Ann Templeton

I wrote the last post on Monday morning and have just now learned that Ann died on Monday evening.
We have lost a wonderful and generous - teacher, mentor, friend,
and a great light has gone out in our painting universe.

Ann Templeton and Ghost Ranch

Last week I drove down to New Mexico for my annual Fall pilgrimage to Ghost Ranch. For almost 10 years I have been privileged to study with Ann Templeton, be mentored by her and know her as friend. The High Desert Painters, international plein air group, to which Ann and myself belong, was formed at Ghost Ranch. People associate this area with Georgia O'Keefe but for me, every view is owned by Ann.
This year I met with 2 of the High Desert Painters, Judy Howells from California and Nelson Hubley from Novia Scotia. Ann could not join us however, or come to teach the workshop there, for which she has become so well known. Ann is in Texas battling lung cancer.
It was a sad and somewhat meditative paint out.
Ann, our love and prayers go out to you and for you.

The small piece below was the first piece I painted on Monday morning. I have seen Ann paint this view, so many times in demonstration situations. The one painting that I own of hers, was painted from the same spot. It's Ann's View.

Class Notes: Reworking and Good Design

I like the idea of reworking a loser painting because - well, there is nothing to lose. This little 6"x 12" painting was done at the end of August; Dave Montgomery, Sue McCullough and myself drove up toward LaVeta Pass with the intention of capturing the blooming chamisa (lovely to look at - bad for allergies). The three of us had just been a week painting in Rocky Mountain National Park and felt very sure this humble subject would make for an easy painting day. Ha!
I approached the chamisa landscape as pattern - good idea but poorly executed- and was not happy with the abstract design when I was done. As so often happens when you are "out there" - the view takes over your design sense and the result is a bust.
By the time I got home, after a warm morning, the paint had pretty well set up. When I scraped down the chamisa field shape, the paint came off leaving striated lines that can be seen clearly in the photos below. Disgusted, I tossed the whole thing aside.





















About a week later, I took another look at my little panel and wondered if those scrape marks might create a nice background texture.
Technique-y tricks aside (that would be scrape marks), what the painting really needed was a design that worked.
So, using as few strokes of paint as possible, I tried to create a pattern of color that would lead the viewer's eye back through the chamisa field, and create a tension that moved the eye back and forth between the upper left area and the lower right area.


















In the end, a little paint or a lot, total redo or a simple tweaking of certain elements, it all comes down to good design. The challenge is to avoid letting the view derail our good design sense.

Class Notes: Staying In the Flow

After painting every day for a week at the Colorado Mountain Plein Air Fest I came home pretty toasted but still had to teach classes on Tuesday night, Thursday Morning and again on Saturday morning.
I am grateful for my classes that always help me continue in the flow of painting - when my natural inclination is to take a week off and just nap.
These two 6"x 8"s at the top are from Tuesday evening and Thursday morning. The top one is self explanatory - the bottom one not so much.
Thursday the class drove out east of town to a beautiful ranch owned by a local couple - the Brandt's. In the center of an oasis like setting they have a beautiful Koi pond covered with lily pads, and at this time of year, surrounded by golden Cottonwood trees. I chose to abstract a very small view across a portion of the pond.
Saturday morning we went east up to Rock Creek, which is a riot of colored aspen right now.
The 6"x 8" format is not my favorite but I have found it to be a good discipline for working out simple shapes and good design. And sometimes it's about all I can finish in the time frame while also working with students. It was beautiful morning.

The Autumn Rush Is On

In a week of painting along the Arkansas River at the Colorado Mountain Plein Air Fest, we saw a lot of aspens - and even painted some. Susan McCullough, David Montgomery and myself painted together for several days and happily, we each won an award at the opening of the show in the Salida SteamPlant. My piece directly below, of the Arkansas River, won a cash business award. Yay!

We each could enter 3 paintings into the event competition - the award winner was my last minute addition. In an event like this we paint every day and sometimes it is hard to judge the validity of each piece until it goes home and sits with you awhile. Some pieces will be set aside for future reference, some will get tweeked a bit - and others will never see the light of day; beyond this blog. . . .
Cash awards aside, I think the real benefit of an event/competition like this is the chance to focus strictly on painting for several days in a row, with the added pressure of a deadline. The payoff is: more paintings, more reference material, more opportunities to be out in the landscape, and just more miles of canvas covered - in a relatively short period time.
For a novice painter - the discipline of painting "under the gun" every day for a week can produce results that rival a workshop experience.

