Wednesday
Jul082009
Hudson Fellowship Day II
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 6:18PM 
View of Katerskill Falls with fellow sketchers at the bottom
Boulder with small waterfalls
graphite and white charcoal on toned paper
approx 9 x 12 inches
Tree roots with glimpse of waterfall
graphite and white charcoal on toned paper
approx 9 x 12 inches
I worked most the day lower down the trail, well below the falls. The river has boulders and fallen trees making miniature waterfalls all along it.
After 7 hours of drawing and light hiking I was very done for the day.... but had to wait for my more intrepid fellows to wrap it up before I could get a ride home. My fellow landscapers are a hearty bunch. Luckily a short rainfall came along and sent enough packing for me to catch a ride. (And luckily I was well prepared for rain after yesterdays' deluge.)
I definitely want to go back to the falls another day and work there again. But next time I'm taking my own transportation!
PS: The Grand Central Academy has it's own blog and they are updating the blog with posts about the Landscape Fellowship as well, lots of cool photos of our locations:
Reader Comments (5)
These are wonderful sketches. Is the idea to take information from all of them to make a final painting?
Sadei, beautiful sketches. Is it the graphite mixing with the white charcoal that makes the rushing water appear blue in some areas?
Yeah, it's the artist struggling with the media, too :)
There is such a peacefulness in those sketches... no camera could catch the atmosphere that the human eye does and a talented hand translates. r.
I like the Hudson River painters.
However if it was me, I would be out there painting. Just a thought.
I know there is this methodology based on the Hudson River School, but I think they did what they did because painting in the field was very very hard in the 1830's. They did not have mosquito replant (Durand mentions this in one his letters on a trip, that the bugs were horrible) or paint tubes portable painting gear was not so good. They had to use horses to get around. So they made a lot of drawings and did the paintings back in the studio.
Like the sketches by the way.
I can't wait to see your oil sketches.