Birch Trees at North Lake

There are beautiful birch trees around North South Lake, though many have been claimed by the beavers in the past couple of years! I sketched this clump of them the other day while resting in the picnic area. I used my Kuretake fountain brush pen for the first time, and oh my gosh, I love this thing to bits! I used the black cartridge that came with the pen, which is washable ink. I think I'd actually prefer an ink that stays put. Along with it, I used a waterbrush filled with J. Herbin Gris Nuage to give me midtone greys, plus a waterbrush that I used to wash a bit of the black ink. Together they gave me quite a range. This was done in my Stillman & Birn Beta book, which is very rapidly becoming my favorite for pen and wash work.

View from the Catskill Mountain House Site

Before 1965, the Catskill Mountain House sat upon this rock ledge overlooking 60 miles of the Hudson River and the valley floor below, all the way to the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Visitors to the Mountain House would journey up the Hudson River by steamboat in the 1800s, and disembark in Catskill for the ride up to the mountains by horse-drawn carriage, and later by train. As modern transportation enabled vacationers to go further from the cities, the Catskill Mountain House fell into disrepair, and was taken down and burned by New York State in 1965, after they acquired the property. It remains one of the most dramatic views in the Hudson Valley, and I felt my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012 tour wouldn't be complete without it! It's brutally hot up on that ledge in the summer, but we had a relatively cool day and took advantage of the opportunity to paint there.

Blazing Fields and Glowing Sunset from Olana

I spent a couple of days painting at Olana, mostly from this old carriage road called "Ridge Road". In Frederic Church's time, it was one of the main roads on the property, and he did many paintings from this location. Some sections are very overgrown, and we no longer have all of the magnificent Hudson River vistas from Church's days, but some areas have been cleared to let us see how it used to be. This is one of those cleared areas overlooking the Hudson, with the Catskill skyline and glorious colors in the sunset. Frederic Church did a famous painting very close to this spot, but that view is now closed off by foliage.

Late Day Light at North South Lake

I can't believe I made such a dumb mistake, but I painted this upside down into my sketchbook for The Sketchbook Project 2012. So when my sketchbook goes off on its world tour, you'll all be able to arrive at this page of an upside down painting! I thought it best to at least post it right side up, so I'll save you the trouble of turning your computers over to view it the way it is in the book!

This was painted in gouache at the NYS DEC Campground at North South Lake, in Haines Falls, NY. The land shapes are broad and simple, which contrast with the complexity of the water movement, reflections, changing values, and pond scum in the water. Overall it's a very challenging scene that I have revisited many times.

Pomeroy Falls

Today I went to Pomeroy Falls in Platte Clove, and did a watercolor sketch for The Sketchbook Project 2012. It was an absolutely beautiful day out there! I'll go back soon to do an oil painting, perhaps from a different vantage point.

Here's a photo I took holding up the sketchbook, with the scene in the background.

There are 15, two-page spreads in the sketchbook they send for this Brooklyn Art Library project, so I'm about 30% done already. I'm thinking that I just might be able to finish before the bitter cold weather sets in, which would be great! I'm a total wimp when it comes to painting out in the cold.

Eurasian Eagle Owl and Emu at Discovery Zoo

This two page spread features "Hoot", the Eurasian Eagle Owl, and "Freddy" the Emu. I never saw such huge feet on a bird as that emu has! I guess if you can run 31 mph, you need big feet to do it! This is my favorite border so far, done with red and gold acrylic paint. The birds were sketched with ink and wash, and some watercolor added after that for a bit of color. 

Merlin the Chimp and the Peacock and Tortoise friends

The challenge of sketching the chimps was that they were in the shade and so dark that it was hard to distinguish features. They presented as large, dark masses, so that's how Merlin was sketched!

This peacock seemed to be best friends with Tonka, the African Spurred Tortoise. He was in a large, concrete enclosure, and although the peacock could come and go, he mostly stayed. He spread his feathers in exquisite display several times. (My friend Gretchen got a great sketch of that!) Tonka had a wonderfully sculpted shell, with interesting shapes and peaks. Next time I go back, I'd like to do a two page spread just on him.

Materials:
Chimp: 0.5 Preppy filled with Private Reserve Velvet Black and washed with a waterbrush
Peacock and Tortoise: Sakura Koi Watercolors and a Niji waterbrush
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta
Writing: 0.5 Preppy with Noodler's Purple Wampum

Camels and Macaws at the Discovery Zoo

Camels seem to be in perpetual motion, so a portrait attempt was no easy feat. Not only do their heads move continually from side to side, but also from ground level to about nine feet in the air! I'd wait patiently, popping in a couple of lines each time he looked straight at me.

