Estes Park Workshop

Last week I had the privilege of teaching a 4 day PLEIN AIR workshop in Estes Park. What could be better? - beautiful views, Rocky Mountain grandeur, fall color, Elk bugling, - we had it all - plus some. . . .
Four days of falling snow -

This did not dampen our fun or keep us from painting out.
These determined ladies braved the cold - and snow - to be better designers, better color mixers, more confident painters -
and at the end of the day made some crazy good dinners.
I got to hang out with an amazing group of women who were determined to make it work and not about to let a little weather stand in their way.
Thanks All for a really great time.
Let's do it again next year - except I will be puttin' my order in for a day or two of sunshine.

2015 Western Light Exhibition in Estes Park

The 2015 Western Light Fine Art Exhibition will open on Friday night August, 21st, 6-9 pm at Earthwood Collections in Estes Park, CO.
You are invited to join us in beautiful Estes Park for the show opening.
The exhibition will feature the best work of artists from all over the western U.S.













Not only is Estes Park a great Colorado painting destination, it is the gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.  Above is a morning view of Sprague Lake and below, a photo of Sue McCullough, David Montgomery and Dawn Normali painting at beautiful Loch Vale.
We will be painting at locations like this one all week and wrap up our time Friday night, August 21st at the Western Light Show -  6- 9pm.
Hope to see you there!

Highlight of the Week!

All Spring we, Sue McCullough, David Montgomery and myself, have been talking about hiking in the high county during out time in Estes. Our show, Western Light 2012, opened the night before, so with most responsibilities behind us we headed up to Loch Vale, a high country destination about 3 and 1/2 miles in from the Bear Lake trail head. Dawn Normali, friend and fellow painter joined our merry band and we headed UP from the trail head at 9,475' to 10,465' - where you see us in the photo above. I am not sure where Dave found the air to play that flute.

What's a Painter to do?

I am all for documenting what's in front of you but find very little to inspire in layers of grey atmosphere. With such smokey air quality in the whole area we found ourselves looking for short views and more intimate scenes - like: canyon waterfalls, small streams, tree groupings, and the lily pond below- complete with koi.

We went out Moraine Park (part of RMNP) one morning  and I painted this aspen group. On another day in that same area we spent time spying on a huge herd of Elk not 20 feet from us. They did not seem bothered by the air quality but it sure put a damper on my inspiration.

Copeland Falls was another kind of "short view" and we perched our easels on a big flat rock and painted the upper cascade. David Montgomery's painting and easel are there on the left. Sue McCullough had already closed her box and put her piece safely away, and my unfinished piece is on the left.

Are We Even on the Same Planet?

The time painting out in Estes Park this year was, - I hope, unusual. These 3 photos were all taken at very nearly the same location, early in the morning, high in Rocky Mountain National. The top 2 are from years past and the bottom one is the view that met us on our first morning out. The area around Sprague Lake was almost unrecognizable. Smoke from fires east of Colorado made for less than ideal painting conditions and I found myself looking for more intimate scenes like the trail that through the woods and around this huge Ponderosa Pine.

'12 Western Light Show, Estes Park, CO

August has just flown. I was in Nebraska last week, Frasier Colorado before that, Westcliffe Colorado before that and painting out morning and evenings with my class all of July and August. It never feels like enough, tho'. All the places, all the paintings that get stacked in the studio for future fiddling - sometime between gigs. . .
Speaking of,
Sunday, Sue McCullough and I will head up to Estes Park, CO to paint for a week as a lead up to the 2012 Western Light Invitational Fine Art show.  YIPPEE!!  This is a highlight of the summer plein air season and we spend most of the week painting our way around Rocky Mountain National Park!
The '12 Western Light show will open on Friday night August, 24th, 6-9 pm at Earthwood Collections in Estes Park, CO.  If you are in the Denver area, it will be worth a drive up to the mountains and beautiful Estes Park for the evening.
The show will feature the best work of western artists from Colorado, California, Arizona; a perfect hurrah for the end of summer.
These 2 pieces if mine will be part of the group of pieces that I will have in the show.

Estes Park Plein Air

It's August and I am heading up to Estes Park for the Plein Air Event and Western Light Shows. This is the highlight of my summer painting season and Sue will be going as well. YaY!
My show, Western Light, will open on Friday night August 26, 6pm at Earthwood Collections, and will feature my work as well as that of James Whartman, Eldon Warren, Maggie Renner Hellmann, Margaret Jensen, Tim Howe, Cindy Carrillo, Lou Renner, Terri Sanchez, and Mike Brouse. Earthwood is on Elkhorn Drive - that's the main drag.
Sue's show will open on Saturday night the 27th, 6pm at the Cultural Arts Council, further up on Elkhorn. It will be a big weekend for art openings in Estes Park so if you are in the Denver area, take a drive up to beautiful Estes Park for the weekend. A perfect hurrah for the end of summer.
Posted at the top is my painting from last Thursday in Rock Creek- a 9x12.
This piece will go up to Boulder for the Women of the West Show that will open there at Earthwood Gallery on Friday night Sept 2.
I am a little crazed right now, getting ready to go and still framing work, ect, ect.
Tonight in Taos, my good friend the fabulous Peggy Immel opens a one woman show at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, 5-7pm. If you are in the Taos area - this is the show to see.
Peggy will also be one of our merry band of plein air painters in Estes Park, along with Patrice Walker.
There is a rumor that David Montgomery will also be in Estes Park. I hope we all get some painting done.

The EVENT Formerly Know As . . . . 2010

Painting in the area of Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park is always a highlight - partly for the views but also for the good fun of meeting up with other artists to do what we love- paint.
This year, "drama" and confusion surrounded the Event formerly known as "Estes Park Plein Air"- which blew apart because one of the major sponsors got greedy (for lack of a better word). And this is not the forum for a discussion about THAT, but (and it's a big one)
in all of this - it is always the artists who suffer. Sadly, a lot of plein air painters chose to just stay away this year. It was some consolation, that galleries who have been involved in the past each hosted major shows that opened in Estes Park on the Weekend of August 28th.
I was in the Western Light '10 show, hosted by Earthwood Gallery(s).
Of the artists who did show up in the area, we still managed to paint together, visit each others shows and generally make the best of it.

This is how I spent one morning at Lily Lake. A great group of artists meet there on Wednesdays and a lot of them are from the Plein Air Artists of Colorado- of which I am also a member.