with this spot by the creek, and I definitely want to come back soon to capture the Hudson River vista too.
Here’s a photo from the spot along the creek. (You can click it to enlarge, and it should rotate when clicked.)
Below is an image you can click on for a larger view of the painting:
7×5″, oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This was painted on location, at the famous Hudson River School site, Kaaterskill Falls. It was a sticky, hot morning and a long climb up to the base of the falls with a backpack of painting gear, but well worth it to see the sunlight come up over the mountain and hit the falls in a stream of bright light, illuminating the mist at the midlevel basin. I never get tired of painting this scene and area. There is so much to paint along the waterfalls and streams on the way up the trail, that I sometimes end up painting one of the less famous views en route to Kaaterskill Falls.
12×9″, pastel on Wallis paper
$290.00 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.
On Thursday morning, I went to Platte Clove with a friend. It was a hot day and we wanted to find a cool spot. We hiked past the charming red cottage of the Platte Clove Conservation Area, down the steep, slippery path, and were rewarded by the sound of rushing water and sparkling falls in the morning light. The rocks glistened red and orange in the morning, though they started to cool in color temperature in the afternoon. The greens and rusts in the water were captivating. I don’t know how tall this waterfall is; I’ll have to research that. But I’d guess it’s over 100 feet high. I stayed at a spot about halfway up the slope. My friend went down to water level.
I was there with my husband a few weeks ago and did a watercolor sketch. This time, I brought my ultra-light pastel setup. Sometimes I arrive on location and wish I’d brought different media than what was in my pack. This time I felt like I had the perfect medium to capture the contrasts and strong colors I saw.
As for trying to find a cool spot on a hot day, we actually ended up being chilly there by the waterfall! There was cool mist in the air that seemed to stay within the bowl formed by the rocks surround the falls. Every so often, water would splash on my pastel from somewhere above. I think it accumulated on the leaves until droplets let loose, and they always seemed to have to land on my painting!
Click image to enlarge
Watercolor on Arches Rough 140#
7×11″, matted to 12×16″, with gold frame (included in price)
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I’ll bet you were all expecting to see the conclusion of the oil painting I’ve been working on from this very vantage point! Well, I decided to meet an old friend for an early lunch today, so couldn’t get out on location in the morning to finish that one up. However, I was thinking that one very effective way to study the scene many more times would be to do it in several different media. While examining the vista on location yesterday morning, I was thinking about how I’d approach it in watercolor. This painting is the result, which I painted last night from a photo I’d taken earlier in the day.
I painted this with the new QoR watercolor paints by Golden Artist Colors. I sampled some from the Golden factory a couple of months ago, before they were sent out to stores, and subsequently bought a boatload of tubes when they became available. I just love these paints! They are really vibrant and intense, and most importantly, they rewet very easily when they dry out in my palette. For a multi-media artist who’s not doing watercolors every day and thus keeping the paints moist, they are ideal. Most of the painting was done with a #6 squirrel mop, and then I did the fine lines and details with a #6 sable round.
As for the oil painting, I’m hoping to go back on Friday morning and hopefully finish that one up. But if I’m not able to finish it then, it gives me a good excuse to return yet again to this amazing spot high above Kaaterskill Clove, and contemplate all the Hudson River School painters who stood there before me.
Click image to enlarge.
12×16″, oil on Ampersand Gessoboard
I made a lot of progress today, but by 9:30am, the sun had come around the tree line and illuminated the foreground. I am determined to catch it in shadow in the painting, but it might take one more visit to be able to finish this off so early in the morning, unless I finish it from a photo. The scene beyond the painting is bleached out because the painting was upright and not catching as much light as the vista beyond. But notice how light the foreground is in the actual scene above, which was photographed around noon. Now compare it to the image below, which is how I find the view early in the morning, with the dark foreground I crave!
So I guess it will be awhile longer before I can post the finished painting. But I’m determined to get it done this week!
If you’d like to see what it looked like after my first session, click here to see my previous post.
Click image to enlarge
12×16″, oil on hardboard, work in progress
When I arrived at the top of Kaaterskill Falls early this morning, the scene looked nothing like it does in the image above. In fact, the values were completely reversed, with the foreground completely in shadow! Heres the view I started with:
(Click image to enlarge.)
I really liked that dark foreground pulling the viewer into the light beyond. Within a couple of hours, the sun poked above the tree line and spilled light all over the delicious darks. It happened in an instant, and although I like the light foreground too, I decided to stick with my game plan, and return early tomorrow morning to complete the painting the way I had intended. The light foreground painting will have to wait for another day! With a little luck, this one will get finished tomorrow.
Click here to see the following day’s progress on the painting.
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!
Click image to enlarge.
6×8″ Oil on board
$160.00 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.
Last week I painted up above Kaaterskill Falls with a few friends. In fact, I spent the entire week painting at some of my favorite spots with a fabulous group of artists from New York Plein Air Painters. This is the top of Kaaterskill Falls, right where Lake Creek goes over the edge and drops 269 feet to the base of the two-tiered waterfall. I try to stay away from the edge and spare myself the vertigo! Many of the Hudson River School painters did famous works from this very spot. The light up there is fantastic at any time of day, with beautiful colors and strong values. It’s a challenging scene to paint, which hopefully I’ve come to handle better over time! This was painted very directly with oils, and then I added a few final touches and made a couple of adjustments in the studio — like picking out the bugs!
9×12″, oils on archival canvas covered hardboard panel
$335.00 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 was started on location and finally finished up in the studio this week. It was one of those cold, overcast, pre-winter days that generally lack excitement, but the falls were spectacular and made all the drama.
Below is an image that you can click on for a larger view:
7×5″, oils on archival linen panel, beautifully framed
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Some scenes I paint over and over again and never get tired of them. Occasionally, I need a couple of years “off” from one of those vistas, and then I return with renewed appreciation for nature’s majesty. This famous scene at the top of Kaaterskill Falls is one of those magical spots. The Hudson River School painters frequented this spot too. When viewed from the top, it’s hard to believe that this little creek going over the edge is actually the top of the tallest waterfall in New York State!
