Final Painting: "View of Velarde"

Finally, finally got this little painting finished. I completed a large painting in-between for an upcoming show, Artist Alpine Holiday in Ouray Colorado. It's a little too disconnected when I start a painting and have a gap of time before coming back to it. I find that I lose the continuity of the original reason I was attracted to the scene. So the ending was a bit of a struggle with a little too much fussing, but here it is, finished at last.

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.

Exhibit in New Gallery

I'm excited to exhibit again at the Creamery Art Center in Hotchkiss, Colorado and will have my art delivered by June 24th. The Creamery has a large array of different artists, jewelers and potters. They also offer art classes to adults and children and have a large pottery studio and glass arts studio. It's great to be in the mix of this diverse pool of creativity.

My gardening has been a big distraction. Now that the vegetable garden and perennial beds are somewhat weed free, the landscape projects completed, and the heat is on, I'm at last back in the studio.
Now I need to get my butt in gear and ramp up the painting of my little landscapes in oil so I have a fresh body of work! These new works will be a mix of Colorado inspired landscape scenes and my new interest in closeups of our feathered friends.

The corn fields have always fascinated me with the sprigs of native sunflowers popping out along the edges of the fields. Often the old white farm houses are nestled in a cluster of trees in the middle of expansive corn fields. The proud crow was not originally in my design but he really plays an important role, helping the eye move through the 3 panels towards the farm house.

This was an exciting project for me, experimenting with 3 separate images that together create a whole composition. I thought it would be an easy exercise but it proved to be more difficult in the challenge of treating each panel as an individual composition but yet flow the design throughout the panels. I hope to do more!
 

This triptych landscape is made up of 3 15x30 inch cradled panels. The 2 inch sides are painted black.

Art Opening Draws a Crowd at Downtown Gallery

Art Opening Draws a Crowd at Downtown Gallery: "'Out of the West' features new works by artists Dan Deuter, Barbara Churchley and Gina Grundemann."

Out of the West ~ Opening Reception

The opening reception for the "Out of the West" exhibit was a great success. The 3 artists represented in the exhibit include, as seen in photo above, Barbara Churchley, Dan Deuter and myself. I enjoyed the great conversations, meeting new friends and seeing old friends again. The opening of a reception is so good for getting out there with the public, talking art, and getting a perspective from the viewers on new pieces that had not yet seen the light of day in an open forum. At the same time, it is rather exhausting and I wouldn't want to do it every week! The show continues through March at Around the Corner Gallery in Montrose Colorado.