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

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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...