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.

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.

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!