Snow Day

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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...

The Best and the Brightest

My painting "The Last of the Leaves" was chosen for the juried art show - "The Best and Brightest" at Scottsdale Artists School and will also hang in the "Celebration of Fine Art" show in Scottsdale as the school will be hanging the paintings from the show in a rotating exhibit there as well. The Celebration of Fine Art reception will be on January 15 and the reception for the Best and Brightest show will be on February 18.

Meanwhile, I have been just vegging out around the house doing absolutely nothing!! I have eaten way too much and feel miserable- it's time to go painting and burn off some calories- I do believe that one could burn off quite a few calories by just trying to stay warm while painting although it has been rather mild this Christmas- thank goodness. I hope it stays that way.

Plein air at First Light

I got up early and went to the ranch as the sun was rising. Actually, sunrise really isn't that early anymore. The light was beautiful - hitting the trees - making them appear as if they were stained glass.

I had an audience as I painted early in the morning- they really were a pretty quiet bunch until they decided to take off and thrash through the willows...

Plein Air at the Ranch

Fall is winding down along the river and the leaves are slowly making their way to the ground. I wanted to get just a few paintings done before it gets too bleak outside so I headed over to the ranch to do a view in the trees. It was truly a beautiful day and so I tried to enjoy it as I know from now on I will be pulling out the old down coat that I purchased used on ebay and my Elmer Fudd hat for those cold winter days.

A Short Fall

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This was painted on one of the two days that the leaves were on the trees and colorful. I was glad that I took the time to paint this tree in my front yard a couple of weeks ago because sadly the freeze and winds shortened the color display tremendously. The mountains in the background are the Sangres - I painted them with as few strokes as possible- the light changed pretty quickly so I was moving fast.


I was planning on painting the Crestone paintout today but am feeling under the weather and as my son is home with the flu, I know better than to push it. Hopefully I will be able to get into the studio soon as I plan to have an open house around the 3rd week in November and need to get some paintings hung and would like to get some small pieces painted.

Fall Color

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This is a view to the west from my backyard painted on Sunday afternoon. There was a nasty looking storm which provided great color for the the backdrop of this stand of trees. Tomorrow I will be heading to the Colorado Mountain Plein Air festival to get Coni and my canvases stamped and hopefully a couple of good paintings done

My painting studio

This is the barn directly behind my studio- love it!

I planted some lavender right next to my sidewalk that goes to the back entrance of my studio. You do know it is a cardinal rule that painters have to have lavender planted outside their studios-- right?

These poor trees just didn't get enough water before I moved in - I will probably have to get them trimmed soon.

My studio- the grass is starting to fill in which you would think was amazing if you saw the pictures of this grass last year about this time- so progress really has been made.

Home with a Cold

I am trying very hard to stay at home and recover from SOMETHING- I'm not sure what it is- probably just a cold. But it is so windy outside - I wouldn't be painting anyway-- Hail to Spring in the San Luis Valley!!

Well, anyway, I decided to work on my blog for awhile so you will be noticing small and hopefully positive changes as I learn how to tweak it from Blogger Buster. I didn't start out that great though- I decided to try to minimize the amount of labels I had by using the edit posts section and under label action I used the command Delete and ended up deleting quite a few of my prior blogs- Bummer. And it was my own fault- I need to read directions better. Well, I learned alot from this and will definitely not do that again. I didn't have any posts from late so I am posting a painting that I did this fall and never posted.
This painting was en plein air very close to the Rio Grande River and is close to Joe Zinn's house- an incredible photographer friend of mine.

As I look outside and see dirt blowing everywhere; I'm thinking that maybe I will be painting inside for awhile which is alright as I need to try to get some paintings done before March 9 to submit to a DIA sand Dunes show that will be exhibiting September, 2009.

Wyoming quickdraw

The Quickdraw in Cheyenne was the first I had participated in in and I really enjoyed it. I decided to paint looking up at the train depot tower. there were perspective issues to deal with but I was happy with it and it sold as well. This was painted in 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was nice having people coming around and commenting on the art. There was farmer's market going on at the same time as the quick draw so it was a lively place. The auction was immediately following the quick draw in the ballroom at the Plains Hotel.

Close to home

I am finding it increasingly difficult to get away to paint during this summer and I know I am not alone. Coni said that she seems to be rather tied down as well- I had planned a couple of weeks ago to take off towards the Alamosa River Canyon but changed my mind and ended up at the 7 mile plaza. This view looks towards the south. It is a very early morning view and I would like to come back in the evening and paint another as I like the shadows better at that time of day.

Painting along the Rio Grande River

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It was finally starting to warm up along the Rio Grande and so Coni and I went over to the ranch in the morning (trying to beat the afternoon winds) to paint. Alot of the trees had not budded out yet except for this particular stand- we painted looking towards the San Juans and I do have a small bit of mountain in this painting- the ranch is starting to flood and I don't know how long it will be before the mosquitos take over so I will try to do a few here while I can.

Twisted Tree

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Well, my husband and son decided to shoot clay pigeons at the ranch again so I tagged along- decided this time to go to the other side of the ranch to avoid being in the line of fire. I have been reading alot of Emile Gruppe lately and what he says about painting trees. He says that you need to capture their character and even exaggerate their chatacter if need be. This tree needed no exaggeration. I do wish that it would start greening up over there- March is a tough time in the San Luis Valley.