Image of the Week: Summer at Colgate Lake
© Durga Yael Bernhard
Colgate Lake sits in the shadow of the Windham High Peaks range in the northern Catskills. Cradled by mountains, it attracts people who want to swim free of ropes and restrictions. Dogs paddle eagerly after sticks thrown in again and again; children splash in the shallows; serious swimmers swim all the away across the hour-long length of the lake. Under certain conditions, strange echoes reverberate across the water, making it easy to imagine why the old folk tale of Rip Van Winkle, dating back to the Dutch settlements of 18th-century New York, originated in these mountains. Following the sound of "giants bowling" among the high peaks, and ultimately partaking of their mysterious mead, the enchanted Rip falls into a one hundred year nap.
Apart from its history and geology, Colgate Lake is peaceful and pristine. It's one of my favorite hangouts in the summer – not just for swimming, walking, and relaxing, but as an endlessly varied subject for art. Shown here is a small selection of drawings and paintings I've done at Colgate Lake, including several within the last week, such as the small painted study above. I've had my eye on that log for several years, and have watched many a child play with it. The width of the lake is deliberately narrowed in the study, in order to show both shorelines.
Capturing a landscape in the Northeast is all about suggesting texture. The plentiful rain here makes the fields and forests verdant with thick brush and lush foliage. I usually have about an hour to paint, so I must find a way to articulate texture quickly. Yet the scene before my eyes is so rich with detail, it's hard to simplify. No wonder Georgia O'Keeffe left the complicated land of her youth behind for the starkness of the Southwest, with its bare and massive surfaces. I can relate to what compelled her to seek simpler subjects than trees upon trees marching up a mountainside, receding like a finely-knit sweater. One must master the diminishing scale of texture, too – no small challenge for a precious hour in which to work.
While form must be reduced to something simpler than reality, color is to be drawn out and expanded. Each hue suggests another version of itself. Sunny days command a different palette than cloudy ones. In the painting below, Clouds Over Colgate Lake, the voluminous clouds – and the mood they cast – are as important as the mountains.
It's wonderful to come back to the same subject year after year. The pencil sketch below was done last summer. In the span of a year, the log has further collapsed into the water. By next year, it may be gone.
People, too, make good subjects. Hanging out at the lake doing furtive sketches of scantily-clad people is the closest I get to working from live models. I like catching them in action, whether throwing a stick, paddling a kayak, nursing a baby, or just sitting by the water's edge. This dozing couple, however, held still long enough for me to do a more developed drawing.
A good summer week to all!
D Yael Bernhard