Marching in Montgomery

Marching in Montgomery

Oil on canvas, 12x24
sold

The Wallkill River School occupies the ground floor of the Patchett House, outside the downtown part of the lovely Village of Montgomery, N.Y.

Originally a tavern, the Patchett house stands on the corner of Factory Street and Route 17K, part of the old Newburgh-Cochecton Turnpike. The Patchett family, which owned the woolen mill at the end of Factory Street, bought the house late in the 19th century, and lived there until the 1970s.

In 1980, the house was added to the National Historic Register. Later, it fell into disrepair. The Devitt family, whose purchases and renovations are part of the fabric of the Village of Montgomery, bought the home late in the 20th century and brought it back to its glory.

It is in this home, with its 14-foot ceilings and hardwood floors, its 10-foot-high windows and spectacular staircase, where I will be showing my art, starting a week from today, with Shawn Dell Joyce.

Shawn has made a series of paintings to celebrate the Village of Montgomery's bicentennial. And I have plans for a couple, myself.

One of them, I finished yesterday. This painting is from the old photograph on the cover of the Village of Montgomery Bicentennial calendar, which is on sale at the gallery and around the village, for $10. The painting shows the Firemen's Parade, as it makes its way down Ward Street at the turn of the 19th century.

I started with the intention of using only sepia tones, but color overtook me - a little! Come to the show - or come to the reception, Saturday, March 13, from 5-7 p.m. You won't be disappointed.

A Bend in the River

  

A Bend in the River

Oil on canvas, 12x48

sold

I painted this a week ago. I stood behind a Dumpster, using it as a windbreak, on the top of a high bank overlooking the Wallkill River. It was about 10 degrees, and the wind was blowing hard enough as it was, and harder off the top of the river, and I was as cold as a person can be and still be painting.

When I had enough on the canvas to understand where I was going, I had painted for more than an hour and could do nothing to get warm. I packed up and sat in the car for a while, with the heater on high, before heading off.

Last winter, I painted outdoors nearly every day. I was cold, but I was not this cold. I don't know what has changed. I guess that this winter, I am just wimpy.

This Wallkill flows north between two south-flowing rivers. Here, it curves and bends through the village of Montgomery, home of the Wallkill River School, where I'll be showing in March with Shawn Dell Joyce. I hope that those of you who are in New York can get to the show - in part to see this painting, because it is really quite spectacular, and try as I might, I can't get it to reproduce correctly on the computer. I will reshoot it again on a cloudy day and see if that does it - but for the time being, this is as close as I'm going to get.

Thank you for reading.