stevewinston-writer

INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER

2009-11-06T06:41:00.000-08:00

I love to fly old World War II fighter planes, and to perform aeronautic “combat” maneuvers…

The engine jumps to life, 600 ancient horses raring to go. I check the harnesses that feel like a ton on my torso, and I check the ripcord on my parachute.

I’m sitting in a sixty-four-year-old fighter plane from World War II, an AT-6, nicknamed “The Texan” by the cocky young pilots who flew her in combat.

The “dashboard” is wood, and the cockpit instruments look like they’re out of a Humphrey Bogart movie. And I’m going to do some stunts, in tandem with Dennis Van Swol, the vastly-more experienced pilot who’s sitting behind me.

As we turn onto the runway, Dennis and I make our final check.

“Mixture is rich,” my headphones cackle as we converse back and forth. “Fuel-air ratio is good. Flaps are set. Pressure looks good…”

“The Texan departing on 8 right,” I call out to other air traffic on the radio. I open up the throttle and we gather speed. The nose is so high in these old planes that you can’t really see the runway. So, in effect, we take off and land by “touch.”

In a moment the ground is falling away, and the big yellow nose with the whirling propeller is pushing us up into a sea of blue. I pull up the landing gear.

As we climb, we begin dipping toward the right and then the left; the view becomes incredible. We head up toward puffy white clouds, and the ride turns bumpy.

“Now we’re going to do a few combat maneuvers,” Dennis says, “so you can get a feel for the aircraft.” With that he goes into a steep climb, and then a dive, and I try to imagine how it must have felt doing that with a Japanese Zero or German Messerschmitt trying to shoot you out of the sky. Then he turns the aircraft on its side, and we rip through the South Florida sky at a 180-degree angle.

Our headphones cackle with communications from all sorts of aircraft; North Palm Beach County Airport has no tower, so it’s up to the pilots to stay in touch with each other. Then we’re above the clouds, and suddenly it’s smooth.

“Now let’s do a roll,” he says. (A roll is a sideways somersault.)
Suddenly sky becomes land and land becomes sky, and clouds flash by as if on rollerblades. My head is below my body, and my hands are holding onto the balky control stick…from below it. We’re completely upside-down. Then we roll over to right ourselves.

Now it’s my turn to solo.

I hit the pedal on the extreme right of the wooden floor, forcing the nose down to gather up more speed. The ground seems to fly up toward me. Then I shove her into a climb. With the headphones cackling with Dennis’ voice and other traffic in the area, I grab the stick and pull it towards the right. And there we go…hurtling over the side at two hundred miles an hour. Again my head is suddenly under the rest of my body, with clouds flying by – below me.

I have to fight the stick a bit, as it’s difficult to hold her steady. Suddenly we’re rightside-up again. I ease up on the stick.

A minute later, I decide it’s time for a loop (backwards somersault).

I turn the nose down to pick up some speed. Then I yank it back up and climb straight up. This, by far, is the beginning of the most thrilling moment of the entire flight. A steep climb is murder on the body, and even more murderous on your mind. Normally, in an airplane, your fixed points are the land below you and the sky above and around you. Even though you’re up in the air, there’s a natural order of things, some physiological steering points. But when you’re in a steep climb, suddenly the land is gone, and you’re totally disoriented. Instead of a balance between land and sky, you’re heading straight up into an endless blue vacuum, with no horizon, no beginning, and no end.

I pull the stick toward me, and the old engine whines loudly. The ground disappears as we climb. Then I begin to flip her over, backwards. I feel my body pinned back against my seat, and my head feels like it weighs a thousand pounds (actually, in pilot-speak, I’m experiencing pressure of three “G’s). For a moment, I’m totally disoriented; I’ve lost any “compass point” in the sky or the land. I have no clear idea as to what’s “up” and what’s “down.” I literally cannot hold my head up, because of the pressure. I’m having trouble keeping my eyelids open. Upside-down images of blue and green and white are whooshing past me.

“Yee haw!” I shout out into the headphones, probably way too loudly for poor Dennis.

At that moment, it’s almost a test. You find yourself fighting for control…of the aircraft as well as yourself. And if you don’t remain calm, you’ll become ever more disoriented.

I hold her steady, fighting to keep the stick where it is. Finally, I see the ground floating up toward my face, and I begin to level her off.

“Want to try it again?” he asks.

“Yee haw!” I respond.

Again I point the nose down into a dive to get up some speed, and then pull back on the stick as I struggle to keep my eyes open from the pressure. Again we shoot up into a blue vacuum. Again we start rolling backwards and over our heads. And again I am upside-down, with colors and shapes and textures whooshing by underneath me, with the engines straining and the cockpit shaking. It almost seems like too much for the human brain to handle at once.