Below is an image of the painting in progress. As you can see, somebody was taking advantage of a quiet afternoon to catch a little snooze on the rock across the creek. I was worried that he’d roll over in his sleep and go right off the edge!
The creek that comes from South Lake in Haines Falls includes a series of gorgeous cascades before the water arrives at the huge drop of Kaaterskill Falls. One area has striking red rocks that are covered in green moss. My friend Athena and I decided to go paint there after a big rainfall. When we arrived at the location, there was so much water that the red rocks were completely obscured by churning, spurting flourishes of water and spray. It was a striking scene even though we didn’t get the red rocks we went there to capture. We’ll go back another time for those!
Here’s an image of just the painting:
8×10″, Oils on archival canvas board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Below is an image you can click on for a larger view:
12×16″, oil on linen panel
$535.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting depicts one of those clear, cool cascades in Platte Clove, where I spent many hot summer days painting. It has the feeling of being deep in the refuge of the shaded mountain forest. Most of the painting was done on location, and some finishing touches were added in the studio. It is one of my two entries for the Twilight Park show this year, which is August 10 and 11, at the Twilight Park Clubhouse. This show brings out the best artists of the Catskills, and many from the Hudson Valley journey up to submit works as well.
If you’re interested in attending my Olana workshop from August 13-15, don’t forget to register asap so that you can be included for supplies! Olana has grants to subsidize this workshop, so it’s a great opportunity to paint at one of the dramatic Hudson River School sites, receive some painting tips, and have supplies covered at an extremely reasonable cost. Information about the workshop is on their website. (Scroll down below the cancelled writing workshop for the Landscape Painting workshop!)
Here is an image of the Platte Clove Cascade painting that you can click to enlarge for a better view:
20×14, Acrylic on Arches Rough 140# watercolor paper
Price unknown, since it’s still not finished!
Some paintings almost paint themselves. They are Gift Paintings. If several of those happen in a row, you may even start to feel like you’re getting a grip on this “painting” thing. The painting above is not one of those.
Most paintings present enough challenges to me to not fall into the Gift Painting category. They are satisfying puzzles to solve, that leave me hungry for the next challenge. This painting is not one of those either.
Then there are the paintings that totally humble us. Now we’re talking about this painting! They are also tremendous growth opportunities. Whether they end up in frames or not, they become their own reward through their ability to teach us something new, and it doesn’t come easily!
This painting began one recent afternoon at Manitoga in Garrison, where I sat at the base of this massive waterfall. I have painted more waterfalls than I can count, but I didn’t count on the number of challenges this particular one would present. This series of cascades is is more like 100 waterfalls than one waterfall, and I have never painted 100 waterfalls in a single painting. Plus:
1. I had already done a painting in the morning;
2. It was hot out;
3. I was short on time;
4. I had a broken toe to contend with;
5. There were massive numbers of biting Black Flies. (Two days later, I counted 72 black fly bites on my arms and legs!)
So, why did I take on such a complex scene that afternoon? I have no idea. Not only did I take on a complex scene in a short time frame, but I had to go and do it 20 inches tall! What was I thinking?
I did what I could on location, shot a couple of reference images, and figured it would go in the large Unfinished pile at home, many of which never again see the light of day. But this one kept beckoning to me. It’s on a watercolor block, so I can’t use the rest of the block until I finish the darn thing! I pulled it out one day and decided some areas needed to be totally repainted, and some shadow areas better unified. I took out a container of white Gesso, and painted over the shadow areas that were bothering me. That way, I could rework them with transparent color, and better unify the shadow sections that I didn’t like. I put the painting away for the gesso to dry, and that was that.
Until today! It beckoned me again. I reworked some of the shadow areas, better defined some of the rocks, got some forms to turn, and resolved what I was going to do with the bottom section of the painting, even if I didn’t wrap it up yet. My daughter thinks it’s coming along, so that gives me hope. I’m thinking one more day just might do it for this one. Or not. Here’s where it stands now:
This is a battle I’d really like to win. While painting, I think about ways I could have approached this subject differently. Perhaps with a different game plan, I could have gotten to this point much sooner, without so many detours and reroutings. These paintings that make us think outside of the box, and force us to look at our subjects or techniques in a different manner, are the best learning opportunities and experiences that we have. This one may never go into a frame. It might be one of those paintings that I pull out every couple of months or years, and work with a bit more, to see what I can gain from the experience, and learn what the painting can teach me about the process.
I have paintings that have been in that pile of unfinished works for years. Every so often, I pull one out and I’m able to do what the painting needs right away. That tells me how far I’ve come, while some of the others in the pile remain an enigma, and tell me how far I have to go. I continue to let them teach me as I try to solve their mysteries. I think it’s a good idea to always keep a pile of mysteries in the studio.
15×11″, pastel on Rives BFK rag paper
$295.00 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 posted a photo of this scene the other day with the waterfall in progress. I keep thinking it’s done, and then end up reworking sections of it. Maybe it is done now, but if not, you’ll see it posted again with revisions!
It sure does seem like “Waterfall Week” here on my blog. Actually, only two of the ones I’ve posted this week were done this week. For some reason, the others just didn’t make it up on my website until this week. However, it is true that I never seem to tire of the challenge of painting waterfalls. We’ve had tons of rain this week, and they are predicting a lot more over the next couple of days, so I think it’d be a safe bet that more waterfall paintings will be coming off my brushes in the near future!
8×6″, Oils on linen panel
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Tucked away in the woods, behind an old red cabin in the heart of Platte Clove, is a serene waterfall with a beautiful pool at the base. It’s the perfect place to beat the heat with paintbrushes in hand on a hot summer day!
7×5″, oils on linen panel
$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.
I’d posted an image of this painting with the scene quite awhile ago, promising to eventually get up an image of just the painting. Here it is! It’s been on my drying rails and is now ready to varnish and go off to a new home! I love those early spring colors. I appreciate it that much more, now that the summer greens have overtaken the landscape!
