Gray Afternoon -- Day 2, Painting 2 South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration

Gray Afternoon

Oil  11" x 14"

Day 2, Painting 2 South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration, FairPlay, Colorado

Day 12 of the 30 in 30 Challenge

After lunch, delivered to us out at Bartle Lakes, I went into Jefferson to paint.  Jefferson isn't much more than a cross roads surrounded by ranches.  I thought the barns on this ranch made a great painting.

Every afternoon of the plein air event we turned in 2 framed paintings to the gallery in Fairplay at 4:00.  I think I worked on this piece from about 2 - 3:30, then drove the 20 minutes from Jefferson to Fairplay and framed the piece from the back of my car.  Luckily I had framed my morning painting right before lunch.  Every day was fun but hectic!

I'm contemplating making changes to this painting as it's a bit gray....of course, it was a gray day!  I'll think about it for awhile.

Morning Reflections -- Day 2, Painting 1 South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration

Morning Reflections
Day 2, Painting 1 South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration
Day 11 of 30 in the 30 in 30 Days Challenge
Oil  12" x 12"
$295.00 + $10. s/h

On the 2nd day of the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration we went to Bartle Lakes, a privately owned ranch and family run fly fishing operation near Jefferson, Colorado.  There was incredible scenery with high alpine lakes, ponds, trees, trucks, boats.  I could have painted there for days!

Below is my set up in the woods near one of the ponds

I started with the pond reflections first, as I knew these would change with the afternoon weather  (rain and clouds) coming in early.

Then I put in the blue/gray sky before it got even grayer.

In The Kitchen -- Day 1, Painting # 2 South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration

In The Kitchen
Day 1, Painting # 2 from the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration
Day 7 of 30 in the 30 in 30 Challenge
Oil  10" x 10"
$195.00 + $10. s/h

Here's the finished painting that I posted the other day.  This is in the kitchen of Buffalo Peaks Ranch, Fairplay, Colorado.  As I said, it was so windy and hot that I had to find a cool place to paint.  I loved the light coming in the back kitchen door of the ranch house.  I love plein air painting, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow!

In the kitchen -- Day 1, Painting 2 from the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration

Day 1 of the plain air event, Day 5 of the 30 in 30 challenge

This is the 2nd painting that I did on the first day of the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration, Fairplay, Colorado.  I don't have a good picture of the finished piece and it's now hanging in the event show, so I'll post it later.  We painted at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, which is undergoing renovations.  Each day we're given lunch and today it was delivered out to the ranch.

The afternoon was very hot, sunny, no shade and really windy, so I found a cool place indoors to paint.  I loved the way the light from the window hit the wall.

Below are a few photos of the ranch:

Open Corral -- South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration

This is a plein air painting that I did this morning at Buffalo Peaks Ranch, Fairplay Colorado.  I'm participating in the South Park Plein Air Arts Celebration.  Buffalo Peaks Ranch is one of the oldest ranches in Colorado, built in 1859.  It's being restored as a retreat and library.  I have no idea how old this corral is or when is was built but I love it's age and all of the angles as it falls apart.  I hope it gets repaired, too.

 You can see that it's a pretty open range up here!  Fairplay is at 10,000 feet elevation which makes it chilly in the morning and hot in the afternoon!

Mountain Valley

Mountain Valley
Day 3 of 30
plein air Oil  6" x 8"
SOLD

This little piece was done from the exact spot as yesterday's post.  I just turned my easel around and painted what was in the opposite direction.  Two for one!

Once again I'm participation in Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  As in the past, I'll post as often as I can.  I'll be in the mountains part of the month and don't always have access to internet.  Also, I don't paint that many small paintings, so I'll also be posting steps of larger works.  Anyway, enjoy the challenge with me and all of the other almost 800 artists participating!!

Green Valley

Green Valley
Day 2 of 30
plein air Oil  8" x 10"
$195.00 + $10. s/h

I love how green Colorado is this summer.  I can't remember when I've mixed so many different greens!  This plein air piece was painted about an hour west of Colorado Springs up into the mountains.

I love how paths bring your eye into a painting;  I paint a lot of paths.  This fence seems to do the same thing.  It draws your eye into the piece and then, I hope, makes you wonder what's beyond the fence and under the trees, what's on the far side of the fence that we can't see, why is there a fence that doesn't seem to do much?

How great is that when you can paint right from the car!  That is truly not always the case!!

Once again I'm participation in Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  As in the past, I'll post as often as I can.  I'll be in the mountains part of the month and don't always have access to internet.  Also, I don't paint that many small paintings, so I'll also be posting steps of larger works.  Anyway, enjoy the challenge with me and all of the other almost 800 artists participating!!

