Amber Mountain Glow

I'm feeling the tug away from the studio and into my gardens now that the days have turned to spring. In the studio my paintings still have the lingering look of the colors of fall. This little original oil was inspired by a Ridgway Colorado view that I spotted after a day of plein air painting at the Dennis Weaver Park. I put the finishing touches on it tonight and hope that others find a sense of quiet and peacefulness in this tranquil mountain scene.

An artist's simple resolution

"Rolling Hills of Blue," oil on panel by Gina Grundemann

It's that typical New Years time to reflect on how last year has gone and how to achieve more in this fresh start of a new year. As Oprah so aptly said "...another chance to get it right."

I was intrigued by Steve Pavlina's "How to set goals you will actually achieve" and how our goals are more achievable if viewed from the perspective of how they will improve our lives right now, rather than how they may improve our lives at some future date. Acting in the here and now in meaningful ways will evolve into achievement of our lifetime goals. So true how difficult it is to follow through on goals if we don't see any immediate benefit.

With this perspective in mind, I considered a huge list of lofty and not so lofty long term goals suitable for an artist and for being a "productive member of society". Instead, I pared it down to what was meaningful right now for my development as an artist, with one "artsy" goal... to Paint more. To this aim,  I will organize time more efficiently, not dwell on unnecessary tasks that dampen creativity and schedule systematic studio time. My daily rewards: joyfully exploring, expanding, having fun, and each day, becoming a better painter.

What are your creative goals for the New Year?

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.