Charcoal on Watercolor Paper

Charcoal on Watercolor Paper

When I got to the portrait drawing session last Wednesday, I discovered that none of the different kinds of paper I like to use for charcoal or pastel drawing were in my sketch box. There was some watercolor paper, though, even though I don't really do watercolor and had no watercolors with me. So I did charcoal on watercolor paper. The picture above shows the result.

This evening's portrait session starts in just a couple hours or so. I think I'll go check my sketch box and restock it now.

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing."

Mount Olympus, Early Autumn

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

Mount Olympus, as viewed from Olympus Hills Park. Painted from right field in the south side softball field. Nobody was playing ball so I painted en plein air. I've wanted to paint that mountain when the trees turn bright red. Technically it's still Summer, I suppose, but Autumn colors are really coming on strong now in the mountains, on the downhill side of September.

Girl with Ponytail, Also a New Show Opens Tonight!

12" x 9" Charcoal on Paper

A little break from landscape paintings this week. This is a charcoal sketch of a woman who modeled at Howard Lyon's studio last Wednesday. It would have been good to get out the paints and do an oil sketch of her, but after a day full of driving halfway across the state and running errands (including delivering new paintings to a gallery and buying new picture frames), by the time I got to the portrait session I had only enough energy for a simple charcoal sketch. Of course, that's much better than not doing anything at all, and I'm glad I made it there.

For more about portrait sessions, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "portrait", "sketching" or "drawing."

Also, there is a new art exhibit opening tonight! Logan Fine Art Gallery's "Fall Salon" begins tonight and runs through October, I believe. I've had a preview of the show and can tell you there's a lot of really good paintings and other pieces of art in the exhibit. One of my plein air landscapes is in the show. For more information about the gallery, click here.

Spring City Wrap Up.

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

On the last day of painting for the Spring City Plein Air event, I was tired and tempted to be satisfied with the three paintings I had completed the previous few days. But there was still time to paint, and it helped my motivation that I had already paid the entry fee for a fourth painting and was loathe to waste that money. Clouds were beginning to boil up as I scouted out a place to paint just a couple miles or so from the gallery. I set up by an alfalfa field edged by some wonderful trees, and with a great view of clouds building over the San Pitch Mountains. It was necessary to lay in the impression of those clouds on the panel quickly, since I knew they weren't going to stay that way. The clouds grew and spread rapidly, overwhelming the blue of the sky and bringing scattered drizzles of rain.The initial lay in and memory allowed me to refine and finish the painting in spite of the variable weather. The picture at the top of this post shows the result of that day's painting.

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

The last post mentioned a third painting I had made for the plein air event. That painting is shown immediately above. The day it was painted was stormy and overcast. Small groups of Canada Geese and some of sandhill cranes flew by during the afternoon. As evening approached the occasional small group of passing geese turned into flocks of forty or fifty. Even though the day was grey, and blustery, and rainy, it was a good day to be out and painting. It had been, in fact, a great week for painting in Sanpete Valley!

Spring City 2016

18" x 24" Oil on Panel

For the last few days I've been painting in Spring City for the plein air competition there. The show opens TONIGHT (Sept. 2) at 7:00 PM and runs through tomorrow afternoon. I've completed three paintings and hope to have another one painted and ready by 4:00 today. The painting shown above is the second one I've painted this week. The first one is here:

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

The third painting I think I'll wait and show show in the next post.

There will be a lot of different painters exhibiting in the show. Sales are usually pretty lively, so if you want a plein air painting to add to your collection (or to start one), come early! If you just like to peruse and enjoy the artwork, come visit and say hi.The show is free. For more information check out Spring City Arts website: http://www.springcityarts.com/news/2016-sca-plein-air-competition

Hope to see you there!

Wallsburg

12" x 16" Oil on Panel

The turnoff to Wallsburg is usually just a place I pass on the way to Midway. Last week, however, I took that turn. Wallsburg is a rural town tucked into a beautiful little valley full of great places to paint. At least, that's my point of view. The picture shown above is of the first painting of mine to come out of that valley. I think there will be more.

The Spring City Plein Air Competition is this week. More about that in my next post!

Edge of the Trees

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

There will always be good things to paint. I'm drawn to places out in the country and into wild places, as I have been all my life. It's not that I can't paint urban areas, that's just not what draws my interest. Even in heavily developed areas, however, one can find little patches of nature to paint. 

It seems like this entire valley is being developed. From the base of the Wasatch Mountains to the edge of Utah Lake; from Point of the Mountain to Santaquin. More neighborhoods are going in. More big buildings are going up. I realize there's a need for much of this, but there's less of the close by open space and stands of trees that I like to paint. 

There's a little pocket of Springville between I-15 and the lake where I've painted many times. It's a favorite place of mine. Ranch land there is slowly being squeezed out by businesses. A stand of big willow trees I've painted before and wanted to paint again has been knocked down and piled in a giant heap. There's still lots to paint in that area, but I feel like I'm in a race with the bulldozers. 

Hopefully I can keep ahead of the bulldozers for a while. There's still lots of good places to paint in that westernmost part of Springville; places like the one depicted in the painting shown above. While it's still there, I'll keep painting there.