What's Inside?

What's Inside?

Plein air Oil  11" x 14"

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$395.00 + shipping

I love old western barns.  I wonder about their age, the animals, tools, old "things" that might be inside of them.  They seem to tell a story of the present and the past.  I wonder how long they've been standing and how much longer they'll stand.  

This barn was on a road outside of Florence, CO.  I posted the plein air start of the piece earlier this fall.  I parked nearby to set up to paint.  There were horses in the corral.  The ranch seemed friendly, and no one might not have cared if I walked up and peeked inside.  But, I didn't.  Would you have?

Old Homestead Barn

Old Homestead Barn

6" x 8"  Oil

$100.00 + $10. s/h

The Medano Zapata Ranch has several old living areas (for want of a better description) spread across the 103,000 acres.  We were given access to the entire ranch for painting and photo access.  One of the areas was a former ranch (the Medano and Zapata were two ranches at one time).  This old barn sits out behind the now abandoned, deteriorating Medano Ranch.   It must have once been a very bustling ranch as there were many out buildings, bunk houses, corrals, barns, large house, sheds.  I thought it would be so great refurbished and rented to vacationers.  But, as it's a National Historic Site the expense of repairing that to it's former glory would probably be quite large.   So, I sat there imagining all that must have gone on over the decades in that corner of Colorado.

When I was out there painting in the sun and heat in the shade of my car and umbrella this barn looked bright red, I could see what it must have been like years ago.  Sitting here in my studio posting the painting, it looks a bit bright.  Maybe I should go back and age it a bit.

Sevilla Light

Sevilla Light
9" x 12" oil on canvas on board
$195.00 + $10. s/h

This is from a trip my husband and I took several years ago to visit our daughter in Sevilla, Spain.  I paint a lot of landscapes with rocks, I live in the Rockies!  And off and on I paint buildings with incredible rock walls.  So, I wanted to continue painting rocks, and was drawn to this stone floor.  I loved how the warm oranges played against the purples.

Jill Carver Workshop Day 4

Side Streets of Rico
6" x 8" oil
$100.00 + $10. s/h

The 4th day of Jill Carver's workshop was spent painting old buildings on the back streets of Rico.  Rico, Colorado has a population of 250, so there aren't really many side and back streets!  Like many old western towns, Rico had a much larger population in the mining days.  Many of the buildings are old mining structures, or from that era.
Then shed on the right has seen better days and parts of it are falling over.  The challenge here was do I fix it a little or not?!  I am aware that the windows are tilted, but, they were that way!

Some of Jill's points from this day:
--Use your sketchbook to try out different compositional ideas.
--From your thumbnail sketch draw your concept on the canvas, work only from your thumbnail at this point, you have already processed what is necessary information and what isn't.
--Stick to simple shapes and simple masses.  Make sure that you convey your original concept.
--Try to shoot for 3 or 4 main masses, no more than 5.
--Keep the masses strong, use large brushes to block in the main shapes.

100 Garden & Floral Oil Paintings, Original Art Work from A Colorado Daily Painter, 7/100

Garden Door
6' x 8" oil on panel
$100.00 + $10. S/h
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This morning my plein air group painted at McAllister House Museum in downtown Colorado Springs.  I don't think I'd been there since I'd gone with our 23 year old daughter's Brownie Troop.  During that tour the docent explained that (the story goes) the three McAllister children saw Native Americans in their back garden when they went out the back garden door.  This house was constructed in 1873 and at that time Colorado Springs was just being built and was still very much the wild west.