Recently Adopted!

These four paintings recently found new homes. Thanks to my wonderful collectors!

 Sunset Pines

11 x 14

 Dusk-Edge of the Woods

18 x 24

 Aspen Twilight

20 x 24

Winter Morning

18 x 14

Telluride...Again

It's almost the 4th of July and that means I am headed to Telluride this week for the Plein Air Invitational. I have lost count which year this is- my sixth or seventh  I think. But, anyway, it is always a treat and I welcome a few weeks in the cool mountain air. This year I am also teaching a workshop at the Ah Haa School of Art in Telluride after the show.

As in year's past, artists are invited to bring one studio piece with them, which can be sold along side the work produced during the week. This is mine. This is a small clearing I've passed many times on the way up to Woods Lake outside of Telluride. The evening light transforms the scene into something really special. This one was tough to photograph and the image doesn't convey the dark transparent richness of the foreground.

Aspen Twilight

18 x 24

Available at Telluride Plein Air Invitational

Here are some details.

A Quiet Pause

Autumn Twilight
24 x 30
Sold

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......

Autumn Twilight

Autumn Twilight
24 x 30
Available at Hildt Galleries, Chicago

This is another of those fall pieces that I put aside last November to work on other things. Its been almost four months but I still have a very vivid memory of the evening that inspired this painting.

The Tabernacle Frame Revisited

Twilight Moon framed
Available at Whistle Pik Galleries Christmas Miniatures Holiday Show

Tabernacle frames have been around for a long time. I didn't realize just how long until recently. Many of us are familiar with the Renaissance versions of this frame and even later 18th century and early 20th century styles. But in researching the history of this frame design, I discovered that its development formed the basis of the modern frame. Its a little like the "missing link" between architecture and the modern fine art frame.

Its proper name is an aedicule which means loosely "little house". It has its origins in the 4th century cathedrals which sprung up all over the Roman Empire once Christianity had been sanctioned. Its purpose was to house sacred altarpieces and it was designed to be attached to and part of the architecture surrounding it. Its basic elements- two columns topped with an entablature or pediment- would become the standard design concept of framing. Byzantine and Gothic examples abound. Much later, in the 16th century, the idea of portability was introduced and the form was used to "house" non religious subjects. The detached frame was born. But, craftsman instinctively used the "little house" design concepts when making the earliest frames for easel paintings. Over the centuries, the aedicule form came in and out of fashion and echoed the architectural and design components of the day.

The frame shown above on Twilight Moon is our contemporary version of the tabernacle frame. Its proportion and design echoes the traditional elements but gives a more contemporary, though still traditional look to the frame. The panel is a matte dark maroon surrounded by a distressed gold outer molding with a distressed gold inner lip.

Twilight Moon 3

10 x 10

One of the pieces I've done for an upcoming show...more to come.

Telluride Plein Air Day 3

Twilight Moon
18 x 15
Sold

The moon won't actually be full until next Monday but I've taken the liberty of showing it about two thirds full here- a little artistic license! Tomorrow morning we have to deliver our pick for the silent auction tomorrow night- this one is in contention, but I'm still working on a larger triptych that might win out.

Tomorrow is also the quick draw on Main Street and then we vote for Artists Choice, which will be announced at the silent auction. The public sale starts Friday and continues through the 4th. Crunch time!

Twilight Wood
12 x 12
Available at Blackheath Gallery, London
Sold

It's been a bittersweet pleasure this past week, working on the pieces to send to London. It's an exciting task but the loss of Sophie has tempered it. But, six pieces are almost done, which is a good thing since they must dry, be varnished, and dry again in time to ship on Thursday!

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.

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.

Greenhouse Gallery show

Twilight at Scatter Creek Oil 15 x 18


This weekend, April 12, is the opening of the Greenhouse Gallery Salon International show in San Antonio. This painting and one other were accepted into the show. A small study for this piece was one of the first things I posted when I first started this blog back in September last year.

Twilight at Honey Grove Creek

Twilight at Honey Grove Creek Oil 10 x 10
Sold

On my way home from Dallas last weekend, I took a new route. I discovered some wonderful countryside and several new creeks and streams. With so much rain/snow the previous week, all the newly plowed fields had puddles and flooded areas- favorite motifs for me. But who could resist a creek called Honey Grove?

I had intended to write my second post about the Turner show and post it this weekend. It's all composed in my head and I've even written a little outline, but the studio called today. Tomorrow- I promise.

November Twilight

November Twilight Oil 14 x 15
Please contact me if interested in this piece.

This is a larger version of the piece I posted on November 27. It's a bit unusual for me to simply size something up. It doesn't often work so more often finished studio work ends up being a synthesis of several small pieces. But I think doing these small paintings for the blog has somewhat changed my process. Even though this painting is very close to the Nov 27 study it also is related to many of the other pieces I have posted over the last month or so, in both design and palette. So instead of doing a number of studies to work out the idea for a larger piece (my usual m.o.) the small paintings are suggesting the direction for the larger work.

November Twilight

November Twilight Oil 5.75 x 6
$100 + $10 shipping

The rain finally stopped. By last evening the sky was full of color and the air was crisp and cool.