The Road Home - CR 519

The Road Home-CR 519, 9x12, oil on panel

Last week was spent up in Fraser, CO. A dear friend of mine offered me his home while he and his wife attended a conference. It was rather last minute, but who can resist a place to stay at the peak of wildflower season? With the added bonus of cooler temperatures and the home in question being brand new with a view over the valley below it?

For whatever reason, roads still attract me as subject matter, so here is the straight and narrow, well graded road off which I stayed. I painted this scene last fall after my last stay up at this house, but in that painting played it a bit more abstractly. In case you missed that post, here is the painting as comparison from a slightly different angle.

I wish I could say I painted this plein air, but alas, no. I had ventured out to paint the wildflowers but realized rather quickly that without bug spray this was a losing proposition. I came home with a number of mosquito and horse fly bites and no painting to show for it. In a few weeks I will join PAAC for their annual paint out trip which this year is in Steamboat Springs. I have already made sure bug spray is included. I will also try a homemade chemical free recipe I found on Facebook but will take the chemical weapons as back up. I do not like being eaten alive.

Winter Still Life -revisited

Winter Still Life, 16x20, oil on panel

This painting below that was posted this past winter needed to be reworked. I did this painting from an old slide I found from decades ago. I always liked this image so I was happy to find it after years of being packed away in the basement.

I wanted to put it in so you can see the difference as I explain what I did. the most obvious is that I lightened up (or added atmosphere to) the trees across the way. then I added more color and warmth to the overall painting. More reflected light gave the overall structure less heaviness and the birds now are more interesting.

Here is an interesting note. In my spring cleaning I came across a photo I had had made from the slide. I had forgotten all about it, but then remembered having framed it to hang on my wall. The photo was much better visually but it was also a mirror image to that of the slide! So though I had this improved image, I had to switch it visually from the photo to the painting. A mind bender to be sure.

Let me know your thoughts.

Racked Sea Kayaks

Racked, 20x30, oil on linen

Here is a painting recently uncovered in my basement as I continue to cull through my life's work. It is not that old in the scope of things and for some reason I did not give much credence to it when I painted it. But now, looking at it, I am trying to figure out what it was that made me dismiss it out of hand. I showed it to a few people yesterday to see what they thought and it met with very positive responses. Who knew? Just goes to show we can be our own worst enemies. I have not shown this painting since I painted it and now it is up and on display at Gallery 1505 on South Pearl Street. It is very different subject matter for me. But here is why I was attracted to consider painting kayaks.

Italy's Adriatic coast was on my agenda when I went to Italy 4 years ago after not having been there in decades. We were in Venice and I wanted to go to the beach to give myself a few days away from the crowds of tourists that we were a part of in Paris, Venice and next, Rome. I was interested in Ravenna, the mosaic capital of the world, which is a 3 hour train ride south of Venice. We stopped there for a night and then down to Pescara from there. Pescara is a very popular beach resort area in the summer, but we were there in October so the season was over. The weather was still warm enough to walk the surf, if not swim. I walked that beach each morning and evening. The locals are bundled up in coats and us foreigners in t-shirts. I consider mid-70's perfect! I saw these sea kayaks on one of long walks (the coast line extends 12 miles at this particular area) and saw great abstract patterns. There were a number of these racks lined up but I liked that this particular rack had the cabanas behind them adding to the pattern and throwing in that yellow.

A side note; in hind sight, this stop to decompress was pure genius. When we arrived in Rome, not only was it the day of the Rome Marathon, but it was also a day the Pope beatified 13 saints from around the world and there were pilgrims from every corner of the globe that day!! Took us over an hour from the train station to our lodgings by the Vatican because the roads were blocked for the marathon and then the papal dismissal came as we were trying to get to where we were staying. Just goes to show, check out what is happening in the big cities when planning your itinerary especially when going to Rome! Lesson learned.