Utah County Plein Air Show 2022

12" x 16" Oil on Panel

The Utah County plein air event is going on now. Paintings for the competition were turned in last Saturday. The opening reception is this Friday, June 3rd from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the Health and Justice building, 151 South University Avenue in Provo. For more information, visit their website at:

http://www.utahcountyart.com/index.php

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

These are my two entries fore the show. I chose to go to a couple of the higher elevations in the county for these two paintings. I'm looking forward to seeing what other's have entered into the show! The exhibit will be up through July, I understand, so if you happen to be in the area, come see the show!

Lop Sided Tree

 

10" x 8" Oil on Panel

The tree really does look like this. 

There's a trail I walk from time to time that leads along the base of the mountains by town. At one point along the trail I can look up the mountainside and see this tree, my attention drawn by it's unusual shape. One day I finally decided to haul myself, and some painting gear, up the steep mountainside for a painting. The way was not only steep, but the ground was not very stable, making footing less secure. The tree was farther than I realized, so the climb took longer than I thought it would. Eventually I reached the juniper tree and the limestone cliff it was growing out of, and made this painting.

There was some wildlife I enjoyed seeing as I hiked up the mountainside and also along the way back down. Three vultures were winging about the area as I climbed, and later as I descended I crossed paths with some chukar partridges and a heard of mule deer. It's always a nice bonus when oil painting combines with nature watching!

Merry Christmas from Jolly's Ranch!

 

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

Down the valley from where I live is a canyon in the Wasatch Range I've visited a lot this year. A few miles up the canyon is a city park that, I presume, used to be a ranch. I've driven past that park many times on my way to higher altitudes, each time thinking I should stop and paint there some time. Yesterday, Christmas Eve, was finally that time.

One nice thing about painting in winter: no bugs in your painting!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Pre-pandemic Portrait Sketches

12" x 9" Pastel on Sanded Paper

These two portrait sketches are from a few weeks before when just about everything - including live drawing sessions - was shut down on account of current worldwide viral and governmental circumstances. I'm certainly looking forward to when the disease is brought under control, vaccines and better treatments are developed, and I can start going to drawing sessions again. 

14" x 11" Charcoal on Grey Paper

In the mean time, there are other things to do. I miss the benefits of going to live drawing sessions every week, but it's probably not worth the risks right now, especially to anyone who could become seriously ill, or worse. Besides, drawing a model who's wearing a face mask might not be very helpful. Also, I doubt hand sanitizer would make a very good solvent or medium for any kind of painting!

This is Tomorrow!

A new art exhibit opens tomorrow at Evergreen Gallery in SLC. Several local artists were each given a 20" x 20" painting panel to do with what we pleased. Come see how mine turned out! (Hint: I already posted about the painting I made for the show several weeks ago.) I'm excited to see what others did with their panels! For more information, contact Evergreen Gallery, and come see the exhibit! Art always looks better in person!

Drawing a Singer

14" x 11" Charcoal on Grey Paper

Another drawing from another portrait session a couple of weeks ago. The model we had for that session is an up and coming singer named Ludovica. You can see her You Tube channel Here:

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

Backlit Blonde

14" x 11" Charcoal on Paper

Here's a quick post about my sketch from last Wednesday's portrait session. I try to arrive early enough to the session to have my choice of where to set up. Lately, however, someone new has been showing up earlier and taking "my spot", so I have to move to another spot in the studio. This drawing was made from someplace other than "my spot." Maybe I should try different spots more often.

Drawing made with charcoal pencils and "white charcoal" on grey paper. Total time: three hours, including breaks.

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

Woman with Mickey Mouse Hair Buns

14" x 11" Charcoal on Toned Paper.

I don't know if the post's title correctly names that hairstyle or not. It's just how the model had her hair at last Wednesday's portrait session. Regardless, it was a nice change from the usual single hair-bun that models often wear for these sessions. Subject of hairstyle aside, I really enjoyed drawing that face!

For this portrait, I got out a sketchbook of gray paper and used charcoal pencils and a "charcoal white" pencil. Total time: three hours, including breaks.

