Telluride Plein Air- Day 4

Fishing at Lizard Head Pass

10 x 12

Lizard Head Pass (10,222 ft.) is about 12 miles south of Telluride. The day I went there started out sunny but weather in the pass can change quickly . I was just finishing up my under painting when a storm started to roll in from the southwest. I was packing up to go when a car pulled over at the pull out where I was parked. This fisherman got out and proceeded down to the stream. I thought he provided the perfect bit of scale for this immense landscape.

Telluride Plein Air- Day 3

Morning at Leopard Creek
10 x 8

Leopard Creek is a small stream that runs north-south "down valley" as they say here in Telluride. I actually discovered it last year when I was here but never got a chance to paint it. So I headed there on the first day. The greens in the grasses are actually a bit cooler and more intense - the product of a last minute scumble with thinned cadmium green.

One of the many challenges of this week- in addition to the ones I mentioned in my last post- is integrating my "new" indirect painting method into plein air work. Plein air painting is an alla prima sport - the high wire act of painting. My strategy has been to do as many under paintings as possible the first couple of days, let everything dry, then glaze. Risky business since we have to have all our work ready by Thursday!

By the way, we are allowed to pre-sell all work so if anyone out there is interested in this piece, please contact me and I'll put you in touch with the Sheridan Opera Foundation (show sponsors) to complete the sale.

Telluride Plein Air- Day 1

I arrived in Telluride late Saturday afternoon. This morning the event officially began- canvases were stamped at 9 AM and artists began to paint in Telluride and surrounding areas. For me, Telluride is a bit like the Marilyn Monroe of landscapes- lots of dramatic views- beauty spots- and over the top gorgeousness. Its very easy to be overwhelmed by it. Its definitely a big view kind of place which makes it harder to find the sorts of intimate scenes I prefer to paint. In addition, the cool cast of the light and color harmonies are the opposite of the warmer palette I tend to favor. But enough excuses, its time to paint!

Gone Painting

On Friday I am heading out to the Telluride Plein Air Invitational. Telluride - an historic mining town located in a box canyon in the heart of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado - is now a trendy destination in both winter and summer months. The town holds a huge 4th of July celebration each year complete with an old fashioned parade with homemade floats and a flyover by F16 jets and World War I biplanes, and Norman Schwarzkopf as the Master of Ceremonies (he has a second home there). A few years ago, the Sheridan Opera Foundation decided to add a plein air event to the festivities. Thirty artists from across the country are invited to Telluride to paint for a week, followed by a collectors auction and a public sale. This will be my third year participating in this show.

So, right now I'm busy getting organized (painting supplies, frames, canvases, easel, etc), and packing, and doing laundry, and making lists for my husband. Friday I'll do a 12 hour power drive to Santa Fe and spend the night with friends, then drive on to Telluride on Saturday. I am taking my laptop so I plan to post while I am there. Until then...

A Summer Evening

A Summer Evening - oil 5 x 6
Sold
Last evening I was looking out the window at the long twilight, safe in my air conditioned envelope. It seemed so quiet and still. Then I went outside to take a closer look, and what a racket! Bird song punctuated the steady hum of insects, crickets chirped, the cows in the next field chimed in and the whole landscape was alive with the neon trails of fireflies.

One Summer Morning

One Summer Morning - oil 6 x 5
Sold

The other morning I was out early. We had rain the night before and there were still storms to the west where the sky was a dark blue grey. In the east, where the sun was coming up, the sky had an eerie greenish cast that bathed the landscape in a veil of light I had never seen before. It felt like the world was on the cusp of changing into something else- I know that sounds a little over the top- but there it is.

This is the first small painting I've done in quite a while-it was such a pleasure to do after working on larger pieces for weeks.

Another New (to me) Art Blog

I've just discovered that my friend Steve Worthington, aka Bunny Boy (you'll see why) has a blog. Steve, a wonderful animal sculptor, is a transplanted Brit living in Santa Fe with his lovely wife, Meridee. Within about 5 minutes of taking up sculpture a few years ago, Steve had been invited to join the National Sculpture Society, juried into the prestigious Loveland Sculpture in the Park show, and had several galleries showing his work. He is a wonderfully creative guy and his web site and blog are highly entertaining. Enjoy!

