The Railroad trestle in Schunnemunk Mountain State Park on a glorious spring morning.... One of my favorite views.
I am heading into studio to work on a watercolor sketch of this detail of a stream. I will post the results later on.
I took this photo a couple of years ago. It was early morning at a train station near my house. I like the way the light was falling on the building and the door. The photo needs a title.
The next subject I want to tackle is waterfalls and running streams. This is a quick sketch of a spot in Harriman State Park I like to photograph. I am thinking I will head out there with a sketch book and paints instead of a camera and see what I can do.
Background and one petal painted. Will work on the light and dark reds and the purples and the oranges next.
OK. Here is what I am working on. I know I said I was working on the delicate blue iris... but the deep reds of this shot called out to me. The drawing is done. I'll be working on the background and some of the flower tonight. I'll post my progress tomorrow. I'd like to get this one and two more done by the end of the holiday weekend. 
This is the subject of my next watercolor. It will be more of a challenge than the last one. I want to keep the delicate quality and the cool colors in this one.
I went to Skylands this morning. The irises are out in the perennial garden and the wildflower garden. They were beautiful in the morning light. They really had a great glow and the sun lighting up the grasses behind them really set them off nicely. 
These two shots are from Pine Meadow Brook at about 7am today. Great light and spring greens. It is hard to miss.
Around every corner in the trail shots like this can be found. I love this time of year.
I got these shots on the brook above and below Awosting Falls on Saturday Morning. I really liked the way the rocks looked and wanted to capture the way the water was swirling in some of the small cascades. All in all between these shots and the ones from Pine Meadow Brook on Friday I had a great weekend with my camera.
After a long night at work I pulled into the parking area near Minnewaska State Park Preserve. I now sit on the rocks by Awosting Falls. My camera and tripod are all set up. I must wait for the sun to catch up with me. The sun is now lighting the trees above the falls. Soon the natural amphitheater of rock the falls flow into will be lit with golden morning light. I need to catch it at just the right moment. For now I am happy to enjoy the scene and let Pete Seeger songs play on my Ipod. Talk about a perfect morning.
I have photographed this brook in every season and every time of day. I have never been there and failed to get some great shots. 
It was just a year ago that we were here in Bermuda. I can not believe how quickly the past year has gone by! I don't know about you, but time just seems to be speeding up as I get older.
This is a detail of one of the buildings at Skylands. It is one of my favorite shots there. 
Sunday was Mother's day here and we did not expect to get much done... Mom and Dad would be over in the afternoon for some grilling. I puttered in the studio for a bit, but wanted to be able to cross something off of the list of things done. W has been doing an awesome job on redoing some of our house a room at a time. The transformation of our home office is nearly complete. To further this end we put together the bookcase we had purchased and hung up a couple of my mandolins and one of my guitars on display. If I am not going to play them often enough they should at least be out to see instead of stuck in a closet right?
In trying to get some of the darker areas of color down and get them blended in I lost my way. I ended up throwing a layer of gold and yellow and orange on top and blending away to get back to this so I can rethink my next steps. I am thrilled I was able to think on my feet and get back to this point so that I did not end up losing anything but a little time. The acrylics dry so fast. 
This is the under painting for the Cape Cod goldenrod painting. I picked reds and golds and covered the whole canvas. I really love the glow it has at this point. Next I will draw the shapes for the major colors... the darks in the back and the green and red leaves and then start to put them in. I'll post more this weekend.
This is the subject for my next painting. It will be a departure for me. It is a 24"x48" Acrylic. The photo is based on a field of goldenrod I shot on the cape last summer. I ran a few filters to get an idea of what i wanted to go for. So the shot above is the result of making the photo look like a painting. Wendy likes it so much she wants me to print this on canvas and frame it, but I want the challenge of painting it.
Next it was off to Skylands botanical garden in Ringwood, New Jersey. I found some interesting things to shoot including these lilacs and hostas.
After wandering into a group of plein air painters who were out enjoying the wonderful light and color this morning. I headed back towards my car and found these great statues and spent a little time photographing them.
All in all a relaxing and productive Sunday morning with the camera. I have a 24"x 48" canvas started that I will be working on today and will show you my progress later on.
