OCTOBER 2021 30-IN-30
For the first 30 days of the month, Russ and 9 other members and Friends of Art Plus Gallery aimed to post a new painting or progress shot every day.

October 28-30: DONE!
I abandoned the easel to get everything ready for my "Going Local" exhibit. The pressure of the 30-in-30 was worth the effort. Half of the pieces on this poster made it into my show!

October 27
Aiming to find a new perspective on Penn Avenue to paint, I stepped outside the gallery looking for a sign. I found plenty of them, highlighted by the long line of banners looking up the block. “Banner Day” was a fun one to do primarily with the palette knife and big brushes.

October 19-24
I’ve been working at this 12” x 16” oil off and on for a week. “Back on Track” is the resurrected downtown Reading train station, neglected for many years and now magnificently restored as the Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub. It’ll be in my “Going Local” show opening November 2 at Art Plus Gallery in West Reading. If you’re in town, make it one of your stops.

October 28
Finally getting back to the Maine Coast paintings I didn’t quite finish earlier this month, starting with cleaning up Camden Falls.

October 25
Took another break Friday from getting my Berks County show together to spend a day painting in Chester County Horse Country. Just put the finishing touches on Derry Adair, the name of this sprawling horse farm located on White Horse Road.

October 14-18
A change in plans. Instead of shooting for 30 paintings this month, for the second half I'm going focus on more ambitious pieces that'll take several days each. I started with this one. Most visitors to Wyomissing Park see Ruth’s Bridge from the springhouse side, but the lesser known view is the sunnier one, from a small patch of grass before a lightly traveled trail. The Sunny Side of the Bridge will make its public debut 11/2 at my “Going Local” show at Art Plus.

October 6-13: Mid-Coast Maine
A sunny and productive trip Downeast! I painted nearly every day in Camden, South Thomaston or Wiscasset. Most of these still need some fine-tuning, so I’ll post my favorites as they’re done and get back on the 30-in-30 track, having lost a few days in transit.

October 4: The Barn
It looks like this little 6” x 8” of the maintenance barn in Wyomissing Park also will be getting a big splash in the next issue of Wyomissing Neighbors magazine.

October 5: Wyomissing Foundation
My 10/3 view of this building was done in the late afternoon to get the sun on the yellow flowers and west side of the building. This angle is late morning, to get the sun on the east side. I was drawn to those shadows but they move fast, so I did the underpainting+ in the studio from my sketch and photos, and returned there at the same time slot for color, detail and feel that my phone camera can’t capture. 

October 3: Jerusalem Artichokes on the Side
The same cad yellows featured in yesterday's post also helped get the color pop topping the patch of Jerusalem artichokes near the Wyomissing Foundation building at Old Mill Road. Just in: the next issue of Wyomissing Neighbors will feature this and a few more local landscapes that will be in my “Going Local” featured show at Art Plus Gallery in November!
 

October 2: High Season at Golden Meadow
This 14” x 26” oil of Wyomissing Park’s aptly named Golden Meadow was started in Art Plus Gallery but mostly finished on location to pick up the subtleties of the sea of golden rod. I’m glad I did–I needed to add two more yellows to my palette, and while there the painting piqued the interest of a potential buyer. But I might hold this one for my featured exhibit at Art Plus Gallery in November.

 

October 1, 2021: Fall Hits the Hill
I’m starting autumn's art marathon in the horse country of Chester County. Plein pal Karen Weber and I got only a mile into it when we were stopped by the rich autumn colors on this hill near Bull Run. “Fall Hits the Hill” is a 9” x 12” oil of Snowhill Farm. That’s one of their stables peering over the hill.