HISTORY OF THE PROJECT

In the last 35 years I have created over 90 artworks of the Ausable River watershed, as part of a larger body of work that is primarily landscape based. The natural forces that inspire me include the moving water and the land forms that both shape them and are shaped by them. I an engaged with the challenge of bringing form to to ephemeral water and light - choosing the forms, colors and textures that can evoke that movement or that change over time.

Long before I became aware of the many sources and meanderings of the Ausable River and its branches and tributaries, I had unwittingly painted many of the related flows. Only recently, through becoming aware of the work of the Ausable Freshwater Center (AFC) , have I begun to understand where the water I was painting had come from and where it was headed – how it gets from Mt Marcy, the Ausable Lakes and Lake Placid to Lake Champlain. I have been inspired to understand the visual qualities of each of the waterways and the surrounding terrain that make up the watershed.  The July 2025 exhibition is the first public gathering of these works, and will serve both to showcase my work and the work of the AFC.

Updates to the project are made here and on facebook as I post more information about these works and make new paintings

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THE SECTIONS OF THE WATERSHED     

Upper East Branch

This section is where I first painted, since it is just a short distance off the Northway and closest to my home in Saratoga Springs. The first locations were Chapel Pond, Roaring Brook Falls, Mossy Cascade and Flume Brook.

 

Three steep tributaries into the East Branch of the Ausable in Keene Valley

In 1991, in my first foray into the Ausable watershed, I started sketching and painting alongside waters in the Keene Valley area on day trips and short stays. Some of the smaller works inspired large works in the studio. For many years Mossy Cascade has provided inspiration with its vertical dance between steps of water and steps of stone. And it was there that I learned that if I paint next to a waterfall, I need to wear rain gear to avoid getting slowly soaked by the mist.

 

 

 

MOSSY CASCADE near Keene Valley

 1991 Dark Falls                  1998 12x9" Mossy Cascade       2003 Collection of AYCO, Saratoga Springs

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

1991 Mossy Steps                         1991 Remaining Ice               1991 Cascade Collar

             

 

             1991              1991  "Arachne"   private collection         2003 "Spillway" 74x54" private collection

                    

          Collection of Siena College   1998                            "Long Division" Collection of Siena College 1999 50x58"

    

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Roaring Brook Falls, near Keene Valley NY, a short walk from highway #73 parking area.. The power of water to erode and form the landscape is quite evident in the barren rock face, tumble of boulders and deep cleft. I have looked at it from many angles and in different media.

        Triptych in private collection, from 1996  "Approach"

     

 

               

White Lightning, 48x36 mixed media on canvas 2019            Afternoon Retreat, 20x16, acrylic on canvas 2018

         

Fall Lines, 14x11" Acrylic on panel 2019        Study for White Lightning , 32x32"  Private collection2019

               

2024: Carved Surface 14x11"    at work on the pullover

 

         

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Inspired by the Flume Brook

A friend, Pat Quinn, told me about Flume Brook, on private land with a dramatic passageway between rock faces. She arranged permission for me to be there to paint for two days and then I continued on an over 6 foot version in the studio. Although the water is only a trickle, with the dramatic narrow gap and pile of boulders you get the sense of the past power of water and a passage of time. All four were composed to feel congested with a limited option to scramble to the distant open space.

Three done on site and last one in the studio.

1998  "Trapped"  22.5x30 Private Collection             1998 "Flume Pool"  22.5x30"

  

1998 Split Procession,  24.75x16.75" Siena College          1999 Stairway of Stone, 80x50"   Siena College

                             

      

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The official start if the East Branch is the outflow from the Ausable Lakes. While the lakes are private, the waters flowing out of them are along popular hiking trails available to the public.

The lakes have been popular subjects since the 1880s. Those early portrayals inspired my 2004 and 2005 trips to see the lakes and research historic paintings. The resulting article was published in the Adirondack Almanac

Upper Ausable Lake 2003 and 2004. I was able to stay at Inlet Cabin on Upper Ausable Lake as a a guest of Pat Quinn for a few nights during two summers. She was seeking solitude from her popular B&B and she figured I would be busy paintng, not talking

    

                                                                           Freshness of Morning  2003 . Private Collection

The series of four studies as the weather cleared, all 4x6" (Gothics and Pyramid) 2003

         

Lower Ausable Lake 2004

 

Lower Ausable Lake as seen from Indian Head, painted on the spot

"Westons Ausable"  8x10"     2004?                Approaching Noon from Indian Head" private collection

     

Divided Light  watercolor 9 1/2 x 13    2004

 

      

 private collection                                          private collection

 

Rainbow Falls- near the foot of Lower Ausable Lake. he watercolor was painted in the rain, under an umbrella, the oil was created in the studio

"This Gorging Good" oil on canvas 36x36"  1995     'Muted Deluge Deluge  watercolor 1995

                    

 

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  In the town of Keene Valley, the waters evoke a much quieter mood

Beaver Pond , 20x28" 1995   ( an oil on paper version is ownd by Phoenix Home Life)

The park just north of town provides a view of a dramatic bend that each year has a different set of sand bars. The AFC has worked on shore stabilization here.

