Stuck in Distribution

"The Neighbors Gift" 11 x 14"  oil/canvas panel

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This is a painting I did several years ago and one I've been thinking I might do again, only larger.

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For the past few days I've been struggling to get a bunch of paintings shipped out.  I really want everyone to receive them on time for Christmas.  The portrait I did below is drying REALLY slow!  I even put it on top of my radiant heater for a few hours, just to move things along.  Please don't try this at home, unless you like that dark charcoal distressed look! (All over your house!)  Well okay, that didn't happen, thank God!  Finally this afternoon got a coat of retouch on it and that should hold it down enough to varnish it tomorrow.

"Man Smoking a Pipe in the Woods"

8 x 6"  oil/canvas panel

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I've been visiting a lot of galleries lately looking at art and also searching for a home for some of my paintings.  Something I came to notice is, I really admire artists that use their imagination to create representational paintings. This is something I'd like to give back to my artwork. I do most of my paintings from a vast amount of reference material.  Mostly photographs.  But in the case of my 19th Century Harvest painting, I did LOTS of pencil sketches from my imagination, especially of the figures. Along the lines of Thomas Eakins harping at his students to draw their subject 50 times before settling on a just one.

So here is a painting I did today, completely from my imagination.  Really, I never know what I'm going to be painting next, but I'd like to do more historical rural genre scenes.

All is Clear...

Air Current       12 x 9          oil/canvas

Have you ever had one of those weeks when chaos hits you like a ton of bricks.  Well, thats what its been like around here since the last post.

I'll have to back track a little here and give you some history...

We bought this place in 2004 and knew then, we were up for a challenge.  I mean, the place IS over 100 years old.  We knew it would take a few years to reverse the effects of all the time, gravity, wind erosion, rust, corrosion, ancient wiring, ancient plumbing, bad roofing, really bad fencing, etc. etc.  So we have persevered for the past four years, fixing things in stages as we go. 

Today we have a new well.  (The old one would fill up with cow paddies each spring when the creek flooded.  ...yummy.)  But while we were doing that, we also decided to bury the many ancient, over head, power lines going to nowhere, r I mean somewhere? in the house, barn, shop...etc. etc.

Of course not being the type to hire these things out, we do them ourselves, as is Montana custom.

The big adventure came when after digging out the hole, (with a borrowed backhoe) attaching the water line, then sliding the well pump into its lovely pitless adapter, and back filling the 7 foot deep hole, (this is frost line depth in our part of Montana) we even put down grass seed to make it nice and pretty...we came out a few hours later to find a geyser located somewhere around the yard hydrant.  One we had put much forethought into installing before we backfilled the hole.  Not good...

So now we have a really large quick sand pit in our yard, not to mention all the ditches for burying powerlines, running literally everywhere, though the house yard, the barn yard and corrals.  You can't walk two feet without falling into some kind of trench.  Thats not good either...

Oh and oops, we don't have a backhoe anymore... so we dig it back up by hand...as is Montana custom.

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Now, there is a happy ending to this story.  We did finish things up yesterday and buried everything in, nice and dry.  Powerlines and waterlines.  No one was killed.   And again, our neighbor brought down his backhoe to save the day.

With most things like this, I can usually say that it was truly a learning experience.

We have learned many new words.

Such is life on the farm!

Wrestling Match continued...

As I had mentioned my "Soft Place to Land" is getting a real workout.  But after several days of just staring at it, thinking the solution would come to me, I decided to get busy and really find out what went wrong.

It seems that the dominant color palette of Burnt Umber which I mixed for this painting, is probably not well suited to a snow scene.  I figured it would go more to the purple side, but it didn't.  Oops!

Anyway, here are a few things I did today to see more clearly how Burnt Umber behaves.  I use a lot of Burnt Umber in my paintings so thought I already knew.  This just goes to show, not all of us are as smart as we think we are   : )!

Anyway,

Heres the palette.  Pretty huh?

Today I made a chart out of it, you know like the ones I've been harping on everyone about?

It went much redder than I thought it would.

So I did this little painting to see what it might look like if I pushed it to the lighter side.

Ooo!  Very pink!

So, whats the lesson?

#1 - I should never assume that I know what I'm doing...  : )

#2 - I need to go back and finish one chart for each of my colors, (I have about 3/4 of them done) so I can choose one when I have my heart set on a certain mood to come through in a painting.

This palette I think, would be better suited for a late evening or early morning snow scene.  You know, when you have those lovely pink hues falling across the snow.  Also, I thought it might work really well for an interior like one of Rembrandt's, with figures or a portrait.

...now what did I do with that olive branch painting?

Oil Painters of America Show, Detail and Color Charts

12 x 16" oil/canvas panel

For purchase information click here.

I'm off tomorrow for Idaho to attend the Western Regional Oil Painter's of America show in Coeur d'Alene.  The opening reception is Friday September 12th, at Devin Galleries and will run through October 11th.  If you are in the area I hope you'll make it down to see my painting "Highland Dreams" in real time.  (I'm SO excited and nervous all at the same time!!)

Anyway, I won't be back until Monday, so here are a few things I wanted to squeeze in before I go...

 

This is a detail of a painting I've been working on this week.  I have a few deadlines coming up this month so I'm trying out a few ideas.

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Below are two of the color charts I promised Edgar I'd show.  The top one is a Yellow Ochre Palette and the bottom Cad Red.  Click on the image and it'll show a larger view of the colors mixed with each.  I only hope you can read my scribbling!  I love how you can see the effects of blues, whites and compliments and how they make grays.  Is this bad?  Well...only you can decide.

Have a great week everyone and wish me luck!

"Thistle Patch"

Whew! Its been a very busy week so far!

Our branding weekend was lots of fun, and I got some good shots that I'll try to make into paintings later on, but first I need to catch up on a few things this week.

Friday I'm off to Ennis, for a paint out with the Montana Painter's Alliance.  This means more plein air painting for me, which is not my strong suit, as you know.  But it is SO important for any artist who wants to improve their painting skills.  So with three days of outdoor painting, I should be able to come up with something I can share here.  Keep your fingers crossed! :))

10 x 8" oil/canvas panel

sold

This is a variation on the "Potato Patch" theme.  Our ranch like most, has its share of weeds.  Thistle seems to be the most prolific (and thorniest!!)  They are pretty when they bloom though, and really as far as weeds go, not such a bad one.  All our critters enjoy eating them, even our horses.  Well, with the exception of Bill!

"Filly"

10 x 8" oil/canvas panel

sold

My cousin had this bay horse for 25 years. Unfortunately she died this past winter.
I think its very special when I horse gets to live with the same person all of their lives. So many have a hard time finding a good home. Anyway, she asked if I would do a grouping of three paintings, two smaller and a large main piece.
This is the first of the two small ones.

"Watery Footprints"

8 x 6" oil/canvas panel

sold

This morning I thought I'd work on some commission pieces that I have building up. With the sun popping out and after all those grays, it was so exciting to finally see some color!!
So as you can see, I got out EVERY color in my paintbox and used it on this painting. Wee!

Anyway, this one is for "Big Mike" a man in town that does some welding for us now and then. He is an artist in his own right and quite the character. I think I actually heard him quoting Shakespeare in the local bar one night. Something you don't hear too often in this neck of the woods. Mike liked my "Watery Isle" painting featured in the Gallery section of my website and asked if I might do something with waterfowl. So here you go Mister Mike. Heres your ducky!