A Day on the Dolores Triptych - each panel 9 x 7 Sold
Just a quick post and then more later. The Dolores River converges with the San Miguel just a bit down valley from Telluride. I tend to spend more time near the San Miguel so this year I decided to paint on the Dolores too. Of course, the fact that Steve wanted to fish there might have had something to do with it.
Yesterday was a hectic mix of driving around looking for painting spots and dodging thunderstorms. Because I've done this show for five years now, I am not in quite as much of a panic as those who are here for the first time. At the artist orientation last night I heard "this landscape is overwhelming" about a dozen times. And it is.
Because of the indirect technique I use, I can't finish a piecce in one shot, so the first two days are a mad scramble to do as many underpaintings as I can and then spend the rest of the week trying to bring those to completion. As a consequence, I am lucky to get six paintings done, while others may do ten or twelve. So yesterday was all about trying to get three underpaintings done. One expedition failed, unfortunately. We drove up to Woods lake, a beautiful small lake with great mountains reflections, which I thought might be a candidate for the HRS piece. But, just as we got there a thunderstorm rolled in and the huge cracks of thunder canceled that plan.
We did run into this little guy taking shelter from the storm. Later after the rain stopped I drove back to a spot I'd seen literally on my way out of Telluride last year.
It seemed perfect for me, so I started a piece there. I also have a larger piece of the valley floor started which is, right now, the only "big view" I have going. So, I'm off to get another three underpaintings done today so I can start glazing like a mad woman for the next three days!
We're here! We had a lovely trip - spending Saturday in Santa Fe and enjoying lunch with artist friends - Lynn Windsor, Barry McCuan, Steve Worthington and Meridee Mandio. Saturday night we stayed with Nancy Silvia and Hiroshi Murata at their beautiful home just outside of Santa Fe.
Sunday we headed through our old stomping grounds in northern New Mexico- stopping in Abiquiu for lunch. We arrived in Telluride about 4:30-a half hour too late to get my canvases stamped for the event. But, no matter- had a lovely dinner with our hosts Debbie and Gary Friedman and were treated to spectacular "last light" on the valley floor.
Up early this morning, got my canvases stamped, ran into Stacey Peterson doing the same thing, and now I am on the way out the door to paint. Stay tuned!
We are on the way! Today we're driving across north Texas, up to the Panhandle and then into New Mexico. We'll stop in Placitas- a small village nestled in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains just north of Albuquerque. Its a long drive but we got an early start. Placitas is where we lived for five years before our move to Texas. Tonight we'll spend the night with friends there.
In my last post I mentioned that I'd been thinking about painting an homage to the HRS (Hudson River School) at this year's event. What I meant was painting a "big view" - a nod to the Sublime. I've been thinking about this for a while and asked Steve to come up with a frame design that would be appropriate. So here it is. A simple elegant tabernacle frame. I just hope I can paint something worthy of it!
It's that time again! Later this week we'll be heading out to Telluride, Colorado for the annual Plein Air Invitational. This will be my fifth year at this event. It will be great to see many of the returning artists and and to meet new ones. This year Stacey Peterson, Colorado landscape painter and blogger will be in the show, so I am looking forward to meeting her in person.
For the last three years, I've blogged almost daily during the event, and I'm going to try to do that again this year. Its a hectic, crazy week of painting which culminates in a silent auction/cocktail party followed by a two day public sale. All of this is against the backdrop of the gorgeous San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado and the tiny, funky, mountain chic town of Telluride.
As I've written before, this event is always a huge challenge for me- fitting my indirect painting techniques to the high wire act of plein air painting, and painting in a location which has extremely cool light and big, knock your socks off views. My usual warmer palette and preference for intimate corners of the landscape have to be modified to the task at hand. Although I plan to follow my usual pattern of looking for quieter corners of the landscape, this year I am thinking that at least one nod to the Hudson River School just might be in order. We'll see!
