Backroads Inspiration

      This birthday design was inspire by cruising around the backroads,

      on these lovely June afternoons.
 

CATSKILL MOUNTAIN SCENE

Another typical scene of the Catskill Mountain. Black & White nestled quietly among the green texture of trees & meadows. 

I started off with a watercolor rendering. I needed to use a small watercolor brush to define the cow.

I then  highlighted the foliage with a few strokes of colorful pastel. Soft pastel over textured watercolor paper gives it that illusive quality of the light.

SUNSET POND

The magenta sunset makes what could have been a common place composition more intriguing. I start off by applying the magenta as my background color. Two shades of blue & green to indicate the shapes of the evergreen & meadow. White on top of magenta works out beautifully!

WINTER MORNING

My poetic reaction to snow, light, & air.

SUMMER MORNING

ephemeral quality of light and shadow... everything is in front of me! 

SUMMER COLORS

Endless variations of the simple shapes  that's outside my studio!

EARLY MORNING

Good thing I'm a morning person. The morning sunrise is never the same.

CLASSIC COMPOSITION

This is a classic CLAUDIAN composition: a body of water in the middle, flanking trees on either side, & gentle mountains beyond to convey a calm & pleasing view of the Catskill Mountain.

HAY FIELDS

Because of the draught, the hay season is off by 50%. Still plenty of hayfields in the area for me to paint. I like the graphic quality of this simple composition.

CORN FIELDS

These summer cornfields are so lush & very scenic. With the graphic lines, rows of cornfields are pretty easy to paint. If I squint, I can pretend that I'm in CA, among the vineyards.

SUMMER HAZE

Taking a break from my gardening...yes, it's been this nice & glorious in the mountain for many days. One can see why there are so many June brides. Just love these long hazy days of summer.

MORNING GLOW

After some very mild March days, Spring is showing off its colors in the hills. The early morning light makes everything glow.

MARCH SNOW

Another weekend, another storm passing thru the mountain top.

SNOWY NOCTURNE

After a day of warm sunshine, the cold stillness of a winter evening sets in... this might be my last snowy sketch for the season.