Plein Air Painting Clayton NY Over the Years 1, 1000 Islands Region

This will be the first of several blogs about plein air painting in Clayton NY, located in the heart of the 1000 Islands Region of the St Lawrence River. The boundaries of the town of Clayton extend to Grindstone Island which is directly across the River from the Village of Clayton. As a member of a painting group associated with the Hawn Memorial Library, my first Plein experience in Clayton was in July of 2009.  Our group was holding its first art show/sale located in the facilities of the Thousand Islands  Land Trust (TILT) building on the River Front. In order to draw attention to the event I set up my easel on the nearby corner of Riverside Drive which was diagonally across from a local landmark and historical building, the Johnson House (ca. 1880). It was built for a local shipbuilder and captain, Simon Johnson. A few years ago the current owner remodeled  and opened an indoor/outdoor restaurant. The outdoor portion is well landscapes and has umbrellaed  tables which makes for a great painting subject and I plan on doing it in the summer of 2016. The painting is shown below (11 x 14 oil),  along with a photo on me painting taken by a fellow artist.

Johnson House Clayton NY (private collection)

In August of the same year we conducted the first Plein Air Contest and silent auction for the benefit of our Hawn Memorial Library Painting Group. It attracted the interest of the Watertown NY Times and they published  a great article and photo. The paintings are below. The first is a view of a red sailboat anchored at the Antique Boat Museum and the second of a favorite local restaurant, the Lyric Bistro. Both  paintings won awards. Since then the other members of Plein Air Painters Thousand Islands Region (PAPTIR), which I formed in 2009, have progressed  in skill and experience and  best me in local and regional competitions. Both are  of 11 x14 size and oil. To see more of my work and/or purchase prints go to
robert-p-hedden.artistwebsites.com

Canadian Sailboat at the Antique Boat Museum (private collection)

Lyric Bistro Restaurant (private collection)

Painting Grenadier Island Lake Ontario USA

As mentioned in my other blog (robertpheddenartist.blogspot.com), after a summer of busy painting, a spring and fall trip to Italy for painting, and plein air events, there is finally time to write about some of  the experiences.
There are two Grenadier Islands in the 1000 Islands Region. One is in Canadian waters in the 1000 Islands Region of the  Lawrence River, east (down river) of Rockport ON and Alexandria Bay NY.
The other is near the mouth of the St Lawrence River near Cape Vincent  and in Lake Ontario south of Tibbetts Point Lighthouse. It is the latter that some participants of Plein Air Painters Thousand Islands Region (PAPTIR) were available to take advantage of  an invitation by some property owners to come out and paint. I formed PAPTIR in 2009 to promote plein air painting in region.
The first task was to motor the group by pontoon boat from the  mainland to the docks on the Island and our hosts also provided that 20 minute ride. At the docks a couple of ATVs (all terrain vehicles) were waiting to transport us to our hosts summer home and then to some paintings spots during the day.

A private island., sign at the docks

Transportation by ATV

A field of  Queen Ann Lace and other wild flowers

Our hosts and two artists checking out the best view  of this 1880's homestead.

My two painting for the day arebelow.

South West Bay, notice the red freighter passing at the left top.

An 1880's homestead 

Peeking in the old schoolhouse

Sunrises and sunsets on the St Lawrence River from Wellesley Island NY

It's been a while since my last post. I had difficulties with new income  tax software (did not import and transfer depreciation correctly from the software I used last year) and then I left for 12 days of painting on Italy's Amalfi Coast. Since this blog is primarily for the 1000 Islands Region in the St Lawrence River with some diversions to the Adirondacks and Catskill's, I intend to initiate another blog to talk about  the Amalfi Coast and and also my other paintings created  with other subject matter. That will be under RobertPHeddenArt-coming soon, right after our 4th Annual  US 1000 Islands Artist Studio Tour May 23rd and 24th, 2014.
My favorite sunrises occur in the winter as they come up directly across the  St Lawrence River from Wellesley Island and illuminate  Brown Bay and Swan Bay on the other side of the Narrows. Sometimes I can catch a reference photo(s) with a ship passing before closure of the Seaway late in December.  Of course the sunrises are great all year but in the spring and summer months I would have  to  take a boat out to the shipping channel, as the direction from my second floor deck is  partially obstructed by trees.

The photo on the left is a January Sunrise and dates back to 2005. The photo above is a from February 2005. I don't think that a painting that tries to realistically portray a  sunrise or sunset  ever really achieves that objective but can come close with a series of glazes, with drying time of days in between, may  do a reasonable job for the artist with a lot more patience than me.

Winters Last Light TI Bridge (sold)

November Sunset TI Bridge (sold)

The photo inspiration  for Winters Last Light TI Bridge  was actually taken from the mainland along Route 12











The photo inspiration for November Sunset TI Bridge was taken from the second floor deck of our home. I was in a Van Gogh mood and  used a painting knife, applying the paint in a thick impasto manner.

Sunrise Progression I  (sold)

Sunrise Progression II

The following three impressionistic sunrises depict the progression of a very dramatic  sunrise (because of the cloud formations) over several minutes. These are all the scene in front of the house. They are a winter sunrise with some  snow covered ice and some open water creating different surfaces for reflection.




