Northern New Mexico Inspirations



 

"The mountains are calling me and I must go"  --John Muir

"Hillside Grazing"- a new oil on cradled panel ready to hang. I was happy to make the scenic drive to deliver this to the Hunter-Wolff Gallery in Old Colorado City in Colorado Springs, Colorado with a fun stopover in Salida for the Art Walk. I so enjoy drives and walks along the High Road to Taos in New Mexico. The photo that motivated me to paint this scene was snapped while taking a jaunt on the High Road Art Tour.

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?

Having new eyes

The voyage of discovery

is not in seeking new landscapes

but in having new eyes.

– Marcel Proust

My recent works for the Colorado Pathways show are once again glimpses from my playground, the western Colorado landscape. This quote rings so true as I look with new eyes at the views around home and continue my explorations of the pathways through the rural landscape. What one day appears mundane with no interest, the next day reveals a stunning view with dramatic color and drama.

Home Sweet Colorado

Mr. "Rowdy", this year's icon for us artists to decorate was an inspiration and fun to paint. For the benefit of the Ridgway Public Library fundraiser, "Home Sweet CO" headed to Ridgway this week where it will be displayed, along with numerous other Rowdy's, at local businesses until the auction held on May 19th.  It's amazing seeing the variety of the artist's interpretations and styles painting the very same silhouette.

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.

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.

New Beginnings

I've left the small 6x6s for now and have been focusing on large paintings for a show at Around the Corner Gallery that opens the first Friday of March. Here's "San Juan Shimmer". It is a 24x26" original oil on panel and will be showcased in the Western Art Collector magazine coming out soon and will be viewable in person at the gallery. Was a joy to paint alla prima, meaning that I completed the painting in one furiously energetic act, sliding and scraping paint around, revealing hidden colors, mixing on the surface to create new colors, living in the moment. It truly was a being in the zone moment filled with flow. Now why can't all painting days be like this?

Visited my favorite gallery, Around the Corner Art Gallery in Montrose, CO, and dropped off this and another small cradled panel painting.  "Rustic Rico" is an original oil, 6x6 with 1 1/2 inch sides that are also painted as you can see by the 2nd image. It sells for $85, a great price for an original. I love these old mining shacks that are so common through the Colorado mountain mining towns. The waves of golden aspens in the background were so incredibly intense when I saw them, I am still in awe.

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've been a little quiet on the web lately while painting my little 6x6s for upcoming shows. Here's a glimpse of a few of my little originals. I will be posting more as I go along. These are promised for 3 holiday season events so I hope to complete a few each week. Each is painted on a "cradled panel" which is frameless and painted on a board that has 1 1/2 deep sides so they have contemporary look hanging on your wall. It's been a great project for me exploring the many exciting images I've been gathering to paint. I'm having alot of fun playing with the immediacy of quick and spontaneous brush strokes. My painting hand has become looser while I explore some palette knife work, thicker paint and the graphic qualities of painting the image directly to the edge. Painting to the edge of these panels breaks away from the traditional method of enclosing a painting within the frame and allows objects on the panel to push out from it's bounderies.

Let me know what you think, I'm a little bleary eyed from staring at them too long!

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.

Striations in Blue & Gold

This painting may be a finished one. Been staring at it & tweaking it. This scene was captured as we were riding the motorcycle between Gunnison & Crested Butte. What an incredible day it was with cloud filled majestic views as we skirted between the thunderstorms getting only a sprinkle along our journey.

As on this painting, I start out by laying on a quick ground of an orange or alizirin crimson wash. Then I sketch in the composition developing a monochromatic tonal layer that helps me define the darks, lights and hopefully lays the foundation for a dynamic composition. Once that foundation is laid, in the same painting session, I begin to layer on heavier paint and build in blocks of color. It is an intuitive process for me. I don't get analytical about it until the painting is nearly finished and I am adding the final touches.