Buttermilk Falls Jul 24, 2017

Buttermilk Falls off Rt 103 in Ludlow is a summer swimmers paradise. Nice spot for plein air painters, too.

“There is an undeniable urgency when painting outdoors – nature’s so grand, the canvas so small. It takes the human mind with all its grand abilities and complexities to sort through the overwhelming visual feast set before it and recreate on canvas the essential components of such beauty and wonder.” Jan Blencowe

12x16
Oil on linen panel

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  • trudi beaman-martinez says:

    this is so beautiful! have you ever painted the falls at Brandon?

  • Sylvia Heath says:

    I am a new subscriber to view your art. I have been intrigued to watch you paint on PBS. I am a novice painter myself and, by choice, get caught up in the detail which every art instructor I have ever had gets too caught up in. I probably have leaned toward the detailed very detailed religious paintings of yore. However, I have to say there is also beauty in obscurity and you are a master of the brush.

    Because I am a novice, I have a problem determining which of your paintings are oil vs water color. I really like this most recent rendering of Buttermilk Falls. Maybe I didn’t look closely enough (age related), but I couldn’t see in the description as to whether this was an oil or a water color. Maybe you can point me to where this is described?
    I am so happy to see you do what you obviously love.

    Sylvia Heath

    • Karen Moorman says:

      Oil on linen panel in the comments next to the painting. Isn’t it beautiful?

    • Peter Huntoon says:

      Thanks and welcome aboard Sylvia! I think because I painted with watercolor for so long, that “look” finds it’s was into my oils. And now when I paint watercolor, I almost always use opaque gauche, so they can start to look like oil. What is important to me beyond medium, is doing a great painting. In the beginning however, an artist does have to learn the technical aspects of the medium…. Like learning a language in order to communicate effectively.

  • Steve Gilzow says:

    Like this one very much, Peter. Golf and plein air painting are both won by the fewest strokes. You captured the massiveness of the rock, the distance of the far trees, the freshness of the falls, the mysterious dark of the pool — all with an economy of brush strokes.

    • Peter Huntoon says:

      Thanks very much Steve! I do strive for “freshness” in my work. As you well know, it can easily take a dozen strokes or more to finally hit the right one in a specific area. I’ve found the key to reducing that number is having a very good idea of what it should look like before I make it. Probably much like golf!

  • Bette Roy says:

    You captured the scene beautifully. Thank you for making a rainy day brighter.

  • Sylvia Heath says:

    Feel foolish now. I saw the picture below (thought was another painting and now I see of picture is of yourself) and the description of the medium for Buttermilk falls was in that area. Sorry, no response necessary.

  • Brian Blaine says:

    How well you’ve captured the serenity of place without silencing the memory of eons of powerful evolution . Where now the scent of balsam and the voice of gentle waters dominate, massive tumbled boulders reach high , lasting monuments to the grinding glaciers and roaring waters of the past!

    • Doris Michel says:

      Nice comment, Brian. You should publish a book with Peter’s paintings and your words.

    • Peter Huntoon says:

      Words and paint… each with the substantial power to connect, communicate, evoke. Choose your weapon!

  • Susan Roberts says:

    Love the restful colors, the angles, the serene water below the splash of falls.

  • Betty Lovkr says:

    I love pictures of waterfalls, actually, any pictures with water scenes. This picture of Buttermilk Falls is so lovely — with the beautiful stones! If I were rich I’d own it for sure, but am enjoying the beauty of nature that you captured on canvas on your website. Thank you for sharing your visions with us!

  • Betty Locke says:

    Comment sent. Correction of my last name is at top of page. sorry!

  • Monique says:

    What a glorious interpretation of a glacial water hole!

  • Gill Truslow says:

    I love your work and admire your ability to capture such a complex scene with such confident strokes, simplifying the details, giving the viewer suggestions of textures, surfaces and motion to be completed in their own minds. This is wonderful.

    • Peter Huntoon says:

      Thank you Gill! My main strategy to producing good work is to invite and invoke the Muse…she does most of the heavy lifting. My main practical responsibility job is to show up and go to work every day. If I can manage that, the Muse approves.

  • robert speiser says:

    very nice Peter, essential elements!

  • cynthia adams says:

    I was intrigued to learn more re plein air and enjoyed Jan B’s description. I have always loved waterfalls whether I’m above or below them…. you surely look very comfortable @ the scene. Thank you…Cynthia

  • Doris Michel says:

    Hi Peter, this is definitely one of my favorite paintings. This waterfall is so beautiful. I’d like to be there. But I’m so far away. Instead of being in Vermont I take your painting and I imagine sitting like you beside the lake, listening to the the sound of the waterfall, to the birds and the bees, tasting the air, watching the water falling down. A nice sunny day.

    • Peter Huntoon says:

      Thank you Doris, I like to think all my friends are “with me” when I’, out experiencing the beauty of Vermont. Sharing that experience each week with a painting keeps us connected.

  • Randy Priest says:

    I’ve been to Buttermilk Falls many times and it is one of my favorite stops whenever I tour Vermont. If you were to walk downstream, you would probably see a few nude bathers.

  • Lauren Riker says:

    Another beauty, Peter! Love the tonal textures especially for the water patterns and reflections.

  • Karen Moorman says:

    Lovely as always. Thanks for making my Monday again.

  • T. M. Moore says:

    Peter, you have described yourself as a spiritual person, and in this painting I can see that. More than any of your paintings I’ve seen thus far, this one draws me into the scene, and the scene draws me into water, as in a baptism, then up a falls toward the peeking blue heaven above. Creation does this, just as God intended (Ps. 19.1-4). It bears witness, through beauty and patterns and simplicity and complexity, to realities beyond this life, that give this life its true meaning and worth. Thanks.

  • Mary Jo Kattelman says:

    I saw you painting July 24 on site. At the time, you gave me some profound advice in more that just painting, wax on wax off. I was wondering if you have a print of this one and how much it is.
    MJ, Christine’s MO friend

  • Martha says:

    I can’t believe I missed the auction of Buttermilk Falls by days!! I don’t know if I’d have won the auction or not, but I would have given it one heck of a try!! This won’t happen again. I just subscribed to A Day in Vermont.

    • Peter Huntoon says:

      Thanks very much Martha, you sounds like a kindred spirit…determined! Good luck in the next auction you choose!

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