"March"Oil on Panel
14x18"
2009
Sorry I haven't been posting much lately - life seems to have gotten in the way. I've been working on two paintings for show entries, a 22x28" commission, and finishing up my mentorship. In the meantime Aspen got a nasty stomach flu that kept me out of the studio most of last week, and then we went down to Denver for part of the weekend which meant more time away from the studio. But I'm back on track now - got the show entries done and I'm making some headway on the commission. Actually, the commission has been a lot of fun for me, as it's a bit different than my usual Rocky Mountain scenery (I'm planning to post a demo this weekend or next week).
While we were down in Denver, we took Aspen to the National Western Stock Show so she could see the cows and other animals, and I snuck off and spent some time looking at the paintings in the Coors Western Art Show. I was supposed to go the opening of the show a couple weeks ago, but they closed the pass for wind that
day and I got stuck in the mountains - I was pretty bummed out to miss it.
Anyhow, the nice thing about going later is that there are way less people looking at the art than the opening (always packed), so I could study paintings as long as I wanted. I was a bit sad to see that a lot of good paintings in the show didn't sell this year, but there were some beautiful paintings to look at by some of the best painters in the West.
My favorite painting in the show was Len Chmiel's "An Elegance of Erosion" - it doesn't show that well on his website, but it was so subtle that I could have stared at it all day. Skip Whitcomb was the featured artist this year, and he's one of my favorite painters so of course I loved his work. My favorite of his was the painting "Fraser Valley Ranch", mainly because the Fraser Valley is home to me, and he captured the local landscape so well. Other favorites were some small gems by Matt Smith, and a great looking body of work by Glenn Dean. Anyhow, the show was worth braving the weekend crowds to see.
Well, that's all I've got. Once I finish this commission I'm working on, I'll post some in progress pictures here.
I must say, I really like your brushwork. It is very prodigious, but without drawing too much attention to itself. It keeps my eye moving.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I like both of those paintings you linked to. I could see where the first one was better in person, but it's so cool. Some of my favorite type of western scenery. And the one of Fraser Valley captures the essence and mood of Fraser Valley perfectly.
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