1000 Islands Ice Storm, December 2013

Memorial Park

Winter Chill St Lawrence River

Close Up Ice Storm Droop

First on a warmer note is a painting by Lori McCall, from Liverpool NY,  a PAPTIR participant who drives up to paint with the group in the 1000 Islands Area. "Memorial Park", was painted with the Syracuse Area Plein Air Painters in that area. Lori has been one of a group of PAPTIR partisipants who have been in the Adirondack Plein Air Painting Festival (Saranac Lake), for the last three years. In August 2013 she won Paul Smith's College Outstanding Visitor Center (VIC) Award. Part of that award is being the featured artist at the Plein Air Invitational Show at Paul Smith's College VIC in August 2014. Yea Lori!
Next is a studio painting (water media) I did in January 2009, "Winter Chill St Lawrence River". It was  juried into the St Lawrence College (Brockville Ontario) Annual Show that year and came to mind because of the ice storm experienced along the St Lawrence River just before Christmas 2013. The scene is directly in front of our home on the St Lawrence River, overlooking the Narrows and just down river from the US Span of the Thousand Islands Bridge.
 Below it is a photo showing the trees drooping under the weight of the ice and below that a close up where the droop is more visible. While outside, every now and then, you can hear a branch break off under the weight of the ice and a clatter of broken ice pieces crashing into the ice covered snow.
This continues every day and we patiently wait for a warm enough day for some melting to reduce the weight . Like the ice storm of 1998, the tree trimmers will be fully occupied next summer sawing off the "widow makers" and hauling them away. I spent about 7 hours over two days deicing  two vehicles by pouring buckets of warm water on them. I moved Lou's 4 wheel drive SUV to a fresh spot, but my car's four tires are still frozen into the ice.

Winter Blahs

Lake Sagamore Outflow

 Seems like I have spent more time clearing snow here on Wellesley Island than painting, plus we have not had a day above freezing with sunshine suitable for painting outdoors. Guess some plein air painters would call me a whimp. So my thoughts are of fonder days in the recent past. Here is a painting done with a painting knife while at the September 2013 NY Plein Air Painters Retreat at Great Camp Sagamore (left to us by Rockefeller) . Below is a pic of me painting this scene, taken by  Bob Fairman,  spouse of Mariilyn Fairman, who organized the event. Bob had the task of capturing candid photos of all the artists.
My rain gear was more for rain drops blowing off the trees from a previous shower. I use water

Painting  Lake Sagamore Outflow

soluble oils so I have to keep rain drops off the canvas, else the paint runs. (For the non artist you don't mix  water with the oils to paint, it is just that the binder used for the pigments allows cleanup up of brushes and yourself with water rather than toxic solvents.They dry like traditional oils.)

My room at Great Camp Sagamore

 If you look close enough you can see a plastic yogurt container to the left of and below the paint box. I fashioned a coat hanger (snipped and bent) to hang it with my water supply for swishing brushes clean during and after a painting session. I have used it for the last five years.
Below is a pic of my very comfortable room to crash in after a hard day's painting and a couple of wines in the main lodge room talking about painting  with the other artists.

More about Great Camp Sagamore Painting

Morning Coffee and Sketching before the Breakfast Bell

 The photo at the left is by Suzette Usher, a fellow NY Plein Air Painter attending the Sept 2013 Painting Retreat at Great Camp Sagamore. I was early for breakfast  which they literally ring the bell for at 8 AM. Coffee is always available for early risers and I was enjoying my first cup and sketching the view out the window.. Suzi   said she liked the way the light was illuminating me and took the pic. Funny how light can make your hair look grayer than it is. The scene out the window I was sketching is painted below- Lake Sagamore. I did the painting after breakfast and checkout on Sunday Morning. The lake surface was very still and there was a nice reflection of the mountains. Eventually a breeze rippled the surface of the lake, erasing the reflection closest to the mountains so I painted it that way. I finished about noon,  which was opening time for the gift shop where I found some nice items.My favorite I brought back was a large

Lake Sagamore at Great camp Sagamore

scotch glass with  GREAT CAMP SAGAMORE and a row of Fir trees circling the glass in gold color. Starting the drive back home took me through Eagle Bay NY and it was lunch time. I saw a small eating hole with a bunch of cars parked outside-a good sign. It's called HARD TIMES CAFE. I passed on the table seating and ate at the bar with a cool draft while my order was being prepared. I highly recommend the black bean and mushroom soup which is a meal in itself. My entree was fried clam strips, something I had not had for years. The prices were extremely reasonable reflecting the  name HARD TIMES CAFE.

