Thanks SALIDA

Many Thanks to the SteamPlant, who hosts the Paquette Gallery and to the art-lovers in Salida who came out on a subzero evening to see this show. It was well attended and we were very encouraged.
This show will hang until Monday January 16, in the Paquette Gallery at the Salida SteamPlant in Salida; just off F Street by the river on 220 W. Sackett Ave. or call (719) 530-0933 for info. Gallery hours are Mon - Fri 9 to 5.

3 FRIENDS show Opens in Salida

The 3 Friends Show, featuring the work of Susan McCullough, David Montgomery, and myself - opens tomorrow night, Friday
December 16th - 4 -6 pm, in the Paquette Gallery at the Salida SteamPlant Event Center, in Salida; just off F Street by the river on 220 W. Sackett Ave. or call (719) 530-0933 for info.

This most recent incarnation of our 3 Friends Show will exhibit over 45 paintings and many from the Salida area of Colorado. In September David, Susan and myself competed in the Salida based, Colorado Mountain Plein air Festival where we all awards.
Showing work with fellow painters Susan McCullough and David Montgomery has been fun, and because we so often paint together we enjoy the chance to highlight the breadth of style that we three bring to the discipline.

Come enjoy the opening, there will be food, Susan, David and myself will all be there and afterwards, the evening will be young enough to have dinner at one of Salida's great restaurants.

Hearts and Stars in Taos

I have been a little slow about blogging of late; whatever the word might be for "un-motivation" - I have felt it creep over me like a fog (and not on 'little cat feet') as I grieve the recent loss of a dear colleague and mentor. See a few posts back.
Creativity, motivation and making a living - these things cannot wait for the luxury of good feelings - so we press on.
And Christmas is impossible to ignore; no matter how slow you have been driving on surface streets, once you hit the on-ramp - prepare to be swept up into the fast lane of Christmas craziness. (please indulge the freeway metaphor. Now I am showing my roots- but I digress).
It may be a fallow time in the landscape but no where else. Painters, like everyone else, have realized, about now, - we should have started working on holiday inventory last January. Too late now.
But, my brain is starting to perk like crazy with more ideas than I could use in a lifetime - conveniently, I don't have time to pursue them.
It is one of those universal laws: the best ideas bubble up when there is no possible way they could be addressed. Hmmmmm.
At this moment, I am just happy to have some motivation.
And FINALLY, to my point -
the TAOS Hearts and Stars Party; one of the best holiday party/fund raisers with a focus on giving back. This is one holiday- miniature show that covers all the bases, bringing together work from some of the best artists with art lovers, collectors and the Taos community at large - to support Taos Coalition to End Homelessness, Inc.
All the work is under 8"x 10", and very affordable.
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. It is his gift to the community. Thanks Rob.
If you are within 200 miles - of Taos on Saturday night - it is a party worth attending.
Saturday, December 3rd from 5-7 pm at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art on Kit Carson in Taos; suggested $10 donation at the door.
My piece is at the top of this post: 'Showers Ahead', of the road to New Mexico from Colorado - in fact the road I will be taking to the party.
It is 8"x 10", oil on panel.

Quiet Times

November is not the nicest month in Colorado; fall colors are gone and the real cold is setting in. It is good time to sort out things in my studio and go through the chaos on my drafting table: half baked ideas and sketches done in a flash of inspiration that got trumped by any opportunity to "go out" and paint.
The piece below is one of those ideas, based on a plein air piece that sold quite awhile back. The idea for a large Gorge painting has been in my head for months - and I needed to shake it out; for better or worse. Two weeks ago I dove into this 24"x 36" piece and this week, in an effort to get it dry, I drove around for several days with it in the back window of my car. More about that later.


Once there is snow on the ground I will be anxious to get back out into the landscape, but for the moment I am trying to make the most of a few quiet weeks.
I find that during a period of working mainly en plein air, things come up that either work or don't and there isn't always time to really do any serious thinking about what is needed. For me - the only way to address some problems is to spend time in the studio: looking, thinking, painting.
That also means going through the work of the past few months with a critical eye for some serious editing and destroying work that is not up to speed.
Ah...... and at the bottom of the pile of papers on my desk is the abandoned sketch for a commission due at Christmas. YIKES.
No more putting that off.
Happy Thanksgiving.

Art Opening in Lone Tree

The 2011 Lone Tree Art Exhibition and Sale opens today, Saturday, November 12, with a Cocktail Reception from 3:00pm to 5:00pm, at the Lone Tree Arts Center.
10075 Commons Street, Lone Tree, CO 80124
303.707.1818


Lone Tree is south of Denver, and about 15 minutes north of Castle Rock off I 25.
I will be there with my work and you are invited to join me at the show , view and purchase great work, and enjoy a performance by a Lone Tree Symphony Orchestra quintet. That's a nice twist to the usual art opening - and of course, there will be food.
This juried show is presented by the Lone Tree Arts Commission and the Exhibition hangs in the beautiful lobby of the fabulous new Lone Tree Arts Center. The show will remain on display through December 31, 2011.

Season Ender

New classes will start this week in the studio and my Plein air classes are over for the season. It is always a little sad but that is tempered by gray trees and mornings that are below freezing.
This 6"x 8" was done out on the river here in Alamosa.
Pre-Christmas seems to be a good time for small pieces: they go quickly in galleries and are very useful for Christmas fundraisers and miniature shows.

Ghost Ranch Paintings

I finally got to posting all 5 paintings that I did at Ghost Ranch New Mexico. We were lucky enough to be there with a full moon. Those 2 moon pieces are only 6"x 8".
Our plein air season in Colorado is coming to an end. Now we wait for snow.

And another note on Ann Templeton; probably not the last.
There is so much to say that I don't even know where to start - but at this moment what I really feel is just gratitude: for her time, her generosity in art and friendship. What she gave me in inspiration and wisdom - is a resource that I will tap into for the rest of my life.
Thanks Ann.

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.