Shadow Pattern

A simple little 6x8 painting of a creek in winter, but the pattern of the shadows on the snow intrigued me.  Hence the title, Shadow Pattern.  It is going to Framed Image Gallery in Denver for their holiday show.

Using a separate monitor for reference photos

The photo I used for this painting was taken on a very smoky day this fall.  The wind was from the north, blowing in smoke from fires in Montana.   I  recently bought a new 23" monitor which I connect to my laptop and display the photo I am using for reference in the studio.  I hung it on the wall on a mount that I can move so I can pull it closer to me or push further away.  I like it much better than printed photos, even from the drugstore.  My own printer leaves most of the color out, so it is useless, but I have been very pleased with the monitor.  It lets me see all the color, even in the dark areas. 

Fall is over in Colorado's high country

Started as a plein air piece, but finished in studio and given to friends of mine.  This was a glorious autumn and I went to Cataract Lake, where this was painted three times in one week!  The first time I hiked there, and I swore I would come back to paint.  I did, twice.  I just finished a large painting from a photo I took while there.  I will post it in a day or so.

Summer in the Colorado high country

Last year was a very wet year, with a record amount of snow over the winter and good rains in the summer.  As a result, the wildflowers were spectacular.  This year is the complete opposite as we now have drought conditions.  I hiked Shrine Ridge a week or two ago and it looked nothing like this painting I did from a photo of same area the year before.   In this painting there is snow on the peaks, and it was all gone by May this year.  I am trying to figure out which paintings to enter into the Women Artists of the West show.  The deadline is August 1st, and this may be one of them. 

Aspen Grove

Aspen are the weed tree here in the Colorado mountains. They grow like crazy anywhere you don't want them to be. like in my garden. However, we love them for their color and their ability to fill empty hillsides very quickly. Pine Beetle have devastated our pine forests but it is amazing how quickly aspen are providing cover for the wildflowers and wildlife. This Aspen stand was in Rico Colorado, but it could have been in my backyard in Summit County. This photo of the oil painting was taken with my new iphone and I was amazed at what a good job it did picking up the color. It may be just a touch light, and the blue in the shadows isn't really quite that bright, but I was really surprised at the quality of the photo. This painting is 18x24 and available at the River's Edge Gallery in Alma Colorado, a little town between Breckenridge and Fairplay.

Stalking fly fishermen

I spent the fall trying to photograph fly fishermen so that I would have reference to use for paintings during the winter. I think some of the guys were wondering what I was up to as I photographed them over and over. Every so often I had to turn the camera away and get a shot up the river so they wouldn't think I was stalking them (I was!). No one called the police on me and I got lots of photos. This is the first painting I did from this year's crop of photos. It is 16x20 and I enjoyed working a little larger than I usually do. I have just started experimenting with adding figures to my landscapes and I am having a great time doing it!

Another in my plein air series

I had a couple of afternoons to paint while in Westcliffe this summer, and this is another that I did while I was there. The leaves were changing in front of our eyes, and it was amazing how much more color there would be in the afternoon than there had been that morning! I did a little larger studio piece from this study plus the reference I took while there. I will post it in a couple of days.

Breckenridge poppies

Because of the huge amount of snow we had this winter, followed by more than adequate summer showers, the flowers have been phenomenal! Both garden flowers and wildflowers have been the best I have ever seen.

Breckenridge is covered in poppies, which inspired both my sister and I to paint them. This is just a little 8x10 but I have an 18x24 in me, just waiting to get out. I am going to start on it tomorrow.

Up on the Ridge

This is just a little 6x8 done with a synthetic brush instead of natural bristle. I have always used Robert Simmons bristle brushes, and when I first tried the Ruby Silver Synthetic, I didn't care for it as I thought it took as much paint off the canvas as it put on. However, I did like finishing with it as it really lays the paint down and looks like a definite brush stroke, which I have trouble getting the bristle brushes to do. The edges always seem to be softer with natural bristles.

This was done from the start with the synthetic, and I am beginning to like it. It just takes a lighter touch and a little practice to get used to it. The lighter touch lets you lay the paint over the top of the underneath wet paint and not drag it up to the top or take it off. Actually I used the fact that it takes paint off too to delineate edges and cut in where I wanted to. Maybe I will order a few more!

Finding another gallery

The willows are amazing colors this time of year. Today is just this kind of day. Snow on the ground, abundant sunshine and blue skies. We call it a bluebird day.