Watercolor on Rives BFK rag paper
16×12″ includes custom ivory mat and backing board for standard frame, image size is 11×7″
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Kaaterskill Falls, the tallest waterfall in New York State, is one of my favorite spots to paint. It was one of the favorite spots for the Hudson River School painters as well. It’s not easy to get to the base of the falls with painting gear. Sometimes the hardest part is getting a parking space, but even if you do, it’s about a quarter mile from the lot and then about a half mile climbing up the mountainside. Without gear it’s not a hard climb, but you don’t want to do this one loaded down with equipment!
This one was done on location last summer, but for some unknown reason, it never got posted. I think I just never got it up before the camera to take the picture, so here it is at long last! Please note that this painting comes already custom-matted and with an archival backing board, so all you’ll have to do is pick out a standard 12×16″ frame for it and it’s ready to hang.
8×10″, Acrylic on archival canvas panel
$175.00 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.
Every so often, I really enjoy working in monochrome. Often that means sketching in sepia tones, or painting with a specific color base. But I also really like working in grays. Golden Acrylics makes that easy to do with their Heavy Body Neutral Gray series. I keep them loaded in this sealed container with dividers. Any time I want to work in black and white, I just grab the container and I’m good to go.
Here’s an image of my painting in progress at the scene. )This image should be clickable if you want to enlarge it.)
Even though these are traditional, fast-drying acrylics, I was amazed by how much working time I had with them while sitting by rushing water! The air must have been heavily laden with mist, because I could blend and blend to my heart’s content. It was like working with oils. I generally keep one of those sections in the container for Acrylic Glazing Liquid, which extends drying time, but I didn’t need to dip into it.
One of the best things about working this way out in the field is that I don’t need a palette! With all the values premixed, and no color mixing to do, I can dip right into whatever value I need as I go. Generally I’ve done these as studies in my sketchbook, but I absolutely loved doing them on panels, so you can expect to see lots more monochrome paintings on archival surfaces coming off my brushes. It’s the complement to my Color Inspirations series!
If you’d like to see a slightly larger view of the painting, here’s a clickable image of the painting:
15×11, Pastel on Rives BFK Tan
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I started a large painting on paper, and while waiting for my first layer to dry, I decided to do a monochrome sketch using some Cretacolor Sepia Powder. This just arrived with my last art supply order. It looked like lots of fun and I couldn’t wait to give it a try! I started laying in tone by brushing the powder onto the surface of a pristine sheet of beautiful Rives BFK — a 100% cotton rag paper that is one of my favorite toned surfaces. It wasn’t long before I needed to work in some lights, and realized that I didn’t have a white Conte in my sketch box with the powder! Uh oh!
I remembered that I had some pastels in my car, so I figured I’d take the white from that pastel kit. Well, you know me — the color junkie! With all those gorgeous pastels in front of me, there was no way I was going to resist adding some splashes of color, and then some more. Before I knew it, I was way engrossed in creating a pastel painting instead of the monochrome sketch I’d intended as a time-filler while my other painting dried! I wasn’t all that happy with the way the other one was turning out, so I persevered for awhile with this one and really liked where it headed. I went back this morning and tweaked it a bit to finish it off. I’ll post that image as soon as I can get a photo of it.
As for the other painting, it only went from bad to worse. I went back at it again today, but couldn’t save the beast! Plein air painting can be a very humbling experience. However, I’m pleased with this one. I never would have thought to use Rives BFK for pastels, and I hadn’t initially intended to do this as a pastel piece. It turned out to be a pretty awesome pastel surface. I might even do it again on purpose sometime!
Occasionally, a painting or a sketch will go in unexpected directions due to unforeseen circumstances. When that happens, it can be disastrous. But sometimes, when we get lemons, we can make lemonade. I’m really glad that I let this become a pastel painting instead of a monochrome sketch. (And to make up for that, I did monochrome work in the afternoon.)
(Click image if you’d like to enlarge it)
5×7″, Oils on oil primed linen panel
$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 just can’t seem to get enough of waterfalls, and spring is usually the best time to capture them. The heavy spring rains, combined with snow melt from the mountains, usually causes them to run heavily this time of year. This year has been relatively dry, so they are not as full as they usually are in April. I’m hoping for some of those “April Showers” to come along soon! Still, there was plenty there for my painting purposes. I loved the greens and yellows in the shallow, clear water, so I chose a composition to showcase those elements. I used a limited palette of Cadmium Yellow Medium, Pyrrole Red, Ultramarine Blue, and Titanium White. Once I get a better photo of just the painting, I’ll add it to this post. That could be awhile though. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted any paintings for quite some time. We’ve had deaths and illnesses in the family over the past few months. What little time I’ve had for my art I’ve spent painting rather than photographing images and posting. I have several more paintings to post and will try to get them up over the next week. Hopefully, with the good weather upon us now, I’ll be able to venture out with my brushes more and take in the natural beauty that inspires me. Thank you all for checking out my work here.
9×12″, oils on linen
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This was painted on location at a favorite spot deep in the woods. Last year when I was at the Vedder Library going through sketches by Hudson River School artists BBG Stone, I came upon a sketch he’d done from this very spot! I recognized it immediately because of the shape of the huge boulder at an angle at the base of the falls, and also a rock outcropping that is just out of the view of this painting. It was very exciting for me to know that he’d been here also.
Below is an image that you can click on for a larger view:
8×10″, Oils on archival 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.
Below is an image you can click on for a larger view of the painting:
I had a large group of artists over to my house to paint a few days ago. It was a cool, overcast day, which presents artists with opportunities to look outside of the box for subject matter, as well as giving us the gift of more consistent light throughout the day. I selected a fairly complicated composition for this scene, which I might not have chosen on a day when the sunlight and shadow patterns would race across my scene in wildly conflicting directions!
I’ve been pretty much sticking to the “Kenn Backhaus palette” lately, with the occasional additions of transparent red oxide (for convenience) and cerulean blue (to feed the blue gene of the color junkie within me). This painting contained both of those. I so enjoyed doing this piece while having time with my artist buddies. Great fun.