 

Sunrise Progression III

                                                                         Straying from The St Lawrence River, below is  a plein air of a sunset progressions at Sackets harbor battlefield. For more sunsets and sunrises see my website where there is a Galley named Sunrises.                                                                                                                                                                        

Sackets Harbor Battlefield Sunset

1000 Islands Paintings, Three New York State Parks on Wellesley Island NY, St Lawrence River

   Wellesley Island is about 10 miles long and 4 miles wide at the US Interstate Route 81 to US/Canadian Customs. There are three State Parks on the Island. Wellesley Island State Park has the largest complex of campsites in the 1000 Islands Region (434 which include 10 cabins and 12 cottages) and  the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center. The latter has a loop trail of 3.8 miles (mostly along the waters edge and a number of cross trails in the 1 mile range. The middle trail is  1.13 miles to a beaver pond with picnic tables, an out house, and is rated easy. There are countless plein air painting subjects in the Park and in the Nature Center area. I teach a plein air painting class there from mid June to mid July ( four Mondays). Silver Day is one of the scenes the class painted.

Silver Day at the head of the Bay which  has the sand beach

Winter Sunset Eel Bay on road to the Nature Center

Beaver Pond Nature Center Trail 1.13 miles

Start of Eel Bay Trail at Nature Center

   The next closest Park is Waterson Point State Park which is boat access only, with two docks which can accommodate up to 30 boats. It is on the north side of the Island facing Canada. There are comfort stations (toilets only), and a 100 year old gazebo. On checking the internet listing for the park I noticed that the photo at the top of the page was a view I had painted from 3/4 of the way out on one of the docks. I painted the center section of that view but the photo is inspiration to paint  the panoramic scene shown. That will be on my list  for 2015.  The park is accessed by State employee attendants via a dirt road and one year I got permission for some of my group of plein air painters to get in that way, while some of us came by boat.

Waterson State Park View East

Waterson State Park  Cloudy Day Ivy Lea  in distance

   The third park is Dewolf State Park which has a cabin colony, camp sites, a stone gazebo, and an old gnarled tree at the end of a point that everyone likes to paint. The internet site has both a virtual panning tour and a short slide show. Here is  a link http://www.nystateparkstours.com/dewolfpoint/index.html       The park is located on Lake of the Isles (part of the St Lawrence River) fed by a small stream called  "The Rift" on the east side and joins the main section of the River through a narrows  at the west end. Hill Island Canada borders Lake of the Isles on the west end as well as through the Rift.

Gnarled Tree Dewolf State Park

Me Painting the Gnarled Tree by Jan Byington

Dewolf State Park some cabins and boats

Paintings of and from Wellesley Island NY, 1000 Islands Region, St Lawrence River

I live on Wellesley Island NY, facing the portion of the St. Lawrence River known as the Narrows and  which also serves as the St. Lawrence River Seaway. The Seaway is that portion of the River marked by navigation buoys for the freighter traffic carrying cargo from and to the Great Lakes Region from and to the rest of the world. The island is about fourteen miles long and four miles wide and is connected to the mainland by the US Span of the Thousand Islands Bridge on NY Interstate Route 81. Interstate 81 continues across the island through the US/Canadian Customs, across Hill Island ON, and on to mainland Canada. My last blog showed paintings I had done of the some  of the Victorian style cottages /homes in Thousand Island Park on the western end of the island. I have often said that one could spend a lifetime just painting scenes on  or views from the island. Here are a few I have done over the years.

Spring Walk  9 x 12 inches  oil  (sold)

Blazing Maple 11 x 15 inches watercolor

 Spring walk is a studio painting composition incorporating  two photos. I painted it in 2013 after an early morning walk along Boldt Canal on the eastern end of the Island. I took about 115 photos on that walk. Some earlier blogs show some cattails paintings also inspired by that walk.









This Maple tree is on county route 100 which traverses the 10 miles from the west to the east end of the island. The tree is about 100 yards before turning in the road to my house. I worked from some photos. I can't recall having seen this tree in  this bright shade of orange before or since  then in 2012.

Winter Storm TI Bridge (sold)

TI Bridge from Peel Dock Road 11 x 15 watercolor

I had to drag the garbage can on a tow-bogon 150 yards down the driveway to the paved road  one Sunday night, as the trash vendor would not come up our drive in the winter. It was snowing heavily with about a foot on the ground, no breeze, and  a comfortable 30 degrees F. I put on my cross country skis and put a camera in by pocket for a trip up peel Dock Road toward the bridge. The eerie orange colored  reflection of the bridge lights on the large falling snowflakes and on the ground made a good pic. I did the paintings (18 x 24 inches) years later (January 2011) while in a Van Gogh  impressionistic mood.



The bridge is a popular subject for local photographers and is included in many local artist paintings. I did this from a winter walk photo on a calm morning . The water temperature of the River was higher than the air temperature causing the misty vision of the bridge. The view is from Peel Dock Road.

Three of a Kind, below, is a  2007 painting when I was interested in Chinese Brush painting. It uses Chinese Ink and watercolor. These are Turkey Vultures. A group of about 25 to 30 migrate to the bay in front of our house-fortunately they roost about 150 yards away. They are know as natures garbage collectors. I paddle boat out in the bay with my camera often and this day the birds where enjoying a breeze, Just hanging on the branch while extending their wings. More Wellesley Island paintings next blog.

Three of a Kind 11 x 15 watercolor