Standing on the Shore

"Standing on the Shore"

Day 12 of 30/30

8"x6"

$75.00

I am back home (but exhausted) after spending the last four days participating in a very eye-opening learning experience in a Colley Whisson workshop over in Cary NC.  I have been wanting to study with him for the last couple of years and I am so glad I did!  I plan to write a separate blog post about these four days but I need to play catch up first!

This painting was painted from a photo I took either at String Lake or Jenny Lake in the Tetons.  I really think it is String Lake but I am not sure.  I wanted to simplify the background and foreground and really focus on this clump of trees and I rather like how this one turned out.  As you know, an artist cannot always say this about something they have painted!

Please come back tomorrow as I have another very different tree to share with you!!!

Cottonwood Creek Aspens

"Cottonwood Creek Aspens"

Day 1

8"x6" Oil on canvas panel

$75

And so begins another challenge of painting 30 paintings in 30 days.  Leslie Saeta started this challenge a few years ago and this is the 3rd time I have participated.  Just over 1,000 artists around the world are also taking part in this challenge and I find it exciting to be on a mission to paint every day!  It is not a contest and there are no rules, but it is a way to allow yourself to paint each day.  Some of my paintings will be good and some will not be so good, but the important thing is that I am trying to improve and the way to do that is to paint more! More importantly, for me, I want to practice or improve on a particular skill and in this case it is trees.  I have always loved trees and have decided to continue this pursuit by painting this topic in a number of different ways.  Hopefully, I will learn along the way!

"Cottonwood Creek Aspens" was inspired by a September trip to Grand Teton National Park when I was there plein air painting with friends a couple years ago.  

I hope you will continue to follow along with me and will return to see what I paint next!

Blue Waters at String Lake - Day 9

"Blue Waters at String Lake"

#9 of 30

6"x8" oil on canvas pad

$75.00

Last September I travelled to Grand Teton National Park with two art friends sightseeing, plein air painting and wandering through the multitude of art galleries in Jackson Hole.

One such morning we headed north from Jackson Hole into the park and spent a glorious day painting, exploring and seeing one beautiful vista after another.  This fabulous view at String Lake has yielded me more than a few paintings.

String Lake

String Lake

8"x10" Oil on Canvas

$295.00

Last September I spent a glorious week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming with two artist friends.  We spent the week plein air painting, driving all over Grand Teton National Park, eating (a favorite pastime) and trying to do as much gallery hopping as we could to soak up all the gorgeous artwork displayed in the galleries in downtown Jackson.  We also timed our visit to be able to see the Western Visions Show at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and what a fantastic show that was!

One morning we walked around String Lake snapping photos at every turn and this composition caught my eye.  I recently painted this small 8"x10" for the Guild of Charlotte Artists winter show.  The reception was last night and I was honored to receive an Honorable Mention for it.  I almost fell off my chair when they called my name!  My plan is to use this study for a larger canvas, so stay tuned!

By the way, we just installed photoshop elements 12 and one of the options it gave was to have this frame around my painting so I went for it this time.  Something a little different.

Autumn

Autumn

24"x18" oil on canvas

SOLD

     I feel like I have been missing in action for the last three weeks!  I have not been very diligent in posting to my blog lately but I have been very busy painting, entering shows, attending art classes and attending my second Dreama Tolle Perry workshop in Cary NC.  It was a fabulous three-day workshop and I learned so much from such a giving teacher.  If  you love color and lots of it, I highly recommend her workshops but you have to act fast because they sell out as soon as they are posted! 

     This painting was entered into "A Natural View", a yearly juried art exhibit presented by The Schiele Museum of Natural History and the Gaston County Art Guild.   I have been fortunate enough to have at least one of my two entries accepted each year for the last four years.  Both of my paintings were juried in this year and this painting was purchased by one of the five sponsors.  In the last few years, Steve and I have visited Grand Teton National Park two times and each visit has given me hundreds of photo references of some of my favorite things to paint-trees.  This grove of trees is near the Gros Ventre Slide area of the park near Jackson Hole, Wyoming.