12×16″, Oils on archival linen board
$525.00 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 couldn’t resist stopping in my tracks to paint this pathway leading to a waterfall. The fall foliage was nearly at peak, and the water gushed down the cliff face following a recent storm.
Here is an image you can click on for a larger, clearer view.
7×5″, Golden Acrylics on sealed museum board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This painting was done on location at the tallest waterfall in New York State — Kaaterskill Falls. It is one of the sites made famous by the Hudson River School painters.
10×8″, Acrylics on Multimedia Artboard, mounted on board
$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.
I was instantly drawn to the strong reds and greens in this scene, at a time when the greens are overtaking the landscape. The tree growing around the large boulder is a pretty common sight along the woodland streams in the mountains, and provided some interesting textural elements. It was a really hot day, so painting by water was a must!
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on primed archival canson board (Frame without glass like an oil painting)
$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.
There’s been so little rain here in the northeast that I’m trying to paint as many waterfalls as possible before they dry up completely. Every time I go out to paint, there is less water out there, and the falls on my property are already gone. Old Mills falls is one of those exquisite summer spots that can usually be counted on to provide some comfort on brutally hot days. It’s still running, though not at its usual clip. I always find the colors to be so striking here, with the green moss and warm-colored pool of water, and the light dancing on the waterfall.
Below is an image you can click on for a slightly larger version:
11×7″, Oils, with custom ivory mat and backing board to fit a standard 12×16″ frame.
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Before doing this oil painting, I did four small watercolors of the scene out on location to study various options:
A vertical orientation with low horizon
Vertical with high horizon
Horizontal with low horizon, and
Horizontal with high horizon.
My plan was to pick the one I liked best, return to the “scene of the crime”, and do a large oil painting of that one. That large one is actually still in progress, but before I embarked on that one, I wanted to test drive a new support I planned to use. This is done on the new Arches Oil Paper. It is a 100%, 140 lb., archival rag paper. Artists have painted oils on prepared rag paper for many hundreds of years, and it is one of the most archival surfaces that exists for oil painting. The fibers in this case have been internally sized for oil painting. The painting can then be mounted to board, varnished, and framed without glass like any other oil painting, or matted and framed with glass and a backing board like other works on paper.
Since I love painting on paper, this support seemed a good match for me. I love the luminosity that becomes possible by using layered washes of mineral spirits, mediums, and oil paint, followed by opaque work like a traditional oil painting. It was great fun doing this one, and I’m happy with the huge potential of this surface for handling many different effects.
16×20″, Oils on archival linen panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This is a painting that I’m still working on, but it’s nearing the finish line. I spent two days working on it out on location, hiking 3/4 of a mile back into the woods with my painting gear. The light changed quickly. I think what I’ll have to do at this location in the future is to work on several paintings over a period of several days, so each time the light changes, I can switch to another painting done during that time frame. I’ll either finish this one up in the studio, or make another return trip to the falls.
It was great fun to paint this, using transparent layers, pulling out lights and adding darks, then building to opaque sections. I love painting this size and larger. It’s mainly transporting all that gear, plus the limited time factors, that keep me painting smaller on site most of the time. I’ve resolved most of the setup issue by using light tripod easels and clamping a light palette to the easel itself, rather than carting my Soltek easel (which weighs a ton but handles large panels with ease) or one of the popular box/tripod solutions. Although the box/tripod setups are touted as being “light”, they aren’t light for me! I guess “light” is a relative term.
I’ll be reposting this once it’s finished. With all the rain expected over the next week, it might be sooner rather than later if I have studio time to fill!
16×12″ mat size (included) to fit standard frame (Painting size is 1/8 sheet — about 11×7″)
$195.00 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.
Yep, another waterfall! Spring is the best time of year to paint waterfalls. It’s not long before they either dry up during the summer, or are far less dramatic as the flow diminishes. This one was also painted out on location. It’s watercolor on 1/8 sheet of Stonehenge Fawn paper. It’s a 100% cotton rag printmaking paper — very high quality, not too much tooth, and I love painting watercolor and gouache on it.
This is one of my favorite sizes to paint. It works so well for both vertical and horizontal compositions, and allows me to tear down a page with no waste. What I end up with is not a standard frame size, so to make it easier for buyers, the price includes a custom, ivory-colored archival mat, acid free backing board, and will arrive sealed in a polybag for protection and gift-giving. You’ll be able to just buy an inexpensive, standard frame into which you can pop the already-prepared painting, or take it to your local framer and you won’t have to purchase a mat and backing board.
Custom matted to 7×5″ to fit any standard 5×7″ frame, with acid free foamcore backing board and acid free ivory mat, in a polybag. Mat is ivory color.
Watercolor and gouache on Arches Rough 140# rag paper.
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This little stream runs through our property, cascading over rocks and waterfalls. This is the fourth in my series of compositional studies — a vertical orientation with a high horizon line.
I’ve had custom, archival mats and backing boards made for all the sizes I generally paint when working on paper. The good news for my collectors is that from now on, my non-standard size paintings and sketches on paper will come to you already matted and ready to frame in standard sizes. They are beautiful ivory-colored archival mats, acid free backing boards, and will arrive sealed in polybags for protection and gift-giving. You’ll be able to just buy an inexpensive, standard frame into which you can pop the already-prepared painting, or take it to your local framer and you won’t have to purchase a mat and backing board.
Custom matted to 7×5? to fit any standard 5×7? frame, with acid free foamcore backing board and acid free ivory mat, in a polybag. Mat is ivory color.
Watercolor and gouache on Arches Rough 140# 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.
I’ve had custom, archival mats and backing boards made for all the sizes I generally paint when working on paper. The good news for my collectors is that from now on, my non-standard size paintings and sketches on paper will come to you already matted and ready to frame in standard sizes. They are beautiful ivory-colored archival mats, acid free backing boards, and will arrive sealed in polybags for protection and gift-giving. You’ll be able to just buy an inexpensive, standard frame into which you can pop the already-prepared painting, or take it to your local framer and you won’t have to purchase a mat and backing board.
