Getting Ready To Rain

Getting Ready To Rain
Oil  18" x 24"
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This painting was going to be another wild flower piece.  One summer morning I received an email from my friend, Marianne, who lives about an hour east of me.  She wanted to let me know that the plains out east were covered with spectacular wild flowers.  Shortly there after I headed to the eastern plains with every intent of painting fields of flowers.  But, during my drive the clouds started coming in and I knew it would rain shortly.  So, I went with the flow and took photos of the clouds.  They were magnificent in all of their color.  This was a studio piece done soon after and the plein air wild flowers painting was put on hold for another day!

A Peek At The Peak

A Peek At The Peak
plein air oil  8" x 10"
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$195.00 + $10. s/h

Recently my plein air groups, Garden Artists and PAAC, painted out in Peyton on a friends ranch.  I love painting out there.  In the past I've shown you paintings of the ranch chickens, garden chair, an old pick-up, eggs.  With the clouds creating great shadows and just allowing a little peek of Pikes Peak, I realized that my painting should be from the ranch not of the ranch.

Light At The End

Light At The End
Oil 11" x 14"
$195.00 + $10. s/h

I loved the drama in the sky and the light at the end of the road.  We have a lot of big, bold skies in the west.  I was drawn to the way the bold blue of the sky peeked through the clouds.

Further Down The Road

Further Down The Road
9" x 12" Oil
$155.00 + $10. s/h

Another one of our western skies.  I had a comment about cloud edges.  I use a Robert Simmons 3/4 " "SkyScraper" brush (aptly named!) to soften the cloud edges.

Afternoon Clouds

Afternoon Clouds
9" x 12"  Oil
$155.00 + $10. s/h

I had someone ask what colors I use for my skies.  While that depends on the weather, for many of my skies I use a combination of Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cad Red Light (for a bit of graying) and White and push this whatever way the sky, time of day, weather pattern, location, etc. call for.  As with all color mixtures in painting, there is no always perfect/, always/works color combination.   And, I don't always use this combo.  But, it is tried and true for me, especially with our incredible western skies!

May you have a Happy New Year!  Thank you to all of you who've commented on my blog in 2011.  Thank you to those of you who purchased paintings.  And, Cheers to all of you who've I've met and become friends with through blogging & social media, those vicarious friends as well as those that I've been lucky to meet "in person!"  I hope to meet more of you in 2012.

Eleven Mile Clouds

16" x 20" oil on stretched canvas
$595.00 + $10. s/h

Eleven Mile Reservoir is about one hour west of here in the mountains. This is from one of our fishing excursions.  The cloud formations over the mountains can be pretty spectacular and always draw my attention.

Near Roswell

8" x 10" oil on gessoed board
$195.00 + $10. s/h
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My husband and I recently took a road trip to New Mexico.  Usually we only visit Taos and Santa Fe, but this time decided to be a little adventuresome.  So, we headed to Roswell.  I'd never been there before. The only thing that I knew about it was that aliens had landed there years ago.  But in my mind it was a new place to visit, another painting to paint.  It wasn't very nice weather, it was pretty cool and cloudy, but as in many western locations, outside of town had wide open vistas, so there was a painting!  Once we got into Roswell it was actually pretty nice!

Everyone was friendly and waved at us as we walked around town.

Sometimes when driving in rural western locations it's hard to find a good radio station.  But, that wasn't the case here,  There was great music.

Don't worry if you run out of cash.  It's easy to borrow money!

And, there was no problem finding a quick, cheap lunch.  All in all, a great place to visit and paint!

Spinney Wind

6" x 8" oil on panel
$75.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD

My husband and I have been up in the mountains for the last few days. I painted this yesterday on the banks of Spinney reservoir while he was out fishing. As often happens in the mountains, (Spinney is at about 8,000 feet)the weather was strange and quickly changing. The clouds were blowing in over the mountains, making them very gray. The clouds hadn't gotten to Spinney yet, so I was standing in the sun. But, the wind was blowing, making the water greener than normal and covered w/ small whitecaps. All part of why I like plein-aire painting. It makes me think quickly.

A Great Afternoon

8" x 10" oil on clayboard
$75.00 + $10. s/h
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Colorado has vast, open skies and mile after mile of spectacular scenery. One has only to turn around and there's another painting.