"At the Bend," 3x10" private collection 2017

   Sandy Bend 8x8"  2022

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Hulls Falls has been one of my favorite locations in recent years.  I have painted from the bridge in both directions and from the shore upstream where there is an easement for public use.

"Diversion, Hulls Falls" 18x24" 2021                                 "Resting Place, Hulls Falls"  18x24"  2021 Private collection

  

   

   Pool Below  24x24" 2022-23                 Swirls before pine,  24x24 private collection

 

  "Streamside" (Hulls Falls), 8x10"  2021

      Stream Lines 6x11  2021

                      

2024: Ausable Pool 18x24"

Further down the Ausable from Hulls Falls is an old mill, accessed from Grist Mill Lane

2024: Downstream Light 16x20"                               Upstream Glow   16x20"

    

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Between Keene and Jay, Styles Brook flows off the Jay Range.

With the help of Tyler Merriman (then at AFC) who introduced me to Lorraine Duval, I was able to discover many aspects of Styles Brook through her eyes.

    

Contruction Sight, 18x24" 2022                                 Styles Brook Skyline   8x8"  private collection

  Distant Light  30x40" 2022

   Winter Openings  11x14 2022

 

Styles Brook Waterfall,  20x16 2024

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The area around the Jay covered bridge provides a wonderful combination of rapids, mountains and rock formations. I was drawn to this view from the side of the bridge where the water moved in serpentine fashion and created a swirl of foam in the dark pool

 

       

Ausable Serpentines  (Jay)  30x24"  2022-23    Winter Serpentine  11 3/4 x 8 3/4 mixed media on paper 2022

 

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WESTERN BRANCH OF THE AUSABLE

Mt  Marcy to the Loj Road, with tributaries to the Western Ausable

 

2000? Indian Falls Prospect                                                                           2000 Tangents

     

2000 "Eos" (Dawn) private collection 50x65"

McIntyre Falls, 11x12 mixed media 2000

Marcy Brook (private collection) 1995

Heart Lake (many more were painted in 1995 as well)

Summer - McIntyre Range   13 1/4 x 21 acrylic on paper 1999

Morning Mantle, Heart Lake  8 1/8 x 13 1/4 acrylic on paper 2000

 

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 Chubb RIver and Lake Placid, flowing into the Western Ausable

Mid-day Majesty, 2014

Evening Folds

2023: Chubb River Spring Flow

 

from Lake Placid to Ausable Forks - the Western Ausable

"Interlude at Intervale"16x20" finished 2021 Private collection

 

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High Falls Gorge

9.5x8.5 Cleft  2005                                                Points of View 2014         Points of View II 2014

            

Wilmington Notch Falls  "Restless Gleam" 2005 16x20"         Wilmington Gorge 12.5 x 10"  2005

   

 

Wilmington Flume area

    

River Carving 24x30" acrylic on canvas 2019                       Ausable Carving 16x20" 2019 Private collection

 

 

Ausable Twist   36 x 60"  hybrid media on canvas 2019

 

Ausable Abundance  18x24" 2023 wilmington Flats

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MAIN BRANCH OF THE AUSABLE -Au Sable Forks to Champlain

Near Clintonville  "Three way split" 16x20  2021

 

Keeseville ( during 2018 Keeseville Plein Air)

    

4x8" private collection

   

    

 

2021 on way back from getting Plattsburgh vaccination. 8x10

Ausable Chasm

1992  Ausable Bridge 14x18.75 (private collection)               2018 Chasm Glow 14x11   2018

                                                                                 

        

     

Ausable Point area

Ausable Odalisque  16x20     2021 Private Collection          Sunlit Shore 12x13"  (Near outlet, from canoe) 2021

        

 

 

For more information on the hybrid approach that combines photography and painting go to http:hybridvisions.diggory.com (currently offline until 2025)    

 

         

 

 

Inventory of  work up to 2002    www.diggory.com/cd                     

©All Rights Reserved Anne Diggory 2024