But when the land rolls back into view below us as we complete our circle, the feeling is one of incredible exhilaration.

As our radio cackles with transmissions from other aircraft in the area, Dennis says that it’s time to begin our descent. We go into a sideways roll – 180 degrees – and, as we pass through a cloud bank, we see a rainbow. I turn the controls back over to Dennis so I can look at it. We descend rapidly.

“North County Texan on its approach to 8 right,” I tell nearby air traffic.

We hit the runway. And as we slow down, I think of the pilot, sixty-four years ago, who sat in the seat where I’m sitting now.

And I shout out, “Yeehaw!!”

KAATERSKILL CLOVE WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY!

2009-10-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

AUTUMN VIEW FROM THE WATERFALL HOUSE

by

STEVE WINSTON

For Bob Malkin and Barbara Pokras
Owners, The Waterfall House
Woodstock, NY
www.waterfallrental.com

Many early-American writers called this the most beautiful spot in the world. And many early-American painters were so taken by its beauty that they moved here to paint it.

The place that brought them all here is called the Kaaterskill Clove. Situated in New York’s Catskill Mountains, this is a deep-green mountain ravine of astounding beauty, covered with dense forest and pierced by tumbling waterfalls everywhere you look.

The biggest falls of all is called Kaaterskill Falls. It actually has two vertical drops, and its rushing waters drop down some 286 feet over two shelves of rock. It’s higher than any waterfall in the state – including Niagara. And when the sun sets over the distant ridges, or the mist rolls in through the Kaaterskill Clove, you’ll realize that those writers – like Mark Twain, Herman Melville, James Fenimore Cooper, and Washington Irving – and the renowned painters such as Thomas Cole and Frederick Church, must have been right. This, surely, must be the most beautiful spot on Earth.

The sense of awe that these writers and artists felt upon seeing the Clove has been handed down to all of us. For example, in James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Pioneers,” Leatherstocking remarked that you could ‘see all of creation’ from the top of the falls. And the artworks of Cole and Church – as well as the other painters who joined them in creating “the Hudson River Painters” style – are now on display in prestigious museums all over the world.

Today, people are still climbing to the top of Kaaterskill Falls, to sit where the painters sat when they created their works. It’s not an easy climb; it’s steep and it’s wet and the footing is unstable and the weather can change quickly. But, for those in good shape and used to hiking and climbing – and, sometimes unfortunately, for those who aren’t - this is a siren song that keeps on calling.

Benjamin Genocchio, of The New York Times, recently described the lure as “the prized view…that by the late 19th century had become an iconic view of the northern Catskills, celebrated in the work of the Hudson River School painters.”

The falls are on public land, and they can be reached by the Kaaterskill Falls Trail, a climb of nearly a half-mile from the only road through the Clove, NY 23A. As noted earlier, the trail is steep and the rock unstable. In addition, there’s a short walk on the road – which has very narrow shoulders and cars whizzing by – to the trailhead. One alternative – again, if you’re cautious and in fairly-good shape – is to drive up to the site of the old Laurel House Hotel, which first opened in 1852. The hotel closed down in 1963, and burned down in 1967. But its magnificent location - at the top of the falls - made it a haven for the rich and famous for more than a century.

To drive to the top of Kaaterskill Falls, get off NY 23A at North Lake Road. Go about two miles to Laurel House Road. Continue on Laurel House Road about a half-mile; you’ll come to a trailhead that’s about a quarter-mile long, and leads directly to the falls.

And when you stand on top of it, you’ll probably feel the same way that Leatherstocking did…as you gaze upon “all of creation.”

It’s a scene that you’ll remember as long as you live.

The best place from which to explore the Kaaterskill Clove – and the surrounding Catskills – is a vacation-rental home called “The Waterfall House.” Near the picturesque (and now-famous) village of Woodstock, The Waterfall House is set amidst some of the most beautiful scenery in the Catskills. And it’s perhaps the only vacation rental in America known to have a major waterfall in its backyard…Niobe Falls, an arm of Kaaterskill Falls, sits right behind the house.

The Waterfall House is a Victorian country home, at the end of a picturesque, leafy road. It’s charming on the inside and blessed with strikingly-beautiful views on the outside. The house has been furnished with authentic country antiques and crafts, along with eclectic items from the collection of husband/wife owners Bob Malkin (founder of New York’s prestigious ThinkBig! Gallery) and Barbara Pokras. There’s a cozy wood-burning fireplace. And there’s a wraparound outdoor deck right over the river, where guests can watch - and listen to – the falls. (845) 246-6666; bob@waterfallrental.com; http://www.waterfallrental.com.