This week our quiet, rural corner of northeast Texas turned into summer camp for children of all ages. Steve's son, Pete, our daughter in law Beth Anne and grandkids Wyatt,5 and Lydia ,4 came for great-grandma Lois' 80th birthday and to visit us for the first time in Texas. It was a week filled with summertime fun- cookouts, volleyball, archery, hayrides in the back of Papa's truck, fishing......
breakfast with cousins
Wyatt fishing with Papa BTW, this is Rick's Pool which often appears in my work
big kids had fun too! (Pete)
art lessons
archery
hayrides in Papa's truck (with cake and ice cream of course)
swinging
Ahhhh, summer......
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Sunset Pines 30 x 30
I started this painting as a demo for my workshop group back in late April. I dinked around with it forever, repainting the sky numerous times and glazing and scumbling the trees, and finally reworking the ground plane as well. Then came the photography. It's one of those that just will not photograph accurately no matter what I do or how I hold my mouth! Tweaking it in Photoshop helped but the saturation of the colors is off- knocking it back in the right places also dulled the more intense areas (the lit up trunks in the foreground and light coming through the trees). So, here it is- not exactly as it really is, but as close as I can get it.
I've just scheduled the Advanced Workshop and Mini Mentorship class for next year, April 22-April 30, 2011. The class has been extended to a full eight full days! Its held at my studio here in Texas and is limited to five students (3 spots left!) . You can click here for more information -including comments from this year's students- and to register.
As I was painting this piece, this title kept popping up in my mind. Even though I've used it before ( a small painting which sold last year in London), it just seemed right for this piece. So, I'm recycling it!
When my workshop group was here (a month ago-I can't believe it!) several of them asked if I had considered doing a book. I replied I didn't want to do a "how to" but that I would like to do a book of images. I even went so far as to download the Blurb software about a year ago but never got beyond that. So, Lisa McShane suggested that I needed a virtual assistant. What a great idea- me here in the wilds of northeast Texas and he/she who knows where!
So a week or so later I Googled "virtual assistant" and came up with pages of listings including whole groups devoted to promoting their members. Who knew?! After a little looking around I found someone with the skills I thought I needed and a few emails later-voila! Virtual Margie (I kid you not) and I were ready to start working on the new project.
So, this is the cover. The book will have about 25 images - mostly paintings but also some drawings- and some text which will be largely taken from posts over the last couple of years on this blog. I wanted to include some of my writing about art, art history, poetry, and my work. Sadly, I wasn't able to get permission to reprint some of my favorite poems, so those will be missing.
We are nearing the finish line with the project. I hope to have it done in the next week or so and definitely by the time I leave for Telluride in late June.
Speaking of virtual things, I have posted the summer and fall schedule of online classes here.
Spring Moonrise 24 x 30 Available at Huff Harrington Fine Art, Atlanta
Six weeks ago I promised myself I would do a few spring paintings, even if it took me until fall. Here is the first of those. I was interested in that pinkish undertone much of the foliage has in the spring and how that might play against the moonrise and of course those greens. It is an incredibly delicate balance of color harmony that only lasts for a few weeks, a limited engagement for those paying close attention.
Last week, my online class The Painted Sky started. It is a very lively group and in addition to lots of sky painting we've been looking at images of studies and paintings by other artists from Constable to the present. This week I posted several Wilson Hurley paintings as examples of "big sky" paintings and I thought I'd post them here too. Hurley lived in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains just outside of Albuquerque near where I lived for over five years. I had the pleasure of meeting Hurley at a show at the Albuquerque Museum a few years before he died. He was a true gentleman and an encouraging role model. We shared both our prior profession (the law) and a passion for painting and art history, particularly the Hudson River School. The man could paint skies. Oh yeah, and these are big. Enjoy!
Its been a very quiet day. My students left late Saturday afternoon. They are an intense, energetic bunch and I so enjoyed having them here. All last week there was so much activity in the studio, around the house and on our property, that the quiet seems strange. I'm looking forward to planning another workshop here for next spring! Now, back to the studio......
Saturday, May 1, 2010
One of the artists in the workshop, Lisa McShane, has posted a few images on her blog from the class. You can see them here. Lisa has a very interesting blog so check her out.
We are wrapping up the workshop today so I'll post more about that tomorrow. Its been a wonderful, exhausting week!
I know it looks like we are just having fun, but I promise we have been working hard all week- painting, drawing and talking about building a career in art, marketing and selling art. But, we did take time out last night for a Texas version of a low country boil.
A Day on the Dolores