This painting will arrive custom matted to 5×7? to fit any standard 5×7? frame, with acid free foamcore backing board and acid free ivory mat, in a polybag. Mat is ivory color. Image is 3×4.5? on Arches Rough 140# 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.
This little stream runs through our property, cascading over rocks and waterfalls. It gives me endless enjoyment to paint there on a beautiful day. I wanted to explore some compositional ideas, each of which brings out different elements in the landscape, so I did a series of small watercolors, setting the horizon at different points, with vertical and horizontal orientations. This was the second one — horizontal orientation with a high horizon line.
I’ve had custom, archival mats and backing boards made for all the sizes I generally paint when working on paper. The good news for my collectors is that from now on, my non-standard size paintings and sketches on paper will come to you already matted and ready to frame in standard sizes. They are beautiful ivory-colored archival mats, acid free backing boards, and will arrive sealed in polybags for protection and gift-giving. You’ll be able to just buy an inexpensive, standard frame into which you can pop the already-prepared painting, or take it to your local framer and you won’t have to purchase a mat and backing board.
This painting will arrive custom matted to 5×7″ to fit any standard 5×7″ frame, with acid free foamcore backing board and acid free ivory mat, in a polybag. Mat is ivory color. Image is 3×4.5″ on Arches Rough 140# 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.
This little stream runs through our property, cascading over rocks and waterfalls. It gives me endless enjoyment to paint there on a beautiful day. I wanted to explore some compositional ideas, each of which brings out different elements in the landscape, so I did a series of small watercolors, setting the horizon at different points, with vertical and horizontal orientations. This was the first one — horizontal orientation with a low horizon line.
I’ve had custom, archival mats and backing boards made for all the sizes I generally paint when working on paper. The good news for my collectors is that they can now buy my non-standard size paintings and sketches on paper already matted and ready to frame in standard sizes. They are beautiful ivory-colored archival mats, acid free backing boards, and will arrive sealed in polybags for protection and gift-giving. You’ll be able to just buy an inexpensive, standard frame into which you can pop the already-prepared painting.
7×11, Watercolor and Gouache on Stonehenge rag paper
Painting is already matted with ivory archival mat, backing board, and archival polybag. It will fit any standard 12×16″ frame.
$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 painted a week or so ago out on location, sitting with my feet in the water on a gorgeous, unseasonably warm, early spring afternoon. My little dog Rondo waded in the water while I painted. It’s hard to know which of us enjoyed it more!
Here’s a photo of the scene with the painting (click image to enlarge it):
If you’d like to see a larger image of the painting, you can click the one below:
16×12″, Oil on archival linen panel
$535.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I went hiking with my friend Gretchen to this spectacular waterfall. The light was perfect and conditions ideal, with record-breaking March temperatures and no bugs! I found a spot to set up my easel that was high up, next to the falls. Generally I view it from below, so it was great to find this additional vantage point.
Here’s a photo of my painting in progress at the scene. You can click the image to enlarge it if you’d like.
It’s been so warm this winter that I’m getting concerned about the potential for drought. That could mean a severe waterfall shortage for my paintings too! I’m trying to get in as much water painting as possible before all the streams and creeks coming down from the mountainside run dry. Hopefully we’ll get abundant rain in April and that won’t happen, but just in case, at least I’ll have gotten in a few of them early on this season.
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.
8×10″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on archival Canson board
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Deep in the woods is a stunning waterfall with clear water, rusty colors, and striking rock outcroppings, set in a hemlock grove. I often hike there with my husband, but this was my first time going with paints and an easel. I also used the opportunity to test drive a new easel setup, which I loved. More on that coming soon!
Here is my easel and painting at the scene when I was almost finished. You can see that by then the sun had shifted quite a bit. Much is in shadow in the photo that was very visible to the human eye:
Here’s an image of the painting that you can click on to get a larger, clearer view:
Now that I know I can easily hike there with this easel, I’m looking forward to going back and taking on a bigger painting!
5×7″, Oils on archival linen panel
$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.
This is such a magnificent waterfall and a beautiful place to paint. Lots of folks come to swim and take in the dramatic falls on hot days. It involves a bit of a trek through overgrown brush, a steep slope, and a train track crossing, but is well worth the effort!
5×7″, Oils on oil primed archival linen panel
$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.
I had so much fun at this waterfall on a hot afternoon! There are several swimming spots within this waterfall, and several people were taking advantage of that way to beat the heat.
16×20″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on Canson Board
$750.00 plus $30 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
The day after a big rainfall, my friend Gretchen and I decided to venture to Pomeroy Falls to experience the waterfall at its most dramatic. It did not disappoint! We planned for a full day of painting, so I had enough time to pull out a large panel. I love painting with Golden Fluid Acrylics and Golden Acrylic Glazing Liquid. When I get immersed in this medium, I often wonder why I ever paint with anything else!
Here is a larger image; just click it to enlarge:
5×7″, Oils on archival oil primed linen panel
$125.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
It was so hot out today that my friend Mara and I were trying to decide whether to stay in the studio and paint the wildflowers I picked this morning, or venture out into the yard in the heat. We went exploring, finding shade and irresistible views at the base of the little waterfall. It was surprisingly cool there with my feet in the cold water while I painted! I was attracted to the strong contrasts of the shadow side of the rock and white of the bubbling water catching the light, combined with the transparency of the cool pool below where the light penetrated the surface.
Here’s an image you can click for a slightly larger view of the painting:
16×12″, Oils on archival oil primed linen panel
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
I’ve been wanting to paint this waterfall for such a long time! Over half of it is this beautiful rock ledge covered with the most gorgeous green moss I’ve ever seen. I finally had my opportunity when the sun broke out briefly on Saturday. I did end up having to pack up quickly in the rain and finish it up in the studio, but it was a thrill to be out there painting for awhile. As far as I know, this waterfall has no name, so I call it Mossy Falls. I’d guess it to be about 25-30 feet high.
