We’re driving on a Saturday afternoon and it’s starting to snow. It’s winter in New York, scrub trees in the field mowed last fall are a silhouetted filigree against the leaden horizon. It’s not the sort of scene to leave the car to admire. The wind starts to gust.
In late winter we took a drive to the east of our city, Troy. Here the austerity of the hills frozen and neutral, the cold, cold sky draped with clouds pushing northeast, all of this struck me as a beauty specific to Upstate. This landscape is worthy of painting in every season, late winter being no exception.
The cat nap. Meow.
Buck the cat’s an indoor/outdoor cat…That’s just the way he rolls.
Buck the Cat prepares to pounce. Meow.
Buck the Cat quickly trots on a mission known only to himself. Meow.
Inspired by Byzantine iconography and a recent Art-O-Mat project. Meow.
Buck the Cat’s on a roll. Meow.
Our storage unit is located in Clums Corners, a small farm community outside Troy, NY. Our unit has a sweeping view to the east. Late in the afternoon when the sun is flat, the colors of the sky and land saturate and you can see all the way to Massachusetts. The land is still undeveloped by tract housing and commercial pad sites, still used for farming as it has been for centuries. The place is haunted by early American history, an unsung national treasure.
Buck the Cat surveys the situation. Meow.
Buck the Cat always tries to watch his back. Meow.
Buck the Cat issuing an ultimatum. Meow.
The setting for this painting is of the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. The time of year is winter. I hike a lot when I’m here and was surprised when I saw the Ocatillo I’ve featured in this painting. The cactus was all leafed out and bushy which I don’t remember happening at this elevation til 4-6 weeks later in the growing season. Nonetheless, I admire this species and have painted it before. I’ve included a painting I posted a few years ago to illustrate how intricate and downright lovely it is when its leaves emerge. Hope you like it.
Buck the Cat’s a relentless, driven beast when it comes to small moving things. Here you see him delivering a fishing fly the coup de grace.
Curious and quizzical. Meow
In the desert when the sun has just vanished below the mountains the light shifts in ways revealing colors not seen at any other time. This amazes me. Fact is, color changes all day long and through the night. Our color perceptions are defined by time and space. Yeah, really…..
This painting is of a wondrous scene I encountered while hiking. I was taken by the arabesque forms of cactus and earth. I’ve included a shot the initial layout of of the painting which I used as a guide for the painting’s progression. I’m pleased with this painting and I hope you’ll enjoy it, too.
I’m hiking as much as I can while I spend a few weeks of winter in Arizona. Each hike I determine to see at least one wondrous sight. Sometimes I see the rare desert pool of water, sometimes I see a herd of deer, perhaps a lizard or an early blooming of cactus. Most frequently my wondrous sight is the composition of the desert landscape all by itself as its many elements arrange themselves into intricate layers with lines and swirls of light and color. This painting is of a wondrous sight I witnessed while hiking at the end of a day.
Buck the Cat looks askance.
The San Pedro Cactus is a gorgeous plant. They grow tall and wide and have straight regular columns or can be quite gnarly and contorted, depending on the growing environment and genetic mutations. The one I’ve painted is of the gnarly type. It grows at altitudes of 2-3,000 ft and is a known hallucinogen. What’s not to love.
Jean Krueger Fine Art 