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!

The bare beginnings

Here's the initial wash on a little 8x8 cradled panel I started today. It's inspired by a photo I took of a scene in the Velarde area of New Mexico along the river. This time around I wanted to share with you the stages of the painting surface. Before starting the painting, I complete a quick sketch of the scene. Even though I don't always love drawing, I feel this is such an important step to define and focus on what excites me about the scene and lay down the boundaries and basic composition.

Now I'm ready to paint! I start by laying down a wash of cadmium orange, alizarin crimson and mineral spirits over the canvas. I begin to sketch in the shapes using a varied mixture of cobalt blue, alizarin crimson & burnt sienna. Areas I know I want to remain light, I often wipe off the color to show the white of the canvas. I try to keep my paint strokes loose and adjust shapes as needed to tie the pieces together as I go along. Nothing is rigidly defined yet.

In my next post I'll show the layering of color and developing painting.

Twin Lakes View through a Pinon

Started this painting plein air (on location, outdoors) of a view where we were fishing in Twin Lakes, Colorado. I then finished up the painting in the studio. As is so easy to do, I found myself fussing over the colors, tightening up the painting, & spending too much time on it so that it lost some of its freshness and clear color that plein air paintings usually have. I still like the painting but will continue to strive for looseness and intuitive strokes in my paintings.

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.

I'm thrilled and honored that Public Art eXperience (PAX) has chosen my oil painting, “Last Light on Little Cimarron” for this year’s raffle fundraiser. Get your tickets now for a chance to win this large 24"x36" original oil painting and support public sculpture in Montrose! Tickets can be purchased at Around the Corner Art Gallery, Montrose City Hall, or the Montrose Act offices! To learn more call 240-1420, or visit PAX online at www.cityofmontrose.org/art.

I found the inspiration for this painting while traveling on highway 50 going east from Montrose, CO towards Gunnison, CO through part of the Uncompahgre National Forest. The light on the foothills was incredible and gave the sheep a golden glow. It was a challenge painting even a small herd of sheep and striving to give each sheep individual attention and charactor.