Sunset Study
8 x 10

This is one of a number of studies I have done recently to work out some ideas for a larger painting. I tend to get a bit obsessed with a general visual idea and then try out different compositions, formats and color harmonies. Its been suggested somewhere ( I think it was in Art & Fear), that artists have a handful of themes that they spend their entire creative lives exploring in different ways. I don't know how true this is across the board, but I think it may be the case with me. I'm talking here about themes or ideas, rather than the specific imagery, although for me, those two things go very much hand in hand. I think its time well spent to think about the things you love and love to paint.

Grazing at Dusk

Grazing at Dusk

6 x 6
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Like many other bloggers, I was locked out of my blog over the last couple of days because of some problem Blogger had misclassifying blogs as spammers. Glad that's over!

We are having a heat wave. The up side of this steamy circumstance is that each evening the sky turns a beautiful shade of pinky something. The temperature drops just enough for everyone, including the cattle, to breathe a sigh of relief that the sun has set.

Rethinking Rothko

The Hay Field- Evening
18 x 24

I've been reading the James Breslin biography of Rothko. I am not sure why I bought it in the first place, but it prompted me to also reread some of my other books about art and artists from that era, and to rethink Rothko. I vividly remember the first day of my first college art history class in 1967 (I was 17 -yikes!). Clement Greenberg was on the reading list and I have had a serious bone to pick with him and just about everyone that followed down that path for the next 30 years. It seemed to me that everything about art that was beautiful, transcendent and lyrical died or at least went on life support during that time. You can definitely put me in "the emperor has no clothes" column when it comes to much of what is called modern or post modern art. I am fully aware this (in much of the art world's opinion) makes me tragically unhip, provincial, narrow ,etc- and I'm OK with that.

However, I also remember the first time I saw a Rothko painting in the Museum of Modern Art in about 1969. I was stopped dead in my tracks. It was big yet quiet, bold yet meditative. And the color seemed to just envelope you. Big surprise to me, I was really moved by it. So, the biography and my collateral reading put some things in context that I had not really grasped at the tender age of 17. By the time I entered college, Rothko and his crowd, had been supplanted by "the next big thing" - Pop Art- and that Pop had swept away not only abstraction, but a rebirth of representational work by artists like Fairfield Porter (also a thoughtful critic and at odds with Greenberg) , Jane Freilicher, Larry Rivers, Nell Blaine and others. So all these years I really should have been pissed at Andy Warhol instead of Jackson Pollock!!??!

But to be honest, I was always willing to grant a dispensation to Rothko. Now, from a distance of many years and seeing how my own work has developed over that time, its not so hard to see why. If Rothko himself is to be believed - and he was often contradictory or in later years, silent about his art- he thought that the purpose of art was to transcend, to transport, to access the best part of our humanity. His paintings are beautiful - full of lush, transparent color, creating indeterminate spaces (fields) that invite us in . They mirror the story of his life, our lives, the human condition-love, loss, courage in the face of despair. He wore his heart on his sleeve, or at least on his canvasses. These paintings are the very antithesis of the formalism of early abstraction or the commercial, hip, smug, snarky, or souless stuff that came next. I think Rothko is perhaps the only abstractionist who was able to make his paintings of nothing truly about something, taking them beyond the merely decorative- which is why viewers respond so strongly to them.

"I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom. If you . . . are moved only by . . . color relationships, then you miss the point."

Mark Rothko

Casey Klahn over at The Colorist posted a video about Rothko's work that I think is particularly moving. Since I can't figure out how to post it here, I'll send you there to see it.

Good News!

For the last three years I have been invited to participate in the Albuquerque Museum of Art's annual Miniatures show . Each invited artist can exhibit 3 pieces that are no larger than 120 square inches each. Last year the Museum decided to add a new feature to the show and asked a small number of artists to exhibit larger scale works in addition to their smaller pieces. I am very happy to say that this year Summer Moon, 36 x 30, posted here previously, has been selected by the curators as one of the larger pieces for the 2008 exhibit. There are 92 artists included in the show and 12 of those (including me!) will exhibit larger scale works. The show opens on October 4, 2008 and runs through December 7, 2008.

I'd like to thank Linda Blondheim for her mention of me on her blog today. Like me, Linda is a native Floridian and a landscape painter. Her blog is a delightful read- chock full of great advice on just about every facet of painting and the life of an artist, as well as delicious recipes and great anecdotes.

Summer Moon

Summer Moon
36 x 30

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The last week has felt a little like trying to walk fast in waist deep water. You know that feeling? You are moving but it feels like slow motion. Its part decompressing from the show, the trip home, having to deal with a bunch of stuff immediately and having a painting deadline for some larger pieces looming.

The full moon in June was just a few days before the summer solstice, which means it followed the lowest path across the sky of all full moons. That makes it appear larger to us- scientists have a number of theories about why that is, but everyone agrees its some sort of optical illusion. I'm not so sure.

Telluride Plein Air- Day 7

Today was the second day of the public sale and the last day of the event, winding up this evening with the Artists Farewell Party. Its been a long week- lots of hard work, fun and not a small amount of stress- which I think finally caught up with me today. However, I am happy to say I sold well - 6 paintings (my personal best at this show) and I also learned that perhaps I can adapt my new style and way of working to my plein air work. As always, it was a pleasure to be in the company of the many fine artists in this show. Tomorrow, I head for home bright and early.

Telluride Plein Air - Day 6-Happy 4th!

Goodnight, Telluride
16 x 16

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OK, so you didn't really think I was going to paint in Telluride for a week and not paint that mountain, did you? This is an awful image- trying to photograph these while still wet and half dry etc. is just not getting it, but I hope you'll bear with me and just know this piece looks a lot better in real life!

My auction piece sold last night (and was bid up quite nicely) and today was the first day of the public sale as well as the town's big 4th of July celebration. The parade started about 11:30 and right before that - right on cue- a formation of F16s flew directly above and down Main Street, than banked away up and out of the box canyon. Very cool. Happy 4th everyone!

Telluride Plein Air - Day 5

Last Light on the San Miguel
12 x 20
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The San Miguel River flows out of the San Juan Mountains through the Telluride valley and joins the Delores River 72 miles downstream. There are many pull offs along the banks as well as a river trail in Telluride itself. I painted it last year twice and knew I would want to do so again this year. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a good image of the painting- the last glaze was not dry yet and so I have glare.

Today is a busy day. We will turn in our auction piece at 10AM (I'm using this one), then the Quick Draw starts at 10:30. This is a 90 minute event along Main Street where each artist will produce a small painting which will be for sale immediately after the Quick Draw. Tonight is the Collector's Cocktail Party and Silent Auction. Each artist picks his or her favorite piece for this auction and the artists also vote for the Artists Choice award ($1000)

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
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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
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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!