Grazing the High Country

    My friend Veryl wanted to get some reference material for sheep dogs for a painting she was working on.  She was kind enough to ask me along on this adventure and we had a great time.  She found out when they were moving some sheep down from the high country and we went to intercept them.  I discovered that my camera was dead, dead, dead!  This turned out to be a good thing though.  I wanted to catch this scene and the only way to do it was to paint it…and quickly.  I loved the pattern and colors here, also the incredible beauty of the high country above Silverton, CO.

Evening Glow

     This is a study from just outside my studio and happens almost every night, when it isn't cloudy out.  With the snow on the ground and dark skies in the background it made for a beautiful show.

Windbreak

 This is a study I did of the Heber Valley in Utah. There is this line of trees that are there to, hopefully, slow down the wind from the canyon beyond. There are many places where the trees have grown with a permanent lean from the constant wind, though you can't see it in these trees.

Ready to Go

   This scene is from a nearby dude ranch.  This pretty horse is attentively watching the wrangler getting the other horses ready.  ( I have been told that I seem to think all horses are pretty, which is actually true.)

Moonrise (Redoux)

   If this painting looks familiar, it is.  As I have said before, if things sit around my studio too long, they usually get repainted.  I was never quite happy with the last overhaul and had done a small study to work out problems.  The small painting study turned out so well that I finally decided to make the larger painting foreground like the smaller version.  I put this in the Goodnight Trail Gallery show that opened this last Friday, not realizing that I had never photographed the finished piece.  There is some glare that I can't resolve at this moment but wanted to post it.

High Country Snowfall

     This is a plein air done up near Barlow Creek.  The snow was coming down pretty good that day as my palette, pictured below, will attest.  I use a Open Box M with a light camera tripod.

Moonlit Clouds

     I had done a plein air study much earlier of this scene and I just about froze my petunia's off.  I always wanted to do a larger one of it and this is what came of it.

This and the other recent posts are part a three woman show at the Goodnight Trail Gallery in Mancos, CO, starting  Nov. 8th.

Among the Aspens

I love sitting among the aspens, especially when they are in full fall color.

I am getting ready for a group show at the Goodnight Trail Gallery in Mancos, Colorado opening on the evening of November 8th.  The last several pics I have posted are a part of that show.  I am extremely honored to be included with Patsy Davis and Veryl Goodnight.  I am also very nervous because Patsy and Veryl are huge talents, whom I admire a lot, and I want to show well next to them.  If you are in the area please stop by or if not you can check with the gallery.  She is posting all of our pieces for the show.

Stragglers

     This is the larger, finished painting I did from the small study that I posted earlier.  I think this is such a great area of the country, particularly, because it still has remnant scenes of the old west.  I think this is one of my favorites.

Fall Glory

    I have been wanting to paint some of the fall trees around here.   Catching some horses in the shade was the icing for me!  The cottonwoods are glorious at my elevation right now.  The hardest part for me is the golden color.  They are so spectacular you want to paint that color, but when you do it looks all wrong.  I went out yesterday and painted, wiping two times, so I quit.  Today, I tried again and this time it worked much better.

Stragglers (study)

     This small sketch is from the other day.  I am now working this into a larger painting.  This is a wonderful part of the west that is still going on here.  It is that time when cowboys move the cattle from the mountains back to the lower fields.  Although cattle will come down on their own if their owners don't come and get them.  On this rainy day a few stragglers are being brought back to the herd.  This young cowboy was soaked!

Aspen Light sketch

  This is a sketch I did of backlit aspens.  I love the patterns of light and dark they created.  It has been a challenge to try and capture this scene.

Shem Creek Before Sunrise

     I have been out for the past two weeks exploring parts of the east coast that I haven't seen.  First, I went to Charleston, SC to see the American Impressionists Society show at the M Gallery there.  It was a spectacular show in a beautiful gallery.  I had never been in Charleston before and it was as fabulous as everyone had told me.  Southern hospitality at its finest.  I think I gained a few pounds but loved every minute of it.  I also made a new friend...and award winner, Za Vue, a wonderful artist.  I liked her even before she won the Presidents Award!  Even though I had an 8 hour drive the next morning to drive back up to Virginia, Za convinced me to go to the paint out in the morning...at 7 am.  I was glad I did.  There were dozens of potential paintings all the way to our meeting spot.  This is at the Shem Creek preserve before the sun got very high.  It's a bit scuffed because it rode in the car for 10 days.

Misty Mountains

     The clouds were low the other day, a sure sign of colder weather coming.  I ran up to Lizard Head pass to catch them hanging in between the mountains and I was not disappointed.  The clouds usually change fast but this scene stayed somewhat similar for a while.  I love this area and this particular morning was an exceptional view.  I still have a couple of refinements to do, but it is mostly done.

Clouds over the Mountains

The clouds were building above Ute Mountain the other day and I was captivated by the view.  I did a very small, fast, oil sketch to catch the colors and work out the composition, I may post the little one too.  Then I started on this.  I had to work fast because the clouds, of course, are constantly changing.  I also took some photos to help save some information because storms were building around me as well lightning and all.

The Red Barn

     This is a wedding present for a dear friend's daughter.  She is getting married in a barn in memory of her mother...who loved barns.  I have always admired this one and hope it will always bring fond memories of her mom.

Wow, where did the summer go.  I got so busy with obligations that I didn't get much time to paint.  With September here, things are quieting down and I am ready to paint.  The Durango group is doing their open portrait on Tuesdays this fall from 9am to noon and I couldn't wait to attend.

I wish I would have gotten this lovely girl's name, I was happy to paint her.

PAAC Show 2013

I am honored to be juried into the PAAC show this year.  If you are in the Denver area please come see our show at the lovely Abend Gallery.

Late July Sky

I have had a long and exhausting month.  I went for a family reunion and ended up staying to take care of my mom from a fall she took.  I was truly running from dawn to dusk but I did manage to escape a day or two for painting.

These clouds were driving me to distraction as I was heading back from the rehab center where my mom was staying.  It was near a dear friends house so I called to see if she could come visit while I painted.  It ended up that sadly her father in law had passed just a couple of hours before I called.  He was a farmer and this seemed a fitting memorial to him as a gift to his son and daughter in law.

Late Spring Snowfall

This was one of the last snowfalls of the season...so far.  The grass, green and celebrating the spring melt against the softened snowy landscape.

The Blizzard

This was a painting I did in early March.  I had not gotten around to photographing it until a couple of days ago.  As always I am drawn to the softness of these kinds of scenes.  This scene is similar to "Across the Fields" that I did a few years ago.  It is in front of my house and I see this scene a lot when it is snowing and I am always drawn to it.  I wanted to incorporate the house this time and the "side roll" irrigation line into this composition.  The side roll is a wonderful indicator of the contour of the land between my place and the neighbors house.

The Sentinel

I haven't been posting for a while.  I have taken time off to process and think about where I am and where I am going.  Life is a constant "work in progress",  I think it is good to stop, in this busy life, and just reflect.  If you don't look at where you have been or where you are going you end up lost.

I have always liked trees and thought a good start up project would be to study different types of trees and their form.  Cottonwoods are ubiquitous out west and it is not uncommon to see one or more in a group, usually marking water or a fence row.