5×7″, Oils on archival oil primed linen panel
$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.
I had five artist friends over to paint a few days ago and everybody chose to paint waterfalls! Sometimes it’s hard for me to paint when I’m the hostess, but I did manage to get this little one nearly finished, and just tweaked it a bit in the studio. Today it rained really hard all day. I just walked my dog past this waterfall and it’s now extended all the way across those ledges. I just might have to go paint it again!
Yesterday I was sketching in Hudson, New York with a couple of artist friends. What a great place to draw and paint! If you’d like to see those sketches, just click here.
7×5″, Oils on archival, oil primed linen panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
Yesterday, landscape painter David Dunlop did a one-day demo on painting water. He did a lecture in the morning, followed by several demonstrations in watercolor, acrylics and oils. Participants had the option of just listening and taking notes, or they were free to paint along. I had brought my little 5×7″ Guerrilla pochade box with me, so that proved the perfect thing for painting along while David did the acrylic and oil demos. These were all really fast — not more than 20-30 minutes each. It was great fun to follow along this way and try to emulate his brushwork. He did this one in acrylics, but I painted it in oils. (Didn’t bring my acrylics with me.)
12×9″, Oils on archival oil primed linen panel
$335.00 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.
You can stand in this spot, turn in any direction, and see a scene worthy of a painting! This is in the Platte Clove area of the Catskills, known for its steep and dangerous cliffs and dramatic waterfalls.
For some reason, the foreground rocks photographed much higher in blue and purple chroma than they are in the actual painting. I wasn’t able to dull that down without killing the luminosity in the sky.
12×16″, Oils on archival linen panel
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
This is one of my favorite painting locations in the Catskills. You can sit on the rocks for hours and hear nothing but rushing water. The water is crystal clear, and so transparent that the pool looks a lot shallower than it really is!
This painting was done with a lot of transparent pigments, a few semi-transparent, a couple of opaque pigments, and a little help from artist extraordinaire, David Dunlop. As plein air season gets underway, I’ll have to see if I can cart enough extra tubes with me to keep a transparent palette for at least part of the process. You can see how it really makes the painting glow from within.
Here’s an image that you can click on to see the painting a little larger and clearer:
16×12″, Oils on archival oil primed linen panel
$525.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
It felt so wonderful today to have sun and warm temperatures! I headed over to Beacon to test drive my new SunEden easel setup at Tioronda Falls, in Madam Brett Park. That’s Mount Beacon in the painting. This is Fishkill Creek, very near where it empties out into the Hudson River. The falls were absolutely exquisite with all the recent rain we’ve had, and the SunEden performed quite well. It certainly doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of my Soltek, but it only weighs three and a half pounds, and can support a large canvas! It has a shelf to set down a palette (or you can use the shelf itself as a palette) and a box that clamps on to hold all my paints and brushes. It will be great for those out-of-the-way painting locations that aren’t so close to the car. Everything fits in a backpack and it is light, light, light!
I loved painting this scene. Definitely going back soon!
5×7″, Oils on archival linen panel
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
There is a huge amount of water in Fishkill Creek these days, following the heavy rains we’ve had here in the east, combined with the snow melt. Beacon Falls is located just a couple of miles before the creek empties out into the Hudson River. There’s so much water that it’s traveling along a side spillway, and you can’t even see rock where it’s cascading over the falls.
I paint a lot of waterfalls and they usually don’t give me much trouble, but I have to say that this scene presented me with a real struggle! I’m going to try to get back there to do a couple more with different compositions and in different sizes. It’s a fabulous location, and I just love a good challenge!
If you haven’t been over to my new site for my sketches at http://hudsonvalleysketches.blogspot.com, please go take a look! For those of you who are subscribed to receive my paintings in your email, you can also subscribe over there if you’d like to continue to receive my sketches in your email. You won’t be getting any more mail than you do already — just when I do an oil painting it will come from the Hudson Valley Painter address, and when I do a sketch it will come from the Hudson Valley Sketches address.
7×5″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This is my first painting of 2011. It felt great to get back to my brushes again after a rather extended holiday vacation! This painting of Kaaterskill Falls was done from two studies done on location plus a photo reference. I think I’ll do a 20×30″ or 24×36″ version of the scene soon.
Kaaterskill Falls is the tallest waterfall in New York State, and was a favorite painting spot of the Hudson River School painters. It’s one of my favorite spots too!
12×12″, Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
$425.00 plus $20 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
“First Warm Day at the Falls” might sound like a funny title for a painting that I’m posting in late autumn. This painting was actually started in the spring, on location. It needed a few touch-ups in the studio, so finally that’s been done and it’s ready to be revealed at last. It so nice to see it finally finished up. This painting will look fabulous in a warm-toned, wood frame. I have just the one!
Here is a photo of the work in progress on location:
12×16″, Acrylics on sealed, primed hardboard
$525.00 plus $25 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This painting was done at Tioronda Falls in Beacon, New York. There is a beautiful park there where the Fishkill Creek empties into the Hudson River. This waterfall is conveniently located very close to the parking lot, making it an ideal painting location!
Here’s an image of the painting in progress, on location:
If you’d like to see it a little larger, you can click on this image to enlarge the photo:
8×10″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$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.
It was a little tricky setting up my gear on an island in the creek to do this painting, but worth the trouble I think!
Here is a clickable image, so that you can see it a little larger:
16×20″, Golden Fluid Acrylics on archival Canson board
$750.00 plus $35 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This is another painting from one of my favorite locations in the Catskills. The chasm to the right, “Hell’s Hole”, goes down over 100 feet. My friend Tarryl was standing to my right as I painted this, and I wanted to tether her to a boulder to be sure she wouldn’t take a tumble!
I loved the way the strong light illuminated the foreground rock ledge, and drew the eye through the tunnel to the waterfall beyond. I feel like I could paint this scene a hundred times and not get tired of it.