The pair of macaws was a riot. In spite of the fact that the zoo owner kept putting them up on their tree stand, their will proved stronger. With clipped wings, they waddled around wherever they pleased, occasionally flying up to a low perch. They were especially interested in watching me sketch the camels. One came over and literally sat by my feet almost the entire time, saying "Mama". I figured they were waiting for their turn to be sketched. I did a few quick watercolor gesture sketches of each of them. Here's a photo of one of them with the sketches:

Materials
Camel sketch: 0.5 Platinum Preppy fountain pen filled with Private Reserve Velvet Black, washed with a waterbrush
Macaws: Sakura Koi watercolors and waterbrush
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta
Borders: Golden Fluid Acrylics and F&W Acrylic Inks

Great Day at the Discovery Zoo

Life as an artist is sometimes too much fun to be legal. I had such a great time at the Bronx Zoo a couple of weeks ago that I started wondering if perhaps there was a smaller zoo closer to me. It turns out that there's one only four miles away from my house upstate! So, today I went with Gretchen to check out the Discovery Zoo in Catskill, New York. We brought our sketching stuff and bug spray and hoped for the best!

The zoo actually exceeded our expectations. It is small and they don't have a lot of animals, but one can only sketch so many beasts in a single day! The people were friendly, the habitats were inviting, and we were able to set up to sketch wherever we wanted. There were lots of nice, shady spots, and the owner went out of his way for us, telling us about the history of the little zoo and the names of all his "pets"!

These two camels are named Christopher and Serena. They are among the few animals who came to this zoo from the old Catskill Game Farm, which closed five or six years ago.  I did a bunch of sketches and got some great photos too. In fact, I had such a good time there that I got a season pass! I figured with it being less than 10 minutes away, I'd surely get there a few more times before the year is out.

Sketch: Sakura Koi 24-color watercolor set with waterbrush, 0.5 Platinum Preppy loaded with J. Herbin Cacao du Bresil
Sketchbook: Stillman & Birn Delta 6x8"
Writing: Noodler's Purple Wampum in a 0.5 Preppy
Borders: Golden Fluid Acrylics and F&W Acrylic Inks

Hiking in Kaaterskill Clove to Inspiration Point

My husband and I hiked out to Inspiration Point, which overlooks Kaaterskill Clove to the east, west and south from South Mountain in Haines Falls, New York. This is the view facing west. When visiting these locations in the northeastern part of the Catskill Mountains, it's easy to understand why the Hudson River School Painters made this area their home base. The land speaks to you here, and you can feel the presence of all who came before you and admired its beauty.

This is another sketch in my "Travel With Me" book for the Brooklyn Art Library's "Sketchbook Project 2012". 

Sketching Karen's Waterfalls

I've been painting and sketching the waterfalls on my own property lately, so when my friend Karen invited me to come and paint hers for a change, I jumped at the opportunity. My friend Gretchen came along too, and the three of us set up to paint beside this waterfall.

There's a reason why our town was nicknamed The Land of Falling Waters by the Indians. There's nowhere you can go in that town and not hear the sound of rushing water from a nearby waterfall, especially in spring. Much of the water that comes down from the Catskill Mountains passes through our town of rocky ledges, spilling over into waterfalls on its journey to the Hudson River.

As I often do when checking out a new location, I just packed some sketching materials. I didn't know how far we'd have to trek to the falls, or what spots would yield the most interesting compositions, or if there would be somewhere to set up an easel. I brought some ink pens and watercolors, and my Fabriano Venezia Journal that I'm working through. After doing the sketch above mostly in watercolor, I moved further upstream to take on a larger waterfall.

I did the one above with Private Reserve Black Velvet ink, then worked my lights and darks with a waterbrush, taking the wash color from the washable ink lines. After that, I added some watercolor.

I moved back near where I'd done the first sketch, and this time did a composition that included more of the foreground, with the waterfall peeking through between the trees below me.

I think I like this last composition best. I'd like to return to do an oil painting, as well as additional sketches of other waterfalls on the property.

