Happy New Year!

"Aspens in Snow" 10 x 8 oil

Happy New Year everyone!  We have been enjoying sunny, calm and relatively warmer weather!  But the snow still lingers!  This was painted a few weeks ago up at a small ski training area when closed for business.  Three artist friends and I went up there to paint and then had a friendly little critique afterwards over a warm lunch at a painter's home.  What a great day!

New Years is a time when I sit down and start making plans and goals for the new year in my art business.  I just finished 3 pastel paintings that I plan to enter in a pastel show.  I'll be showing them to you later.

Next I will be painting 3 more new paintings in the studio for another pastel show. Meanwhile, I will be painting every week on location somewhere in oil paints with the Reno Tahoe Plein Air Painters.  It is a lot of fun to paint with others and to paint outside.  When I'm not painting with them, I'll be painting in the studio - and that is nice too - painting to my favorite music....

Been Busy Making Art!

I've been painting a lot, but I haven't posted to this blog for a while!  So Sorry!!!  Here is a little bit of my recent sketches and quick paintings:

"Aspen Road" 8 x 10 oil plein air

"Canadian Rocky Mountain Train Ride"  5 x 7 watercolor

"First Day of Autumn" 8 x 16 oil plein air

"Genoa Cottonwood" 8 x 10 oil plein air

"Meadow at Sky Tavern" 8 x 10 oil plein air

"Sunset From the Mountain Top" 6 x 6 oil plein air

"Truckee River in October" 9 x 10 oil plein air

As you can see, I am getting out and experiencing the gorgeous colors of fall - yellow and orange aspen trees and cottonwoods.  All of these paintings were done in under 2 hours, and some of them I intend to do more work on them..... but I thought I'd share them anyway.

We recently went on a train ride through the Canadian Rockies - stopping and staying at Jasper, Lake Louise and Banff.  Wow!  What incredibly gorgeous country!  I only had time to do little watercolor sketches - either while on the train or on a tour bus, or standing on a bridge looking at a glacial river gorge during a 20-minute tour stop!  Our flight home had problems and we had to wait in the airport for hours.  So I took out a larger watercolor pad and started a larger version of the little river sketch.  I am wishing I had time to continue working on it....it is out on my drafting table waiting patiently....and then, I want to try doing a pastel painting from these studies....and then maybe an oil painting after that....

....so many paintings to paint.....so little time to do them all.....  (sigh!)

Returning to the same location to paint plein air

10 x 8 oil on panel "Carmine and Gold"

Recently, I painted en plein air with another artist at Thomas Creek.  I still loved the same location as my previous posted painting "Aspens Along the Creek".  Being weeks later, different aspen trees have turned and some were a lovely shade of carmine red.  So that is where I set up to paint.

Now that there are no upcoming pastel competitions/shows to paint for, I'm enjoying a break and painting in oil.  It is fun and challenging in a different way.  Now I have to MIX colors!

The day we painted, it was beautiful and the morning light was shining through the trees, illuminating them like stained glass windows.  But we were having a little colder weather - breezes were blowing a cold front in and it light showers of snow were blowing on us.  I was wearing a knitted hat and wool sweater, but about two hours along, my hand was shaking as I tried to stroke the thin aspen trunks in....ha!  But I was determined to finish the painting and I did.  It looks impressionistic, which is what I'm aiming for.  Not bad, and I definitely am looking forward to doing this again!

Two days of plein air painting!

My friend and I enjoyed 2 days in a row of plein air painting.  We went to nearby places and only spent the morning.  You can learn more at renotahoepleinairpainters.blogspot.com   Here are my paintings:

Aspens by the Creek

Twaddle Ranch