It has been a while since I have been able to paint. A short list of distractions both good and bad which have kept me out of the paint might include; slot canyon hiking, holidays, hikes, 5K runs, playing with grand children, bike rides, professional conferences, final testing, graduations, home repairs, flooded basement(I am not kidding) the list could go on. Finally I was able to get out and draw and photograph some landscapes to paint. Last week I went to the ridge trail above American Fork Canyon an area where I have painted before on several occasions. This week went up the Squaw Peak trail above Provo and did several drawings in the Buffalo Peak area. I have painted near there before but I was impressed with the location and I plan on working there again soon. I have included a studio study which I made yesterday (July 15th 2010). The main problem I was trying to solve aside from capturing the essence of the place was the mass of yellow balsam root flowers and the texture their very green foliage presented. I think the palette knife helped me capture the “feel” of the foliage. I am still working on ideas from Cozumel and Arches hopefully my schedule will let me squeeze them in soon. Below is a mostly silent video of this painting being made.

Wow! It has been months since I posted anything new. Like almost everyone, I have been busy. I have been helping my students complete their portfolios, visiting Cozumel, getting my yard in order and the list could go on.
I thought I would restart my blog by posting another painting by my father, Byrd Bartholomew. This painting has an interesting story. The composition is a view from south of Mount Nebo with one of Byrd’s trademark twisted junipers. He painted it in the early sixties and donated it to our local church. I remember seeing it every Sunday when I was a kid and feeling proud that my father’s painting was hanging in our church building. Sometime in the early seventies church leaders decided to remove original art from all the buildings in our area. The painting would have been sent to the garbage dump or perhaps the local thrift store (Deseret Industries for those of you from Utah). One of my mother’s good friends was the local woman’s church group leader (ward Relief Society president). She saw the painting and retrieved it from the discard pile and attempted to return it to Byrd. Byrd knew that she really loved the painting and promptly told her that it was now hers to keep forever. I understand that it is still a treasured work of art in their home even though the original rescuer and her husband have passed away Their children and grandchildren still love and enjoy the painting.
My dad only sold a very few of the works of art he made. He made hundreds of oil paintings, sculptures, drawings and watercolors. He gave them away freely with only one stipulation that when the recipient grew tired of the art work they should return it. I only know of one living recipient who actually returned a painting.

I stayed home from my day job on Friday and had a few hours on my hands so I painted a 20 x 30 oil painting which is pretty much what I do. What makes it unusual is that I sat down to paint with a couple of brushes and began the under-drawing with a brush and when I started to mix up a tone with my palette knife something told me to put the paint on with the knife. I did not touch a brush till I signed the painting. Those of you who have seen my work for several years know that many of my plein air works are knife paintings. However it has been almost a year since I painted solely with a knife.

Knife painting allows me a textural or tactile quality that I rarely find with a brush.

As I have stated before,  I was awe struck with the powerful beauty of the Caribbean Sea pounding the east shore of Cozumel, Mexico. I can’t help but try and capture it. This knife painting gave me something….. now I need to build on it.

I have not forsaken my Moab and Arches work in fact I feel that the same energy I get from the palette knife in the beach painting may help me in the Arches.

Enjoy the video its in HD! ( Thanks to Daniel) Watch my Ebay store for smaller plein air works and a couple of mid sized works. Contact me if you are interested in any work on this site.

I painted another smallish Cozumel  beach study this week. This one is a little view on the west side of the island. The west side of the island is home to the awesome Cozumel snorkeling reefs the water was much calmer on the  west side when I was there although was rarely as calm as I painted it here.  I love how blue and transparent the water is I can’t wait to put on my snorkel and enjoy the view. This painting may appear to be complete but I am calling this one a work in progress. I like to work alla prima,  completeing the work all in one sitting on something of this scale 12 x 16 inches. However at times a painting just needs more and that is what this little blue-gray gem is telling me it needs more, I just need to decide what that is.

When I go back to Cozumel this spring I plan on doing a few watercolors in my spare time (If I have any). I will be posting a few warm up watercolor sketches in the next month or so so check back and find out whether I can remember how to watercolor.

The last serious watercolor sketching I did was in the late 1980′s while I was traveling in Greece and Italy. I have included a photo of a watercolor painting I did at the temple of Poseidon on that trip. I sat on a big old block of marble for an hour or so and made this 12×10 painting. It was a beautiful sunny day the sun was glistening out on the Mediterranean sea or the Aegean I can’t remember my geography that well but,   I remember the sunshine  because I wrote about it in my sketch book.  I hope you will check back soon. Check out the  small paintings I have for sale on Ebay.  I you would like to own any of the paintings you see in my Blog or on my site e-mail me for details.