Painting Shades of Gray in Devil's Kitchen

I went back to Devil’s Kitchen in Platte Clove, this time to capture some of the strong contrasts in the morning light. Remember this little container, filled with Golden’s Neutral Gray Heavy Body Acrylics? The lid supports my Shades of Gray watercolor sketchbook, and having the premixed shades and tints has turned value sketching from a chore into one of my favorite ways to paint.

Here’s a picture of just the sketch. You can click it to enlarge it. The actual size is about 6×9″.

The deep chasm in the right foreground is called Hell’s Hole. My goal was to take the viewer along that chasm and under the bridge, to the waterfall beyond. Although I’d not planned to do a color version of this scene, now that I’ve seen it in black and white, I really want to go back and do it again in color.

If you click here, you can see this bridge painted in oils from the other side on my Hudson Valley Painter site!

Road Beside the Red Barns --- Monochrome Value Study

This is another entry in my Shades of Gray, monochrome value study book. It was painted en plein air while out sketching with my friend Karen the other day. I’d already done the full color sketch of the red barns (which I posted a couple of days ago), and was waiting for Karen to finish up her painting. That was the perfect opportunity to pull out my container with the acrylic values already laid out and look for a second composition. I loved this curvy road going off into the distance, and it presented me with a wide range of values to work with.

Sketching Barns

I went out painting with my friend Karen on Friday, and decided to do some sketches rather than a focused effort on a single painting. This was my first sketch of the day — beautiful barns up on the hillside that we’d been admiring on our painting outings for quite some time. This one was done with Golden Fluid Acrylics in my 10×10″ Kraft paper sketchbook.

Painting Black and White Oils

6×8″, Oils on sealed, primed hardboard
Email me at JamieWG@aol.com if interested in this painting.

The little monochrome painting above was done at a pond up the road from me that has wonderful mountain views. I asked for permission to park and paint there, and the gentleman in the driveway said that his wife was also an artist, and that I should go knock on her studio door and say hi! Well, I did that and made another new artist friend in the area! It turns out that she will be in a show with me next weekend. Such a small world! Her studio overlooks this dramatic view, and she had an especially beautiful winter scene that she’d done from the window.

I used the opportunity to do a monochrome painting, then a limited palette painting. I’ll go back again and do a full color version.

In addition to the value paintings I’ve been doing in acrylic, I have an oil painting setup to do monochrome studies easily and quickly in oils. I use the Judson’s Guerrilla Painter 6×8 watercolor box, Gamblin Light, Medium and Dark Portland Grays, plus Ivory Black and Titanium White. I also keep three colors in here for limited palette studies: Transparent Yellow Oxide, Transparent Red Oxide and Ultramarine Blue. (You can click this image to enlarge it a bit.) It has a cover, and fits right inside my 6×8″ Guerrilla pochade box.

Painting Monochrome at Home --- Shades of Gray Number 3

Golden Neutral Gray Heavy Body Acrylics in a watercolor sketchbook

I’m starting to really love doing these monochrome studies. They are such wonderful practice for improving the way we see values. Having the pre-mixed Neutral Grays has made all the difference in the world, and has turned this from a tedious chore into a fascinating adventure.

I sat outside in the yard in a comfortable chair after standing up and painting all morning, and painted this study under the shade of my favorite tree, with a cool breeze blowing.

Monochrome Morning in the Back Yard

Continuing on with my monochrome value studies in acrylics, this one was added to my Shades of Gray sketchbook this morning. This was also done with the Golden Neutral Gray acrylics plus black and white. I think I’m starting to really enjoy these, much to my surprise!

Palenville Overlook --- Gouache Sketches from the Catskill Mountains

Gouache sketches, 11×8.5″

Handwritten text:
Palenville Overlook, Sept. 26, 2009

Today was one of those priceless, crisp fall days, perfect for any outdoor activities. My husband and I opted for a hike to the famous Palenville Overlook.

From this spot looking to the west, we could see Kaaterskill High Peak and Roundtop Mountain, as well as the cliff called “Point of Rocks” or Indian Head. I could see sections of Route 23a snaking through the trees 1,100 feet below.

Turning 180 degrees to the east, the view was no less spectacular. We could see the town of Palenville below, and the Hudson River stretching to the north and south, with the Berkshire Mountains way off in the distance.

The colors were showing the emergence of fall. We walked to the old boarding house site and to Point of Rocks before heading home.

The Village of Falling Waters

Click painting for a larger, clearer image:

10x10", gouache in my sketchbook

South Mountain and the Catskill Mountain House

Click to see a larger, clearer image:

10×10″, gouache in my sketchbook