Hello visitors, to my Blog, Welcome. I am exited about new beginnings personally and in my painting. I moved back to Montana late last year. There are artists in this area but connecting has been a challenge because of the shut down. I miss my artist friends and especially conversations about art, art seen and so much more. The purpose of this blog is to initiate dialogue and community with artists and others about art and art history. I will share my thoughts and opinions mostly about painting and my process. I would hope that you would want to take part. Thanks for dropping by.
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“Paint the Tree Anyway You Wish but Get the Tree” (John F. Carlson)
I was having coffee with a couple of friends and one asked what I was painting now. I said I was focusing on trees. She said, Oh, I just love trees.” And so do I, however they can bring a frown on my face when...
Change
The photo of me is from late summer early fall of 2020. At that time I went to the site twice but didn’t have enough time to finish until this week. The finished painting is on the right. Hopefully it will dry in time for...
Rules
I was drawn to this stand of sunflowers at a local nursery and set up my easel directly across from them. When working on location there is a kind of exuberance that happens as you start painting. That day I had a square panel, noted...
Kitchen Sink Gallery
I have been thinking about combining the information I get from plein air painting and personal mental interpretations of a scene. Montana is in fire season with a thick haze in the sky and higher than normal temperatures. It is a good time to paint...
Water and Reflection
My intention before I began this painting was to focus on the water and it’s surface reflections. Included below is a gouache study and image showing my set up on location. I scouted out the location and did the gouache study the day before. Initially...
Painting Surface
When I first returned to oil painting I bought cheap, small ready-made canvas and painted one after the other to improve my skills and self-discipline. After using a makeshift easel set up at first, I eventually bought a pleinair easel [open Box M] and a...
Scale
I want to discuss the size of surface I paint on and how that affects my work. This topic was inspired by a submission that called for work in the 5” x 7” range. I missed the deadline because, as it turns out, very small...
Limited Palettes
I have been exploring the use of a limited palette. I love color and believe that most people have an individual sense of color combinations they are drawn to naturally. I began wondering if I had maybe gone too far in that direction and was...
Looking Across the River
I painted this 11” x 14”, panel painting overlooking a small section of the Beaverhead River. Painting water is a challenge. The quandary for me is when I paint outside on location, am I really painting what I see? Or am I painting what I...
Best Laid Plans
It is now 2021 – New years resolutions usually don’t work for me. I recently, listened to a podcast on Saavy Painter about making goals from an attitude that assumes you will succeed in reaching them before you start. This sounded like it could work....
This Flower has a Deadly Side
The work above was painted in September. I had asked a friend in town if I could set up my easel in her yard to paint a stand of Monkshood. The blue flowers were on a 4-5 ft. woody stem or stalk that grew in front of a large...
Frames are in the Eye of the Beholder
Recently, I enjoyed helping a collector choose frames for paintings she purchased from me. I thought I would share about that experience and what I learned. There are many different kinds of frames to choose from when going to a frame shop and it is not an...
Open Door and Open Windows
When this aging structure as a focal point for a painting was suggested to me, I thought it looked too sentimental. However, I had painted Lupine Hill, which is close by and really liked the feel of this piece of land. I found a point...
How Important is Painting an Accurate Likeness?
The name of this painting is the Bull Cave. According to old timers and a photo someone has [I haven’t actually seen it] the cave had two wooden doors attached, now long gone. Dating around the turn of the 20th century the cave with doors...
The Challenge
The two Paintings here were painted in January2020, outside, from observation and part of a daily painting challenge I made to FB friends at the beginning of the year. The first one is from my mom’s backyard. It was freezing that day so I made...
Chasing the Light
I set up for this painting on three different days at the same 9:30am to 1pm time period. Light is always a factor in plein air painting. Even 1 pm is pushing it. The rule is that you should not be chasing the light. Working...
Why This Place?
It can be a challenge sometimes to settle on a place to paint out in the open or plein air. Recently I was out painting and some man slowed his truck to a stop and said “looks like you found a scene”. I try to...
Welcome
Blogging is new for me and I had lots of questions about what I wanted the experience to be. After too much time vacillating on what to say, I decided to just start – anywhere, but begin. So here goes! I’m starting with a few...