Sunset Reflection

Sunset Reflection - 30 x 40 oil
Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago
Sold

I've had the opportunity to work on some larger paintings these last few weeks. Its been a treat. Unfortunately, this image doesn't do the painting justice- the subtlety of the glazes in the foreground and changes in color temperature just don't register. Anyway, working large has been a goal of mine for several years but this is the first real opportunity I have had to paint this large in quite a while. It presents a whole new set of challenges , but I'm hooked! Now I'm dreaming of 48 x 60 or 60 x 90!

A New Art Blog

My friend Jane Fulton has recently started a blog. Jane lives and paints in Laguna Beach (tough duty,eh?). She is a dedicated plein air painter and I think you'll agree that her little beach paintings are wonderful. Click on over and take a look.

When Worlds Collide

As some of you might know, I practiced law for many years before becoming a full time artist. A couple of months ago I got an email asking if I would do an interview for the alumni magazine of my law school alma mater. I was a bit baffled about why they wanted to profile someone who wasn't practicing law anymore but the Communications Director assured me he thought it would make an interesting profile. Hmmmm. So, I agreed, and then sort of forgot about it until an old law school friend emailed me today to say the article was out. I think its well done, really and does a pretty good job of explaining how I got from Point A (law school) to Point B (full time artist), although that transition was a lot bumpier than described.

The article isn't on the web, although it will be eventually. Here it is, if anyone's interested in reading it. If you click on it, it should be big enough to read.

Art & Critique Feature

I am happy to say that a feature on my work appears today on Elijah Shifrin's Art & Critique here. Thank you Elijah!

Afterglow

Afterglow - oil on canvas 24 x 30
Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago

Here is the second painting of the "pair". I had planned to post them side by side but Blogger doesn't seem to want to let me do that. But, hopefully, they do read as complements to one another, as intended.

Twilight Field

Twilight Field - Oil on canvas 24 x 30
Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago

Here 's one of several larger pieces I have been working on over the last few weeks. The gallery asked me to do a "pair" of paintings- which I have never really tried to do before. The idea is that these two pieces would be somewhat similar, complement one another and be framed the same- they could be sold as a pair or individually. Sounds simple, right? Well, it turned out to be much more difficult than I anticipated. Unlike a diptych where the same composition flows from one canvas to the other, these images needed to be separate and distinct, yet enough alike to "hang together". I decided to use generally the same point of view and thus horizon line to help hold the two images together, as well as similar color harmonies. The second piece is not quite finished but I'll post it in a few days.

Evening Sky

Evening Sky
10 x 10 Oil on panel
Please contact me if interested in this piece

The last few weeks I have been hit or miss, mostly miss, in my posting schedule. There are lots of good reasons- trying to get a group of larger pieces completed for my Chicago gallery and some personal stuff- but do feel guilty when I let it slide.

I've been having a problem lately with varnish. It seems like every time I varnish a painting I end up with lots of little bumps and debris on the surface that I didn't see before I varnished. I haven't changed varnish- I use Gamvar made by Gamblin- but I have changed my painting methods quite a bit and I've started using gessoed panels in addition to canvas. So I figured there was some technical voodoo at work. I went to the Studio Notes on the Gamblin web site for help. This is a great resource for painters- lots of technical information. I read their article on varnishing and then sent an email off with questions. Within 24 hours, as promised, I received a helpful email from Scott, who helped me pinpoint the problem (dust!) and gave some suggestions as to how to prevent or fix the problem. So today my husband constructed a little canopy under which my paintings reside while the glaze or varnish layers are drying- it was either that or build a new studio which is not in the same building as his shop. The canopy seemed like an easier solution. In addition to strictly technical advice, Studio Notes also has an interesting article comparing direct and indirect painting methods and the art historical context for those methods.

April Moonrise

April Moonrise
Oil on panel 20 x 24
Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago

A couple of weeks ago there was a spectacular moonrise. I did a small painting of it but wasn't really satisfied. So I made a few adjustments for this larger piece and I think I captured that brief moment when the sun has set in the west, the moon is rising and night is falling.