Back in the Saddle

This is my first post in quite a long time.  I've had to take a breather due to health issues, but am recovering and back in my studio now.  It feels great to be painting again!

This painting is of the Bridger Mountains down around Livingston, Montana when the trees are just leafing out and there is a fresh green in the landscape.


Bridger Spring, 6 x 6", oil on gessoboard
Price: $125, unframed.
       
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New Work for Russell Week

                                            Huddle,  oil on board,  11 x 14" ,  $600.




     Russell Week, for those of you non western art followers,  is a big week for western art in, of all places,  Great Falls, Montana, where I went to high school.   I never would have thought in the 60's that Great Falls would become an art town.  But,  thanks to Charles Marion Russell and his followers,  the C.M. Russell Museum started an annual auction and it has grown into one of the biggest auctions of western art bringing in over $1 million in sales.  The major hotels turn their rooms into galleries for the hundreds of artists that come to exhibit their paintings and  sculpture.

      I will be participating for the first time in the Out West Art Show in the Heritage Inn.  The dates are March 17th - 19th.  Room 175.  

      The image above is one of the new pieces that I will be exhibiting in the show.

Welcome Winter

I never thought I'd be welcoming winter since I consider myself a palm tree gal,  but since I've moved to Montana I find I love the colors of this season.

 Plus, winter is fun here with both downhill and xcountry skiing close by.  Not to mention the sauna at my health club.  

So,  here is one of my first  tiny snow paintings.   I am still mesmerized by how blue the light is when the sun is almost gone.

Sun on Aspens,  6 x 6 oil on board,  

framed in sliver plein 'air frame

free shipping within the US of A.

Getting Ready for my show at the Holter Museum

Down to the wire I'm putting finishing touches on a couple of large oils.

Wish I could finish them sooner so the paint was drier when I delivered them.

 Here are the finished images:

                                           Willows at Simms,  oil,  62 x 54"

                                            Two Trees,  oil,  62 x 54"

And a smaller one

Last Light on the Missouri,  oil on canvas,  18 x 24"

Artist Appreciation Month

I received an email last week telling me that August was Artist Appreciation Month.  They asked if I might write a blog post honoring an artist who influenced me. Oh, how to choose, there are soooo many.   But I have to go back to the  very beginning and honor the master who inspired me to tolerate my first thousand (2 thousand?) bad paintings while I was learning.  He made me want to paint well so badly.  Winslow Homer.

Homer - Fishing Boats, Key West

 When I discovered his Key West watercolors I was living on St. John  in the Virgin Islands and these sights were all around me.

His paintings made me thirsty to learn watercolor.

Soon Start,  watercolor,  4 x 7"

This was one of my first.

Moonbeam at the Finish, pastel, 8 x 11

You can see how he influenced this one - one boat in shadow, the other catching the sun.

Homer - The Coral Divers, 1885

Without using gaudy color he caught the brilliant sun and light of the tropics.

Raising the Mast,  watercolor,  11 x 14

Seeing his vision of what I was looking at honed my own.

Sail Abeam,  oil on canvas, 30 x 30"

Beach Lineup,  pastel, 18 x 24"

Homer - Hauling Anchor, Key West

Even now,  nearly 40 years after discovering his tropical watercolors, I am still mesmerized.

          Thank you to Marietta Gregg at Patience Brewster for prompting me to honor this giant.

Plein Air Workshop for Montana Open Land Month

This painting workshop started at 6:30 am. 

But it was worth it 

The light was beautiful.

Emmalea was smiling.

Margaret sat in a meadow.

Mary Jo painted while fish jumped in the creek

Pam practiced painting distant mountains.

We all enjoyed a beautiful place that is now public land!

Willows at Simms

      Sometimes you know the wait will be worth it.  Several days ago I spent the day driving all over Montana.  A beautiful day with lots of clouds in the sky so the light was changing all the time as I drove through vast empty spaces.  I saw the scene below and the willow trees were shaded by clouds.  But I  liked the shapes on the hillside behind the trees so pulled off the road and waited while the sun and clouds danced around.  Then the sun suddenly illuminated the yellow green willows and the scene was transformed.  

Willows at Simms,  oil on gessoboard,  6 x 6",

 $150 ready to frame.