Journal

Cherry trees

2009-03-13T07:45:00.000-04:00

Branchbrook Park, Newark, NJ

Stormy weather

2009-02-18T06:18:00.005-05:00

In creating this piece I was attempting to capture the feeling of a stormy sky and water in the morning. I started with the image below. My first versions were too sunny and I've painted this "down" a couple of times to try to capture the storminess, but I still want more dramatic contrast. I'm darkening the colors slowly. I want the sky at the back of the painting, and the boat to be really bright spots - to look like they are truly lit, but I don't want to do that by completely darkening the rest of the painting. I'll keep working on it slowly.

In the logbook of Henry Hudson's ship, the “Half Moon”, he made note of arriving at a hilly inlet on the coast of New Jersey. There's a good chance this was the Shark River Inlet, a natural harbor. The town was founded in 1872.

Passaic Bridge completed

2009-01-14T08:14:00.003-05:00

The pivot point for a rolling lift bridge across the Passaic River. Below are some photos of the bridge.

Textures

2009-01-13T12:37:00.003-05:00

Playing with an absorbent media that I can use to build up significant physical texture on the paper. Combined with some splattering and drybrush work it makes an intriguing rusty texture. This is an unusual painting for me as I am working from a black and white photo using my imagination to "colorize" it. I've also restricted myself to basically four colors - the primaries and burnt sienna which is creating some nice color harmonies.

The image is of an old tilting draw bridge across the Passaic river around Clifton that I took when I was bike riding last summer. Still have a couple of things to add before its done.

Commission

2008-11-26T13:15:00.000-05:00

drawing

2008-11-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

2008-11-06T15:23:00.001-05:00

Self portrait in charcoal and a collage based on the drawing. An excercise for my Portfolio Prep participants to do tonight.

Tulips 3

2008-10-28T06:54:00.001-04:00

Purchase Information

Monumental Tulips 2 FINAL

2008-10-28T06:51:00.002-04:00

PurchaseInformation

Monumental Tulips 2 day 3

2008-10-24T10:08:00.003-04:00

Monumental Tulips 2 day 2

2008-10-22T09:02:00.001-04:00

Monumental Tulips 2 day 1

2008-10-21T09:26:00.003-04:00

Painting for a competition - has to be tulips as subject matter. Of course I'm making them as architectural as possible. Kind of monumental from this angle.

Still Life Glass 2

2008-10-20T07:54:00.003-04:00

Purchase Information

Rand Park, Montclair, NJ

2008-10-15T10:51:00.006-04:00

Finished the painting. After experimenting a bit, I used shampoo bubbles to create the texture of the reflections in the water. Its hard to see when its small. Below are images of some of the experiments. Purchase Information
I feel a tenuous tie to the park since I received a small scholarship from the Ingersoll-Rand corporation, one of the founders is the namesake of the park. A little historic background on the Rand Family:

A family with roots in colonial America, Florence Osgood Rand was a benefactor of the Montclair Art Museum in the early 1900's. Addison C. Rand, an earlier relative founded the Rand Drilling Company, which merged to form Ingersoll-Rand, one of the major US engineering firms. In addition to providing the tools to create Mount Rushmore, they developed the first diesel / electric locomotive which was used on the Central Railroad line of New Jersey.

Rand Park, Montclair, NJ

2008-10-10T16:48:00.000-04:00

Hickory corner progression.

2008-10-08T15:43:00.009-04:00

Finished painting

Painting outside today - was out in Hunterdon County taking reference photos for a commission piece. I passed these run down out buildings at a cross roads. There was an adjacent sign telling me that the tavern at Hickory Corners was a stop on the stage coach route along the Kings Highway. So I thought I would do a preliminary sketch for a later painting.

Subject chosen, followed by initial sketches and masking 10:31

Set up

Masked roofs with tape,
Initial washes for sky and trees
10:50 AM

Add wash for grass
Masking tape removed
windows put in while washes dry. Oops - smudged one.
10:58 AM -

Windows completed
doors and trim added with dry brush,
Begin adding weeds at base with dry brush
11:08 AM

Washes for roof added
Dry brush to indicate slate tiles
11:28
Begin adding vines on the fronts of the buildings
Add shadows under the eaves
Dry brush building sides it imitate peeling paint

11:39 AM (about 1 hour after starting)

Add washes to darken the value of the trees in back and to create defined tree shapes. Starting to balance values.

11:43AM

The light's changing quickly and I'm having a hard time catching the values I want. Its getting cloudy.

Additional vines added
Shadows darkened

11:44

More washes glazed onto the grass in the foreground, and a feeble attempt at some rusted farm machinery added for interest.

12:06 pm

There is too much foreground for the composition, I'll crop the final piece. Not a bad preliminary painting for an hour and a half stretch of time.

Wrapping up

2008-10-04T13:08:00.004-04:00

I have the pleasure of seeing my good friend Barbara today after a long time. I have a birthday present for her. I like to make my own wrapping paper and I was pleased at how this turned out so I thought I'd throw up an image. I used this flower arrangement this week with both my Watercolor Techniques class and my portfolio class and I thought they did a fantastic job with it.

Floral Experiments

2008-09-30T09:16:00.001-04:00

Cheesey?

2008-09-30T08:25:00.001-04:00

I painted through cheesecloth and ended up with this really funky texture - can I use it?

Montclair State Progression Day 3 final

2008-09-30T08:12:00.005-04:00

Finished this house - I'm very happy with the clarity of the colors and the quality of the light. It was exactly what I wanted to capture. I'm also happy because I incorporated much more of my own vision in the composition.

The image is composed of elements from a series of sketches and photographs. Although the tree exists, its further from the house and it was summer when I did my initial sketches and photos so all of the fall colors are imagined.

Here's some background on the house - I'll need to find some more about the family that built it.

The Victorian house was constructed in 1872 in the Italianate style. It was one of the prominent houses that formed Speertown, an early Dutch community in the area of present-day Upper Montclair. The house was built and owned by Thomas Van Reyper. Van Reyper, who died in 1909, married Catherine Speer, with whom he had three children. In 1952, the Van Reypers sold the property to George and Bertha Bond, who owned the house until 1966, when they bequeathed the house to Montclair State College.

Purchase Info

Montclair State Progression Day 2

2008-09-29T09:51:00.003-04:00

Montclair State Progression

2008-09-26T10:17:00.005-04:00

Progression of photos showing the start of a new painting

1

3

4

5

6

7

8

Harvest Still life version 2

2008-09-24T13:43:00.001-04:00

I tried to address some of the issues in my still life from yesterday. This version is smaller, looser and brighter.

Harvest Still life

2008-09-23T10:29:00.005-04:00

Demonstration for a new class I'm teaching in Watercolor techniques. It starts on Thursday. One of the big challenges with watercolor is capturing texture. I thought this arrangement would provide a variety of smooth, bumpy and grainy textures for the people in my class. Although I feel as if I've captured some of the textures nicely - like the corn, corn leaves, basket weave and a couple of gourds, overall the contrast isn't deep enough or the colors bright enough. I'm going to do another that is a lot looser and with better lighting so the forms are more easily visible.

Maybe a closer cropping and less muddy colors like this:

Venice Day 6

2008-09-15T10:44:00.003-04:00

Finished the commission. Will touch up a couple of areas in the reflections and at the back of the canal.