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

First Sketch of 2020

14" x 11" Charcoal on Grey Paper

Long time, no post anything...

Been busy with the holidays and slowed down by the winter doldrums, but Hopefully, things will begin to pick up for me. The sketch shown above is from a portrait session in Orem last Thursday. The model was great, and there was a lot of good artwork from other painters there. I enjoyed not only practicing for myself, but also, as always, seeing what others were doing and learning from it.

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

Desert Tower

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

Early this month I was back in the desert, near the Book Cliffs. There's so much to explore and paint there! Other parts of Utah get much more attention, and that makes this area all the better for exploring and painting. No noisy crowds. No national park bureaucratic regulations. Just desert canyons and cliffs, pinyon and juniper forests, and wide open views. 

This painting was made on a beautiful day early in November. The weather was one of those late autumn dichotomies where chilly air and warm sun contrast sharply with each other. After painting, I took a little time to hike a trail that led through a couple canyons and through stands of pinyon pine and juniper trees to a pleasant surprise; a waterfall in the desert! This time of year there was a lot of ice built up on the waterfall, and along the creek that tumbled over those falls.

There was much more trail to hike, but the sun was getting low and the time short, so I thought it best to return. And although I physically returned, it's as if part of my mind remained, wondering what else there was farther along the trail. Bits of my mind always seem to get stuck in wild places! I'll be back, for sure, both to paint and to hike more of this wonderful and intriguing landscape!

Mid October Hues

20" x 20" Oil on Panel

Here's a square painting for once. I kind of like the format, so I might just paint a few more of them. Who knows, I could start trying other non-standard formats also.

This painting shows the subtle, earthy colors of a mid October rural landscape. It's days like this that make me want to outfit one of my paintboxes with only earth tone oil colors, just for scenes like this. This painting could have been made using mainly earth colors, such as yellow ochre, burnt umber and burnt sienna, but I used my usual split primary plus viridian palette instead, because that's what I have. Such a bright palette can be used to create earth tone colors just fine, it's just a little more expensive to do it that way. It would be interesting to see how a scene like this could be painted with a Zorn-ish palette, such as yellow ochre, cadmium red, and ivory black or ultramarine blue, plus titanium white. I'll be sure to give that a try sometime soon.

This painting will be in a show early next year. I'll explain more about the show later, as we get closer to it.

Helper Plein Air 2019

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

On the first of October I traveled to Helper, Utah, to spend a few days participating in a plein air event there. I've been hoping for a plein air event in Helper for a long time. The landscape surrounding the town is rich in subject matter for paintings, with miles of towering cliffs and wide open high desert views. Many of the buildings in downtown helper have the feel of an early twentieth century boom town. I've painted in the area before, and have spent a few days there in the past, but it's been a few years since I've been back.

11" x 14" Oil on Panel

Helper is a small town tucked up against the Book Cliffs, and located on a major route between northern and southeastern Utah; a route used by people generally on their way to and from other places. Because of Helper's location, it's a major railroad town, supplying extra locomotives to help long trains up steep canyon grades. (Hence the town's name.) The railroad, and coal mining, provided the bulk of the local economy. Those industries, however, have been on the wane recently, and the town has suffered economically.

During my most recent visit I was surprised to find that a number of the previously empty buildings in downtown Helper now house art galleries and artists' studios. During the monthly "First Friday Art Walk," main street is closed to traffic. Street vendors and performers set up their booths street side downtown, and crowds of people show up to tour galleries and enjoy the festivities. Helper is not yet a big art center, but there is a sense of optimism, and the town seems to be on it's way to becoming one.

My abode for a few days.

While in Helper for the plein air event, I stayed at a local campground. The first morning there, as I happened to be looking toward the Book Cliffs a few miles away, There suddenly appeared what I at first thought was smoke from a big wildfire that had just started on the other side of town. But the smoke was billowing downward, not up, like smoke is supposed to. I realized it wasn't smoke. It was dust and debris from a huge rockfall, tumbling hundreds of feet down a towering cliff near town! The rockfall then kicked up a giant dust cloud that rose hundreds of feet into the air, and slowly drifted off to the southeast.