PEO Waterlilies

PEO Waterlilies
Day 1 of 30
Oil  8" x 10"
$195.00 + $10. s/h

This water lily is in an incredible pond that's covered with water lilies.  It's a great location to paint.  It's at the PEO house on the west side of Colorado Springs, not too far from our house.  One never knows what to expect when plein air painting....a black bear walked up to the other side of the pond for a drink!

Once again I'm participation in Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days challenge.  As in the past, I'll post as often as I can.  I'll be in the mountains part of the month and don't always have access to internet.  Also, I don't paint that many small paintings, so I'll also be posting steps of larger works.  Anyway, enjoy the challenge with me and all of the other almost 800 artists participating!!

Summer Poppies

Summer Poppies
Oil  14" x 11"
$295.00 + $10.s/h

SOLD

I painted this earlier this summer at The White House Ranch here in Colorado Springs.  I never posted it!  Anyway, the poppies were great this year, prolific bloomers all over town!

I've Been Down So Many Paths

I've Been Down So Many Paths
Oil  11" x 14"
$295.00 + $10. s/h

This is another piece from this summer in Bear Creek Park.  This has been a wonderful summer in Colorado Springs.  The last two summers were awful, with fires that destroyed so many homes.  This summer we've had lots of rain and it's green everywhere!!  Right now the fields and meadows are filled with wild flowers.  There are lots of what I call "sunflowers", although that's not really what they are.  They're more like tall wild black eyed Susans or daisies, or short, small sunflowers.  But, nevertheless, it's beautiful here!  Another painting out there just waiting for me!

Wandering Meadow

Wandering Meadow
Oil  8" x 10"
$195.00 + $10. s//h

This is another painting that I did earlier this summer in Bear Creek Park.  I love this park!  Our house sits right next to it and I've walked it's paths thousands of times over the years.  I've painted dozens of pictures of different parts of it (it's 670 acres) in all seasons.  This summer we've had way more rain than normal and the park has been spectacular!  Gorgeous colors of the grasses, wild flowers, even the weeds seem beautiful when they're green!  

The lavender in the painting is what we call cheat grass.  I'm sure that it has a biological, or scientific name, but I don't know what that is.  It's since changed colors and now is more amber.  Earlier the shades of lavender and purple were spectacular!  Of course, now on breezy days we have....you guessed it...."amber waves of grain!!"  Katherine Lee Bates wrote the song after she'd visited Colorado Springs!!

Further In

Further In
Oil  8" x 6"
$100.00 + $10. s/h

We live near Bear Creek Park.  I walk the paths of this park regularly.  I've painted different locations in Bear Creek Park dozens of times over the years.  This plein air piece was done last month.  This summer we've had more rain than normal in Colorado and the park is so green, the grasses and weeds are so tall, the wild flowers are prolific!  I love paintings with paths.  They make me wonder what's around the bend.

Then God Made Wine

Then God Made Wine
Oil  6" x 6"
SOLD

I'm thrilled that this painting is off to a wedding shower!  May the bride and groom have much happiness, love and laughter.  Cheers!

Dancing Wolf Gallery

I'm thrilled that several of my paintings are now at Dancing Wolf Gallery in Elbert, Colorado.  

Stop by the gallery if you're out in Elbert.  I love small western towns!

Thank you Dancing Wolf!

Oriental Butterflies

Oriental Butterflies
Oil on stretched canvas  20" x 10"
$395.00 + $10. s/h

SOLD

This is the third of my violet iris series.  It's the fifth iris painting of this summer.  I love painting iris. They're a soft, gentle flower.  I love being out doors and how great is it to just paint in my own back yard!  These three violet iris paintings have all been of the tall, bearded iris from IRIS4U Gardens in Denver.

Below are some of the iris at IRIS4U.  My husband and I have gone there to buy iris.  My

 plein air group, Garden Artists, has gone there several times to paint!

Amethystine Night

Amethystine Night

Oil on stretched canvas  20" x 10"

$395.00 + $10. s/h

This is another iris from earlier this summer in our back yard.  I'm not really sure what amethyst looks like at night, but I think this title sounds great!  Sometimes to help me with my titles I use Google.  For this one I googled "poems about purple, poems about iris".  It's so interesting what you find out there!

For example I found a site about colors and it told me this about purple:

"Frequently in opinion polls, the colour purple is rated as one of the most popular of all hues. It can be deep and luxurious in tone, and indeed for more than a thousand years was considered to be the most imperial of colours - a colour which signified in a very real sense, great affluence and power." 

Purple Passion

Purple Passion

Oil on wrapped canvas  20" x 10"

$395.00 + $10. s/h

This is a painting that I did earlier this summer in our backyard.  We purchased these tall hybrid iris from IRUS4U Gardens in Denver.  They specialize in tall bearded iris.  

It's so interesting to post these pictures.  The garden is so different right now!!  We've had so much rain in Colorado this summer (yeah!)  that everything is extra big, extra green.