I would really love to find another Colorado Gallery in which to hang my work. I know most galleries really aren't looking for more artists, but this spring I am going to make a concerted effort to send some portfolios to a few and see if I can't get into another one. I am painting enough these days that the work is beginning to stack up and I need another outlet. Any suggestions anyone? Any thoughts on making the best presentation possible?

Thanks for your help!

Winter can be colorful

Willows are so gorgeous with no leaves on them! They change color as the season progresses and seem to be the darkest red, almost burgundy, in the early winter. As time goes on they get brighter, until they end up almost orange by spring. I love to watch them. Of course, they like wet feet, so you always see water around them. The title of this piece is "Thawing" as the creek is beginning to show up again and is not snow covered. It is hanging in our "Winter lights" show at the Arts Alive Gallery in Breckenridge.

Working out problems in paintings

I seem to have a three step process for fixing a painting. First, I have to figure out what is wrong with it. Often, I don't know what the problem is, but just have a nagging feeling that it isn't quite right.

I usually will leave it for a few days and let it dry while I look at it occasionally to see if it hits me. I can always see what is wrong with other people's paintings! I should be able to see it just as easily on my own. With a few days space between actually painting it and looking at it again, it often does jump out at me. I also find that photographing it makes it more obvious, looking at it on the computer screen. Looking at it in the mirror sometimes does it, but for me, a photograph is better.

Once I realize what the issue is, I have to decide how to fix it. That often takes me time. I am a relative newbie to painting, and still have lots to learn. I often work it out at night, thinking about the painting when I should be sleeping. The problem I had with the painting above is that the mountain goat and the background were the same value, and they blended in with each other. I could have lightened the goat, but on his shady side, he really was quite dark, even though he was white. I could have darkened the grasses around him, but then it wouldn't have looked like the summer tundra he was munching on. I finally realized at about 2am one night that color temperature rather than value was the way to do it. The grasses had been yellow green and I had used an orange toned board so some of the background warmth was coming through. All I needed to do was cool down the green by adding blue to it and suddenly the warmer, sunny side of the mountain goat popped out. Where he was shaded, I had to still keep the green warmer.

This whole painting was an experiment and was just done as a study to see if I could paint an animal and get the drawing right (not my strong point) and it was nice to be able to work out some of the other issues as well. I still wonder if the pile of rocks isn't too strong, but there aren't many darks in this painting, so I left them.

Colorful Colorado

When I went to Rico (near Telluride Colorado) to attend Jill Carver's fabulous workshop, I stopped and took photos both coming and going. The color was just incredible! It was the last week in September, which is peak time for most mountain areas, and this region was no exception. The photo I used as reference for this was taken on a side road on the Dallas Divide.

One of the women who attended the workshop was Shirley Novak, the wife of artist Ralph Oberg. While Shirley and I and the rest of the workshop attendees were out painting, Ralph and his friend and fellow artist, Dan Young (also from Colorado) went out and painted every day too. The amount of work they turned out was incredible! They each did at least one, and most days two, 11x14 or larger plein air paintings. I was amazed at how quickly they worked and what great paintings they produced.

Getting back to taking photos on the Dallas Divide, it seemed that everywhere I stopped as I headed north to go home, Dan Young was also stopping to take photos, so perhaps one day you will see this same scene, or something close to it, in a Dan Young painting. I am sure he would do a better job on it than I did, but I had fun with the yellow and purple combination.

BTW, Jill is doing another workshop in Rico in June 2011. I have already signed up and am looking forward to it.

What's in a title?

I have a heck of a time coming up with titles. When I do, I find I have already used them on another painting. I ended up calling this one Ranch Pond, which is very uninspired and if I can find something better, I will change it. I already used Reflecting and others that say similar things on other paintings. As often as I paint water and fall, I go through the titles pretty quickly. Any ideas will be appreciated! ( I have already used Double Vision, which would be appropriate).

Painting in Arizona this week

I am spending the week at my sister's house in Arizona, and when I go there, I paint almost all day, every day. She lives in a canyon and my cell phone doesn't have service there, so work doesn't interfere and I can just paint away. I have been turning out 12x16's (one a day so far) and feeling good about them. I haven't photographed them yet, as I need to look at them for a day or two to be sure there are no glaring errors. Sometimes I just don't see the mistakes until I am looking at them with a fresh eye again. Then it pops out and I wonder how I ever missed it!

Here is one I did last time I was here. I bring photos with me rather than try to paint the red rocks! My sister Adele is also an artist, and she routinely paints every day, so I just grab an easel and try not to stand in her light or back up over one of her wet paintings.