Beginning November 7 and running through January 6, Carrie Haddad Gallery will display gorgeous landscapes with a wide variety of subject matter, including lush green meadows, misty mountains, pumpkin patches and more. “People travel to the Hudson Valley from all over the world to see the views famously captured by Hudson River School Painters, Frederic Church and Thomas Cole. The scenery continues to inspire artists living here today, and we like to present that devotion with an annual landscape exhibit,” says gallery owner Carrie Haddad.
Jane Bloodgood-Abrams, From Oak Hill, oil on canvas, 20 x 30”“My art is inspired by the unique beauty, light and atmosphere of the Hudson River Valley and its long artistic heritage of the Hudson River School, luminist and tonalist painters,” says Jane Bloodgood-Abrams. Her oil From Oak Hill is a serene piece, with billowing gray clouds above a foggy mountain. “There is always some interesting atmospheric effect of clouds and light over the river as depicted in the mist lifting in From Oak Hill. When on site, I often absorb these moments in nature in a meditative fashion and then later, after some tempering and distillation, use that experience to recreate the evocative mood of that scene on canvas,” the artist says.
Eileen Murphy brings five paintings to the exhibition, four of which are based around a tiny pond in Columbia County, New York, and the other a view of the Hudson River.
Eileen Murphy, On the Last Hill That Shows You All Your Valley, oil on panel, 18 x 24”Eileen Murphy, Golden Hour, oil on panel, 9 x 12”For Sue Bryan, drawing is a way for her to give meaning to her experiences with nature. “As a native of Ireland, the landscape there has shaped and influenced my work over the years...The pieces in the show are depictions of places and things (real or imaginary) that have a deep personal association for me in some way or another,” says Bryan, whose charcoal and carbon drawings have an eerie beauty to them.
Paul Chojnowski’s wood burnings take on an almost meta-feel; his piece Birches features a grouping of birch trees burned into Baltic birch plywood. “I have been burning images into wood and paper as a means of drawing for over two decades. During that time I have continued to refine and at the same time experiment with the process. Using propane torches I burn, scorch, re-burn, sometimes sand and scratch the surface of paper or wood to create my drawings,” Chojnowski explains of his process.
An oil on birch panel titled At First Blush, by Tracy Helgeson, is nothing if not eye-catching. The piece features highly pigmented magenta trees contrasted against muted greens and blues. “At First Blush represents the ever changing autumn and spring landscapes that I see on my daily walks,” she says.
Susan Hope Fogel describes her piece, Forest Light: “It is a monochromatic watercolor worked in a style of deconstruction where edges are blurred between objects and the forms surrounding them...Just as the boundaries between forms are blurred, there is also a blurring of the concepts of reality and fantasy in this piece. It is purely from my imagination informed by my experiences painting in plein air. The paint and process inspires the evolution of the painting.”
An artist reception will be held on November 10 from 5 to 7 p.m.
