This is a view looking southward from the hillside lawn just behind the Inn, and overlooking the Auditorium at the Silver Bay conference center, located on Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York state. The Auditorium, located near the center of the campus was built in 1909, seats up to 700 guests, and is listed on the National Historic registry. It is a lovely old building, designed by architect Franklyn E. Edwards, rustic looking at a first glance but beautiful in the subtle sophisticated combination of stone, wood, and numerous glass windows.
I started this painting in the morning, shortly after breakfast. It was sunny, warm, and there were large, fast moving white clouds passing overhead, which were coming from over the top of the mountain just behind me and to my right. I began the painting as a watercolor class demonstration, and worked on it periodically while in between visiting with and assisting members of the group. As the painting was unfinished when we broke for lunch, I planned to return later in the afternoon to complete the work. That was the initial plan, but the weather in that region has a way of changing unexpectedly and rapidly.
While we were at our lunch, the large white clouds had suddenly become dark and unleashed a heavy pouring rain. Following the end of the meal the rain had temporarily abated, and I returned to the location to find that the light and color of the mid-morning had changed significantly. The sky was overcast, with occasional glimpses or hints of blue showing momentarily from time to time, and the setting had taken on a cooler cast of color. As my painting from the morning was only about half-way completed, I decided to paint into and over the warm and bright colors in order to capture the dark, shadowed, and transitional setting that had recently developed. I was in luck, the rain stopped and provided me with a window of opportunity. While working I was concerned that I would become rained out, or that the exposed painting would become rain damaged, and in fact I had to take occasional breaks – running for cover with the painting in hand – as the winds picked up and rain would begin and then end fairly quickly. In reflection, I must have looked odd, hunched protectively over the painting, mixing color and painting away as quickly as practical, wishing that parts of the paper would dry more quickly in the damp afternoon air, while frequently glancing over my shoulder at the ominous darkening sky to check the nature of the clouds, and all the while listening for approaching thunder. It was interesting, and I was able to finish just as an especially large, low setting dark cloud with lightning was coming overhead, and with it a storm which lasted well into the late evening.