Looking for Winter

We have had an unseasonable shortage of snow here in Southern Colorado; chalk it up to LaNina or whatever,
but on Friday
Sue McCullough,
Dave Montgomery and myself went looking for some winter. We found snow and sunshine, the perfect combination,
up at Rock Creek
not and hour from the house. With temps at 31 degrees and NO wind, it was like a day in the park. This photo of Sue expresses out feelings, exactly.

Sue, Dave and myself paint out together often and amid other things, are working toward a show that will include work from all three of us done on trips together. That show will open with a party on Friday, June 3rd in the Upstairs Gallery at the Creede Repertory Theatre, in Creede.

June is aways off though, in the meantime, we will enjoy a little bit of snow. This was my piece from our beautiful morning in the mountains. I have been experimenting with a more extreme format of 1 by 2. This painting is 20"x 10".

California Holiday

I spent my Christmas holidays family in the wonderful small beach town of Carpinteria, California. To paint on the beach was my Christmas present to myself and between time with family and friends I actually did it several times. This was the place where my professional painting life really got started with collectors and gallery representation, but I haven't painted in California since 2002. The challenge at Christmas was to simply enjoy the time - with no expectations.
- Harder than it sounds.......These 4 lower paintings I did almost 10 years ago; all Carpinteria landmarks. They sold very well to tourists, in print and card form. All the pieces in this post are 8"x 10".

Artists For PIJOAN

Before the holidays, San Luis Valley artist, Randy Pijoan took a Flight-for-Life to Denver for emergency medical needs. Luckily he is back in the Valley and on the road to recovery. Like most studio artists, Randy does not have health insurance.
Almost every artist in the Valley knows, or knows of Randy and has experienced, first hand, his generosity and passion for giving back. He is a treasure in our community and it is no surprise that a fund raising effort would begin at the grass roots level with student artists at Adams State College. Their efforts connected with Adams State College Community Partnerships' and the ASC Art Department to coordinate a local benefit. They're calling it "Artists for Pijoan", and are asking artists to donate works of all different mediums and scale to benefit Randy Pijoan.  
Artwork will be on display in the ASC Art Department's Hatfield Gallery from Friday, January 21st until Friday, Feb 4th, 2011.
This show will culminate in a party and auction at the San Luis Valley Brewery, in Alamosa, Colorado on Saturday night, February 12th, 2011 to sell and/or auction off the work. These funds will help assist Randy's with his medical expenses and go a long way toward helping his physical recovery. 

For Artists: Donated artwork should be dropped off at the ASC Art Dept. by Wednesday, January 19th, before 5 p.m. Please contact Gene Schilling 719.588.8749 with any questions.

For Buyer/Supporters: Be at the San Luis Valley Brewery, in Alamosa, Colorado on Saturday night, February 12th, 2011. It will be a great party with music as well as art.

I am aware that this post applies mainly to Southern Colorado readers but I would encourage you to check out Randy's website by clicking his name Randy Pijoan, to see what a huge talent he is. It is more than talent however, that brings a community together this way. Randy is very loved here because of the way he has dedicated himself to creating an environment of support for artists and the arts in a way that encourages and strengthens our whole community.

Follow the Star to a Place Unexpected....

Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas and all the Best in the New Year!

Class Notes: Postcards from the Abstract Universe

In this last class session of the year, I have focused on "abstract" painting because it presents very unique challenges and forces students to look at things a little differently.
In the past (see:Class notes: Abstract Painting) we have approached abstracts from a purely compositional point of view, developing work with a specific compositional theme.
This time however, we started with a still life which I set up in a rather random way and left on the table for about 10 minutes; time enough for students to see and process shapes for a rough sketch. Once the sketch was roughed in we focused solely on shapes - looking for interesting shapes, deleting some, redrawing others. We turned the paintings sideways, or upside down - anything to help the "items" disappear and the shapes take over.
I have a fascination with outlines (and a life long love of coloring books) so I used them to create, resolve and dissolve shapes. It is also a natural tendency for me to see everything as a landscape. This is pretty clear in the lower piece.
Abstract work has a way of revealing an artists strengths, weaknesses and natural tendencies because composition, shape and color take precedent with out subject matter getting in the way.

There's no place like Home, there's no place . . . .

Wrong mantra, right shoes.
Last week was the week from, well, you know....
This whole broken foot thing has kept me from painting, but I went from cranky to despairing when the cumulative effect of dragging that boot/cast around finally took the toll on my back and I went to bed with muscle spasms for the better part of 5 days. Recovery was not supposed to look like this.
I am not inclined to want to blog about that kind of stuff but even if I had wanted to, my back kept me from sitting at the computer,
or anywhere else.
Thanks to so many of you who wrote notes of encouragement
about the foot.
Yesterday, the Dr. removed the Boot. I walked out of her office on air - or, it only felt that way after unloading about 5lbs of footwear.
Today, I wore 2 shoes and painted in my studio for the first time in 2 months. The whole world looks better.

Segil Fine Art Holiday Small Works Show

I was honored to have this piece "The Plug" juried into the Segil Fine Art 2010 Holiday Small Works Show in Southern California that opened last weekend. I was not able to attend but heard from a reliable source (my Mom) that it was an excellent show and a good party. This show will hang until the end of December and worth seeing if you are in the Southern California area. The Segil Gallery is not the only great gallery tucked away in the foothills community of Monrovia but part of a picturesque and fashionable shopping destination; a great place for Christmas shopping, and don't forget to buy art. Miniatures make great stocking stuffers for that person on your list that has everything.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hearts & Stars In Taos

It is that time of year: holiday parties, fund raisers and ways to think about giving back. Hearts & Stars is one show that covers all those bases, bringing together work from some of the best artists with art lovers, collectors and the Taos community at large - all for a very good cause - to support Taos Coalition to End Homelessness, Inc.
And all the work is under 8"x 10".
Rob Nightingale at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art does a wonderful job hosting this event with live music and fabulous food - all for a good cause.
If you are within 200 miles - it is a party worth attending.
Friday, November 26th from 6-8 pm at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art on Kit Carson in Taos; suggested $10 donation at the door.
I will definitely be there, albeit dragging "das Boot" but the Dr has given me leave to go without crutches. Yippee! That is one personal reason to be thankful this year, that and the fact that I didn't break my head or painting hand.
The painting at the top of this post is one of two pieces that I entered: 'Ladies in Painting', 7"x 7", oil on panel, the other, below, is 'Mesa View', 6"x 8", plein air piece in oil from Ghost Ranch.
If you can't make the show in person, see it online just click on Wilder Nightingale.

My Current View

The painting has been negligible lately- and the view less than steller but I am hoping to be out of "das Boot" in a couple of weeks.
My little dog Asta is a faithful attendant.


As fall waned the painting class enjoyed fair weather right up to the end of October.

This was one of our last nights out for the evening class.