The night before I painted “Sunrise With Heron” I set my alarm for 5 am. The next morning after breakfast, I drove to Boynton Beach to watch the sun come up because I wanted this painting to be as authentic as possible. As the sun started to break the horizon, I photographed this thrilling event to have as reference material for the painting. Everyone should experience this at least once in their lifetime.
Always on the lookout for an interesting subject, I spotted this road paver/tar machine which was parked on the road near my home in Rock Hill, NY. I went back several times to view it and when the light was right, I took several photos to complete the painting.
The interest of this painting was a rickety old wooden bridge which had to be crossed to reach the farm house. This was one of my “Frankenstein” paintings. The river and the rickety bridge wasn’t really there but I felt like the painting needed something else, so I added it in. At first, I didn’t like the way the bridge was coming out so I worked on it and worked on it until I got it right. You can never just change one thing in a painting though. Every time I changed the bridge I had to adjust other things around it to make it fit in. I added foliage or a little something here and there in order to balance it out. Overall, this painting, was well worth the exploration.
Traveling around the Catskill Mountains during the summer of 2020, I passed a large farmhouse with a beautiful silo. On the road leading up to the house was a sign “Guests Invited”. This reminded me of the early days in the Catskills when small farms opened their doors for guests that were being treated for various lung diseases. These small farms gradually grew into the large hotels like the Concord. I just couldn’t resist a photo and a sketch with a small painting following.
When this was painted in 1960, I just graduated medical school and returned from my service in the army. There was a small painting studio near my dad’s dry cleaning store where art lessons were being given, so I signed up for lessons and my first seascape was painted. This was the start of 60 + years of painting.
In Publix, by the exit door, was a bunch of flowers in a green pot that I really liked. I bought it, brought it home and put it with red cup on the windowsill and then waited until the light was just right.
I was coming home from playing golf upstate at Lochmore and drove by a house with a car in the yard with red, white, & blue flowers in it. I loved it but couldn’t stop right then so made a special trip back just to take a picture. I frequently drove by the house after that hoping that there would be something else interesting in the yard.
