Day on the Land - Crystal Springs

"Day on the Land" - for some reason that reminds me of the classic Brian Eno recording "On Land", but instead of music... you guessed it - this has to do with painting.

Yesterday was "Day on the Land" - the 3rd annual fund-raiser / paint-out organized the the Hunterdon Land Trust Alliance, aka the HLTA. Last year, it was at the Dvoor Farm, this year it was held at the Crystal Springs Section of the Teetertown Preserve near Califon, NJ. Crystal Springs is some recently preserved parkland - 291 acres of mature forest, active farmland and 5 ponds which are the headwaters of Spruce Run Creek.

This corner of New Jersey is new to me and the last few miles approaching the park, it felt more like I was in Vermont than in New Jersey. Since it's new to me, I went there a couple of weeks ago to check it out and I did this painting at one of the farm fields:

"Crystal Springs Fields"
8x10 oil on panel

Yesterday was the paint-out, and here's where I setup to paint - it was hot out, so I looked hard for a spot that would remain shady for a hours. If only I could find a spot where the horseflies weren't biting! This lane led to the farmhouse (which is no longer there):


While painting, one of the HLTA volunteers was gracious enough to bring sandwiches and snacks to the artists, and even offered to help carry my stuff back when I was finished - a nice change from my usual plein air routine of finishing the day tired and hungry! Here's the finished painting:

"Crystal Springs Farm Lane"
14x11 oil on panel

This painting, along with the work of the other painters and photographers out that day, will be auctioned off on October 19 at the Prallsville Mills in Stockton, NJ. Funds raised will go the HLTA. I'll post more details closer to that date.

Garden Walk, Lambertville

"Garden Pathway, Lambertville"
14x11 oil on panel

I have to admit that most of the townscapes I paint are from photographs since I'm much more at home painting in remote places out in the woods. But, just like we did last year, Artists' Gallery members joined up with the Kalmia Club and many of us were out painting on the annual Hidden Gardens of Lambertville tour yesterday. And just like last year, I had a good time talking to all of the people that came to see the gardens. And true to form, I didn't put a single person in my painting, although there were many people out and about yesterday - that's something I really need to work on!

Here I am in action:

photo courtesy John Treichler

Sometime in October, the Artists' Gallery will hold a special exhibition of the paintings we did yesterday, with a portion of the sales going to benefit the Kalmia Club for the charity work that they do.

Savor New Hope

"River Lea Farm"
20x30 acrylic on canvas

I'm part of an Artists' Gallery group show at the Triumph in New Hope, Pa. The show is titled "Savor New Hope: Showcase the Arts" and is part of a 3 day town-wide celebration of the visual, performing, literary and culinary arts that New Hope has long been recognized for. The theme of the show is food, and I'm taking a very loose interpretation of that theme by showing paintings of beef (cows) and those buildings that beef lives in (barns).

The show runs from June 11 through July 22 at:

Triumph Brewing Co.
400 Union Square
New Hope, Pa 18938
map & directions

Opening reception will be held on Wednesday, June 18 from 5:30 to 7:00 and I'm sure that the Triumph will do their usual great job at providing really good beer and hors d'oeuvres for the reception.

Artsbridge 14th Annual Juried Show

"Spring on the Delaware Canal"
16x20 oil on panel

This painting was accepted into the Artsbridge 14th Annual Juried Show, which runs June 7 - June 29, at:

RiverRun Gallery
Laceworks
287 South Main Street (Rt 29)
Lambertville, NJ 08530

gallery hours: daily from 12 noon – 5:00 pm, except Tuesdays
Opening reception: Saturday June 7 from 6 to 9 pm.

The painting is a larger studio version of a plein air piece that I did last spring on the Delaware Canal near Phillips Mill, Pa. Hope you can stop by and see the show.

My work on PaintMap

PaintMap is a new web site where artists can upload artwork and set the exact location of the painting on a Google Map. Way in the back of my mind, I thought it would be really nice to add something like this to my own website someday but I'm sure that would have been a lot of work, and thanks to the people at PaintMap, now I don't have to!

It's still a pretty new service but once it catches on and more artists from around the world add their artwork, it will be a really fascinating way of exploring the world through paintings. It seems perfect for landscape painters.

My paintings can be found there at joekaz.paintmap.com - I won't put all of my paintings there but I will try to add those that cover the widest geographical range (although my range is pretty small).