Nicholas James Harris ~ Plein Air Studies in the Wissahickon
Contact: NJHarrisArt.gmail
This WEB page covers plein air oil studies I am doing in Wissahickon Park, part of the City of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park.
Originally the epicenter of industrial activity in British North America, the water powered mills along the Wissahickon were bought up by the city and demolished in the early 19th century to let the cleared land return to nature and the stream run free of industrial debris.
The purpose: to protect the city's water supply. The result: a now thickly forested valley where Philadelphians forget they are in a city.
I have recently been peddling along the Wissahickon on a forty+ year-old Schwinn with a bike trailer filled with supplies, taking a breather from detailed paintings that require months to a year or more
to indulge in the aesthetic equivalent of a spontaneous throw of the dice: the completion of plein air studies stretching only over a few days. Groups of new studies will be added to this page as they are completed and documented.
~~~~~
Wissahickon: The Monastery In Winter
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
16.5 x 8 inches
~~~~~
__________________________________________________________________________________
A note on the inevitable liberties...
By the mid-19th century, after the demolition of the water mills, the forest had taken over the valley, and the Monastery was quickly obscured by trees.
A Wissahickon Schist house built in 1747, it has always been called the Monastery because it pleased the local community to believe it had been used
by followers of Johannes Kelpius, a German Pietist who settled in Pennsylvania in the 1690's
to await
the second coming.
The exact role of the house in all of this is up for debate, but his followers did hold baptisms by immersion in the stream below.
In summer, the Monestery is completely obscured by the foliage from the valley. In winter it can be seen - barely.
The exploratory Nero and white pencil drawing below suggests why passers-by would peer at the panel as I worked, quizzically cast a glance through the forest and across the stream, shrug and ask "Where's the house?"
It also does not dominate what is in reality a much higher valley wall.
But I gave the house a dignified seat in the landscape, and once I got the two trees that interested me the most to weave around one another in the foreground,
I decided to keep the rest of the forest off the dance floor.
Sometimes its best to give the image what it needs.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Wissahickon: Beneath Walnut Lane Bridge In Winter Clear Sunlight
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
11 x 8 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Walnut Lane Bridging The Wissahickon, Winter Light
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
11 x 8 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Broken Damn Upstream Of The Covered Bridge, August Afternoon
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
5 x 7 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Looking Downstream From Kitchen's Lane Bridge 1, Late Autumn Afternoon
oil on braced and gessoed archival matt board
7 x 6.938 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Looking Downstream From Kitchen's Lane Bridge 2, Late Autumn Afternoon
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
9.938 x 4.75 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Looking Upstream From Blue Stone Bridge, July Afternoon
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
7 x 5 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Looking Upstream From Kitchens Lane Bridge, October Afternoon
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
4.688 x 9.875 inches
~~~~~
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
7 x 5 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Looking Upstream From Forbidden Drive, November Late Afternoon
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
4.75 x 9.9375 inches
~~~~~
Wissahickon: Looking Downstream From Blue Stone Bridge
oil on braced and gessoed MDF panel
4.063 x 7.75 inches
~~~~~
Please note: all images are covered by artist copyright and can only be used for private study purposes