Snow fade

     This was again up at the pass.  A huge squall came through and this scene was fading in and out.

Soft Rain Day

     This was a rainy day that gave a lovely softness to the scene.  I just had to try it.

Layers

     This is another study from up at Lizard Head Pass.  I took this with my iPhone and it looks rougher here than it does in person.

Sheep and Shadows

     This is from last fall on an outing with some of my art friends.  We stayed at this wonderful place call Canyon of the Ancients Guest Lodge.  This is a fabulous place that offers several places to rent and a working farm, complete with very friendly livestock.  A magical place and a wonderful treat!

Winter's Muse

     One of my favorite spots to paint snowfall is up at Lizard Head pass.  I can catch snow there for a longer time during the season.

Winter Colors

  This year the snow has come and gone many times, leaving patches across the fields.  During a recent snow fall I wanted to capture the fade as well as the patches of snow that describe the lay of the land.

Warm Spring

  This is from inside Yellowstone National Park.  The water will stay open (not frozen) all winter indicating a warm supply of water welling up from below.  On really cold days there will be steam and frost surrounding these.  I must try and catch one of those sometime.

Fade to Grey

     It was snowing this morning and it calls to me to paint.  I can't explain it, but like a sirens call, I need to try and capture the image in front of me.

Chamisa Morning

     This was a scene right out of my front door.  I love watching this chamisa (Rabbit Brush) in various seasons.  The early morning sun lights this chamisa up,  I found it too appealing to ignore.  This is available through Mary Williams Fine Art in Boulder, CO.  $700.00

Looking Back

     This is a study for a painting I am preparing to do.  I am glad I did it, because I found a lot of errors that had to be corrected.  Drawing people and animals takes a lot of drawing skills and I really should do them more often.

Reverence

     One of the earlier aspen paintings I did, before the fall color.  I caught sight for this crooked little tree among the straighter big aspens.  I wanted to catch the feeling of the light filtering down and the depth of the forrest.  This was done plein air on location.  I am now doing a larger version of this.

Aspen Reverie

    This fall the color came and went very quickly here.   I did this plein air painting high up in the mountains.  It was lovely just to stand in the aspens and enjoy the glow.  All that was gone within two weeks.

The Collector

     During the Escalante Plein Air Festival we had a "Paint the Town" competition.  As I was driving the streets looking for a good subject, of which there were many, I happened upon this gentleman's shed with these skulls on it.  There were more skulls but I chose to do just these few.  He did have quite a collection.

Pastoral Town

     Escalante Utah is a very small town in a remote part of Utah.  The surrounding area is rocks and desert, but the town has irrigation ditches that provide grass and trees.  The town still has a lot of its rural character, with barns and fields within the town limits.  I had been wanting to try shadows on a white horse and this scene gave me this opportunity.

Escalante Light

     This is another done at the Escalante Plein Air Festival.  There is a lot of red rock there and also white rock.  It was an interesting challenge to paint the shadows of white rock.  SOLD

Warm Shadows

     This is another from the Escalante Plein Air Festival.  There is a lot of red rock and red sand in this area and I loved the complimentary nature of this scene.

Illuminated History

     This painting was done for the nocturne at Escalante Plein Air festival in Escalante, UT.  This sweet little store, called the "Peoples Exchange", and is the last remaining old storefront on this street.  The main thoroughfare through town used to be here but moved to Hwy. 12 when it was put in.  It is now a history center for the town.  Dr. Bines and his wife have lovingly, and painstakingly refurbished it to its original glory.  The stone steps in front are worn down from all the people coming through this door.  I am glad they saved this sweet place.

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".

Summer Fields

     I am sorry for the long lapse in posting.  I was informed my Google blog was in Google + and was now defunct and that this blog was a part of that.  I couldn't use it for a while but it seems to be up and running again.  Go figure!

     This is a painting I did while at the Driggs Plein Air Festival in Driggs Idaho.  There were many wonderful artists and people there and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there.

     This is available through Kilgore American Indian Arts in Mancos, CO,  $500.00

Sheep Along the Bridgers

     This is one from summer while visiting my son in Bozeman.  We lived in Montana for a while and it just felt like home to me and it will forever be in my heart.

Ghost Ranch rocks 2

     This is the more recognizable rock formation that stands above the Ghost Ranch complex.

Ghost Ranch rocks 1

     In October I headed to Abiquiu to work on a painting I have been trying to perfect for a year.  I took a break from that and headed to Ghost Ranch with good friend and artist Rita Cirillo to do some quick plein air paintings.

Beverly

     This is a lady who works where my mom lives.  I have been pestering her to let me do a portrait of her.  This was done from life in about 2 hours.

Forest Idle

     This was done up at Lizardhead Pass.  I like to go up there to catch the early snows.

MacCat

     This is a portrait of a stray cat that has adopted my mother.  I had never seen one of these types of cats before but looked him up and found he is a "Scottish Fold" breed.  He always seems to have his ears back, though they are just turned down a bit, which gives him a fierce look.  My mother has McIntosh in her line and their slogan is "Touch Not The Cat Bot A Glove".  I thought it was appropriate for this cat.  This is a very quick sketch done from life.

Snowy Eve II

          I am very honored that my piece "Snowy Eve II" was accepted into the Oil Painters of America - Western Regional this year!  There is so much wonderful work in this show and I am very humbled to be a part of it.
          This is looking across from my property.  I did one earlier that was mostly the tree in the foreground and you could barely see the ones in the background.  With each snow it changes and trying to capture its many moods is a fun challenge.

Haze at Dawn

     This was at sunrise in the midwest but this same type of light happens here in the west from the fires that are raging here.  This was painted from my parents farm, one of the last ones to be done from there.

Steam

     This is from the steam train in Durango, Colorado.  There is something fascinating about steam engines that seem to be living, breathing beasts.  This was a very cold night and with station lights and the steam enveloping the engine, became an etherial vision of a bygone era.

Babble of Spring

     This is up LaPlata canyon.  It has been very dry this last year and this would be the amount of water that would be towards the end of summer.  I wanted to do a study looking into the water and the contrast between rocks sticking out of the water and those submerged in the water.  I also wanted to work on how to paint the water falls and how it affects the pool.  It was an interesting challenge and would like to try more of these.

Model in March

     This is a model we had on March 18th to sit for us.  I am sorry I don't remember her name but she was a lovely model.