I am sitting in my living room looking at a 40 x 30 oil painting of Stewart Cascade. I painted it about two years ago. It was made when I was using only a palette knife to paint with (no brushes).   The design is from a plein air painting I did on location the summer of 2007. Rhonda and I love the little hike from Aspen grove over to Stewart Cascade. It is only  a couple of short miles, with the chance of seeing wildlife,wildflowers and the occasional Sundance celebrity. We have been hiking and cross country skiing in the area for many years. Both of us hiked this trail while we were high school students in Orem High schools Unified Studies course. I think it is one of our favorite spots. I have had this sweet palette  knife work on my wall for nearly a year now and I have an itch to put up something new , a painting from another one of my favorite spots . Maybe One of my recent Arches paintings, several of them would fit the frame or perhaps something new and very blue from Cozumel (since I am rhyming only time will tell). check Ebay to see what small studio or plein air paintings I have for sale there this week. If you are interested in giving this Stewart Cascade painting a home contact me via e-mail.

Some time this spring Rhonda and I are headed back to Cozumel. Last year when we went I did not expect to see the island with my artists eyes  I thought I would see it with my tourist eyes. My first surprise was how beautiful the water was from the air and from the beach and finally through a snorkel.  I was captivated by the experience of snorkeling above the reefs on the west side of the island.  I have tried to imagine how I could paint something that could capture that undersea feeling.  My efforts as a photographer may be how I express the snorkel experience.

The amazing experience from the trip was the absolutely sublime feeling I had when I first saw the east beaches of Cozumel.  I was nearly breathless.  I have stood on the edge of thousand foot cliffs where I could see more than a hundred miles.  I have seen hundreds of spectacular and sublime views of the Colorado Plateau. Maybe it is the fact that I have only had brief encounters with the ocean, but I fell in love with the color, the smell and power or the Caribbean surf on the east side of the island.  I have completed a dozen small paintings and a couple of large ones based on the little research I did last year.  The little 11 x 14  studio work which I  included in this post, I just completed. I can hardly wait to stand on that shore and soak it all up again with the eye of an artist.  Watch ebay this little painting will be offered up for sale or auction soon. ( I need to Pay for the trip)

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.

Wow ! here is another blast from the past I painted this lovely view of Zions Canyon back in the 1980′s while I was attending Brigham Young University. It found Its way into the collection of the Springville Museum of Art. It has been loaned around by them, I know for a while it was in the Governor of Utah’s residence. I have been a fan of Maynard Dixons work for a long time. I decided to find the exact spot where Maynard painted his wonderful painting “High in the Morning” a particular favorite of mine.

My wife Rhonda and  I found the spot above Angels Landing on the Lava Point trail. I painted this and about a dozen other smaller works base on the photos and sketches I made on that hike.

If you would like a print of this painting contact me for details. Many works from the Spingville collection are available through FOV editions in Provo, Utah.

Check back soon for new updates from my studio.  Check out my ebay listings I try and Offer small studio works and plein air studies there weekly. The Link to the Springville collection for a better view of this painting is;

http://springvilleartmuseum.org/collections/browse.html?x=art&art_id=1273&name=Altarpiece_to_Maynard

I wanted to share this painting and a little bit about it with you. It is a large painting, 48 X 72 inches ( two panels 36 x 48 panels). I painted it way back in the 1990’s. I exhibited it a couple of times and then it found its way into someone’s collection. Sadly I did not keep the best records back in the 1990’s so If you own this painting send me an e-mail.  The title of the painting is “Peculiar Offering” I discovered this little pile of boulders while hiking near Fish Lake in central Utah.  I love the rocks in the area I really enjoy how time and mother nature have dressed these lava boulders in pale yellow-green  lichens. The cool green lichens are periodically punctuated with patches intense orange or yellow.  I may  be  one of the few people who appreciate the beauty hidden in those rock piles. I plan on revisiting the rock pile theme in my studio in the near future so check back and see some more old work and some new.

Right now in the studio as part of my “oil paintings of Utah” series I am focusing on a couple of images of the arches (Turret, the north and south windows). I also have some desire to paint a little more of that amazing blue water of Cozumel.  Check Ebay and see what I am auctioning. If you are interested in work like this painting or others you have seen e-mail me.

This oil painting by my father, Byrd Bartholomew hangs where I can see it every day.  It is a wonderful stylized view of Mt. Nebo with Mt. Timpanogos  off in the distance. I believe he painted it sometime in the late fifties or early sixties. I love the way he organized his shapes he really designed his space well. The Juniper tree represented here is pretty tame compared to the fantastic forms he explored in his later works.  Another aspect of this painting which I enjoy is the progression of color  from warm to cool and value  from dark to light as you travel into the painting. This painting is a textbook example of the atmospheric perspective as described by Leonardo da Vinci .

Check back soon to see my latest Utah landscape painting efforts.  See what small works I have for sale at my ebay store.  If you are interested in any of my available works please contact me.