Sun Shadow Painter

"Hideaway"

2011-03-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

"Trail"

2011-03-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

"Morning Light"

2011-03-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

SQUARE Show at Milagros

2011-03-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's spring here in the mountains, and I am part of a wonderful show of more than 90 small paintings at Milagros Coffeehouse in Alamosa for March and April. Twenty percent of show sales will benefit La Puente and other local nonprofits.

The SQUARE Show came to life after much experimentation with the square format during Coni Grant's Adult Painting Classes over more than a year. Nine students and former students are in the show. All images are perfectly square, many only 6" x 6".

I like the small square format very much. I find it elegant and intimately accessible to the viewer. I use it on a canvas board which is defined by edge of frame. And I use it on museum board where the naturally ragged painting edge may show inside a mat opening. A matted image is generally presented under glass, but I am also developing beautiful ways to mat and frame without glass which gives a softer presentation. A few of my show entries are posted above.

"Hazy Day"

2010-06-21T20:03:00.001-07:00

"High Mountain Meadow"

2010-06-21T19:59:00.001-07:00

Colorado Expressions @ La Veta

2010-06-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

Time again for the Spanish Peaks Arts Council to showcase artwork in a variety of media that is all about Colorado.

The Colorado Expressions show opens with a reception on Saturday June 26, 5-7 pm, and remains on display until Saturday July 17. If you're in the neighborhood, it should be an interesting collection of art by many accomplished artists; definitely worth a look!

I will have two acrylic paintings in the show: "High Mountain Meadow" (8" x 10", on canvas board), and "Hazy Day" (6" x 6", on 100% rag museum board). See them directly above this post.

"Summer Walk on the Levee"

2010-03-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

"Spring Rain at Cattails"

2010-03-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

"Rain Approaches the Rio Grande"

2010-03-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

"The Marsh just after Sunset"

2010-03-22T13:06:00.001-07:00

"Clouds at Play over Blanca"

2010-03-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

Five Paintings for Alamosa ArtWalk

2010-03-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

The winter seems to be melting away, even though we had a big blizzard last Friday! It's suddenly spring, and time for ArtWalk here in Alamosa. I am busy framing and will hang my five paintings this week at Hospice del Valle, 514 Main Street, for the big event this Saturday, March 27. (The five paintings will appear directly above this posting)

It is always difficult to decide which paintings to show. I finally decided to select by subject matter, and they are all of places right here at the north edge of town. The titles will explain nicely. Following is the Statement I have prepared for this show:

Artist Statement

Most days I walk on the levee along the south side of the Rio Grande, La Veta to State.
In summer, I sometimes bike on the levee north of the Rio, west from State around the big bend, across the south end of the Ranch, and back on Cottonwood to State.

What magnificent views at different times of the day, in different kinds of weather!

Light in the morning and evening changes everything --- often quickly and astoundingly.

I strive to capture some of that drama in the studio.

"Evening Gold"

2010-01-01T15:20:00.001-08:00

"Twilight"

2010-01-01T15:11:00.001-08:00

Taos Show...Hearts and Stars

2010-01-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

Somehow the year ended without me telling about participating in the December Hearts and Stars Miniature Show in Taos, NM. It is a show held each year at Wilder Nightingale Fine Art specifically to benefit the Taos Coalition to End Homelessness.

This was my first year to send a couple paintings to the show and I was happy to hear that my 8x10 landscapes, "Evening Gold" and "Twilight", received some positive attention. See the paintings directly above this post.

Thanks to Wilder Nightingale Fine Art for hosting this worthwhile benefit!

"Flowing Gold"

2009-12-17T19:44:00.001-08:00

Creative Capitol show in Denver

2009-12-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

The painting above this text ("Flowing Gold") is currently on display in the Colorado State Capitol through February 28, 2010. It is part of an exhibition celebrating Artists of Southwestern Colorado. I am honored to be one of 37 artists from 16 counties.

A public reception will be held on Thursday, January 28, 2010, 4:00 - 5:30 pm in the Offices of Lt. Governor Barbara O'Brien.

The raking evening light in this painting reveals brilliant golds in contrast with deep shadows along the Rio Grande as it flows through the San Luis Valley. Here water is more precious than gold.

Landscape Painting

2009-08-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

If an artist works thoughtfully and with intent, certain images, certain kinds of marks, certain forms of composition are bound to recur. They will be different for each artist, but recognizable as idiosyncratic.

I grew up walking the tall-grass prairie near my home in Manhattan, Kansas, in the heart of the Flint Hills region.

At Kansas State University, I studied architecture in the 1960s, and later began making severely abstract images representing the interaction of mankind with nature in a series of prairie storm paintings during the 1970s.

At the University of Kentucky in the 1980s, I moved to lithography, expressively interpreting the landscapes of Dante's Inferno in black and white. The Kentucky landscape, itself, was too intimate, too crowded, too manicured to be inspiring.

After moving to North Dakota in 1985, the clear penetrating light of the northern prairie called me once again to painting. And though the images generally were somewhat abstracted, storms still appeared, natural and man-made elements were often recognizable. Everything was worth painting ... the hills, the sky, the trees, the potholes, the grain bins, the fences, the roads, the telephone poles, the sheds ... with feeling, my drawing/painting/writing hands moved quickly to express intuitively some of the tensions that will probably always exist between the natural world and humankind.

Leaving North Dakota for Colorado in late 2006, was an opportunity to begin anew, to build on acquired skills and knowledge, just as I had done so many times before ... new places to see, new materials to experiment with and master, new attitudes to try on, new directions to explore ...

As always, discovering self -- the heart of all worthwhile adventures.