From Estes to Salida

The Estes Park Paint Out seems - ah - like moments ago. I think the leaves were still green, but things change quickly around here.
These 3 pieces were done in Rocky Mountain National Park during that paint out, and I won the People's Choice Award at the opening of the Western Light Show on August 26th. Well, THANKS people.
The very next weekend I was in Boulder for the Women of the West Show opening that highlighted the work of 6 women painters. See the post below.
And that painting on the promo card, was one of the first to sell.

But that was then. . . . .
Next week Sue and I will be painting in and around the Arkansas River Valley at the Colorado Mountain Plein Air Fest; and staying all week in that great Colorado art town of Salida.
Catch the opening reception at the Salida SteamPlant Event Center on Saturday night the 24th at 5 pm where some of the best Western plein air painters will gather to show their work from the week of painting.



This photo is pretty bad; falls into the 'documentation' category. I forgot to take a photo before leaving it at the gallery so had to shoot it on the fly right before the show.
Sometimes, at a event and show like this, there is just too much to do.

Women of the West

Tomorrow night I will be in Boulder, CO at the opening of the Women of the West Show. This show features the work of 6 women represented by Earthwood Gallery: Sarah Rogers, Margaret Jensen, Terri Sanchez, Maggie Renner Hellmann, Cindy Carillo and myself.
Join us for food and art at Earthwood Gallery on the beautiful Pearl Street Mall, just a short drive from the Denver metro area.

This show comes right on the heals of a wonderful week of painting in Rocky Mountain National Park followed by the Western Light show that opened on Friday night at Earthwood Collections in Estes Park and will hang through October.
Paintings hung in these two shows represent my very best work from this last Spring and Summer.
The piece on the promotion for the Women of the West Show is my painting titled "Edge of Autumn", 20"x 10".

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.

Art of the TRADE - Part 3

To read "Art of the Trade", Parts 1 & 2, scroll down thru the posts.

Let's Talk Trade.
My concrete driveway has been installed and it is beautiful; now it's time to create the art.
I think the best case scenario would be for the client to want something that you already have in your inventory. Wouldn't that be ideal?
But part of his willingness to go forward, weighed heavily on the idea that work would be created for him, and suited to a specific situation. And I am very willing to be flexible at this point.
The job is now like a commission - So, I visited the home of my concrete contractor and realized - I was in the wrong business. . . . just kidding. The house is a large quasi-spanish style home decorated with a lot of color and there were many options for a large art. He decided on 2 panels at 48"x 20" that would go on either side of french doors. This suited me perfectly because I love to do verticals.
As to subject matter, if the client does not has a specific idea in mind, or does not want a larger version of a plein air piece, then I like to talk only in terms of color and design. This gives me freedom to explore different subjects, with the idea that, in the end, the client will choose from 2 black & white layouts. That is normally how I would approach commissioned work for a client. I like to know exactly where I am headed, and have the client's O.K. before going there.
In this case tho, by the time I left his house, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and my gut told me to jump in, skip the layout stage, and create 2 half-size paintings to use as studies for the bigger panels.
Of course, this could backfire but the benefit to me would be: instead of spending time poring over 2 large-size layouts of differing subject matter, I could work out subject, color and design in the half-size and if the client didn't like what he saw at the small size - I would still have 2 paintings to sell - and I could work up new layouts.


















These are the "layouts" at 24"x 12" and painted together so that they work as one whole. The individual panels should also be able to stand alone, which they will, when hung separately on either sides of french doors. Click on the photos to view them larger.

Painting in the Fabulous Zapata

Last week the Tuesday night painting class went out to Adams State College to paint in the twilight and light drizzle. This was my view up the 3rd Street; a 6"x 8".

The next day David Montgomery and I drove up into the Sangres to paint in the Zapata area on the side of Mount Blanca. I love this area because it has so much: deep aspen groves, dark pine woods, running water, high desert and pinon, a lake, long views of the valley - all in the shadow of Mount Blanca.
We found this burbling little water fall right by the side of the road and painted there for most of the morning. David is very adept at this deep woods and water thing - me - not so much; but I have been trying to do more waterfall subjects and actually seek out what, in the past I would run from. This painting is 12"x 9" and was really a challenge.
I am hoping Dave has posted his piece on his blog- just click on this link to get to his blog.