As some of may know I have the honor of teaching one high school AP art course here in Utah. This spring I decided to lead the concentration portion of the course by example. I will be completing a work of art each week for the next 15 weeks. AP art students are asked to include a “mission statement” and a conclusion statement I will provide the same as well as some interesting information about my art and how I feel about each piece.
"2012 #1 Cozumel East Beach" 12 x 16 oil on linen
I completed my first “texture project”. I definitely felt a bit rusty as I have painted nothing since the end of June.
My goal on this group of paintings is to achieve or discover some kind of textural quality that feels right with the subject matter. I have been pretty much a direct “alla prima” painter for several years, however as I painted this beach study I decided to work up some of these paintings indirectly. perhaps build up a couple of layers of paint…maybe play the glazing game. So this first painting is an example of paint application with one tool(a small painting knife) in a single session.
A view from the top of Ferron canyon 9 x 12 oil on linen.
I made it back from the mountains and Rhonda and I survived our third annual fall sprint triathlon (Camp Yuba Tri). I am back at school and jumped back into my oil painting studio by palette knifing this little green, blue and yellow gem. It is a view from the top of Ferron canyon. I just completed the view shown below of a little bed of Asters that had escaped being eaten by the herd of sheep grazing in the area. There has been a sheep camp at the top of the canyon for several years complete with sheep herder and his friendly dogs and horses. Ferron canyon is one of many canyons that link into the Skyline Drive, a road that follows what I call the spine of Utah. The road on Skyline Drive runs along the top of a mountain range where the average altitude is around 9500 ft with the high point being 10700 feet which is just above Ferron canyon, the location of the featured painting . I have painted many paintings in the area and will continue to do so. Watch for more paintings being added to this post.
9 x 12 oil on linen "Ferron Aster Bed"
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Fall is in the air. School has started. I find myself bouncing back and forth between my new art students at school and being out in the mountains on my annual fall hunting retreat with my brothers and my sons. In the past I have taken my paint box along to the mountains and worked some small compositions while not out hiking around the mountains. I have opted for my digital camera and sketch book this year. I plan on diving in to the studio and recording every wonderful moment I am witnessing. It is amazing to be out in the forest at 10,000 feet and just listen to the wind sing in the trees, or stand in a spruce thicket and have squirrels drop pine cones on your head as they scold you vigorously. It is cool to look up and see the early morning clouds just racing past as they catch those first rays of sunlight. In the evening the intense last orange-red sunlight on the tops of the peaks and edging the clouds looks like glorious glowing hot metal.
As I list these things I am reminded that I spend to much time indoors. Well it is back to school and then back to the mountains.I love wearing my three “hats” this time of year, artist, educator and hunter its an interesting combination, I find myself looking for compositions or just admiring the way the light carves its way across a meadow while I am supposed to be hunting…… I guess that’s why I am not a very successful hunter. I almost always come home empty handed.
Watch for the new paintings coming soon……Cozumel, Arches, Buffalo Peak and whatever I see the next couple of weekends.
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Greetings and welcome to my painting and travel web log.
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