When the Wagons Stopped Rolling

Wanted to do a painting that was about not fussing with it. I have been doing some fairly tight work as of late and wanted to plow through one in a single session "Alla Prima."

The objective on this one was to capture the heat of a July day without burning up the canvas. More warms than cools.

I found this old wagon on my way back from Jackson this summer in an area that I am familiar with the history of it. It was 107 degrees that day and I couldn't help but think of the courage of the homesteaders that come west for the promise of a better life.

Drawing is a little wonky, but I thought that might add a little flavor.

For a larger image, click on picture.

Targhee Meadow

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On my vacation this last summer, My wife and I drove up to the Targhee Ski Resort. The sky at that elevation, The stark white of the aspens and the groomed meadows seemed to scream paint me.

I am working on being conscious of having an objective when I paint. The objectives that I was working on in this piece were to keep the influence of the blue of the sky dominant over the local color. Unequal distribution of shapes, sizes and color. Orchestrate variety with a temperature shift instead of a value shift. In the forefront of my mind, where do I want the viewer to go in the painting.

Swamp Trestle

For a lager image, Please click on photo.

I have had three paintings going at once and was able to put what I belive to be the finishing touches on this one this am. This is a scene that I painted about a year and a half ago in acrylics and always felt like I didn't capture the moodiness of the piece or the softness of the humidity in the distant trees. I tightened up the crop and painted it larger.

Thanks for looking. Comments always welcome.

Last Light Targhee Glacial Runoff

Finally finished this one or at least I believe it is done. Anyway it is at that point where I set it aside digest it and look for gremlins. This was almost an impossible piece to photgraph. The original has so much more that is able to be seen in the way of shadows. The original has shadows that seem to breathe, and in the the photo they look almost black. One of the mistake that is easy to make when working from a photo.

This scene was littered with fallen trees over the stream. I wanted to capture the feeling of that without painting in every limb.

Two quotes that I had in my mind while painting this one are as follows. They are both from Carlson.

"Reserve is strength; Overstatement is weakness. No one cares to hear the singer's topmost notes when the voice is nigh unto breaking. The art of conservation is strength, and makes a masterpiece a masterpiece. Otherwise, the man who simply bought all the different colors obtainable, and squeezed them out upon the canvas to give it full force, would be the greatest master, instead of being merely extravagant."

"We must not train our eyes to copy tone for tone, but think of the bearing of such colors and harmonies up the main idea of our picture. BEARING- to support or to hold or to remain firm under such a load."

For a larger view, click on picture. Comments and Crits welcomed and appreciated.

Arroyo Ironwood

18 x 24 oil on stretched canvas. For a larger image, click on photo.


Another one out of the ironwood series. I have been completely fascinated with the diversity of these trees depending on location. In washes it is obvious how different these trees respond to the availability of submoisture. The light has some amazing personality to it in these areas. I am trying to continue to increase the viariety in the midtones and shadows.

Crawdad Creek

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This is a little backlit scene from just outside of Payson Arizona. Crawdad Creek is not the name of the creek, but I could not for the life of me remember the name of it. There were kids catching crawdad by the bucket full out of this little creek. The backlighting and blues of the hillside in the distance thought this would translate on canvas.18 x 24 oil on stretched canvas

Intimate Creek

This is the first piece since the workshop with Scott Christensen that I have had an opportunity to play with some of the techniques that I have wanter to try since then.

One of the thing that I was fascinated with was that Scott uses alot of glazes on his studio work. I guess that I assumed since his work is so embedded in Plein Air that he would be fairly set in stone with an Alla Prima approach.

For anyone that may be interested this is some of the methods and approaches I have been playing with. This piece is painted on oil primed canvas (three coats that have been lightly sanded between coats.) A light drizzling of liquin on a limited pallet of premixed colors. I am trying to work away from an intuitive approach to color. This piece three sessions to get it to a state of completion. About three hours the first session two the next and the final session where I glued together the color harmony and ajusted the temperatures of certain areas with glazes about a half an hour. Each session I wetted the entire painting with a sponge brush and liquin. I have found that I do not fight the medium when I pay attention to the method.

Some of the other things that I have been working on is having a strong reserve of color. Trying not to get carried away with color in the beginning stages of the painting but to get the painting to a stage of completion as quick as possible so that I can get a read on the lighting.

This piece was fairly complex as far as getting the lighting right. This little scene was in a canyon in the White Mountains of Arizona. There wasn't any direct light to speak of. Everything was reflected and ambient light. I found that it was pretty easy to lose my way and forget the what type of light I was painting.

24 X 30 oil on canvas, for a larger image, click on picture.