Afternoon Glow

8" x 10" oil on clayboard

$75.00 + $10. s/h

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Sometimes in the late afternoon, even though the clouds are building up, the weather is great for my husband's fishing, and my painting.

Cloudy Afternoon

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$75.00 + $10. s/h
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It's usually a lot safer, and more reliable, to fish in the morning in Colorado. We often have afternoon storms in the mountains and great fishing (and other afternoon activities and plans, like painting) may have to be changed quickly.

Sunset Over Buffalo Peak

6 x 8 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Back up to the mountains in South Park. This is from a photo I took last summer. I know there are many discussions on painting from photos vs plein-aire painting. It is not always possible to paint outdoors; especially for those of us who live in climates that have cold winters and windy summers. And, sometimes even when the weather is great, life gets in the way. I never go anywhere without a camera and I use the photos as reference to paint from later. The point is to paint.

South Platte River 2

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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No matter how many times I hike in the same valley or paint the same view, it is always completely different: a different time of day, different colors and values, different season. I used Naples yellow again in this piece, also using it to warm up the cloud reflection in the river. That's about the only thing warm in the South Platte. The water is really cold. The elevation here is about 8,000 feet and the river water is rain and snow run off from even higher mountains. When our kids were small they could only wade and play in the water for a short time.

Naples Yellow Clouds

6" x 8" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Our daughter, Coley, and I just went to the Ernest L. Blumenschein exhibit at the
Denver Art Museum. Blumenschein was a founding member of the Taos Society of Artists and a renowned painter of 19th and 20th century western art. The exhibit was amazing. I couldn't stop looking at Blumenschein's clouds. Especially since I've recently been painting a cloud series. Coley commented that his clouds were so creamy. My clouds are bold, strong, bright, warm, cool, yellow ochre, but not creamy. Artist Martha Mans and I were discussing how he got his creamy clouds. She suggested Naples Yellow; it's a traditional yellow and probably part of his palette. So, I have a tube from a past workshop and painted these clouds with Naples Yellow.

South Platte River

9" x 12" oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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I think reflections add a lot of interest to a painting. Usually, light values reflect just a bit darker, so I painted the reflection in the river using the darker value of the cloud. (And, dark values usually reflect just a bit lighter.) The water color also affects the value of the reflection.

Sunset Over Buffalo Peak

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Once again we have an incredible sunset from our ridge. This one is looking just a little more north. With this painting I again used artistic license and left out several tall trees in the front; they were hiding too much of the view of South Park and the sky. I also scraped out and repainted the front ridge several times. The right side went up and repeated the left side almost exactly, and compositionally it didn't work. On the first repaint I just painted out the right ridge, but then the viewer's eye just went off the bottom edge of the piece. Not good. So I added the second small softer blue ridge. That way, your eye goes back and forth, staying in the scene: from ridge to ridge to open space to mountain to mountain to sky to clouds to clouds and back again. A soft, easy back and forth movement. I guess I'm trying to make the viewer's eyes dance with each painting.

Another View Near Yellowstone

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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This peak is from my husband's trip to Yellowstone. Again, I repeated the cerulean from the sky and clouds in the mountain. This allows your eyes to go easily from one to the other. I also moved the clouds, peak and foothills just a little (artistic license) so that your eyes softly zig-zag back and forth across the painting.

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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There's a lot of sage in South Park. There's a lot of sage all over the west, actually. I wanted to show open land, and brush in the idea of sage. I like painting the upper part of the sky with cobalt and white and the area of the sky near the ground using cerulean and white. I repeated the cerulean in the sage.

Glow over Buffalo Peak

9 x 12 oil on canvas panel
$100.00 + $10. s/h
SOLD


I never tire of sitting on our South Park ridge and enjoying the afternoon clouds. They are different everyday: the values, colors and shapes change every few minutes. Just this view provides me with daily paintings.

Yellow Ochre Clouds

6 x 8 oil on masonite
$100.00 + $10. s/h
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Our kids, both home for the holiday, are now gone. The house is quiet, empty and a little lonely. I loved having them here. But, I can get back to painting and posting.

The clouds and skies in the sunrises seen from our deck, are strong, bold and bright. I use a lot of cad yellow for these paintings. The morning clouds in South Park, a large semi-open area of Colorado about one hour west of here, are a much calmer, softer yellow. I wasn't happy using cad yellow in these paintings. So, for the yellow in these clouds I used yellow ochre. It works.