Water Falls and Rapids Philadelphia NY

Top of the Falls Indian River Philadelphia NY

 In my last post I showed a studio painting of the Indian River Rapids painted  from a Fall photo. Here are some plein air paintings  of the waterfall I mentioned and the close up of the rapids above the falls which I did May 1, 2013 on a PAPTIR  paint out. as mentioned in the last post.. At the bottom is another falls called  "The Chute" by locals. It was  painted with a knife in August 2012 at another PAPTIR paint out. My only painting buddy that day was Diane Burpee  (Orleans in the summer, St Louis in the winter). Diane really has to keep a watch out out for poison ivy and there was some in the area.
The Chute is located behind the hydro electric facility and a little farther away, the sewage treatment plant (never an odor any time I have been there). There were two boys and a girl swimming  in the pool  at the bottom of the Chute while I painted. Earlier I  had talked to the operator of the treatment plant about the Chute. He said a winter view would have beautiful ice formations. He also told me where to find a third waterfall  on the other side of town, on the road just before the   school complex. I will have to search it out. For years  I commuted from Endicott NY to our place on Wellesley Island on the St Lawrence River in the 1000 Islands Region, and pretty much stuck to site seeing along the river.Only in the last five years after forming Plein Air Painters Thousand Islands Region (PAPTIR) have I discovered the beauty of the region beyond the shores  of the River. I hope to show you my paintings of these discoveries in future posts.                                                                                                                                                      

Indian River Rapids above the Fall Philadelphia NY

The Chute-Indian River at Philadelphia NY

Santa Claus Continues to Smile on me HO HO HO!

Indian River Rapids

Raquette Lake at Browns Tract Inlet

 On out first plein air paint out of the regular season, May 1 2013, five of us painted at the Indian River Rapids, Philadelphia NY. I had called the Mayor and got permission to paint there because it was posted POLICE PATROLLED. They just did not want kids going in and hurting themselves. I did two paintings that day, a close up of the rapids from beyond the tree on the right and one halfway down the cliff next to the 60 foot waterfalls just down from these  rapids. Some of us painted in the area again this fall and I took some photos from the bridge. I did this 18 x 24 oil in the studio from the photos and after looking at it for two months I painted over the top of every thing, added some  aerial perspective, and increased the color of the foliage, put a duller version of the foliage color on the previously grey/black rocks and tree trunk, and in the water.. Some one from Springville NY (25 miles south of Buffalo) purchased a large size print from my website on Fine Art America yesterday, as well as a large size print of Raquette Lake at Browns Tract Inlet. So, HO HO HO!

 I did the Raquette Lake  painting (11 x 14 oil) en plein air, standing on the sidewalk of the bridge crossing the inlet in September, when painting with a group of NY Plein Air Painters at Great Camp Sagamore in the Adirondacks.. A local resident stopped his car on the bridge and got out to chat. Seems his late wife was  an artist and he got to doing some painting himself. He invited me to stop by his house-maybe next year. While we were talking these deer appeared and  wanted to cross the bridge. Mommy was very nervous with us standing there but  shortly charged across at full speed, fawns following.. A car had stopped on the other side of  the bridge  upon seeing the deer. This caused mommy to leap over the guard rail too soon as there was about 10 foot of drop to the ground on the other side of the bridge. Anyway they made it safely as I  saw them 15 minutes later crossing the road about 100 yards away.

Mommy  wants to cross the bridge

TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY

 TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY!

