Above Cayuga's Waters

"Above Cayuga's Waters", 24x30 oil on line

     Here are two more paintings inspired by the same morning in Ithaca New York as "Leaving the Inlet" from yesterday's post. As I explained, I was in a launch heading from the inlet leading from the Cornell Boathouse out to lake Cayuga. The latter is one of the famed Finger Lakes , five glacial lakes spanning a number of states. The region is beautiful! There are gorges, waterfalls, meadows and vineyards. Ithaca is a charming college town where both Ithaca College and Cornell University are located. I have close family connections to both institutions and visit here at least once a year.

     So how do I create these paintings at home in the studio? I had taken LOTS of photos from the launch. I ended up deleting at least half of them and kept only ones that had an element of what I found so striking that morning. There were heavy clouds breaking apart with the glow of the rising sun showing through. There was mist, a lot of mist lending an air of mystery and softness. It was late September and the fall color in this northern region was well underway. It was cold! The painting above was created by taking elements from three separate photos. I wanted to have a few of the Cornell buildings poking through the mist at the top of the hill because I knew I wanted to title this "Above Cayuga's Waters" and that is from a line of the Cornell alma mater. I wanted a sense of the cold with the warm light of the sun promising warmth. I did several sketches before starting work on this as well as "Daybreak on the Inlet", 20x16 oil on panel pictured below. In the latter I chose to depict just one of the sailboats moored at this small marina. The single vessel seemed more significant in the moment depicted. I also experimented with a very heavy texturing of the panel in this one and I liked it!

     Both of these paintings are currently on exhibit in a Washington Society of Landscape Painters exhibit "A Passion for Landscape" which is at The National Institutes of Health ( NIH) in Bethesda MD until January 3rd. I have four paintings in this show and you can view the exhibit by going to the WSLP website and hit exhibits on the menu.www.wslp.org

"Daybreak on the Inlet", 20x16 oil on panel