Here’s another image that you can click on to see a larger version:
5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$125.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
What a gorgeous fall day it turned out to be today, following a few days of dismal, rainy weather. Our waterfalls are gushing and the foliage is nearly at peak. My dog sat beside me, impatient as usual when I’m painting instead of paying attention to him.
I’m trying to constantly remind myself to put down more paint, more paint, more paint. I’m reminded of quotes I’ve heard here and there, such as, “Put out twice as much paint as you think you need and use it all!” A quote I’ve heard attributed to Robert Gamblin (of Gamblin Oil Paints) is, “Paint like you own a paint company!” I’m eager to add more of that third dimension to my work in oils. My paintings will be taking a little longer to dry, but it will be worth it!
5×7″, Oils on Ampersand Gessoboard
$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.
At the top of Kaaterskill Falls, the stream descends from South Lake and cascades over the edge. Along the way, there are these beautiful cascades, with pools of deep rusts in the shallow areas, and blue-greens in the deep sections gouged out by the waterfalls at peak flow. They are the most challenging things I’ve ever painted. I keep on going back again and again in an attempt to capture what I see, but this is the first time that I felt the result was worth sharing! I think all those attempts are finally starting to pay off. Perhaps it also has something to do with all the waterfalls I’ve been painting in Platte Clove lately.
This was also painted with my 5×7″ Guerrilla box. I laid in my composition and somehow the little waterfall migrated right to the center of the painting, all by itself! I had to wipe it out and go at it again, and this was the result.
5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$125.00 plus $10 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I went back to the waterfalls in Platte Clove; I can’t seem to stay away from there for long! This time I was test driving my brand new baby — the 5×7″ Guerrilla Painter pochade box. It’s so small and light, and I can take this everywhere for stealth painting on the go! I got it with the palette extension to give me a little extra space to hold my palette cup, brushes, and a clipped on rag. The palette is still small, but then again, so is the painting. For 5×7 size it worked just fine. It holds two wet panels instead of the four that their 6×8″ box holds, but the 6×8 is deeper and heavier. This one fits right into the pocket of my pack stool!
I’ve been so busy this week. My fellow Daily Painters Laurie Pace and Kimberly Conrad are visiting from out of town with their husbands. We’re all having a grand time. My Daily Painter friend Gretchen Kelly also came to join us yesterday. We toured some of the “Hudson River Art Trail”, managing to visit Olana, Locust Grove, North South Lake, and Kaaterskill Falls in a single day!
Tonight I’m cooking dinner for everybody — fresh corn from the local market, chicken breasts with pesto sauce, carrots, a huge salad, and stewed fruit with whipped cream for dessert. Mmmmmmm…..
8×10″, Acrylics
$260.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was painted at the top of Kaaterskill Falls, which is the tallest waterfall in New York State. The stream comes down from South Lake and disappears here over the edge of the cliff.
Click to enlarge image:
10.5×13.5″, Soft pastels on UArt 600 archival, sanded paper
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I was back up in Platte Clove today, painting the exquisite waterfalls in Devil’s Kitchen. We finally got a good, long rainfall a week or so ago, and all the waterfalls have been running strongly since then.
I haven’t broken out the pastels for a really long time, and this was so much fun! Can’t wait to do more pastel work.
The new studio is coming along. Expect a studio tour here on my website in the near future!
6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
$160.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
I’m still continuing on with my exploration of the waterfalls in the Catskill Mountains. Old Mills Falls is exquisite, with a beautiful, large, transparent pool at the base. I really want to go back and do a larger version of this as well. It’s a pretty steep descent to the falls, so I just stuck my little painting box in my backpack and went hands-free.
12×9″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
Yep, back to Hell’s Hole again in the Devil’s Kitchen area of Platte Clove to do what I seem to enjoy most these days — painting waterfalls! This eastern section of the Catskills is so loaded with waterfalls. Many of them are challenging to get to, but some are roadside and easily accessible.
6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$130.00 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 waterfall in the Catskill Mountains provided the perfect cool, comfortable spot to go painting on a hot day last week! The water was crystal clear and glistened against the moss-covered rocks.
16×12″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.
I posted the red oxide underpainting start of this work a few days ago. Today I finished it up in the studio. Hopefully it conveys at least a little of the magic that I feel beside this waterfall below the mountain. It is not an exact depiction of the location, but rather an attempt to capture the essence of the elements that lure me to this spot time after time. Pretty soon the foliage will be in full bloom and the scene will change dramatically, providing an opportunity to capture the vista in its newly-transformed state.
9×12″, Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico
$160.00 plus $15 shipping and insurance within the Continental United States. For local sales, shipping charge will be allocated to NYS Sales Tax. Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com for International purchases or with any questions.
This was my first go at painting this particular waterfall, but it won’t be my last for sure! I had to tiptoe across stepping stones to a little island in the creek to arrive at the ideal vantage point. The painting location was shaded by an overpass while the waterfall was in sunlight, so this will be a fabulous spot on a hot day! There’s been a lot of rain, and combined with the snow melt off South Mountain, the waterfalls were gushing this weekend.
8×10″, oils on canvas covered hardboard
$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 is one of my plein air paintings that hung around the studio for months waiting to be finished. Well, today was the day!
There is a magical, little brook that comes down from South Mountain and through our property upstate. It flows under a bridge that spans our driveway, and cascades down moss-covered rocks in a small waterfall. I didn’t even know it was there until after we’d bought the house, but I’ve been entranced by it ever since. It seems to be compositionally perfect from nearly any angle. So far in addition to this one, I’ve done one gouache sketch of it from the other side, a monochrome painting sitting on one of the rock ledges where the water cascaded past me, and an oil painting from the other side of the brook while the phlox was blooming in fall. In spite of all these views of the scene, I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of the hundreds of fantastic compositions possible from this special little place. There are numerous other waterfalls in and around the property, and although this one is the smallest, I feel it is by far the most beautiful.