It’s a wonderful place from which to explore the region…and to see if you agree with those earlier visitors that this is the most beautiful spot in the world.

FALL IS A FESTIVAL IN WOODSTOCK!

2009-10-04T17:04:00.000-07:00

Autumn View, from The Waterfall House

By STEVE WINSTON
For Bob Malkin and Barbara Pokras
Owners, “The Waterfall House” vacation rental
Woodstock, NY

The month of October is special in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Every leaf and tree seems to explode with kaleidoscopic colors you can’t even define. Every leafy lane seems to lead to a special antique shop or historic restaurant. The days are sunny and crisp, and the nights are cool and clear, with a million stars shining overhead.

And places like the colorful village of Woodstock are filled with festive activities and musical events of all kinds. Just a quick look reveals a Woodstock October full of treats. And these are just a few of them…

Ongoing – Tour the historic Byrdcliff Arts Colony. Founded in 1902. self-guided tours at any time, year-around. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Colony hosts an Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program, concert and theatre series, and classes. 34 Tinker Street, Woodstock; wguild@ulster.net; www.woodstockguild.org; (845) 679 2079.

Ongoing Through October – Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, Saturdays and Sundays; Over 100 rescued farm animals, tours, events; 35 Van Wagner Road, Willow, NY; (845) 679-5955; www.woodstocksanctuary.org;

Through October 12 – “The First Decade of the WAA.” - The Woodstock Artists Association & Museum celebrates 90 years of creativity with this exhibition of painting and sculptures from the 1920’s. 28 Tinker Street, Woodstock; (845) 679-2940; www.woodstockart.org;

Through October 12 – “Ahoy! Where Lies Henry Hudson?” – Byrdcliff outdoor sculpture show, Ulster County 400; organized by the Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen. Byrdcliff Arts Colony, 34 Tinker Street, Woodstock; wguild@ulster.net; www.woodstockguild.org; (845) 679 2079.

October 2-24 – “Breaking Legs.” Presented by Woodstock Musical Theatre Company, the worlds of the Mafia and the theatre clash, hilariously, when a professorial playwright seeks funding for his new play from the family of a former student. The “family” turns out to be minor Mafia godfathers. 815-338-5300; www.woodstockoperahouse.com

October 6, 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 27, 31 - The Woodstock Farmers Market is held every Tuesday and Saturday from 8 am to 1 pm from May through October. Woodstock is a producer market and has a wide variety of vegetables, and also meats, cheese, flowers, plants, honey, eggs, baked goods, and fruit. On Historic Woodstock Square; (815) 338-5164; www.woodstockfarmersmarket.org

October 8 – The Wood Brothers, Jerry Joseph and Danny Louis, will present comedy that’ll keep you laughing long after you leave the show. Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY; (845) 679-4406. www.bearsvilletheater.com;

October 16 – Steve Earle, master singer, songwriter, musician, at the Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY; (845) 679-4406. www.bearsvilletheater.com;

October 23 - La Bella Strings Presents: Ara Dinkjian Trio and Sharon Klein At The Colony Café, 22 Rock City Road, Woodstock, NY 12498; (845) 679-5342 (www.colonycafe.com)

October 24-25 - The Woodstock Invitational is an alternative guitar show, featuring contemporary, handmade acoustic guitars and stringed instruments, exhibited by their makers. At the Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY; (845) 679-4406. www.bearsvilletheater.com;

October 30 – The Mighty Diamonds – This Jamaican trio has been making masterful reggae music for decades. True toots rock reggae at its most classic. Bearsville Theater, 291 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY; (845) 679-4406. www.bearsvilletheater.com;

Then, of course, there are wonderful extras, such as antiquing in the quaint town of Hudson

(www.hudsonantiques.net); or visiting the mansions of the Vanderbilts

(www.hudsonriverheritage.org), or President Franklin D. Roosevelt (www.historichydepark.org).

And, of course, it’s only a matter of days until we’re schussing at renowned ski areas such as Belleayre Ski Mountain, (845) 254-5600 or (845)254-5601, belleayre@belleayre.com; and Hunter Mountain, 800-486-8376 ext. 2200. (www.huntermtn.com)

More to come next month!

