Another river painting (or two)

This is just a little study I did in preparation for a bigger version of it. It is only 6x8 but it really helped me figure out what needed to be important for the 16x20 version (which sold this month. Yaaay!!) I find that doing a smaller one first helps me with composition, drawing, color and anything else I need to work out. The second time through I gave the river more of a curve and emphasized the fall colors. I may have already posted it here, but here it is again. Although the second one is probably the better of the two, I prefer the looseness and spontenatity of the first one.

Some come easily, and others not so much!

"Overlook" 16x20 cradleboard. I actually haven't painted the edges yet, but I had thought I would go ahead and post it. This took me just a couple of days of 2-3 hour sessions each. I have been looking at this reference photo for some time, wondering if I should dare attempt it. It is a more complicated scene than I normally do, but it just seemed to flow off the brush. Others are a struggle, and I don't really know what the difference is. I have spent less time than this than I do sometimes on a 9x12!

I took this photo on an August hike a year or two ago. The Chamisa was in full bloom and the clouds were threatening looking, but it never did rain. The aspen hadn't started turning yet but there was plenty of color in the Chamisa. The lake is Lake Dillon and the mountain in the distance is Peak One. The town of Frisco, where I spend a good bit of time, sits at the foot of the mountain, at the edge of the lake. A nice place to live!

More autumn scenery coming up with a new show

Jenn Cram, an excellent clay artist, and I have a show opening this weekend at the Breckenridge Theater Gallery. Titled "Transitions", the show will hang for a month or so. The show title works well with my pieces as so many of them are obviously in different seasons. I have a lot of landscapes with wildflowers in summer, snow in winter, melting snow in spring, and of course, my favorite season to paint with lots of color, autumn.

This scene is a beaver pond that I saw as I was driving home one day at the peak time for fall color. I called it "Reflecting". One day I will figure out a way to think of interesting titles! My nephew, Shane Rebenscheid, calls his paintings names like "The day that Sam lost his watch" and "Covert Diplomacy". Once you see the painting, it makes sense, (mostly) but how he comes up with the titles, I will never know!

The link above takes you to his blog. Shane is a commercial illustrator, doing book covers for the most part, and now he has taken up "fine art" and is doing well. He has a great art education and it is good to see him using all of it! If you want to see his illustration work, go to blot.com (another great title!)

Autumn will be here soon

When you live at 9300 feet, the seasons are short, except for winter! Our aspen trees will look like this in about 6 to 8 weeks. By mid-October we won't have leaves left on the trees and ski season will start at the end of October.

I finished this painting this morning, and it is the first one I have done in a month or so. It has been a very busy summer!

Wildflower season still going strong

The wildflowers are amazing at this time of year in the Rocky Mountains, especially near the streams. We see Chiming Bells (the blue ones) Parry's Primrose (pink) and many other flowers of all colors anywhere it is wet. There is even a pink one called Elephant Head, as each little flower on the stem looks like an elephant's head with a trunk sticking out from the center. They are fun to try and identify, and even more fun to paint! This painting is just a little 6x8.

Sold! (maybe)

It is amazing what the publicity for the Bach Beethoven and Breckenridge poster has done for my business this month. The poster was printed about a month ago, and we had a poster signing and reception July 10th at the gallery that carries it. Suddenly, people think of me as a real artist rather than a wannabe artist. I like that! It is just a local poster and nothing like getting into a national magazine or winning a contest, but I see a lot of them on walls in people's homes and offices. This is the 24th year for the poster and it is a long time tradition, almost always using a local artist.

The painting above was not the one used for the poster, but another I had submitted for it. It is 18x24, and a client who purchased a little 8x10 piece of fall aspens saw it on my website and wants to buy it. I will deliver it for her approval when I go to Denver on Friday for another appointment. The gallery where I did the poster signing has sold a couple of originals and another couple sold through other outlets. It has been a good month. It will help me buy my new car this fall! If they made Subarus the color of aspens in the fall, I might buy one that color, but they don't :(

Wildflower season

There is nothing like summer in the Rocky Mountains. Because our summer season is so short, the flowers are spectacular as they are all blooming at once. I love to paint them, but have to remind myself that masses of flowers paint better than individual single flowers. Letting the eye of the viewer figure out what the individual flowers look like is more interesting to me than painting every little flower by itself. Besides, I hate noodling a painting and I find myself doing it too often!