Awosting Falls

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.

Keep Makin' Art
Carl

Post Script - I broke another of my personal rules by listening to my IPod while out in the woods... I never do this.... but I had an hour to wait for the sun and felt some of Pete Seeger's music added to the scene before me.

On a technical note. While a beautiful waterfall Awosting is very difficult to capture with a camera The light becomes too strong very quickly and the contrast range gets out of control. I was quite happy to get these shots. Tomorrow some close up shots of the stream by the falls.

Keep Makin' Art!

Pine Meadow Brook

I am working tonight so am at home during the day today. I had hoped to get up early and shoot a waterfall about ninety minutes from home. It turned out the weather men were right and it rained this morning so I could not go out. I thought it would kill my chances to get some images today so I slept in. When the rain stopped I had a chance to get out. It was a nice warm spring afternoon in the mountains and there was a nice cool breeze coming off of Pine Meadow Brook. I don't normally shoot in the middle of the day, but was able to find some great shots today.

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.

I had a great time and would have been happy even if I did not have my camera with me... Around every bend in the trail there was something new to see. The greens were totally saturated and the sound of the brook just made me happy.

I hope your day was as good.

Keep Makin' Art,

Carl

Bermuda

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.

The photo above is of Horseshoe Beach in Bermuda. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Another Favorite Skylands Image

This is a detail of one of the buildings at Skylands. It is one of my favorite shots there.

New material will be posted this weekend. I should have two chances to shoot at new locations and a little time to paint.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Spring Morning Indian Brook Falls

I have photographed Indian Brook often, but I keep getting drawn back to this beautiful spot.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Sunday

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?

Back to painting tomorrow night.

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl

Next Layer in Fields of Gold Paininting

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.

Part of me wishes I had stopped and framed what I had done last week it was warm and organic and felt right, but I am inspired by how that turned out and by a comment my friend Trina made to work on a series of these color explorations like what I painted last week.

Lessons Learned So Far

1. Always have a plan.... just like watercolor acrylic paint dries very fast and if you wander off course there is very little time to correct or address.
2. Acrylics are going to be a gateway medium for me bridging what I know how to do in watercolor to what I want to achieve in oil painting.
3. Don't panic. I am glad I was able to keep things in check and be able to keep going with the painting... but in reality you can always just paint the canvas over with white gesso and start again.
4. Every mistake you make while painting adds to the things you know (even if it is what not to do) and will make you a better painter.
5. Even what felt like a bad experience was kind of fun being messy and pushing some paint around.
6. Save the hi-res version of the photos I take documenting my painting. early stages of a painting may make great starting points for photoshop experiments.

So I learned six things from what had felt like a disaster at the time. Not bad. I'm sure I was grouchy for the twelve hours it has taken to gain this perspective, but at least I am here now. Hopefully my struggle with my artistic monsters will make it easier for you to jump in if you are getting ready to paint.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Underpainting

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.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Next Painting Project

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.

I started by covering the whole canvas with a base of metallic gold acrylic paint. I then glazed on a mix of gold/red/yellow over the whole thing. Next I will block out the shapes with the greens, the darks and the reds. Finally I will glaze on more yellow golds on top for extra sparkle.

I can't wait to see what develops. I figure it will take me two weeks to finish. I will post shots of it in various stages along the way.

Keep Makin' Art

Carl

Sunday Morning Wander

It is a beautiful Sunday morning here in New York. It was supposed to be rainy and getting hot so I decide to stay close to home. I started out at Minisceongo Creek. back to the cascade I found with my friend Mike earlier in the spring. Now the trees have filled in with green leaves, but the water is slowing down. I bet in Summer this creek is barely a trickle, but at sun up today I found some nice shots.

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.

Get out there and enjoy your day!

Keep Makin' Art!

Carl