Image of the Day: Simple Summer Bouquet

From my garden.  Roses.  Bee balm.  Echinacea.  Old bottle.  On my porch.

Summer bouquet: roses, bee balm, echincacea

Images of the Day: Beacon NY Waterfront

When Rita Pignato, a wonderful photographer, visits me, we always go out and photograph around the Hudson River.  We were running a bit late - no time to drive too far -- light wasn't wonderful -  so we went down to the Beacon waterfront to see what we could see.  We didn't walk more than 50 yards in all -- we found plenty to compose - water/trees/logs/rocks/clouds.  The basics. 

The color at mid-afternoon was subdued -- definitely not the golden hour. So as I worked on this, I kept to a neutral palette, except for the bottom photo, which I'm not sure I like...

Hudson River, looking at Hudson Highlands, Beacon, NY

Hudson River, Beacon NY waterfront.

Hudson River, Beacon NY waterfront

Image of the Day: The View from Boscobel

One of the benefits of attending the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company's plays at Boscobel, NY is the opportunity to take sunset photos of the view - one of the most famous/photographed/painted views of the Hudson Highlands.  Usually the grounds close at 5 - way too early for sunset shots.  So while waiting for King Lear to begin (excellent production) I took this photo with my trusty iPhone.

This view encompasses Constitution Marsh (lower part of photo), West Point (on the right, nestled in the hills) and the Hudson River looking south. 

View from Boscobel

Image of the Day: Summer Roses

I have one rosebush that doesn't get black spot and the tiny critters don't chew on it.  And it blooms a lot.  A sublime rose bush, except it doesn't have an aroma.  Oh well - no one's perfect.  But these roses come close.  This cluster is all from one stem!  The vase is an old cobalt blue, milk of magnesia bottle.  The location is my front porch.

summer roses in a cobalt bottle

Image of the Day: Vanderbilt

One of the Gilded Age mansions built by the Vanderbilts overlooks the Hudson River in Hyde Park, NY.  This was a summer cottage.

Vanderbilt Mansion, Hyde Park, NY

For more info:   http://www.nps.gov/vama/historyculture/index.htm

Painting Class: Day 4

Still painting at Touchstone Craft Center in Pennsylvania.  I have a terrific instructor - Tara Zalewsky - www.tarazalewsky.com - who always has an answer to 2 questions:  what's wrong with this onion/pitcher/flower/garlic/background? and what can I do to this to make it better?

Tiring a tad of vegetables, I plucked some irises on my way to class.  In retrospect, I wish I had picked a simpler flower, but I used what was available!  Tara had this wonderfully graphic black and white stripe tablecloth and we set up the still life with a water glass from the dining room. 

original oil by Mary Ann Glass

And I also took a photo (much higher comfort level on this project)

tree tops

.

Painting Workshop: Day 3

I'm at Touchstone Craft Center in Pennsylvania, taking a water-based oil painting class -- my first painting class.  The insructor is good, the food is excellent, the class is small but collegial and encouraging.  Doesn't mean I'm not taking photographs.  I shot this farm this morning, using my iPhone and stitching together 55 images.

Pennsylvania Farm

Have done about 5 paintings -- this was todays still life.

Silver Pitcher with Lemon

Road Trip: Farmington PA

Jackie's Cafe, Cumberland County, PA

Signed up for a painting class (!) at Touchstone Craft Center in Farmington, PA.  A mere 7-hour drive.  So here we stopped for some junk lunch car food, in Cumberland County.

Fort Necessity, Farmington, PA, with little black bird

Then a look at Fort Necessity -- George Washington's first command, when he was 22 or so.  Not a very distinguished beginning to a military career.  The small fort - just a circle of vertical logs - placed in the middle of a meadow - didn't hold up very well against a French force shooting from the trees.  Washington - at that time a British officer - had to surrender.  But he did get the last laugh.

Image of the Day: The Bedford Oak

On Route 22, near Katonah and New Bedford, NY is a magnificent, really really really old tree. At the corner of The Hook Road and the old Bedford Road (now Cantitoe Street) stands a majestic and venerable white oak tree, "Quercus alba".  It is estimated to be over 500 years old, its girth is more than 30 feet, and the spread of its branches is 120 feet from tip to tip.   I've photographed it before, but I don't think photos do it justice -- hard to envision the scale of this mighty oak.  It is not only quite old - its branches spread out harmoniously and graciously.

Come Visit Me in Truck City This Weekend

This weekend is Beacon Open Studios.  More than 60 artists are showing their work, and I'm one of them.  I'm sharing a truck with oil painter Virginia Donovan, and we would love to see you!  You can pick up a catalog and map at RiverWinds Gallery on Main Street.  I will be selling some of my Roman Wall photo encaustics as well as iPhone images and parts of my Italian portfolio.  I have my Square and I'm ready to swipe...

Trees at Locust Grove - iPhone image

The Hudson River at Peekskill- iPhone image

Roman Wall, photo with encaustic

 

 

Roman Walls, photos without encaustic...

Image of the Day: Central Park

Central Park, NYC

Marian Chapel: Details

Yesterday, on the way to somewhere else, we stopped at a Marian Chapel in West Haverstraw, NY.  On spacious grounds were a school, some shrines, a soccer field, a bookstore, a huge statue of Mary, and a small modern chapel with a few statues and small Stations of the Cross making a circuit around the room.  These are a few images from the chapel.

Madonna and child

St. Joseph

Station XIV

Choose One

From the public parking lot at Woodstock, NY

A quick view of Iona Marsh

Iona Marsh

Iona Marsh is a protected wetlands that has long been a favorite haunt of painters and photographers alike.  It's right on the Hudson River, nestled below Bear Mountain.  Even in winter, it has great weeds.

