Boldt Canal Wellesley Island NY 1000 Islands Region

Spring Marsh Cattails

 Still confined to the studio for painting by the coldest and snowiest winter  in years I searched  my photo files  for some inspiration In the spring of 2013 I took an early morning walk in the vicinity of Boldt Canal on Wellesley Island, just a few miles west of  our home and took a lot of photos. George Boldt (1851-1916) is known to many for Boldt Castle on Heart Island in the St Lawrence River, Alexandria Bay NY. As the story is told, George  had his beautiful residence on the island demolished to begin construction of a castle. Work was halted upon his wife Louise's death.  The Castle is currently owned by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority and has been undergoing continuous restoration and completion since the early 1980's. It is a popular tourist site and several boat lines bring visitors to the Island. It is also a popular wedding site. George owned the Waldorf-Astoria  Hotel in New York City and the Bellevue-Stafford in Philadelphia PA. He had a large farm on Wellesley Island that was a vegetable farm and also raised chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, and an assortment of livestock.

Reflections in the marsh

 George had a canal system built on Wellesley Island to get the produce, eggs, etc,, from the farm to the St Lawrence River and and  then US Mainland where trains where used for shipping to his hotels.. A picture of the  main section of the canal is shown below at the bottom..Bullhead fisher persons can  be found along the bank and in small boats in the April time frame.
My painting is of a marsh section near the canal and is based on the sites and sensations accumulated on the early morning walk. In the 1980's I rode my mountain bike over some back roads in the area and  in the 90's I walked our red Doberman (untrimmed ears as is the practice or law in England).  The painting is a composite inspired by the three photos below the painting, in  particular the one with the early morning  back light causing edge lighting on the cotton like seed balls of the spring cattails.

Edge Lighting  Effect of the sun low in the Sky

Cattails in the Morning Sun

Main Section of Boldt Canal

Frederick Church's Olana

View of the Hudson River from Olana

Currently there is a painting series on PBS TV, "Landscapes Through Time with David Dunlap".
More about David and the Series at the link http://www.landscapesthroughtime.com/
Today's show was "Frederic Church's Olana in the Hudson River Valley, NY". In October 2012 I took a plein air workshop  given by one of the signature members of Plein Air Painter of America, It was held near  Olana (Frederic Church's Persian Style home built on a hill overlooking the Hudson River). Frederick Church's  only art education was two years study with Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School of Art.  Church was  financially successful and great at marketing his paintings. David Dunlap's series is more about the "principles" of art"  rather than "techniques", although the series covers many locations in Europe and the US where famous artists painted and  he provides a historical background, demonstrates and discusses their technique with painting sketches, and then provides some instruction in the principles in his  live painting sketch, and later, by modifying a student's  painting  that is in progress somewhere in the location that he demonstrated from. Quite a lot packed into a half hour.

In today's show, David  Dunlap stood almost where I stood when I painted  the above scene. He faced a little more to the right, leaving out the man made pond to the left that Frederic Church had constructed. His oil painting sketch included the green sloped area and the little path or road that crosses it. He also excluded the little group of trees in front of the tree line that the path goes through (principle of simplification). The group of trees was not visible in the show because of the way his easel and the camera were positioned..He also put in more sky  and took the liberty of inventing his own sky with  the clouds at a diagonal to the left and down, as a counterbalance to the  downward diagonal of the green slope. (principle of motion and  linear perspective).
During his demonstration he mentioned  da Vinci and  used the word "sfumato", which translates as "turned to mist" or "going up in smoke".  Art critics use the term to describe the hazy, mysteriously quality that was one of  da Vinci's most distinctive painting characteristics.  I also thought I heard Mr Dunlap use the "sensazione" , the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to enliven experience. For Leonardo  da Vinci  vision was the supreme sense, and painting was therefore the greatest discipline.

In my last blog I mentioned "synchronicity", the occurrence of a series events, things... which cause you (or should cause you) to stop and think and look for some meaning. An example I recall reading once was perhaps meeting a person you had not seen in a long time, you greet and go your respective ways, and low and behold you meet a second and third time in an unplanned coincidence of  going to the same events or places..Well my synchronicity experience in this blog is that a few days ago the book "How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci " by Michael J. Gelb, was staring at me from the book shelf  to the side of the TV. I took it down and  reviewed all my underlined sections, notes in the margins, sheets of paper where I did the suggested exercises, and reread some of my favorite sections, one of which was the seven Da Vincian Principles, two of which are "sensazione" and "sfumato". Also the section in the rear with the exercise  "Explore Your Goals". This caused me to search my stack of brochures  for "The Hudson Rover School Art Trail", which I picked up when I took the above mentioned  plein air workshop. The trail covers the northern section of the Catskill Mountains and takes you to  eight sites. The first two are Thomas Cole National Historic Site and Olana (I saw some additional painting sites in David Dunlap's  show which inspired me), then  Catskill Creek, Kaaterskill Clove, Kaaterskill Falls, North South Lake, Sunset Rock,  and  Catskill Mountain House.. Three sites require hiking on a marked trail the others are easily accessible from parking lots. I just want to pack up my plein air painting gear and  go for a week, and paint the scenes that Charles Herbert Moore, Thomas Cole, Frederick Church, Asher Durand, Sanford Gifford, and Jasper Cropsey  made famous. Too much to do, to little time left. Anyone want to go?

