Yellowstone:  As the winter of 2013-14 just hangs on, refusing to quit, thoughts wander towards summer and westward to Yellowstone National Park where Ed spent a week during August 2012.  He and his buddies explored and fished the noted rivers of YNP including: the Gallatin, Gardner, Lamar, Slough Creek, Soda Butte, and Yellowstone.  While in Yellowstone they stayed at the Roosevelt Lodge Cabins near Tower Falls close to a campsite once used by President Theodore Roosevelt.  Every morning they would rise at first light and wander down to the rocking chairs on the front porch to sip coffee, watching the sun rise.

The landscape below was done from a photo of a morning sunrise seen from the front porch of Roosevelt Lodge, and given to Bill Nicol whom Ed shared his YNP cabin.  Bill's reflections about those early morns from the front porch follow: "You would think my fondest memory of Yellowstone would be one on the stream, but it’s those mellow mornings full of promise, but also wonder, for what we would see that day."

Yellowstone sunrise, 11x14 (Sold): 

Yellowstone on fire, 11x14(Sold):

A commissioned piece of art.

Keene Valley red barn:  Located at the intersection of NY 73 and NY 9N in Keene Valley, home of the Adirondack High Peaks, is a red barn that has been shaped by North Country weather.  The barn is a well-known landmark which has clearly seen better days.

For more background on this barn, click on “Red barns” under "Labels" on the right-hand side of the blog.

Keene Valley red barn, 11x14 (DtC):

Vernooy Kill Falls:  A popular wilderness destination in an area formerly owned by the Lundy Estate, but now part of DEC’s Sundown Wild Forest.  Open Space Institute acquired this 5,400 acre parcel in 2000 and eventually conveyed it to New York State.  The waterfalls itself drops approximately sixty feet in elevation through a series of multiple cascades of small pools and falls.

The Vernooy Kill is a tributary of the Rondout Creek, whose upper section flows with a brownish tint from tannins in the surrounding forest.  The stream derives its name from the Dutch and Cornelius Vernooy.  Kill comes from the Middle Dutch word kille meaning a body of water or creek.  Cornelius Vernooy was a Dutch settler who came to the Rondout Valley in 1644, whose family established a gristmill below the falls in the early 1700s.  The old mill foundation can still be seen downstream of the footbridge, though it was last utilized in 1809.  However, this historic creek is still home to small, dark wild brook trout.

Footbridge, Vernooy Kill Falls, 11x14:

Vernooy Kill Falls, 11x14:

Red barns:  Though often not a watery portrait, who doesn’t love the representation of a red barn?  Vistas of red barns dotting rural landscapes conjure fascinating and lasting images of rustic America in our minds.

And, perhaps red barns were the products of American farming ingenuity?  Centuries ago lacking paint for their barns many farmers made a mixture of skimmed milk, lime, and red iron oxide--- later adding linseed oil derived from flax plants--- to coat and preserve their wooden structures.  The use of red iron oxide--- rust---gave these barns the red color.  It is believed that rust was used to help kill moss and mold.  Refer to Farmers' Almanac for additional information.

CR 3 red barn, 11x14 (DtC):

Located off County Route 3, in the shadows of Ashokan High Point.

Red barn in Keene Valley, 11x14:

This aging structure sits in an Adirondack field not far from the shadows of Pitchoff, Cascade, and Porter Mountains off NY 73.  At one time this land belonged to philanthropist Wallace Murray, and it is believed that this barn was built by Albert Jakes in the 1920s.  The barn, which is in serious disarray, now stands on part of the NYS Forest Preserve.  The landscape was painted from a photo taken in May of 2013.  Additional information about this historic red barn can be found in the August 2013 issue of Adirondack Life.

Acrylic versus oil:  Below are two painting of the Footbridge at the Vernooy Kill Falls.  One was done with acrylic and completed in 2004 following our first hike into the falls.  The other is a water-mixable oil completed in 2014.

Footbridge, Vernooy Kill Falls(a), 11x14:

 Footbridge, Vernooy Kill Falls(o), 11x14:

Waterfalls:  Below are landscapes, mostly of regional waterfalls.

Top of Kaaterskill Falls, 14x11:

Kaaterskill Falls has been called the highest two-tier falls in New York State with a total drop of two-hundred-sixty feet in elevation.  It was has long been written about and painted, often an icon of the Hudson River School of painters.  Even today it continues to be a focal attraction to Catskill visitors.

Awosting Falls, Minnewaska State Park, 11x14:

A sixty foot plunge on the Peters Kill Creek.

Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, 14x11(Sold):

A commissioned piece of art, painted for a dear friend.

Otter Falls, 11x14:

Brook trout and bamboo:  Several of Ed's photographs were chosen to grace the cover of New York's "Freshwater Fishing 2013-14 Official Regulations Guide" including an image of the Rondout Creek seen here,

Lois recently completed the landscape below which will be donated to the Ashokan-Pepacton Watershed Chapter of Trout Unlimited as an auction item in their 26th Annual Dinner to be held on April 5th, 2014.  Hopefully the unique connection to the regulation guide above will be of some financial benefit to the Chapter.

Brook trout and bamboo, 11x14 (DtC):

The bamboo lying across the mossy rock midstream is an Art Weiler replica of a Leonard 39-5 cane rod.  Ed acquired it in memory of his Dad following his father’s death.