A few minutes later, I drove to a nearby corner market. Pointing to the still lingering dust cloud where the rockfall had happened, I asked the man at the checkout counter,

"Are there any homes located over there?"

He replied that no, that area of town is where the cemetery is and there aren't any homes there.

I asked, "Does this sort of thing happen here very often?"

He answered, "More often than you would think." Then after a short pause added, "That was a big one, though."

The big rockfall had been visible from all over town. It was frequently brought up in conversation later when the plein air painters got together after being out painting all day.

The big rockfall happened on the cliff  visible
just to the right of the top of the tent.

That day and the next I did the two paintings shown at the top of this post. After framing my paintings and turning them in at the gallery, I headed out to explore more of the surrounding area. Pointing the 4Runner down various unfamiliar dirt roads, I would drive until the road ended, or I thought it might never end. Then I'd turn around and go find another road to explore. The diverse roads I followed led me into deep canyons or up onto high mesas.

An example of the brightly colored wild asters that
were growing many places along the road.

There was little time available between dropping off paintings and returning to the gallery later that evening for the reception, so instead of painting I simply scouted the area, stopping from time to time to take photographs.

More Asters

Pinyon pines and juniper trees grow in scattered batches on the tablelands below the book cliffs. Most of the area, however, is open grassland and sagebrush. In the higher elevations a wider variety of trees can be found, including aspens and maples.

An Abundance of Juniper Berries

Perhaps more showy than the asters were the large batches of yellow chamisa, or rabbitbrush commonly growing along the edges of dirt roads.

Chamisa, or Rabbitbrush

More Roadside Rabbitbrush

To see my paintings in person, along with freshly made paintings by more than forty other plein air artists, come visit Adams Fine Arts in Helper, Utah. The gallery is located downtown at 115 South Main Street. The show will be up through the rest of October, and the first of November. All paintings are for sale. For more information, visit https://www.helperpleinair.com

An Example of the Kind of Landscape I Was Exploring

Mt. Olympus on a Hot Summer's Day

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

This is a plein air painting of Mt. Olympus as seen from Olympus Hills Park in Holliday. This section of the park is a nice wild little area near the eastern edge of the city. Walking paths meander through tall grasses and scrub oak, providing a little bit of nature in a broad valley otherwise filled mostly with city.

The day I painted this was very hot, probably over 100° F (38° C). Of course, the view I wanted required that I set up in direct sun for a few hours. I didn't think I could withstand the summer heat long enough to do a large painting, so I kept it fairly small. Judging by how I felt when the painting was finished, I was probably right.

Three More from the Wednesday Night Portrait Sessions!

Three more little paintings from life done at the Wednesday sessions. They were painted alla prima at sessions within the last month or two.

All three were painted in oil on panel, and measure 8" x 6". They were painted with a limited palette of yellow, red, black, and white. For a little more about painting with a limited palette, go to "Labels" on the side bar and click on "limited palette".

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

Wasatch Plein Air Paradise 2019

12" x 16" Oil on Panel

The Midway Art Association is holding it's annual plein air competition right now. Painting for the main competition began last Saturday. Paintings for the main competition had to be turned in yesterday, but smaller "paint outs" and "quick draws" continue through July 4th.

12" x 16" Oil on Panel

I've entered three paintings (all painted this week) into the main competition, but unfortunately won't be in any of the "paint outs" this year due to other commitments. The show runs through July the fourth (except Sunday) and is free to the public. All paintings are for sale. For more information about the event, contact Midway Art Association.

14" x 11" Oil on Panel

Summer Solstice 2019

8" x 10" Oil on Panel

Happy Summer Solstice! Here's a couple recent plein air paintings that I think have an appropriately summery feel to them.

9" x 12" Oil on Panel

This year so far has seen more rain than usual. Nature's also put on daily displays of cloudscapes of all kinds. Clouds can be difficult to paint en plein aire because of their fleet and transient nature. I think this year will provide ample opportunities to take on the challenge of cloudscapes in oil paint. I hope I'm up to it!

