Rock Study

On this Rock, 11x14, oil on panel

I went up painting this past week with a few old friends and now some new friends, as well. One of the women offered her garden in Evergreen, about a 30" drive from my house. Even though it is not that far from Denver, it was still lovely to get out of the city and into the foothills. On top of offering us her property to paint on, she also fixed us lunch!

Her garden, being at a higher elevation, had plants blooming that left my garden in the past few weeks. ie her Iris were at their peak and mine peaked at least two weeks ago. At any rate, there were these lupines growing in the crack of where the yellow straw meets the dark under-hang of this boulder. I struggle with rocks for some reason. I found out that I am not alone in this as none of the women I was with like to paint rocks...They all painted flowers or a path including flowers. I decided to take this opportunity to just study rocks. To do this, I was looking at them abstractly. Looking for shapes, values and color. Whether the lupines found their way in or not was not a concern of mine. It took everything in me not to wipe this study off as has been a recent pattern of mine. I don't want more paintings lying around. I will normally take a photo and then wipe the slate clean. I won't say I am glad I kept this painting but there is something about it I like. It is strong graphically, I give it that! And I may add the lupines. TBD.

The panel I used here had been painted on so many times prior to this one that the texture was almost a hindrance.  It did slow me down. This may be the last time I can use this particular panel. So be it.

RIP Fritz the Wonder Dog

Fritz, 20x16, oil on panel - Died 6-4-20 at 15.5 years of age

Yesterday was a sad day, but yet a relief. Fritz finally let me know on Wednesday he was ready. I found a wonderful Veterinarian who came to the house. This is all he does, which takes a special individual. And he was very good at it. A big shout out to Dr. Jason Cordeiro. This was my first experience with home pet care, but I would not do it any other way now. I was able to hold Fritz as he passed out of this life into the next. He is missed and will be missed. He was a little shit in a many ways, but he was my little shit. He had such a personality and was a verbal dog, letting us know what he thought on the subject. The past year he was showing his age, but still, for the most part, vibrant. The past several months I knew the time with him was coming to an end. Knowing and accepting are two different things...please forgive me if I wasn't listening to as closely as I should have. With much love.

I did this portrait of Fritz 6 years ago. It was for a class project where texture was the theme. I tended to paint with a smooth surface and this was to try and break me out of that mode. I thought I might be able to add more paint texture to his hair, which for me, was a help. I will never be an impasto painter but my paintings are no longer smooth to the touch.

Fritz, quick sketch, 9x12, oil on panel

I could only find this one image of a quick sketch I did of Fritz many years ago. (looks like the paint was still wet when I shot it) He was waiting for Richard to come home. He had heard his cab drive by so had his eye on the gate. This quick sketch was painted in less than 5". Fortunately, I had the paint already on the palette as I had been painting in the garden just before I saw him sitting there so intently.

Continuing the Farm/Ranch theme -the Big Barn

Big Barn, 9x12, oil on linen panel

Continuing not only the theme from my last post, but also another uninspiring title! I lack creativity in that area...I "finished" this painting months ago and I let it sit all this time because I wasn't sure what I thought about it. Still not sure what I think about it. So I am throwing it out there for commentary or critique.

Then I decided I could not post this image. In life it looked better - in a photograph - all I can say is ugh. Back to the easel it went. The first thing that I did, even though it was the clouds that I dislike so much, I pushed the mountain back a bit. I felt the color was too strong. Next, the trees on the right. The far right one especially reminded me too much of Charles E. Burchfield (his trees are very stylized). Which was a distraction to me. Still avoiding the sky, I did a few adjustments to the foreground. None of this took very long as the structure is in place and it is a small painting. It continues to look better to my eye. Then I decided to redo the barn; the value of it wasn't off per se, but it needed something. Finally, I had to face the clouds. I have been studying clouds, especially when they hang over the mountains. The bottoms of the clouds here really can get very dark. So the value of that dark blue wasn't the problem. Nor was it the color. I discovered it was the  middle value that was the problem. That middle value was too light. And I had tried too hard to add pinks and yellows to it making the clouds look dirty.

Big Barn, 9x12, oil on panel

Usually, I prefer to put the 'New! Improved!' image at the top of the page...today I decided to leave what was originally going to be the posted photo and text where they were. I have taken more time on this silly little painting than I do on some of my larger paintings. I just don't paint this small much anymore. It took 5 days of taking photos, taking it back to the easel before I am done with it.

I went out to paint in my garden yesterday on an 8x10 panel. It was pure torture..