Vivid Waters

David and Coni and I decided to try painting up at the Alamosa River Canyon.  I love the canyon because of the diversity of views that are available.  The canyon is so steep and narrow that it is usually always shadowed on the south side which makes for great values in painting.  We were lucky... there wasn't too much wind and so we were able to paint.  

I originally had this view with a huge bank of snow sticking right out in the middle of the composition.  And it didn't work at all.  So with a few swipes of the brush - it was gone- and improved the composition greatly.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice parts of the painting that you really liked for the sake of the painting as a whole.

A beautiful Day at Rock Creek

Coni, dave, and i took off to Rock Creek to paint in some snow for a change- what a beautiful day!  It was warm and sunny the entire time and a good winter painting experience.

Coni is ready to paint!

David is getting there!

I always have a difficult time trying to decide the best scene to pick- there were quite a few to choose from-  I was looking for strong value patterns and ended up picking some Aspen by the road- the sun changed the light patterns before I had completely set up the easel- so I knew this was going to be a quick one or I would lose those great shadows- painting partly from observation and partly from memory, I was able to get one done that I was pleased with....

Rock Creek Melody
11x14

I finished fast enough to walk around and take a few pictures- the pictures didn't come out that great as the light was bleaching everything out- I was thankful that we were out early enough to get some nice color.

A Merry Christmas to You!

As I prepare for the big Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow, I want to spend time looking back at the year of 2010.  I feel gratitude for all of the readers of my blog; you are patient with me when I don't post as often as I should and very encouraging when I do. I appreciate each and every one of you and hope you have a great holiday season.

Since I have been painting often and the weather has actually been cooperating, I decided to try to stay with it. I hate having to quit and then losing that edge and basically taking a few steps backwards- it happens often. I painted this along the Rio Grande River and would have painted the river, but it is entirely covered with snow and hasn't even begun to open up yet. I liked the patterns of the tracks- it was a nice lead in.

February 28?

Does it look like tomorrow is going to be the first day of March? We are stuck in the winter zone and I hope we get out. This was painted at the ranch this morning and it snowed on me for half of the time I was there- I love the ranch -it is so diverse.

My good friend Patrice Walker called and said she would be coming through the valley on Thursday and would we like to paint? So Coni Grant and David Montgomery and Patrice and I ended up painting at an area close to the Alamosa Golf course- it was cold and windy and grey- this is a view to the northwest - I think the buildings in the background are the from the old dairy.

It was a cold morning when I painted this- well, actually it wasn't that cold when I started but the wind started kicking up and as time wore on- I just started to get more chilled. I enjoy painting around the Veterans Center because of all the beautiful, tall, pines. They are a nice foil for just about anything.,

Trip to Amalia

Coni, David, and I drove over to Amalia, New Mexico, to visit with Randy Pijoan about having a painting group stay there ( the High Desert Painters) in May and of course we went to paint as well. It was rather chilly but we were well dressed and being the tough plein air painters that we are, were not deterred from painting. Then the wind started to blow just a bit and it just got cold... David walked up the road to check things out and we did not see him for a long time so Coni and finished up and found refuge in Randy's studio. David and Randy had been driving around looking at potential painting spots for the May trip. Amalia is absolutely a beautiful area - even in the winter- which is the true test of a nice painting spot.

12x16

This is the painting that I did -- right across the road from Randy's studio- I forgot to ask him what the name of this creek so it is titled Creek at Amalia.

Snow Shadows

In the earlier post I had talked about picking a motif and keeping things simple. I had worked out a small sketch of a painting that I wanted to do - here is the result-- this painting is 12x24.

Picking a Motif

Picking a motif.... it is always difficult when choosing a composition for the next painting. What should be included and what should one leave out? Sometimes it is hard to leave out anything which results in conflicting focal points -and although each one painted with much technical virtuosity, is just too much. The above photo is copied from Emile Gruppe's book "Direct Techniques in Oil" where he demonstrates on one of his paintings- what NOT to do. He shows three beautifully painted focal points- hence illustrating Coni's Mantra --"What's it About?"
Here he takes just a part of the above painting and focuses on just that particular element. Look at how much stronger the result is?
I took this idea and as looking out my window , saw something that caught my eye. It was a very simple motif with the snow patterns and the contrasts between light and dark. I will work on a painting with the above sketch in mind and we'll see how I do.

