A week ago, my wife and I went upstate to the Catskills for Independence Day. Being away from the city is a necessary ritual I have every few months, whether it be the Berkshires to see my family or going to Fleischmanns, NY for a long weekend, it is an easy way to control my sanity living in one of the largest cities in the world with a constant onslaught of crowds. I need silence, mountains, trees, farm animals, and the occasional bear threat. The Catskills are the perfect getaway. Though, because it is never for that long, I rarely have the chance to draw and almost never paint. This time I got an entire week off from work, so we got an extended vacation up there, and I finally got to do a painting en plein-aire. Roxbury, NY, 11.5" x 9.5", Oil on Masonite, 2013 I found a spot, with the help of my wife's knowledge of the area's vistas, on the side of a road, near a nice old barn, in Roxbury. The first day was very overcast, and whats nice of having a mou
or, How I am Learning to Slay the Mighty Blue Whale