Rockland Renaissance: Haverstraw Bay

"Haverstraw Bay"    oil   6" x 11"

I  find it very difficult to drive along the Hudson. I constantly want to pull over and sketch, start a painting and photograph. The sun was just setting as I was coming from Bear Mountain from a meeting with Artists on the Parks, a plein air group that is devoted to painting the area parks. The sun just shimmered along the water. I tried to get that feeling of movement....of the light making its way across the water. I loved the muted tones of the town in the background. I had fun trying to make the yellow and blue tones work together without incorporating any green.  I'd like to revisit this scene and do a larger painting....soon......

Sanford Robinson Gifford   "Morning on the Hudosn, Haverstraw Bay"  1866

Rockland Renaissance: To Be Or Not To Be Indian Point

"TO BE OR NOT TO BE"      oil      16" x 29"

In researching locations for this grant, I was amazed how many area parks are still preserved thanks to the efforts of the Palisades Parks Conservancy, Palisades Interstate Parks Commission, Keep Rockland Beautiful and other efforts of the Rockland community. I did feel it neccessary though, to include this visual. As I sketched it, I realized I wanted to do something to push the idea a bit further, hence, I decided to paint on stainless steel. The areas left unpainted show the galvanized metal.

Francis A. Silva  "Late Afternoon on Haverstraw Bay" 1871

This show is now moving to the Nyack Library in Nyack NY for the month of February.

Rockland Renaissance: Cotton Candy Skies

I always try to do thumbnails before I paint. I admit, sometimes I am too excited about the visual infront of me and I jump into the paint only to find out later, my layout is weak. I never mean for the horizon line to be smack in the middle but all of a sudden there it is! So I have to wipe away and redo passages etc.....It really helps to sketch out your ideas, play with the composition, just take the time to figure out how you can get the impact you want - and yes, sometimes that means drawing on napkins!

"After the Floods"  oil     6"x6"

This was a study I did on site. I really like painting this size, it feels so intimate and I love finding the right frame to accent such a size. I loved the way the skies were looking this day and after drooling over some of Frederic Edwin Church's paintings, I needed to emphasize the magnificent skies of the Hudson Valley. I did some other studies in the studio and then approached a canvas 24" x 24" that ended up with a totally different color study. See below:

"Cotton Candy Skies"   24" x 24" 

I completed this painting during a residency at the Art Students League Vytlacil campus. The space was wonderful , the lighting was perfect , the entire atmosphere was so amazing that it was hard to return to my studio. I love painting this big!
  

This painting " Oil Sketch" by Frederic Edwin Church inspired Cotton Candy Skies and After the Floods. If you are in the Newe York area, check out Olana in Hudson, NY. Church purchased eighteen acres on the hilltop above his Hudson farm- land he had long wanted because of its magnificent views of the Catskills and the Hudson River. In 1870 he began the construction of Olana, a Persian-inspired mansion which was his home and studio. Church was deeply involved in the design, completing his own architectural sketches. This highly personal and eclectic castle incorporated many of the design elements he acquired during his travels abroad. He was an enormously successful artist, and when he was stricken with arthritis, he learned to paint with his left hand! Talk about a passionate obsession! See htt://www.olana.org - its well worth the trip!

I used this painting as the cover for "Rockland Renaissance" a book of the images used for this grant project. It is available for $29.95 through blurb.com
http://www.blurb.com/b/4001818-rockland-renaissance

available in paperback and hard cover

Rockland Renaissance: Hudson Breeze

Hudson Breeze #2   oil    9" x 12"   SOLD

Hudson Breeze  oil  9" x 12"  SOLD

This project had me exploring in areas I never thought to go. Trying to find the location of a Francis A. Silva painting,  I discovered  one particular spot and returned to it over and over again. I just love the way the colors change at different times of the day creating such a change in mood.

On the Hudson, Nyack 1871 by Francis A. Silva

Rockland Renaissance: January on the Hudson

JANUARY ON THE HUDSON  oil    16" x 16" by Sue Barrasi

View of Hook Mountain Near Nyack  1866 by Sanford Robinson Gifford

Hook Mountain is so distinct. My average weekly travels take me from one side to the other, where I often stand mesmerized by the view. It is stunning from Piermont, which I frequent often. From the Piermont library the view is amazing, the Pier offers its own unique view and Nyack as well.

As I started this series I thought to play with the square composition to give a more modern approach in contrast with the Hudson River School format. The square can  be quite challenging but it intrigued me. This day was quite chilly and my bones felt numb, so I pushed the color of the waters, to emphasize the void of warmth!

Rockland Renaissance: Croton Point Park

Croton Point Park  SOLD   

Croton Point Park #2

I did the top painting for an exhibit at the Thomas Cole Foundation and realized it was a similar location of a painting executed by Julie Hart Beers, a Hudson River School Painter AND A WOMAN!!!!  The painting sold at auction so I did a "sister" painting to hang for the Rockland Renaissance opening at Harmony Hall.

  Hudson Valley at Croton Point by Julie Hart Beers 1869

Rockland Renaissance: Nyack Marshes and Iona

   
     Rockland Renaissance is a county wide exhibit celebrating the impact Rockland's natural beauty had on America's first art movement - the Hudson River School and which continues to inspire artists of the 21st century. This project is made possible in part with the funds from the Individual Artist Grant program of the Arts Council of Rockland and the Decentraliztion Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.
     I will be posting images of this series with a description of the location, the plein air event, and any other stories attached to it!
     

"Autumn in Nyack" : A  walk through

Step 1

 I started by laying out masses with broad strokes, determining the composition and working out a color story. I usually work out the color story on my palette. I really take a long time with this step, working out all the color nuances and seeing if the colors work together. At the same time I am thinking of what mood I want to convey and adjust the colors to hopefully reflect this.

Step 2

I then start making adjustments, working out the values.  The boats were not in front of me but I thought the composition needed something and I liked the human element. I start pushing areas back into space, bring up the foreground etc.....When I retreated to my studio, I reworked the forground, MANY TIMES!  I really wanted loose strokes of color. It was interesting working with blues and brown and trying to make them work with each other. I ended up blending colors I never would have thought of. What do you think?

                                       Autumn in Nyack   oil    16" x 20"

I really love painting the marshes. This is one of the first paintings I did for this project, and I kept on "repainting" it til the show went up a year later! I would think I had it, lay down my brushes, only to see it from a distance days later and say, "NOT YET!" But in the end it was worth it, I like it much better now then before! ....But not as much as Giffords!

Marshes of the Hudson by Sanford Robinson Gifford 1876

IONA   oil    12" x 18"

This painting was caught on an excursion I took coming home from one of my daughters cheerleading competitions in Westchester. I was fortunate to have the time to meander through Bear Mountain  instead of heading to 684 over the Tappan Zee. The lighting was perfect, no one in view for miles, I did some quick sketches and then a photoshoot. I loved the building up of paint. This piece flowed out pretty quickly. I decided to use it for the brochure and for a book, "Reflections of Rockland"

 This book is a visual diary of my return to painting and reflects approximately two years of attempting to reflect on canvas the truly wondrous landscapes and vistas of the lower Hudson Valley. Available in soft and hard cover, 30 pages. Available at www.blurb.com/books/3632956

Sunset Marsh by Martin Johnson Heade