Class Notes: Ladies of the PAAC

I shot the photo scrap for this little piece at a Plein Air Artists Colorado paint out in Taos almost 2 years ago. The directionality of the painters at the easels is interesting enough but without the contrast of the dark bluff behind their highlighted forms this would just be, so - so photo scrap.
I am always looking for scenes with strong value that translates to good patterns of light and dark.
Can you see strong value shapes in your color photos? Not sure? Take them to a copier and print them out in black and white. A color photo with good value will pop in black and white. Once you see clearly - exactly what you are looking for - look for more photos with the same sensibility: strong darks and strong lights. You will eyes will recognized what it is and your photos will get better and lend themselves more readily to paintings that communicate the sense of light.
And isn't that what we all are going for?

"Reigning Cats and Dogs" in Salida

This Saturday night saw the opening of two big juried shows for Sue and myself: Nomadas del Arte plein air show in Dallas and the Associated Artists National Show in Ft. Collins. It is always hard to miss a big show opening, touch base with friends and make new connections, meet buyers- it's all good. Having two on the same night is a bummer. Missing both is doubly sad - but we decided to take a road closer to home (about 5 hours closer) and headed up to Salida, Colorado Saturday afternoon to see our friend Sally Mather and take in her "Reigning Cats and Dogs" Show at the Salida Steam Plant in the Paquette Gallery. The work of Sally Mather (dogs) and Padgett McFeely (cats) represents over a year of work in support of (20% of proceeds) the Ark-Valley Humane Society. Bravo Sally!
Light hearted and full of life this show was so fun and gave us a good excuse to spend and afternoon in the very arty town of Salida and still be home by dark.