Iona Marsh

Weed reflections, Iona Marsh

An Afternoon in Central Park, New York City

Semi-circular trellis overlooking the central lawn, Conservatory Garden, NYC

I spent an afternoon at one of my favorite places, the Conservatory Garden in Manhattan's Central Park.  The garden is at 105th and 5th Avenue and is beautifully designed and maintained.  I have taken many many photos there, and it remains photogenic, even in February!  All of these were taken with my iPhone.

The Secret Garden statue, in the perennial section of the Conservatory Garden, NYC

Along Central Park, around 100th Street

 

 

The rose garden trellis at the Conservatory Garden.  The Dance fountain can be seen in the lower left portion of the photos.

Winter Dreams: A Book of iPhone Images

Winter Dreams by Mary Ann Glass 

This is my latest book, which features iPhone photos I've taken in the last month.   Most of the images are from Locust Grove, but there are some Connecticut locations as well.  Click on the arrow to flip through the entire book.  Needless to say, it is for sale - you can choose softback/hardback/different paper stock - whatever suits you.

I love making books and find the blurb.com software relatively easy to use.  An advantage to blurb is that you can designate your book as either private (no one can see it) or public, which places the book in their bookstore.  You set the price, the size yourself.  And you can share it on all the social sites, email, and blogs.  Plus it's fun.

FYI: I'm starting another photography class March 1.  Gentle, personalized instruction. All levels welcome.  All cameras, including smart phones, are ok.  $115 for six weeks instruction.  My schedule is flexible -- I can adjust instruction to meet your schedule!  If interested,  contact me and we'll set it up  shotglassphoto@aol.com

Image of the Day: Urn in Winter

winter at Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie NY

This is another iPhone image from the foggy Sunday at the Samuel Morse estate in Poughkeepsie.  I used a bracket app to get detail in the darks and in the snow, then worked on the image in Snapseed.

Three of my Locust Grove images are on view at the Wells Fargo offices in Rhinebeck, NY - 2nd floor of Montgomery Row, on Rt 9, across the street from Gigi's.  The artists' reception for the group show -- Tranquility -- is from 5-7 this Saturday.  Lots of wonderful photography and painting in this show - it will be up until April 23.

Image of the Day: Dreams of Winter

Trellis at Locust Grove estate, Poughkeepsie, NY

This is another iPhone image from Locust Grove - the Samuel Morse (yeah - the code guy) estate in Poughkeepsie, NY.  It has beautiful grounds overlooking the Hudson River, and a garden particularly famous for its peonies.  I went there on a foggy day with even grey light and some snow still on the ground.

This was taken with autostitch that put together about 6 photos to make this one image.  Then I put it into Snapseed and started fooling around with all its features.

Bannerman Island: 2 Ways

Bannerman Island, from the train, with Snapseed app

Same file, processed with PhotoForge

I took this photo with my iPhone from the moving train on my way to Manhattan.  It's actually the best view of Bannerman Island from the land.   One of the most picturesque sites along MetroNorth's Hudson River line, the tiny island has an armory and a residence, both built in the style of a Scottish castle.

Bannerman was kind of an army/navy surplus guy, who bought up a lot of armaments and other artifacts from the Civil and the Spanish American wars.  He built the castle as his armory.  The buildings were abandoned, there was a big fire, and they now stand as ruins.  For more information (or to give a donation to help stabilize the structures!) check out www.bannermancastle.org.

Image of the Day: February, in a nutshell

Dead sunflower, with geese

Took this photo with my iPhone this week while driving a friend to New Milford, Connecticut.  Loved the sunflower profile, and then a flock of geese appeared!

Image of the Day: Wappingers Cemetery

Cemeteries have great trees, so when I'm looking for trees I cruise cemeteries.  The one in the village of Wappingers Falls is lovingly landscaped, overlooking Wappingers Creek.  I took this photo with my iPhone while there was snow on the ground and fog in the air.

What I learned this Weekend

View from Peekskill Train Station of the Hudson River

Took a wonderful class at the International Center of Photography this weekend -- iPhone Artistry, taught by Dan Burkholder.  So this photo was taken by my iPhone on my way in to NYC Sunday morning, and it was processed with various iPhone photography apps.  I learned so many cool things -- more to come!

Image of the Day: Land Fur

The Aboretum in Madison, Wisconsin

What I like about this photo is the softness of the weed rows against the snow.  It looks like fur to me.   This is a color image -- it works also as a black/white photo, but i like the soft purple browns against the graphite.

Image of the Day: 6 Trees or so

The Arboretum in Madison, Wisconsin

More snow-covered, winter wonderland shots from my trip to Wisconsin this December.  This image, along with yesterday's, are part of Beacon's Big Draw event at Hudson Beach Glass, Main Street, Beacon, NY.  Dozens of Beacon artists will be showing art on paper, all for sale for $50, all 6x8, January 12-26. 

Image of the Day: Once upon a time...

The Arboretum in Madison, Wisconsin

Image of the Day: Snowbound in Wisconsin

The Arboretum in Madison, Wisconsin

As always, I went to Madison, Wisconsin for Christmas to visit my brother and his family.  As always, very very cold.  And this year it was again a winter wonderland -- they had had a 20-inch snowfall/blizzard a few days before I got there. and the landscape was gorgeous!  The natives are, of course, totally unappreciative of the beauty because they have to shovel snow and they will be living with it for months.  But it really looked extraordinary.  The snow came in almost horizontal so one side of a tree would be snow-covered and the other side bare.  Sweet.