The perfect base from which to explore Woodstock’s music and art offerings – as well as the Kaaterskill clove and the surrounding countryside - is a vacation-rental called The Waterfall House (www.waterfallrental.com). The Waterfall House is owned by local historian Bob Malkin and his wife, Barbara Pokras. It’s a Victorian country home, at the end of a picturesque road that becomes a canopy of brilliantly-colored leaves during fall-foliage time. It’s charming on the inside, and blessed with strikingly-beautiful views on the outside. The house has been furnished with authentic country antiques and crafts, along with eclectic items from the collection of Bob Malkin, founder of New York’s prestigious ThinkBig! gallery. And there’s a wraparound outdoor deck right over the river, where you can sit for hours while watching Niobe Falls, an arm of the highest waterfall in the state, Kaaterskill Falls. (845) 246-6666; bob@waterfallrental.com.

LARRY GERBER - THROUGH THE LENS OF PHOTO-EXPRESSIONISM

2009-09-08T04:05:00.000-07:00

BY STEVE WINSTON

From "The Best Arts Writing of the Decade," hardcover edition, published by "American Artist" magazine

When Larry Gerber looks at a street in a ghetto in New York City, a lonely, backroad
general store in Georgia, or a marketplace in Morocco, he’s more interested in the way he feels than what he sees. For that reason, he finds painting in a strict Photo-
Realistic style unfulfilling. He believes such work lacks an intense emotional connection to the subject.

“My art is different,” Gerber says. “The Photo Realist attempts to replicate faithfully what he or she sees in the photograph. For me, the photo is just a road map; I may wind up in a completely different place, and I often have no idea where that place will be until I’ve completed the painting.”

Gerber adds his own emotions—what he felt when he took the photograph combined with
his feelings while working on the painting—to the gritty urban and nostalgic countryside scenes he brings to life on his canvases.

“I’m expressing something, not depicting something,” he says. “I want viewers
to share in my feelings, and I hope the painting will generate powerful emotions.”

Gerber’s alterations of the basic photo aren’t always extensive. They might consist of simple, subtle changes, such as adding delicate accents to a face to give the viewer insight into the subject. Also, since he is not trying to duplicate the reference photo when painting, his brushstrokes tend to be looser and more suggestive
than those usually found in a Photo-Realistic painting. He’ll even sometimes work from a black-and white photo rather than a color one to avoid being overly influenced by a scene’s color.

This procedure further allows him to interpret the site according to what he seeks to express. As a result, he likes to call his work “Photo Expressionism.”

Gerber carries his camera with him everywhere he goes, even if he is out
exercising on his bike. But to him, it’s strictly a tool for capturing the immediacy
of the moment and a scene’s light and ambience. When he is photographing a location, he is not thinking about how the painting will look but merely recording something that has struck him.

“For some reason, I’m often drawn to run-down areas or derelict old buildings, perhaps because they elicit the most emotion in me,” he says. After Gerber has chosen a photograph from which to work, he figures out the size of the painting, which depends on what he is trying to say.

“I then do a sketch on the canvas. I work on high-quality primed canvas, generally
with paint but sometimes with a charcoal pencil. I basically outline the
compositional elements in the photo but also delineate the forms and areas
of light,” he explains.

After completing the outline drawing, he puts the photo aside and looks at it only occasionally for reference. Gerber says this is a time when he has a panic attack.

“I have one before every painting I start,” he notes. “The novelist Ernest Hemingway once said for a writer, the hardest part is sitting down in front of that blank sheet of paper. And that’s just how I feel—especially because I’m not replicating a
photograph, and I have no idea where my brush is going to lead me.”

His next step is to tone the entire canvas with a soft wash that doesn’t cover up the sketch. He uses a large, flat brush to apply the wash, which consists of a color compatible with what he hopes the finished work will be. Although the artist generally works from color photos, he will sometimes use a black-and-white one for reference so he can develop his own sense of color for the scene.

Step 1. Gerber started with a sketch done with dark-violet acrylic paint, which was basically an outline of the compositional elements in the photo but also delineated the forms and the areas of light. After completing the sketch, he put the photo aside and looked at it only occasionally for reference. He then toned the canvas with yellow using a large flat brush.

Step 2. Gerber next toned the background with warm greens and added cool shadows to the foreground to complement them. After the toning, the brushwork started to reflect the textures of the objects being depicted. He then established the middle tones that harmonized the lights and darks. Next, the artist emphasized the lights with opaque yellow, muted slightly with its complement. The strongest highlights (in white and yellow) came later. He also pushed the shadows with the violet complements.

The artist then lays in colors over the underpainting in order to develop a value pattern in the painting, with a focus on harmonizing the various elements in the work. Gerber says he’ll start on the purely technical aspects of a painting only after he’s loosened up with the brush.