You see , I have been studying painters like Robert Genn and Stephen Quiller- I'm a big fan of both of them - and they are master designers. Coni is also a great designer and her above mantra is a good one to follow. People should never question as to what you were after when they look at your painting; it comes down to simplification.

A summary of lesson for the day: Just because you have the technical skills to paint it all doesn't necessarily mean that you should.

This is the view I saw out my window this morning. I don't know how cold it is but it is frosty looking! I might go out and paint today but I also have to have birthday cake for Jason and invite the grandparents and a basketball game later this evening so it may be tough. We'll see...

I finally finished changing my web page so check it out at www.susanmccullough.com.

Snow

Here is a picture of snow on the barn next to my studio.

A picture of my studio in the snow-

I'm not sure if it is done snowing yet as this Pacific storm has raised some havoc to the west of us-- but there is sure a lot of snow to paint now.

Snow Day

9x12

Yesterday it started to snow lightly and although it is nice to see the snow fall-it has been so dry here- I wanted to see Sharon McCoy's art show at Adams State College. Well, I took off and

started to slide around the County Line Rd a little and just decided to not go... What a wimp!

Woke up this morning and there was about 12 inches of the white stuff on the ground. This painting is not entirely a plein air because I painted it from my window. So what really decides on whether a painting is a plein air or not? I'm just curious because Coni and I have had this discussion numerous times and have not come to any conclusion on the matter.

The painting above was an exercise in painting bare branch trees- so much negative space...

Painting by Home Lake

11x14

I painted this a while back but thought I would post since I haven't been out in awhile- Coni and I are planning to paint over by San Luis tomorrow but the weather situation might be tough as it calls for snow. I really don't mind painting while it is snowing but I do enjoy the shadow patterns that the sun has to offer. The above painting was created by Home Lake, a small Lake close to Monte Vista.

January- Rio Grande

It was a muted day with high clouds and not much sun but I felt that it was necessary to try to get out and paint - ANYTHING. Well, this is a view about two miles from my house. The river is frozen over with snow still covering much of it but there are patches of pure ice here and there. I have never painted in this location before and was dragging all of my equipment through the trees- I could see going back as there is a lot of material here- many different elevations.

I worked on a studio painting in a 12x36 format- from a picture I took in 1999. It took me a long time to get this painted didn't it? Well, I had fun painting this- it is a beautiful sight when Mt Blanca has just received a dusting of snow and it is the only thing that is lit by the setting sun. The painting has more contrast than I could show with this picture- I truly am not that great at editing pictures. Below is a close-up of detail.

Well, vacation time is over and although I still have a house full of college kids, I need to get back to work. Frankly, I'm relieved because I was feeling rather worthless- doing absolutely nothing for so long- it feels good to have an agenda and lists full of things to do.

The painting above was done on New Years day- Jim took off snowmobiling and I just kind of slipped away and painted this-- I was actually planning to paint this just as the sun was setting but there were some pesky clouds that thwarted my plans so this is the painting I finished. I will have to try it again when the sky is clear and it's not too cold.

I have been working on a new web page so will let you know when it has loaded. I am going to keep it simple and have had a few snags along the way- but I really do like rapidweaver- it is a good web program and I don't have to read a book to configure it.

PAAC Show in July at Abend Gallery

My painting , "Midwinter Survival" was selected to be in the the Plein Air Artists Colorado Show July 10 thru 25, 2009 at the Abend Gallery 2260 E. Colfax Ave. Denver, CO 80206. The awards ceremony and reception will be on July 10, 2009 from 5-9 pm and the awards juror will be Karen Vance.

The base of the Sangres

I decided to go over to Electric Peak to try to do a study as Electric Peak with Electric Ranch at the base is just one of the more pictuesque sights around. I had painted Electric Ranch about 8 years ago and still have my study but I would like to paint a larger, studio painting of this scene. I drove all the way to Electric Ranch but, the snow was so white and there were absolutely no shadows so it looked like there was a huge iceberg sitting above the ranch. the last time I painted it was during March and the sun was far enough to the south to get some cool shadows- so I decided to not paint electric ranch and started wondering around. This is what I came up with- which makes me wonder why I drove all the way to the northern Sangres to paint a small sliver of a white mountain- and then paint it in the wind-- what was I thinking?

Challenger

Ah, the Sangres- so majestic and cold looking- the snow is melting by the day and soon there won't be one more snowflake on these peaks. Challenger is the square peak to the left- that's what Coni told me anyway- and I think that maybe the pointy one to the right is the needle? If I'm wrong- somebody please let me know - ok?