Friday at the Huyck

Today was the last day of my week at the Huyck Preserve. I finished my piece of art work, packed up my gear, and finally took my walk from Lincoln Pond to the waterfall below Myosotis Lake. The weather was perfect, and the forest - mostly old Hemlock and Sugar Maple with Christmas, Maidenhair, and Wood ferns in herbaceous layer - was very beautiful. The Witch Hazel is blooming now, as it always does in October. See the little fringe-y growths at the twig tips? Those are the flowers.


And here is my collage that combines scans of two of my aster drawings done with technical pen and colored pencil, a scan of an old topographical map of the Preserve, scans of pages from Gray's Manual of Botany, and papers with acrylic paints. I also left my page of the original drawings. 

With the use of some transparency sheets, I also experimented with some photos I took of the light on the Lake. I printed on the transparencies (made for toner-type copiers - not really at all suitable!) with my little inkjet printer using the draft setting to avoid getting too much ink on the sheet. Then I transferred to watercolor paper using Golden matte medium on some and with plain water on others. I also had a small sheet of gold-colored foil (from a chocolate wrapper) and I glued some of it down with the medium before the transfer process. I really learned a lot! So, here are some of the results, showing the finished transfer with its original photo (remember that the transfer is a mirror-image of the photo):

original photo 1

matte medium with gold foil

original photo 2

water on substrate, no burnishing

water on same transparency, burnished

original photo 3

more water on substrate, slight burnishing on blacks

Today was also the day I said good by to the Brits (and 1 Aussie). I enjoyed each of them enormously. Things were awfully quiet once they drove away this morning to get the train in Hudson for NYC. Here they are:

Jenny & Dave

Heather

Carolyn (from Down Under)

Chris & Andy

CSA Interns, Adam, & British Trust Volunteers

Bon Voyage and Safe Travels to All.

My Artist Residency

I arrived at the Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville, NY on Friday near the end of an absolute deluge here in the upper Hudson Valley (and elsewhere). We had 5 inches of rain in about 24 hours. That afternoon seemed all about water! In any case, I am finally here in this beautiful place for my week as one of several ComEnArt Artists in Residence over this season. This program allows artists to stay for one or two weeks at the beautiful Preserve to work in a retreat-like setting. In return, the artist donates one or two pieces of artwork completed during the stay. I have contemplated applying for this residency for several years - finally got it together this year and I was pleased to be accepted.

I have been taking lots of photos (these are from my twilight walk to Myosotis Lake on Friday) and started some drawings that are helping me to narrow my focus and decide on a project to complete by Friday this week.

Now I am off to set up my studio in the research building. Rain is expected today, so it will be good time to settle in there.