Clouds Above the Mesa

 After a lovely rain in this parched land the clouds were breaking up, casting light and shadow upon the mesa.

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After the Fall

I had been out painting lots of golden aspen.  I looked down into the stream next to me and saw these leaves floating.  My friends dog had come through the water and had splashed some water onto the leaves floating there.  I was happy to do a change of scene.

Lakeside Cabin

Another painting for the Sedona Plein Air Festival 2020 "Year of the Woman".   The day after I painted the lovely golden color of the cottonwood in "Beneath the Cottonwoods", a strong cold front moved in.  I drove up to 10,000 foot elevation to catch the snowfall.  The lake was only slightly freezing so there was some reflection in the water that was fun to catch.

Getting Loose

     I went to visit one of my favorite artist friends.  She has many wonderful animals, including Don Key.  We tied him out so we could practice plein air painting him.  Boy does he move a lot!  Good practice though.  He grabbed his rope and proceeded to untie himself.  He was an expert in my estimation!

The Warm Up

     This is a scene that presented itself while I was painting under a bridge near Driggs Idaho.  There was a huge hatch of flies, which the swallows, fish and such were feasting upon.  I guess that the swallows time their hatching of chicks to the hatching of flies.  It was really a magical experience.  These little baby swallows would leave the nest and plunk into the river below.  At first, I was worried for them, then realized they float and can kind of "breast stroke" to shore where the parents find them.  This one happened to be sitting right in front of my palette as I painted a bridge scene.  Needless to say I stopped and painted this little guy while he fluffed and warmed himself up after the cold water.  I call this one  "The Warm Up".

Morning Reflections

     This is a small piece I did early in the morning.  The early morning light was hitting the mountain behind the trees giving it a golden color while the trees and valley floor were still in shadow.  I was fascinated by the color combination and reflections in the water.  This is one of my favorite spots along the Dolores river.

On a Moonlit Night

     I love it when the full moon is out.  The softness of the light is irresistible to try and paint.  Even more exciting for me is how the moon lights the clouds.

Southwest Sunrise

This scene happened a few mornings ago.  I am driven to distraction with clouds and this was a particularly beautiful scene that I am glad I got to se.  I plan to make a larger painting of this one.  The light here in the southwest is lovely and when we get clouds it just adds to the grandeur.  This will be available at the The Goodnight Trail Gallery in Mancos, CO.

Beach Shade

     After a very busy time between Thanksgiving and Christmas it was time for a very much needed break!  It is always a challenge and exciting to paint where the color palette is a huge change.  I have worked hard at paring down my equipment so that I can travel with them.  I will go over that in the next few posts.  This was the first painting at Poipu Beach.  I am still at a loss for how to deal with sand!

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.)

Old Red

Well, after a bizarre 2 weeks of first, being evacuated from our home for a wild fire, then losing internet access for a week, I am finally getting back to posting.  Luckily the the wildfire took out no homes and everyone was safe.  I want to thank the brave men and women firefighters who fought on that line all night to save everyone's property and what an awesome bunch they are!

The internet got lost just after that because of an upgrade to the system, not the fire as I had thought!  It is a real eye opener to have no access for a week.  The bad, couldn't post or do much of anything I used to on the web,  the good, I got lots of things done that needed to be taken care of!

This is another old chair in front of "Back of Beyond Bookstore" in Moab that I did, post show for Plein Air Moab, just because I thought they had so much character.

The Morning March

We went on vacation recently.  I found myself going out to watch the sunrise every morning and being enthralled by the beauty of the light on the clouds,  with everything so peaceful and fresh.  On this morning there was a group of clouds rhythmically marching across the sky.

Another Old Timer

This old timer lives in Ridgeway, CO. right in front of a gorgeous old firehouse there.

Wake Up Call

I saw this in an antique store a while back and really liked how unusual it was.  This is an old ringer box from an antique phone and somewhere in the 40's someone added a clock to it, hence the name.

Morning Glory

I have been away on vacation for a while.  I didn't paint as much as I wanted to, while I was gone, but I did get in some painting.   This is a scene that greeted me almost every morning.  Many people would come out to the beach and stand watching the sun rise.  It was very similar to the scene where the angels would stand and watch the sun rise in the movie "City of Angels".  This photo isn't the best because I had my small camera and had to shoot in the room.

A Dave Brown Tractor!

This is another commission.  The title describes the first words out of my mouth when I saw this tractor.  I must have led a sheltered life because I had never seen one of these before.  As I understand it, this was the leading tractor in the world during the early half of the last century.  They must be much loved too because there is even a club for people who are fond of these tractors.  Just a note: the umbrella was not a factory option!

Don and Howie

This is a commissioned piece for a friend.  When her neighbor is out working with his tractor, his buddy has to come along.  Of course, Howie prefers it best when he gets a front row seat.

Big Horn

This one was a real challenge for me but that is why I thought I should try it. Although it looks washed out on the computer it is a little more colorful than what you see.  I experimented with a limited palette of yellow ochre, cad. red med., ult. marine blue, burnt umber and white.  This is a palette somewhat similar to what Anders Zorn used.  I really like the way it turned out, I just hope I still like it tomorrow!

Incoming Fog

I went to a workshop a couple of weeks ago and am just now getting around to posting.  This is along the California coast and though I was excited about the fog, that sentiment wasn't shared by most of my colleagues.  I think it is mostly because I don't get to see that sort of thing very often where I live and I like the mystery that fog creates.

Mike Barr, a wonderful Australian painter, had taken a lovely coastal painting of his, and cropped it to make a better composition.  I thought that was a fabulous idea and I used that technique on my piece.

Fall in the Canyon

I have been painting, a lot, these last couple of weeks but haven't taken the time to post any of the better ones.  This scene was up the river from Dolores on the same beautiful ranch as the prior post.  The cattle were hanging under and near the trees which I felt really added to this scene.