Sunset Rock, 28 x 48

Hudson River Valley Gallery
Paintings by Brian Shapiro

After completing 15 canvases, spring arrived.  I was beginning to feel that I was making progress in depicting the land and visited several exhibitions of Hudson River Painters.  I continue to follow Cezanne’s advice to study Nature and the art of the museums.  I drove to Catskill, New York, an hour and a half up the Hudson Valley to take the tour of the land the Hudson River painters painted.  It hasn’t changed much in 150 years thanks to conservation efforts.  It is still elemental Nature.  It is what I was looking for as subject matter to convey emotion.   

To get to a prominent vista, used by artists, one must hike up a mountain about an hour.  The land is very rugged; jagged rock and roots make walking difficult.  I had to literally, watch my every step so as not to break an ankle.  Hiking boots with ankle support are essential. There are nearby drop offs that go down a quarter of a mile.  The trail is marked with blue markers but they are not on every tree, so one must be looking ahead or one could get off the trail, a definite thing to avoid.  Then there are no markers, the air is cool, and the wind up and you walk out upon the top.  Way down below I can see my car.  The trail now makes sense. It is an exhilarating feeling. Another hour to walk down.  At the bottom I realized that for two hours I thought of little but what was exactly before me.  It was a meditation to clear one’s head, and it is available to everyone able to hike, and for those who can’t get to this place there is the vehicle of my painting.

Sunset Rock
Winter Rapids
Campfire and Moonlight
Forest Path
Frost Valley Waterfall
Frost Valley Stream
Boat on the Bashkill
Minnewaska Stream
Stream Near Cliff Lake
Cliff Lake
Beacon Train, Autumn Rain