Absentee artist posting once again

I've been neglecting this lonely artist blog & instead have posted regularly to my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GinaGrundemannArtist. I don't know about you, but I find that trying to keep up with all the assorted web postings is rather exhausting & distracting from my painting. I will try to do better :). It is so valuable to not only create but to also share the why and how of being an artist.

The ever changing rural landscapes of western Colorado and Northern New Mexico is still such an inspiration to me. This original oil painting, "Home on the Range" captures a slice of our country life and the ranching way of using the land and its bounty, living a simple and wholesome life.

Quick Draw in Ouray

It was an invigorating paint out in beautiful Ouray this morning with many artists scattered about throughout the historic downtown and side streets. Doing an hour and 30 minute painting is a workout for me. With heart pumping and brush shaking I proceed to map out the large blocks and then fill in the detail to hopefully bring the painting to a finished state within the allotted time before the final bell chimes. There are areas I wish I had a bit more time to work on, but it was a great experience and good training. I should set a timer in the studio!

Part 2 of "View of Velarde" Painting

Took a bit to get back to the studio to work on this little painting! Here again is the first stage:

Here at last is the middle state of the oil sketch I talked about last post.  As you can see below, I've blocked in all the color notes and more details, while trying to keep a painterly looseness. I wanted some farm animals so sketched the 3 under the big tree. I'll work on their shapes & shadowing more. I'm still tenuous on the overall color and may adjust the temperature as I feel my way through the painting in the next session since it has more of an orange tint than I would like. I may even add a vehicle or two next to the house. Often, though, if elements like trucks or animals are not in my initial oil sketch, they don't ever find their way into the almost finished painting. See you soon with the finished painting!

This thing called social media

It's winter and although not as cold here in Colorado as these winter hares huddled under the tree, with the short days and cold nights it's difficult some days to feel charged up and creative in my cold studio. So while not creating, I'm trying to wrap my non-technical mind around blogging, twitter, and all the many ways one can now share their art on the internet. How overwhealming is that?!

For those of you who discovered this blog and enjoy my paintings, I've added Subscribe options on the Upper Right of this blog. You can either receive an email when I add a new painting/posting or you can subscribe to an RSS Feed. I promise to never send you postings too frequently ... that might cut too much into my studio time! Hope to hear from you soon.
Best,
Gina

Art on Trout Road

It's been a hectic couple of months gearing up for the Art on Trout Road show. I've been busy creating paintings in a new size for me... 6x6 inch cradled canvas. I've shown a few of the new ones previously on here and Facebook. What a fun size to try new concepts, different compositions, and enabling a freedom to experiment and try more palette knife work, more abstracted works and to play with those images that have been on my mind but I haven't wanted to commit to a large painting. I have learned so much and have created little slices of the western and southwestern landscape in an affordable size. Some of these may evolve into larger paintings.

So next weekend, November 20th & 21st is the Art on Trout Road weekend in Montrose, CO with Bill Wilson, ceramics and Kurt Isgreen, watercolor landscapes. Should be great fun and as always, enjoyable to visit with all and talk art.

Here's the link for more information:  Art on Trout Road

I unveiled this new painting at the Beyond Words Library show a week ago in Montrose, CO. It was fun playing with thick paint using a palette knife. I like the way the light reflects on a luscious thick layered painting. I hope to do more! "Pathways" is 24x18 and now displayed at Around the Corner Art Gallery in Montrose. I've been exploring using the palette knife to paint with on some of my little 6x6s I'm working on for the next show, "Art on Trout Road". Will be posting some of them soon!

San Juan Serenade

Around the Corner Art Gallery in Montrose asked me to paint in front of the gallery during our popular Main in Motion summer event. Main Street is closed off to traffic and all can stroll through the downtown visiting friends, shopping, listening to the street bands, checking out the arts and crafts booths and get a bite to eat from street vendors. I stood in the middle of the street with my sketchbook, plein air setup and reference photo and tried to focus on painting through the commotion of passerbys, live music and some very enjoyable art conversation breaks with those who stopped by to visit. It was fun and great practice for painting in public places. This painting of the San Juan Mountains and Mt. Sneffels was the result. I finished 3/4 of it that night on the street, then a few days later in the studio, refined it to completion.

Ouray Paint Out

Last week I greatly enjoyed participating in the Ouray Paint Out that was part of the art goings on for the "Artist's Alpine Holiday" 50th Anniversary celebration of their annual juried art exhibition. Such an inspirational old mining town with most of it's historic buildings & charming victorian homes preserved. The day was cloudy with the threat of rain as we rushed to finish our paintings within 1 1/2 hours. I am not used to painting so quickly so it was a great exercise in focusing on quick and painterly strokes. I started with a red toned panel and my previously completed line drawings of my subject. I sketched in the composition with a mixter of burnt sienna, ultramarine blue & alizerin crimson, as I often do, to lay in the foundation. I then quickly blocked in the large shapes, simplifying the details down to the core lines and shapes that I wanted to emphasize. I had barely enough time to add some detail to the courthouse and surrounding vegetation. The red toned background was left to peek through the painting.

I was thrilled that the painting was successfully auctioned off that afternoon in spite of the rain that started just as the auction began and with the buyers that remained thinned out considerably once we relocated out of the rain.

Finished my little Heeler last night. Not sure what to name the guy. I'm hoping he doesn't look too fierce but just serious about his job on the ranch. Hopefully this will be accepted into the "Raining Cats & Dogs" show that Around the Corner Art Gallery in Montrose is hosting in August. It was a fun painting to complete, full of juicy strokes and bright colors.

It's Raining Cats & Dogs, but mostly Dogs

My gallery, Around the Corner Art Gallery, in Montrose Colorado is hosting a fun challenge for the artist members to create small paintings for their upcoming show: "Its raining cats & dogs". I'm looking forward to charging into bright and whimsical paintings based on my jack russells now and also our loveable passed away black lab/newfoundland mix and our border collie who we also said goodbye to last year. Look here for upcoming pictures as I progress to the final creations.

Finished this little 9x12 oil painting last weekend. It was a struggle. Some paintings come together magically then some are labors of not so much love. They often go through ugly duckling stages where if you are patient and tenacious enough, they will often, not always resolve themselves into a finished painting.