Butch's Ice House

One day, while I was on my Wyoming retreat, we had a "paint the town" day, and believe it or not, this mine-like thing is right downtown where I was staying. It looked like a mine to me but as I painted, townsfolk stopped to chat and there were many explanations for this oddity. However, all agreed: it's not a mine.

Some said that it was Butch Cassidy's hide out, Butch having lived and worked in and around the town from the 1890's. Other's said it was created to house bootlegged liquor, and still others said it's only job was to keep ice cold. All agreed that in its recent history, it served as a pretty cool bar, so to speak.

It was very strenuous, fast painting for me because the shadows were perfect when I was setting up and I could tell that they wouldn't last long. I blocked in the shadows and the more prominent light-catchers before I did anything else and was very glad I did. In just a half an hour, the light had changed on it completely. We painted from 3 to 5 and if it had been open for business, I may have gone in for a cool one to celebrate my quick-draw victory! Annie Oakley would have been proud.

Whiskey Creek, 8x10. sold

*sold*
I believe the exact name of this creek is Torrey Creek but it is located in Whiskey Basin and they call it Whiskey Creek because, according to locals, cowboys used to hide their whiskey in the creek to keep it cool in the summer. Sounds good to me.

This is a plein air painting looking down into the creek, no horizon or even anything other than the creek itself. There will be more paintings from this locale forthcoming. The basin was carved out by a glacier and a glacier can be seen from where I was standing, along with bighorn sheep moseying around. This was an ecstatic day, I must say.

This painting sold while I was in Wyoming, still wet, but another person also wanted it so I painted it twice.  The first time was such a joyous breeze.  The second time was very hard.  I don't know why that was but I am going to try not to do that again.  I'm very grateful that there was that kind of union of vision for us, but maybe next time, I'll paint a little bit different painting of the same spot.  

Second Place Pig

This is Carol, the new mistress of Sassy Pig.

Sassy Pig won second in oils at the show in Wyoming. Who said you shouldn't put lipstick on a pig?

To Market To Market

To market, to market, to sell some fat pigs...

I'm off to paint for a couple of weeks in Colorado and Wyoming. These little piggies will be in a show in Wyoming. They look much fancier in their little frames. Happy pigs.

Jax Cat

Pretty kitty kitty, sleeping on a bench, being all difficult to paint. Jax is painted on a paper bag; something I really enjoy doing, although it's not too archival.

Anyway, I hope you like it. Jax doesn't care either way.

Sisters

These little piggies were given to me by my sister. I never meant to collect pigs, or anything else for that matter. We used to live in the country and when we first moved there, my mom gave us a pig cookie jar. It sat proudly in our country kitchen. People saw it and thought that we must like pigs so they blessed us with pig presents on every occasion. We have 32 pigs in our kitchen right now. Not counting any people. And we ourselves now collect them in spite of ourselves.

We have a few chickens, too. Not counting any people.

Pink Piggy

This rough-hewn pine, pink piglet was a gift from my husband and came with a white heartflower painted on her side. I posed her on a green cloth, as I really like green with pink or purple. Plus, she looks a little like a free range piggy this way.

She's 6x6.

Sassy Pig, sold.

*sold*
Sassy is a South American terracotta piggy. She's wearing lipstick.

Tiny Elephant

This tiny wooden elephant sits on our kitchen windowsill, guarding the tea canister. When we were first married, my husband went on a round-the-world cruise on the USS Carl Vinson and brought home treasures from everywhere. I'll be painting tiny portraits of some of them in the months ahead, as they are perfect subjects for daily paintings.

This is a 5x7.

Mr Shorb and Calvin Klein

I shot several pictures of this little 6x6 and they are all totally glare-smacked. It's too dark to reshoot so I'll give you an apology to go with your painting today.

This is Mr Shorb in a CK tie. Mr Shorb was our model this week and this painting was mainly about reflected light.

The light side is pretty bleached out. The shadow side, while still white, is just about the same color-value as the background drape.

When painting, the artist brings knowledge to the task but should allow observation to make the final decisions. When what you see doesn't match what you know, trust what you see.

Before I Fly

Before I fly off to other projects, I need to post a further working of the Stolen Beauty. Still a sketch but a little less sketchy. I do like to come back to unfinished paintings, with fresh eyes and ideas. I'm trying not to do that with sketches so much, though, as it defeats the purpose.

Stolen Beauty

This angel sketch is a demo, teaching how to quickly and accurately sketch out and block in a design, and also a lesson in light and shadow.

As always, as soon as I see the blog post, I want to make corrections to the painting, but it serves the original purpose adequately enough.

I called it Stolen Beauty because the demo was done from a calendar, so it's from someone else's photograph and therefore copyrighted. I can't use it for anything except a demonstration, but that's all I wanted it for so it's a crime without a victim.

I have been employed, since my return, with expanding my studio space and, while I'm thrilled with that job, I am missing the blogosphere and my peeps. I keep thinking that things will slow down but I'm beginning to think that that will require applying the brakes.

Over Shoulder Painting

I am just getting back from a wonderful week of painting with my husband. We camped in New Mexico and made daily trips up into Colorado to paint and this was our first day. I was painting a waterfall that was in front of me while the yawning vista beckoned from behind. Also from behind was a wicked storm that struck while I was working. For a bit, my husband was holding an umbrella over me while I painted but when it started to lightning, we packed it in.

My trusty Mini took us everywhere. The star on her antenna was lost, after being her trademark for over 5 years. Either hail or thievery took it, alas. And yes, I'm wearing exactly the same clothes that I was wearing in the last entry in London. I pack light but I can't get in some places.

John and Julian

I just got back from London; this is the summer of dreams-come-true. I got to visit the studio of my very best hero, John Singer Sargent, which is presently occupied by a wonderful painter named Julian.

I was also able to see (twice!) the John William Waterhouse show at the Royal Academy. He was a very early hero of mine and the show was truly wonderful.

I don't bring my laptop with me when I travel, nor do I have a fancy phone, so when I'm gone, no blogging. I do have some paintings to show you soon, though.

This is a self-portrait of me outside of Sargent's studio: very, very happy.

The Patriot

This is a morning painting of the Patriot. It was hard to paint because it drifted quite a bit, so sometimes the boat on the canvas looked twisted. This was another one that was "fixed" after I got my arm back, in the studio.

Like the Warrior, this boat was being refurbished after a mauling by Ike. I debated whether to include the blue tarps but in the end, they worked with the composition.

When the Warrior and the Patriot were drying side by side, it looked like the Patriot was pulling the Warrior along on a leash as their respective lines met almost exactly. I think a warrior and a patriot would work well together, myself, but I'm not sure which would lead whom.