Happy New Year!!

The new year is picking up steam. I enjoyed having my 2 kids home from college in California; we spent time shoveling snow, ice skating, binge watching Phineas and Ferb - and now- as a friend so aptly put it: the holidays are over, it's time to take off the pajamas and go back to ADULTING.
sigh. . .  It was all too short.
I am ready to get back to the studio, back to work. Today we are snowed in tho' - so I am writing instead of painting.
For many artists - the kitchen or spare room is the impromptu studio - their "PLACE".
But the STUDIO is only the space, not the source.
We are all trying to tap in to the well spring of inspiration.
When it is flowing, I want to stand under the stream; when it isn't,
I want to cry over the tap.
I know creativity does not happen in a vacuum; sometimes just getting together with others helps to prime the pump - or trying something new, or following a wild hare. . . . That has been my experience of the last year and a half; banging on the pipe to get the juices to flow.
And the upshot?
a new medium, a new painting experience, new subjects. That also means new marketing, hmmm . . .
I did a lot less oil plein air work this year and a lot more studio work - in ACRYLIC.
Yeah- I have been thinking about it for years and finally jumped in. . . .
I traveled to Canada twice to study for an extended period of time and have been painting like mad - and not all good stuff.
To use a metaphor: I had to consciously give up the love affair with that old car, one that by the way,  no longer made me happy or took me where I wanted to go;
I had to get into a new car; one that I did NOT know how to drive
-
of course, I thought I KNEW how to drive it - I have a license after all. . .
It's been a real road trip; in a crazy new car that I am having a love- hate relationship with - and still can't figure out.
Can anyone relate?
All I know is that 2 years ago I hardly wanted to get out of bed in the morning - even to go out en plein air, and friends had to listen to me whining about "my car" getting stalled. Actually, it was me getting stalled; tapped out, bored.
Back to the car thing;  I've spent the year driving all out - to the metal,
no map, no destination and nothing to lose - except a gallery or two, but that hasn't happened yet.
I still love plein air painting; the landscape is still OUT there and I am still inspired by it.
Maybe the difference is - something about this new car makes me feel like I am still in my pajamas.

Weekly oil Painting classes started up this week. I am so grateful to my students who motivate me and keep me honest.
Aside from the weekly classes, this January I will be running 2 workshops out of my studio: a 2 day workshop and a 5 day workshop.
I guess I'll have to get dressed for those.

A lot of my new work is now on display at the ARTrium Gallery, Alamosa, Colorado - in the DESIGNx2 Exhibition.
To view my work in this show click on this link: DESIGNx2 or go to ConiGrant.com

Winter's Inspiration

Back in January, the San Luis Valley enjoyed a exceptional moonrise over Mt.Blanca. I saw it in the twilight of early evening and snapped this shot. Not great as photography goes - but just enough information to remind me of the impression that moon made on my mind.
In February I posted that photo with the hope of creating a painting from the inspiration - see February 2nd post, Getting Inspiration.

Below is my quick study at 6"x 8"- and I'm happy because it captures the essence of my inspiration. Of course, there was some editing of the view- which is, by the way, from my back porch. I have countless photos of that landscape and fortunately, most of them were taken before the house was built.
Now I hope to recreate this scene at 16"x20". . . . .  I will keep you posted.

February 2nd - Already?

Today is both Ground Hog Day and Superbowl Sunday. Yikes! The first time, ever- these dates have collided.
I am hoping that Punxsutawney Phil sees the shadow of Peyton Manning and the Broncos winning the game.

This is what folks in cold climates do in the winter; watch too much football and talk to groundhogs. I never understood these things when I lived in California where it is never ending Spring. Painters go outside and enjoy ubiquitously pleasant weather year around.  Here in Colorado, where temps last month hardly rose above 5, we must flow with the seasons. This season being the really cold one.  In December I was busy with 3 shows all going at the same time and involving about 50 paintings, big and small. And I am very grateful,  but by New Years I was very ready to watch football and meditate on rodent weather predictions. I guess we all have times like this.
It isn't inspiration I lack, just motivation to follow through. This blog for example, I have written it - with pure genius I might add, a hundred times in my head, while driving, talking on the phone, sleeping . . . 
it just never made it to hard copy.
So, what does a plein air painter do during these dark days of winter when motivation and inspiration are at low tide?
My studio did get a pretty thorough cleaning this month, but mostly,
I lean on the classes that I teach to keep me moving forward. Class times are social, for sure but we take simple set ups and hone the craft of painting with no pressures. This is very different than painting for the market.

Essentially, I took the month off and tried not to say "I should be painting" but pondered the snowflakes and let the joy of painting, the "WANT TO"  to come back.
When the full moon rose above Mount Blanca on Jan 15th, I snapped this photo from my back porch. Sometime in the next few months the inspiration from this will show up in a new piece.