Needles District, Canyonlands Utah

I left early last Thur. morning and headed to Canyon Lands Utah to meet some friends for some camping and hiking. I showed up before anyone else and had a few hours to myself to paint. I was able to get three done before anyone else showed up. All of the paintings were pretty much done right from camp. The formation in this painting is called six shooter.

We call this camp "Big Tree" This is about a third of the "Big Tree" which is a big cotton wood that has kind of laid down. I heard a quote about this place that goes: "Even the tree is relaxed here."

This was done in the evening. I felt like I was struggling getting the color right and I ended up getting a little crazy with the orange. At the time I didn't like it, but now when I look at it, I think it works, and may even help with the feeling of a low warm sun.

This is of the same formation but painted in the morning.

I really felt on this trip, I was struggling getting the desert colors just right. After our hike on Sat. I sat down with the intention of just working on colors and not making a painting. This is what I ended up with. Turned out to be a painting after all.

Sunday morning was spectacular, so I sat down with my morning coffee and whipped this one out before I hit the road for home.

Here are a few sketches I did while on hikes and sitting around camp.

Figure and Landscapes

 I got out painting a bit today. It was overcast with moments of sunshine. I never feel like I do very well on days like this. 1st, here is what I did in figure this week. I feel it turned out pretty good so I'm putting it at the top of the page.

This was done mid morning this morning out at Sawhill Ponds.

This was done about 7:30ish this morning. It was an experiment to see if I could catch that fleeting morning moment with just a little bit of fog. I worked on it more when I got home. Almost..... See Longs Peak in the back.

One to show this week

I managed to get a total of one painting done this week. I am hoping next week is a little more fruitful. This is from Weds. night figure.

In Mom's Memory

My Mom passed away a week ago last Thur. and I have been debating weather or not to mention her in my blog. Mom was also an avid artist and had a great deal to do with me becoming an artist, so I figured it would be good to remember her here. She liked to draw, paint, quilt, as well as other creative things. When we were kids fidgeting in church, she would draw pictures for us to keep us entertained and most importantly, quite during the service.  I remember being mesmerised watching figures appear on paper off the tip of her pencil. She thought she was just keeping us kids quite during Dad's sermon, but I believe it was the start of the lasting impact she had on my artistic life. She as well as Dad have always been so encouraging when it came to my art. Thank you Mom, Your art continues through me.

We are flying back to Ohio this morning, So this weeks post is early. Here are this weeks paintings and one drawing. No time for discriptions. So, until next week...

Saturday Post

I am posting today, because we are going skiing tomorrow and I am sure I won't have time to paint.

This is from one of my desert photographs. I did a lot of work on the photo before I started to paint. It really wasn't very good. In Photo shop I made the background much lighter, less contrast and bluer. I did the same to the middle ground but less so. The foreground I more or less left alone.

I think it turned out pretty good.

 This is a portrait of my friend Jon

 I painted this Weds. night. I was a little liberal with the medium when I began. It started to run as you can see on the right side. I thought it was cool looking, so I left it.

one painting to show

I came down with a bad cold last week, so my painting has really suffered. The only work I got done was to finish this painting I showed you last week. These are my friends Jon and Neil in our favorite place, the Needles district in Canyon Lands Utah. I hope to have more to show next week, but first I have to get over this cold.

painting from photos

We"ll start with the Weds. night figure since I think it is my best painting of the week. Not much to say, I just like the way it turned out.

I had every intention of painting outside today, but got spooked by a windy forcast, so I stayed home and started this painting. These are my friends Jon and Neil on one of our trips to the Needles in Utah.

I have been thinking of the desert a lot lately, so I have been painting from photos taken while on outings there. I am really trying to get the proper colors and values so that they look like they were painted pleinair.