We See What We Expect to See

This happened a number of years ago, in an apartment complex I lived in at the time. One day I went to the laundry room to wash some clothes, as I normally did about once a week. A week's worth of laundry takes a few washers at once if one doesn't want to wait and run several loads of laundry through a single machine.

On this particular day I needed four washing machines. I selected four adjacent machines and checked to make sure they were empty. The inside of each washing machine is colored grey, with white specks. I was certain that was what I saw when I looked in each machine. Empty. One by one I poured a measured amount of dry laundry detergent into each washer. I heard the dry detergent rattle against the bottom of each empty machine - except the last one, which made no sound when I poured in the detergent. Confused, I looked inside the fourth washer again.

Oh no! Inside that washing machine was someone's freshly washed laundry, all black clothing, now covered with my laundry detergent! After having looked inside the previous three washers, I was certain I had seen the same dark grey interior with white specks in the fourth as I had seen in the previous three machines. But I couldn't have.

I had expected to see an empty washing machine, grey with white specks, so I thought that's what I did see.

My first impulse was to close the washing machine lid and pretend it didn't happen. Then I realized I owed whoever the black clothing belonged to some money for a new wash. So I put some quarters into the coin slots and started the machine again. Then I found another washer (really empty this time) and went back to my own laundry.

A couple minutes later, two men walked into the laundry room. Both men were younger - and taller - than me. And both were dressed entirely in black. I continued to sort my laundry as they walked up to the newly started washer, which was right beside me. The first man had a confused look on his face as he looked at the now running washing machine. He turned to me and asked,

"Is this your laundry?"

With a convincing display of disinterest I glanced at the machine and nonchalantly answered,

"Nope."

And continued to sort my laundry.

The first man in black, after staring at the washing machine for another several seconds, opened it, revealing black clothing sloshing around in soapy water.

"Dude! How long do these washers run?!" He exclaimed to no one in particular.

"Dude! When did you put those clothes in there?" The second man in black responded.

I tended to my own laundry as if nothing was unusual.

Probably less than a minute passed before the two men left the laundry room, still wondering to each other how that washing machine could still be running after so long. I didn't feel inclined to tell them. I completed my laundry without further incident.

What might any of this have to do with painting?

Sometimes the brain uses experience to interpret a scene in front of it instead of relying solely on what the eye at the moment sends to the brain. I won't take time in this post to explain how that works, but you can do some research if you like, perhaps starting here, or this article here, to get a better understanding of what I'm referring to. That, I believe, is how someone can look at a painting, and instead of seeing blotches of paint, see leaves on a tree, flowers in a meadow, or the glance of a person gazing back at them. This is what painters depend upon to get their paintings to work, at least at that level. It doesn't even matter how large or small those "blotches of paint " are. if they are put in the right place, in the right way, it will trigger the mind to "see" depth, shape, atmosphere, and even life where there is really only a flat inanimate surface.

Or, how your brain perceives things might nearly get you into trouble...

A Brunette and a Redhead

8" x 6" Oil on Panel

Two more recent portrait sketches from live models. Both were painted alla prima in oil in two and a half to three hours each at the weekly portrait sessions. The first one was painted with my usual "Zorn (ish)" palette of yellow ochre, cadmium red, ivory black, and titanium white.

8" x 6" Oil on Panel

For the second painting, I did something very different, at least for me. I usually keep my oil color choices for portraits much simpler than when I work in pastel. This time the model wore a turquoise colored blouse, and I really didn't want to miss getting the color contrast between her orange hair and the blouse. So I put blue on my palette. Not only one, but two different blues. The palette for the second painting was cadmium yellow, cadmium red, sevres blue, ultramarine blue, ivory black and titanium white. Sevres blue is an unusual color for me, and I only have it in the particular pochade box I used that evening. There are other blues which also would have served the purpose, but this one worked fine. Who knows, I may become more adventurous on portrait night and start putting more colors on my palette!

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