A Break In The Weather allowed me to Photograph Some Repaints

Crooked Creek-St Lawrence River

On Tuesday Feb 4th the temperature was 25 degrees F and the sun  reflecting off the snow, provided good light in the shade against the barn where I place my paintings to photograph. Little did I know I would be clearing 12 inches of snow on Wednesday-the forecast was for 3 to 5.
Restricted to painting in the studio for months I repainted two watercolors  that I was unhappy with. I recall reading an article by a very accomplished water-colorist who said he discarded 11 of 12 watercolors. He went on to describe how he rescued many by painting acrylic gesso over the parts he did't like  and painting with
watercolor over that and liking the textured surface. My method is to start from scratch. Crooked Creek was painted from a photo taken on a trip sponsored by the Thousand Islands Land Trust (TILT). The creek feeds into the 1000 Islands Region of the St Lawrence River. It is one of TILT's conservation properties to protect wetlands for wildlife as well as maintain the beauty of the region by limiting development. Last summer I had the chance to revisit the creek again on a kayak trip sponsored by TILT.

Brown Bay -US St Lawrence River

Brown Bay on the US portion of the St Lawrence River in the Narrows section is where I live. (There is a Browns Bay 20 miles down river on the Canadian Side). This portion of the bay is 100 yards to the right of our home and I paddle boat or canoe into the area  to observe turtles, fish, ducks, heron, musk rats, and water snakes. This is another repaint using a photo reference. This summer I am going to set up my easel on the section of Peel  Dock Road that I took the photo from and plein air paint the scene. Plein air painting  loosens up my style  and I simplify by eliminating detail.

Below is an oil painting using a photo reference of the trail to Butterfield (Grand) Lake constructed by the Indian River Lakes Conservancy (IRLC). I took a winter hike two January's ago sponsored by IRLC. IRLC was formed in 1998 to conserve critical lands in the Indian River Lakes area of Northern NY. There are 18 lakes which feed the Indian River which flows into the St Lawrence River in the 1000 Islands Region. The reason the painting is part of today's blog is a coincidence (something I would call a synchronicity). Last Night I attended the opening of Thousand Islands Art Center Winter Show. I met one of the Directors of IRLC who said she was interested in purchasing paintings of IRLC lands for the office. I told her about this one and that it was currently hanging in the Minna Anthony Nature Center, Wellesley Island State Park. She lives on and owns an  Organic Farm   on the road into the State Park. Well, the synchronicity part of this tale is that when I signed onto my web site to retrieve the verbiage for the first two paintings in this blog,  the painting was the first in the list of  most recently viewed paintings (someone from Beverly Hills CA).

Butterfield Lake Trail- Indian River Conservancy (Sold)

Shadowed Hill

Ice Melt Stream

A walk on the trails in Minna Anthony Common Nature Center in Wellesley Island State Park NY provides lots of interesting landscape painting subject matter so I am always equipped with my camera. This is one of my "What is it?" series inspired by  slight depression from the short winter daylight and light deprivation. You walk across the  Gallery to see "what it is"  and then may not know without some help from the painting title. A rule of painting is to not have an even distribution of light and dark areas in a painting, so I decide to break the rule with this almost 50/50 distribution.The scene reminds me of the game "pick up sticks" with all the fallen tress from over the years. I have cabin fever from not being able to paint from life outdoors as the 2013/2014 winter here on the St Lawrence River near the Canadian border has been a hard one so far. Often I am too tired after. cleaning snow to paint in the studio. It's snowing now as I write this. The second painting "Ice Melt Stream",  has a title inspired by the recent ice storm. I did not lose phone or internet connection but both Time Warner Internet line and Verizon Phone line were laying on the ground  as a result of the weight of the ice. Normally they are attached at the top of the second floor of the house. The scene is also inspired by photos from Minna Anthony Nature Center trail walk. Interesting how the stream created only by years of melting snow has eroded the soil  from the tree roots.

I took four watercolor paintings down from the entrance hallway in the house to put in new mats and do some conservation. They are four street vendor scenes inspired and painted in 1987 by a trip that year that included a few days in Athens Greece. The vendors ply their wares in the Plaka (plaza) section of old Athens which is a favorite hangout for  locals and tourists. If interested you can find them on my Facebook Page.

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.