A couple of years ago I visited a family members home in another western state and hanging in their hallway was this large oil painting of Broken Bow Arch painted by my father, Byrd Bartholomew. Byrd really connected with that arch. He painted dozens of different versions. Along with twisted juniper trees, Broken Bow arch was his favorite oil painting subject. My mother and he hiked in there to photograph the arch regularly. When I saw the painting I barely remembered it. He painted it during the early 1970′s I know this because there is a similar composition hanging in a home in northern Utah. I really enjoy this Broken Bow arch painting because of the tree Byrd placed in the foreground. He really had a passion for the twisted junipers of Utah. The particular tree represented in this painting (and in others), he found growing along the side of the road between Calf Creek and Boulder. Utah in what is now The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Sadly for the tree and Byrd the road was widened during the late 80′s and the tree did not survive. I guess that he and the tree live on in this and several other of his paintings
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Brigham Young University’s Herald B. Lee Library added a couple of paintings of Broken Bow Arch by both myself and my dad to their permanent collection a few years ago. In some future blog entry I will try and feature those four paintings.

A couple years ago my mother planned a family hike down to the arch for old times sake the group included my mother, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. More than 30 decedents of the artist, Byrd Bartholomew made the trip. As the last of the group was leaving the arch to hike back up out of the canyon I snapped this photograph. (This link will show you the location.)

Just for fun a reader in Texas e-mailed me an image of her Byrd Bartholomew version of Broken Bow. Thanks Amy.

Greetings, here is a  time lapse video of me painting a small (11 x 14 inches) color-value sketch. This type of small painting or sketch will help me as I design and create a larger oil painitngs.  One thing I discovered as I made this little sketch of Turret Arch in Snow was an interesting rhythm  created by the alternating snow and sandstone patterns on both sides of the image.  When I create the larger painting I will try to emphasize those patterns. I also discovered a value shift I need to make between the sky and the sun lite  sandstone. Ideas like these are just a couple of the reasons why I like to paint smaller versions of the landscapes I eventually paint large.

I hope you enjoyed this little video. If  you are interested in this little painting or any other works you see here contact me. Check out what I have on Ebay this week.

Time flies when you are having fun and it goes just as fast if you’re not…. I think I’ll choose fun. I made a 18 x 24 oil color study this week in preparation for another 30 x 40 Utah landscape oil painting featuring the east side of the South Window at Arches National Park near Moab.
I love the way it looks almost anywhere in the canyon country of Utah when it snows. You can never predict where the snow will stick. Sometimes it only sticks on the vegetation, sometimes on the soil and sometimes it even finds a way to stick to the vertical canyon walls. I love the patterns that are created by the sun as it selectively melts the snow. I enjoy looking south into the shadows and seeing all the blue patches of snow that the sun can’t melt. Snow hides from the sun and is tucked into the deep red violet shadows of places like Arches or Dead Horse Point or any number of locations in the red rock country creating an exquisite tapestry of cool colors.
I have a Turret Arch in the fog study in the works and the larger version of this view of the South Window (although in the larger version I am simplifying the composition). I hope you check back soon. In a week or so I will post a new time lapse video. Do check ebay and see what I have on auction there. If you are interested in giving any of the paintings you see here a home e-mail or watch for the new available works page on this site.

If you like this painting or any others like it contact me by e-mail.

Wow! I completed my newest double Arch painting. Its the third time I have used it in a composition and the first time in snow. The snow added an unexpected graphic quality that I enjoy. I painted it using only Yellow Ocher, English red and French Ultramarine. Along with white and a tiny bit of black. I like to use a limited palette, it helps me create a unified color scheme. I plan on posting a time lapse of this painting tomorrow so watch for it.( I also hope to take a better still image and replace this one which has a nasty bit of glare on the top half.) This newest example of my Utah landscape paintings is 40 inches tall and 30 inches wide.
My next studio painting will have a bit of a tonalist quality not that I am a tonalist. I have been in the arches in the fog and it is quite an experience both the area around the windows district and over at delicate arch both areas were magnificent in the mist cold fog. I plan on painting some smaller versions of the arches in the fog because I am temporarily out of larger canvases.
If you are interested in this or any other paintings like it please e-mail me for details. Check my ebay store and see what small plein air or studio study works I have there.

Wow! its been a week since my last post. I hope you are a return reader. Enjoy some of my time lapse You Tube videos posted below. Tonight I am working on a 40 x 30 oil painting of Utah’s famous Double Arch. This picture is of it as I started working on it tonight. Its snowing outside right now so I am glad to be in my studio all warm and cozy.

Greetings, here is the time lapse video of my most recent oil painting of Utah. I hope you enjoy it. Next up Double Arch in the snow.One of my next posts will be an update on that painting!

If you are interested in this painting or one like it please e-mail me for details or check my home page for paintings for sale. Check my ebay store out, see what plein air or small studies I have for sale or auction there.

I have been working on my South Window in the Snow painting this week. I think it is very close to being complete. I am always surprised as I paint by the little things I learn and re-learn about color or value relationships or the sense of rhythm I see and feel as I activate a landscape. It is almost as if I forget half of what I think I know about painting between each painting. With that said I will tell you that I plan on painting the Double Arch in snow for my next project. Double Arch is only about a half a mile walk from the South Window so they have virtually the same geology (although the Entrada sandstone is a little lumpier at the base of Double Arch). Because I visited both arches on the same day at about the same time I hope what I have learned in the South Window painting will still be in my brain as I start the Double Arch painting. Scroll down and watch my Corona Arch time-lapse video (if you have not seen it yet). I have had a bunch of good feedback about how cool the video is, now I need someone to feel that way about the painting. If that person is you e-mail about how it or one like it can be yours. Check out my Ebay store and see what plein air or small studio studies I have for sale or auction this week. Thanks for visiting. Check back soon to see the finished paintings.

Here is a 30 x 40 canvas I am working on this week in the studio. I am doing another time lapse video of this painting but it might be a week until I am done so I thought I would share this little painting in progress. I do love the way the snow clings to the shadow side of everything in the canyon country of Utah. It my be a sunny desert, but trust me its a dang cold desert. Last November Rhonda and I camped over near Goblin Valley and we nearly froze! For those of you hoping for some plein air work from me sorry the days are to short. I decided to dedicate myself to the studio until late spring so I can finish my day of teaching and then get to a good location in time to actually set up and paint. So enjoy the studio work!

Here is the complete time lapse vidoe of me painting my first version of Corona Arch.

I hope you enjoy the audio track I added. My sped up brush made kind of an annoying static sound. If you are interested in this or any other paintings hereon my web site e-mail me.