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Here's another painting that I did on location at the Bernmarl Winery this summer as part of the Meet Me in Marborough six-month long paint-out event. It culminates in an Art Show and Benefit Gala at the Stoutridge Vineyard, Marlboro, NY, this Saturday evening, Nov. 3, from 7-9 PM.

There will be over a 100 paintings showcasing the beauty of the region's farms and wineries. The event is open to the public and the paintings will be up for viewing through Dec. 16. Part of all proceeds from art sales will go towards helping to sustain farming in the Hudson Valley.

Being a lover of open land and beautiful views, I jump at the opportunity to be part of events like this where doing the work I love can also help preserve open spaces and responsible use of the land. 

Sometimes, I just happen to be at the right place to capture a particularly lovely or exciting moment compliments of Mother Nature. Wade Beach, on Shelter Island, on this particular August night was such a place. The colors in the sky as the sun went down were spectacular but what I was especially drawn to was the way the little beach cottage was transformed as the glow from the sky bathed it in a rosy glow.

Often, a very non-descript scene or object will be given an entirely different character when touched by light. It can be ordinary sunlight which suddenly seems to be casting a spotlight on the scene and saying, "Take notice!" In this case, it was the dying light of the day in its almost unreal colors acting like a colored gel filter placed over a spotlight and totally changing the color and the mood of the subject.

Yesterday, I participated in the Garrison Art Center's Artist On Location event that takes place Fall and Spring as a fund-raiser for the Center. The day was a glorious Fall day in the low 60's, sunny and clear with very little wind. That's particularly helpful when painting along the Hudson because sometimes the wind can whip up and get quite fierce.

By the time I arrived at the Art Center, registered, left off a painting for the Silent Auction, picked up a bag lunch and a bottle of water given to each artist and drove up to the location I had chosen, it was about 10 AM. I had to be back with a finished painting in a frame by 2 PM.

It always takes a while to decide just what part of the scene to paint and then to set up my tripod and easel and ready my supplies.

The scene I chose beckoned to me because of the colors in the foliage on the mountain facing me from across the Hudson. The sun was shining on it and the colors just glowed. In the painting, I eliminated some debris that I was looking at in the foreground and raced to get everything down on a small 9"x12" gessoed panel before the light changed and the scene looked totally different.

By 12:30 some clouds had moved in and the mountain was suddenly in heavy shadow. All trace of the beautiful colors that had been delighting me had vanished. Everything looked dark, blue-green. Luckily, I had just reached the point where I felt I could call the painting finished enough to be able to call it quits.

I ate my lunch, photographed my painting, popped it in a frame that I had brought with me and headed back. There was a big crowd that had shown up for the reception and Live Auction. Paintings were hung as they were brought in and people had time to look them over and to decide on which to bid on. The painting sold a little later that afternoon.

My strong attraction to dramatic skies has been meeting with a positive response from many people and I'm finding that very encouraging. Over time, if I find that a theme meets with success--and by that I mean positive feedback as well as sales, it helps to spur me on to continue that theme.

I'm finding that repeatedly tackling a tricky subject has quite an impact on my growth as an artist. The saying "practice makes perfect" certainly holds true.

Just as I found with painting and drawing portraits, my understanding of steps to take in painting skies keeps developing. There's a tactile, sensuousness to clouds that spurs me on to find ways to create the subtle, multiple layers and soft blendings that make clouds believable.

I'm also enjoying going back and forth between doing small studies of dramatic skies and larger scale paintings of the same or a similar theme.

This painting of a storm system that was moving over Provincetown and toward me where I was painting at Pamet Harbor in Truro, Cape Cod forced me to rapidly clean up and pack up the painting I was working on and to just focus on taking some quick reference photos with my digital camera before the storm reached me across the bay. I decided to paint the scene as a small 8"x8" square before moving onto a larger painting.

This is another painting from the series that I am doing in preparation for the Meet Me in Marborough Art Show & Benefit Gala on November 3, 2007. The evening gala will take place at the Stoutridge Vineyard in Marlboro, NY. As I get the full details, I will list them in the Events Section of this website.

In the meantime, I am having a most wonderful time being introduced to the beautiful and varied countryside in the Town of Marlborough. Several other paintings are in progress with more to come this month as I make room in my schedule for a day here and there of plein air painting. I'm looking forward to the Autumn colors as the month progresses.

The painting was painted at the Willow Tree Flower Farm in Milton, NY just as a very strong thunder storm was moving in. I had time to block in all of the areas with the colors as I saw them that day on a small 6 x8" panel and then clean up in record time and jump in the car. All in a day's work when painting on location.

There is always something very satisfying about selling a painting I've personally set up and chosen to paint. That's the case with Red Carnations, which was one of a series of floral paintings I did a few years back. I was fascinated by the shadows cast by flowers and leaves when a single strong light coming from one direction was aimed at my still life set up.

I had shown the painting a couple of times and then brought it home and hung it on the wall. When it came time to decide what work to put on my website, I decided to put the earlier series of floral paintings up for viewing. I also brought a couple of those paintings to two shows that I was in this past Spring and so they were getting a new life outside my home or studio.

This summer, when deciding what work to exhibit at the Wish Rock Studio Three-Woman Art Show on Shelter Island, I asked Peter Waldner, the owner, for his input in deciding what to bring out. He said that he'd like me to bring the Red Carnations painting. On my own, I wouldn't have brought it along for this particular show because I was focusing on oil landscapes that related to the shore.

That purchase has taught me a lesson I learn over and over again-- purchasing a painting is very subjective and may have nothing to do with a painting being the right subject for a particular location or season. It's about what reaches out and touches someone for his or her reasons and not mine. It also made me aware of another reason why having a website is so valuable. It allows people to see work that I may not be showing anywhere because I've moved on for the time being to another medium or subject and yet the work continues to hold up over time.