Step 3. Gerber will splatter paint on the work at any time during the painting process. In this painting, the grass and tree textures were splattered with paint to lend a sense of spontaneity to the work. He used colors that would draw the eye back to the trees and forward to the grass. At this point in the painting, he worked on all the areas. He then increased the contrast to bring up the strongest highlights, the ones he wanted the viewer to see first. The muted highlights he rendered
earlier draw the viewer’s eye through the painting. Gerber knows a painting is finished when he feels all its elements are balanced and harmonious.

“I’ll experiment on the canvas with the colors for a while with what I like to call ‘pushing the paint around,’” he explains. “This procedure helps me further create harmony, especially with the spatial forms. When I finally start painting, the brush almost feels as if it’s on its own. At that point, the brush, the paint, the canvas, and I have become one.”

After establishing most of the painting, Gerber reinforces some of the darker patterns, even to the point of creating darks within the darks, again focusing on the
painting’s unity.

“I never use black,” he notes. “It has a tendency to dull the color. This is also
when I’ll try to pull out some of the light color. I hold off putting in the pure whites and darks until the painting is almost completed. At this point, the painting starts to ‘pop’ and I really have the opportunity to make the viewer see what I want him or her to see. I call it ‘popping the highlights,’ and it’s when I begin concentrating on the strongest highlights—where I want the eye drawn first—and then the secondary highlights, where the eye will travel next. I’m trying to render
light through line, color, and form, creating abstract shapes that unite to establish a realistic illusion.

“Through the entire process,” he adds, “I’m striving to push the lights and darks in the painting as much as possible to make the painting livelier and more involving
to the viewer than if it were just pure realism. The viewer will respond more emotionally to this kind of painting.”

But Gerber “Actually, I often have no idea whether or not I’m really finished with a painting,” he says. “I’m a hyperactive person, and my work tends to reflect that.”

At any point during this latter stage, Gerber might load his brush with paint and splatter the work’s surface in a controlled manner.

“I’ll use a variety of different splattering techniques, depending on the thickness
of the paint,” he says. “But the effect of this procedure is not obvious. A viewer can’t see the splattered paint until he or she walks right up to the painting.”
When Gerber reaches the point when he thinks he’s close to finishing the piece, he’ll stop painting and put it aside for a week or two. When he returns to it with a fresh eye, he often can see what the work is lacking and whether or not it communicates the feelings he wants it to.

“I put myself in the place of the viewer,” he explains. “If I can walk up to the painting from a particular distance and see what at first appears to me to be a photo transforming itself into something else, something looser, then I know the painting is close to being done. But if it looks simply like a rendition of a photograph, then I go back to the drawing board.

"Also, I look at every color, and sometimes the addition of a strong red, for instance, will help draw out other, more muted reds. I’m also
looking to reinforce the structural and linear values, as well as assure the painting is harmonious. If I think a painting is not working, I’ll sometimes
let it sit for a period of time, even for two or three years. This happens when I just don’t know what to do with it.”

The artist uses a variety of brushes but likes the Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes best, although he says they’re a bit expensive. “I buy brushes more for their shape and quality and how the paint flows when I’m using them than for their brand name,” he says. “To me, a brush is like a good or bad pen—the way it feels when I’m painting is its most important characteristic. But whatever brushes I use for a painting, they’re generally ruined by the time I finish because I paint with
emotion and push very hard.”

Gerber graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, in 1971 with a B.F.A. degree. He has exhibited his work at such places as the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, O.K. Harris Works of Art in New York City, and the Bacardi
Gallery and the ArtSpace/Virginia Miller Galleries, both in Miami. His paintings are in numerous corporate and private collections, and he has done many commercial,
editorial, and design commissions for major corporations, including IBM, Avon Books, Fawcett Books, Burger King, Disney World, and AT&T.

Steve Winston (www.stevewinston.com) has written or contributed to thirteen books, and his articles appear in major media all over the world. He lives in the Greater Fort Lauderdale, FL, area, and can be reached at steve@stevewinston.com.

THE POWER OF WORDS

2009-06-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

Words can move us to tears. They can move us to joy. They can take us to faraway places, or around the block. They can make us see something that may have happened a thousand years ago, or that may not happen until a thousand years from now. They can make us touch. They can make us hear. They can make us smell. And they can make us feel.

Words can make us take a trip, or purchase a product, or vote for a candidate. They can make us a cowboy, or a princess, or an astronaut, or a teacher. They can reach inside our souls, and reveal things that we ourselves may never have known were there.

Words can move mountains, and can open up new worlds. And I believe that the power of words is one of the strongest we possess. – Steve Winston