I lost my favorite old palette and had to replace it this week. I went over to Jerry’s Artarama in Norwalk to check out what they had, and came away with this wonderful new palette. Today was my first opportunity to test drive it; I love it to bits! Now I’m glad I misplaced the old one.
The birds got to take turns coming out to play today. I love that I have more time with them during the winter months when I’m working more indoors. Here are the adorable ones: Mango and Coconut. They are extremely sweet and gentle. Mango goes to anybody and loves to socialize. Coconut is extremely handsome, but is not so well endowed in the brains department. LOL
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized 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.
Painted on location in Acra, New York.
8×10″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on sized 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.
Painted on location in Acra, New York.
6×8″, Oils on canvas covered hardboard
$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.
This painting was started a couple of weeks ago on a very chilly morning at the top of Kaaterskill Falls. It just needed a few minutes of studio touch-ups to call it done. This is one of my favorite painting spots, and I go there often to paint the stunning cascades as they spill over the rocks before plunging down the 279 feet of Kaaterskill Falls. It is the tallest waterfall in New York State.
This was a favorite spot of the Hudson River School painters as well. Back in those times, there was a dam up here to hold back the flow of water. A bucket would be lowered to the viewers below, who would each pay into the bucket for a water release to view the falls. Snack and drinks would also be lowered down to complete the attraction.
5×7″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This little waterfall presents a nearly perfect composition from any angle. I think I’ve painted it from five different spots now, and I feel I’ve only just begun to explore it’s potential as a painting subject. This past weekend, its charm multiplied as the phlox bloomed profusely along the shoreline of the creek.
With all the rain we’ve had this season, the mosquitoes have been out in full force. I doused myself with heavy-duty bug repellent and stayed out painting for as long as the mosquitoes would let me!
8×6″, oils on Raymar canvas panel
$85.00 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.
Monochrome studies are such a great way to work on values. When I don’t have time to do a full-color painting, a monochrome sketch is always a good way to spend the time. I mixed together leftover paint from a morning painting to create this reddish-brownish-purplish mix, took a seat on the nearest rock, and used that with titanium white for an oil sketch of a small waterfall.
Here’s a photo of my Guerrilla thumbox at work with this painting! Isn’t it the cutest thing? It holds everything I need for small paintings.
Click to enlarge:
24×18″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on canvas covered hardboard
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
This large painting was done using my plein air study, “The Base of Kaaterskill Falls”, as a reference image, along with a photo I took at the scene. I did a value underpainting in Transparent Red Oxide before going in with local color. One of the things I love about the Golden OPEN paints is the way the underpainting shows through without mixing and muddying the color. I would have had to wait for my oil paints to dry before continuing in order to achieve some of the effects I got here with Golden OPEN.
This was one of the spots painted by many of the old Hudson River School painters, and many of the new ones too! This painting is just the bottom tier of the falls; there is another tier above!
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylic on “Pearl” Canson Board
Please email Jamie at JamieWG@aol.com if interested.
This is the second painting that I did at Kaaterskill Falls in my quest to follow the trail of the Hudson River School painters. Just as I was completing the first, the sunlight began to hit the falls. Tempted as I was to move on to another location at that point, I decided to stay and paint the falls from the top while I had the light. There were lots of hikers climbing up at this time. I was surprised that most of the hikers didn’t go early to beat the heat like I did!
10×8″, Golden OPEN Acrylics on “Pearl” Canson board
This scene is available as a studio/commission original painting in any size/price range. Please email Jamie at JamieWG@aol.com if interested.
What is the tallest waterfall in New York State? Niagara? Nope, guess again. It’s Kaaterskill Falls!
My first opportunity to paint on our trip, following in the footsteps of the old Hudson River School painters, was after climbing a half mile up to the base of Kaaterskill Falls. You wouldn’t think one would have to climb so far uphill to get to the bottom of a waterfall, but it is indeed far up the mountain. I don’t think I would have made it without my new ultralight painting box in my backpack. I didn’t have to carry a thing, and my pack was nearly weightless. Here’s a photo of the new painting box and my palette for this painting. I’ll be posting more photos of how the box was constructed in the week to come. You can see that I’ve added an extension to it, which can hold my brushes and palette cup.
In the early morning light, most of the fall was in shadow, so I chose a scene that focused on the waterfall/cascade right at the base, where the light was strongest. By the time I was finishing up this painting, a little light was just beginning to hit other parts of the falls. I stayed to do a second painting that included the top tier of the falls as well. I’ll be posting that one tomorrow, so stay tuned!
Thomas Cole and many of the Hudson River School painters painted from this very spot. There are beautiful cascades all the way up the trail to the base, inviting a series of paintings. In fact, the beautiful Bastian Falls is right at the bottom before the trail even starts to ascend, but it’s definitely worth it to make the climb to the top to experience Kaaterskill. I’m sure I’ll be coming back here many times in the years to come to take advantage of other locations along the way.
We intentionally went the day after a heavy rain, figuring that there would be a significant increase in the amount of water coming over the falls and the drama it created. We were right! Most of the paintings and photos I’ve seen of this waterfall display a far narrower stream of water. We chose the right time to go, even if the way up was a little wet and slippery!
Edit: I just checked the image above on a different monitor and it looks a little too light, so depending on your monitor, this image below may be more accurate:
SOLD! Please email me at JamieWG@aol.com to inquire about a similar painting.
2.5×3.5″, Oils on primed acid free matboard
It’s another wee painting off my brushes! This one is ACEO trading card size, 2.5×3.5″. It was painted from a photo taken by Deb Leger. (Thank you, Deb!)
In the art world, ACEO stands for Artist Cards Editions and Originals. They are collectible paintings in a standard, miniature format. The size is 2.5×3.5″, like baseball cards and playing cards. They are so much fun to paint and collect that every so often I do a few of them. Some artists sell prints of paintings in that size as ACEOs, but mine are always one-of-a-kind originals. ACEOs are truly fun to collect for those who love art. Everybody can find a place for these little gems, and they are reasonably priced. It’s an easy and relatively inexpensive way to acquire work from some favorite artists.