Buffalo River Grain Elevators

a plein air painter’s paradise –if you’re so inclined….

Already this spring, the Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters  have made three excursions to Buffalo’s historic grain elevator district. To get an idea of the scale of these aging beauties, take a look at the bottom photo – see the tiny figure in the door way on the deck just above the water?

That same doorway appears as a barely discernable black rectangle in the lower left side of the upper photo. Most all of these concrete caverns are long out of use, and plans come and go for their rebirth, but so far all they can do is be thankful to escape the shadow of the wrecker’s ball.

On the Road

The Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters 

painting at Niagara Falls – Three Sisters Islands

  

Heading to a paint out in a thunder storm is enough to question one’s sanity, but the lure of the Three Sisters and the hope that Nature would change her mind by the time we got there, was enough to spur me onward. Nature did in fact change her mind, and by the time I hooked up with my painting friends, she had indeed spread her magical light all around.

These postage stamp islands, strung together by rustic stone foot bridges, sit amidst the roar of the legendary Niagara River rapids. The sheer force of surging current is palpable, and the views spectacular.  Climbing over steadfast ancient boulders to find the perfect painting place was worth every step. Only such rock piles as these could endure relentless pounding of rushing water for centuries on end.