Here are a couple of plein air paintings of Sackets Harbor NY. Both were completed during the Arts Association of Northern NY (AANNY) Plein Air Derby held the third weekend of July. The top one was painted in  2010 and the bottom  in.2012. I just was notified of a new print sale of the top one on my website at FINE ART AMERICA (FAA). The buyer was from Marcellus NY. Back in July someone from Fort Drum NY also purchased a print of the top one. I remember receiving a notice from FAA that the high resolution photo I had posted was blurry at the print size requested. I had cheated and not used a tripod when photographing it so I had to quickly contact the person who had purchased the original to borrow it for a day to rephotograph it. Lucky they lived only a few miles away.

The lower painting had a print purchased earlier by a buyer from San Carlos CA. WHY SO JOLLY?  The day before, I opened my email and had a notice of a print sale from FAA (painting not shown) and right below it an email via FAA  "contact the artist" by a Boston MA resident  asking about the availability of an original painting from my YOGA SERIES. Seems his mom just got her certification as a Yoga instructor and it was a gift for her. FAA does not sell originals so interested patrons can contact you directly. The point of all this is not bragging but showing the advantage of the internet and  as encouragement to other artists to invest the time to learn how to photo your paintings, edit them, and post them where they can be seen. Fine Art America recently purchased PIXELS.COM which allows viewers from 165 countries  to view and purchase prints of your paintings. Also to speed up the purchase of originals and prevent scams or bad checks, I handled the sale of the original via Pay Pal. With Pay Pay you create an invoice email on their site and send to the buyer. The buyer gets the email and can input their credit card information.  From receipt of the patron  email. to contacting the patron via email with shipping cost and payment method, and shipping the painting once Pay Pal emailed that payment was received-two days.

Weekend Retreat Point Salubrious, Chaumont,  NY

A watercolor painting of someone's  getaway for weekends and vacations which faces one of the bays on Lake Ontario. It was a windy day in September and three PAPTIR  participants were guests at another participant's home nearby. We all were wearing coats and hats and I was able to find a bench along the shoreline where  I could sit with my back to the wind while painting. I also painted with the 11" x 15" paper on a support on my lap, having had past experiences with my stand up easel blowing over in that kind of breeze. The painting was selected as one of five  featured weekly paintings on www.pleinairpainters.ning.com  when I posted it there. I started out with watercolors when I formed Plein Air Painters Thousand Islands Region (PAPTIR) in 2009.  But in July that year,  we had a formal paint out  at Boldt Castle on Heart Island (Alexandria Bay NY) in the middle of the St Lawrence River, and I had brought oils and watercolors but forgot my watercolor palette. So I did my first oil painting plein air and continued to use oils for four years, now occasionally I do a watercolor.Watercolor outdoors adds the challenge of the paper drying faster and less chance of rework.

Tug Hill Winery Wedding Painting

Tug Hill Winery Wedding

I recently delivered this painting to the bride and groom. It was a commission by the bride as a surprise wedding gift for her spouse. The wedding was held at the Tug Hill Winery near Lowville NY in August. I painted the landscape en plein air (on site) to entertain the guests  and completed the painting in the studio, including adding the wedding couple from a photo I took.

They sent me the trailer of the wedding video with the comment of how much I was a part of the wedding.

I was surprised to  see that I was the opening scene and a little later a close up of me and the painting  in progress. When I delivered the painting the bride mentioned that the videographer returned  to me  and the painting many times as it progressed. I was treated to a great surf and turf meal delivered to my easel as well as wedding cake, and the guests brought me copious glasses of wine. It was a comfortable summer day. The view in the distance is the rolling hills of the Black River Valley fertile farmland and looks west with the Adirondack mountains in the distance. 

Further posts to this blog will also include the activities of PLEIN AIR PAINTERS THOUSAND ISLANDS REGION  (PAPTIR) which I formed in 2009 to promote outdoor painting in the 1000 Island Region of the St Lawrence River. "En Plein Air" is French for in the open air and some of the better known names of artists who popularized painting out of doors were Monet and Cezanne.