Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Niagara Falls: Nature Knows Best

Anticipation Excitement.
To see them again
In 1969 hubris dried up the American falls
Diverted for study, rocky and dry
Thankfully engineers recognized
Nature knows best
That today, air, water, sun, and wind
Niagara, divinely majestic
Fires my soul

Monday, October 01, 2012

Keuka Lake: The Last Day

It's Saturday morning and the time has come to leave Keuka Lake and head back to Ohio. This painting, the largest and my favorite of the thirteen I worked on this week goes to Yates County Arts Council (YCAC) and the Arts Center of Yates County with heartfelt gratitude for this week's residency at Sunny Point; thank you!
Before hitting the highway, we hit a few more wineries and enjoyed the pastoral beauty of this area, taking one last hike on the Outlet Trail between Keuka and Seneca Lakes.


I am leaving with a heart and soul full of memories of all the sights, sounds, smells, and feeling of the Finger Lakes, based on my experiences living here and painting this week.




And thanks to the magic of technology, I have enough photographs to inspire paintings for the rest of my life. Here are just a few I hope to use as references in the future:


In 1969, when I visited Niagara Falls with my family, the American Falls were "turned off" (diverted) so that the Corps. of Engineers could study them. So it was a thrill to see both falls this time, and to realize that New York is a land of many waterfalls.