Posted by Rich-A relatively calm day weather-wise, and I found myself with a few minutes to spend working on this show. Whenever I begin the process of preparing for an exhibition, I always worry that I won’t have enough images to create paintings from– I’ve always relied on photographic reference to create my work – but I usually end up with more inspiration than I can use, and a few sketches that never quite make it to finished paintings. The feeling that I won’t have enough works completed by September 1st was eating at me, and with the day looking somewhat sunny, I decided to head over to New Jersey and see what I could get for reference. Hoping for some opportunities to get pictures with nice long shadows in the winter sun, I drove over the Washington Crossing Bridge to Route 29 and turned north towards Lambertville. Fortunately, this narrow bridge between Pennsylvania and New Jersey is only 10 minutes away from my house, and with the sun just a half hour or so from setting I decided to take the first left turn after Washington Crossing State Park into Titusville. Both PA and NJ have Washington Crossing State Parks on their sides of the Delaware River respectively, one park to commemorate where George and company launched their boats and the other to mark where they landed shortly afterwards. Titusville is located directly north of the park on Rt 29.
I’m not entirely certain how big Titusville is, but this section of the town occupies a very narrow strip of land between the Delaware River and the old D&R Canal, perhaps 200 yards wide at it’s narrowest point. The street that runs parallel between the river and the canal is occupied by classic old frame houses that appear to be meticulously maintained and very comfortable at the same time. It’s as if the entire strip along the river was modeled after a Norman Rockwell guide on how to make your house appeal to your grandchildren. Couples strolled along the sidewalk that ran along the Delaware River on this somewhat warmish winter afternoon, passing by the Old Baptist church from the 1800s and the Titusville Academy, a classic brick and stone school building that appeared to have been built shortly after the turn of the last century and was still enjoying use by young children. As I walked through Titusville and took some photos, I could see homeowners had switched on their porch lights in anticipation of sunset, and interior lighting inside was already giving these classic structures a warm glow from within. I caught a glimpse of a gentleman sitting in his glass enclosed sun porch reading his Sunday paper in the warm light of the setting sun. All very idyllic. Idyllic, except for the guy in the baseball hat walking around with a tri-pod taking pictures… After exchanging a few polite greetings with a strolling couple or two, I realized halfway through my snapping of pictures in this small, picturesque edge of New Jersey that a guy who parked a pick up truck with PA plates across from the Baptist Church and was taking pictures of the houses might not fit in with a Norman Rockwell guide at all; perhaps a chapter in the Crimestoppers textbook would be more applicable, and the porch lights were being flipped on just in case I turned out to be more Norman Bates instead of Norman Rockwell. After some quick consideration, I decided to fore go an attempt to get a picture of the man reading his paper on his sun porch, and thought I could perhaps get better shots of a seemingly unoccupied house straddling the street and the river further up the road. It also occurred to me it would be easier to use my artistic license and paint the warm glow of interior lights in these lovely houses than explain to the Town of Hopewell Police why I seemed to be casing the town and taking photos. At least, I think it is the Town of Hopewell Police that have jurisdiction there. I wasn’t about to hang around and find out.
Notice the light in window...Photoshopped in...
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