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?

Reflections on the coming year

Every artist dips his brush

in his own soul,

and paints his own nature

into his pictures.

~Henry Ward Beecher

This is the time that so many of us pause for reflection on what went right or wrong in 2010 and set goals for 2011. As an artist, we are continually trying to understand and reflect in our art the world as we see it or the world that could be. It doesn't matter whether it is the dead of winter on December 31st before the new year or the middle of a hot July. At any time of the year I find myself trying to rationalize the making of my art and place it on a scale to measure the worthiness of this painting or that, the merits of making art that attempts to re-interpret a place of beauty, to bring serenity to the viewer. Making art solely because I want to express the beauty I find in nature is quite an idealistic aim but one that I gravitate and aspire to. I'm not trying to change the world, make a political statement or bring to light a social injustice.

So the simple truth is that my artistic goal for 2011 continues to be to create paintings that stir the soul to a place of rest and feeling of peace and tranquility for those who view my paintings. I'll strive to continue to develop my skills, trying to paint spontaneously with fresh, color loaded strokes. Oh, and of course, it would be great to find another gallery that would provide the perfect collaborative atmosphere for my work :) 

Guess I better get to work and quit talking.

Happy New Year to all!

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.

This thing called social media

It's winter and although not as cold here in Colorado as these winter hares huddled under the tree, with the short days and cold nights it's difficult some days to feel charged up and creative in my cold studio. So while not creating, I'm trying to wrap my non-technical mind around blogging, twitter, and all the many ways one can now share their art on the internet. How overwhealming is that?!

For those of you who discovered this blog and enjoy my paintings, I've added Subscribe options on the Upper Right of this blog. You can either receive an email when I add a new painting/posting or you can subscribe to an RSS Feed. I promise to never send you postings too frequently ... that might cut too much into my studio time! Hope to hear from you soon.
Best,
Gina

Today is the final wrapup of all the loose ends for this weekend's "Art on Trout Road" show in

Montrose, CO. It's exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. Too easy to fill in the time with details I think I need to complete but may not be important at this late stage. I do need to title the new paintings, make labels, get together with my fellow artists to move furniture and hang the show. Then tonight, make cookies... All is good & will surely come together. Just hope the weather holds out through the weekend!

Here is one of the 6x6 original oil paintings. The house is in Rico, CO, where I took a landscape painting workshop with Jill Carver during the San Juan mountain's most magical time of golden color at September's end.

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 unveiled this new painting at the Beyond Words Library show a week ago in Montrose, CO. It was fun playing with thick paint using a palette knife. I like the way the light reflects on a luscious thick layered painting. I hope to do more! "Pathways" is 24x18 and now displayed at Around the Corner Art Gallery in Montrose. I've been exploring using the palette knife to paint with on some of my little 6x6s I'm working on for the next show, "Art on Trout Road". Will be posting some of them soon!