August 25th, Eagle Bay, Watercolor Sketch "A Light Mist"

Wednesday morning was overcast and gray. My friend, Anne, and I were scheduled to meet early and head North on I-87 toward Glens Falls, New York. Our first stop - as we headed toward the Adirondacks - would be at The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls where the Andrew Wyeth exhibit is on display until September 5, 2010. Since our room would not be ready until early afternoon what better way to “kill time?” The Wyeth exhibit was awe-inspiring and included more than thirty works in watercolor, pencil and egg tempera.

I’d never visited The Hyde, which is a real shame being an easy hour and a half hour drive from my home. The Hyde was the residence of Louis and Charlotte Hyde whose wealth was accumulated as owners of Finch Pruyn & Company, Inc., a paper mill located a short distance from the mansion. The Hyde’s collection includes works of Botticelli, El Greco, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Rubens plus modern masters Cézanne, Degas, Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, and van Gogh as well as a significant group of works by American artists including Eakins, Hassam, Homer, Peto, and Ryder. After Louis Hyde’s death in 1934 Mrs. Hyde continued acquiring artwork and became responsible for more than two-thirds of the overall collection. Impressive and a real bonus to the Wyeth exhibit.

The works of Wyeth on display were diverse from loose and spontaneous watercolors (”The Road to Friendship”) to the more tight and controlled egg tempera (”Her Room” and “Cooling Shed“). And then there were those few pencil drawings - my favorite - (”Christina’s Head” and “James Loper”) seeming to have been executed with precision coupled with a relaxed ease.

I examined each piece with deep concentration and observation wanting to imprint the details of these master works in my mind for retrieval later. Nothing can replace seeing the original work. Nothing can replace that kind of visual education. What a treat to be near a well-known painting like “Master bedroom” seen over and over again in print but proving so much more captivating in real life. I was a smitten Wyeth groupie seeing the “artistic rock star” for the first time.

With my mind full to overflowing Anne and I headed north again on I-87 exiting in Warrensburg in order to pick up Route 28, which would take us all the way to our destination, Eagle Bay. Winding along Route 28 with its rising and falling mile after mile generously revealing panoramic views around every bend was a treat in spite of the “slap, slap, slap” of my windshield wipers cleaning away the steady rain.

Small and large lakes with misty views and evergreens reaching for the sky made it difficult to watch the road at times. We drove through only a few small towns where weary and wet vacationers were browsing with beach time out of the question on this wet and rainy afternoon.

"Room With a View" Watercolor Sketch (Top) and "Gift of Sun on August 26th" Watercolor Sketch (Bottom)

Our early afternoon arrival was timed perfectly with “check-in” and the rain had kindly stopped by then. Let me clarify that check-in simply means driving by the office and unloading into an unlocked, lakefront efficiency. Anne and I both agreed that we’d only forgotten to pack “the kitchen sink.”