Sunny Vista Living Center Juried Show

Hanging On The Line

Oil  16" x 24"

Morning Light

Oil  12" x 12"

Tonight is the Opening of the Annual Sunny Vista Living Center Juried Show.  I'm honored that these two paintings were juried into the show.  Hope those of you who live in the Colorado Springs area can attend tonight's opening, or stop by Sunny Vista while the exhibit hangs until June 17th.

Roadside Cliffs

Roadside Cliffs
plein air oil  9" x 12"
click here for Paypal
$295.00 + $10. s/h

I loved the way these cliffs became golden in the sunlight.  I had passed them on an overcast day and hardly paid any attention to them.  But on a warm, sunny day the whole scene became a painting waiting to happen!

Standing Bull

Standing Bull
Oil  24" x 18"
$595.00 + $20. s/h

I always set painting goals for myself each year.  These consist of "painting" as well as "business/marketing" goals.  One of my goals for this year (and every year actually) is to go back through old posts and check that every painting has been offered for sale.  Sometimes I might post the piece in process, but not yet finished.  I may post the piece, then set it aside for a show, etc.  So, over the next few posts I'm going to try to catch up on some of these pieces.

Standing Bull is from a huge bison herd at the Medano Zapata Ranch in southern Colorado.  

Victor Celebrates The Arts -- # 2

For another piece I painted early in the morning at the Vindicator Mine.  My first step was to sketch in the old mine and brush in the darks.  Then I painted in the lights.  I found the challenge with the lights was to make them realistic without being too pastelley...is that a word? 

Then next sep was to paint in the darks.  When painting plein air it's always a good plan to block in the lights and darks first, then not to change them.  It's so tempting to chase the light, but don't!

This gives you an idea of my progress up to this point; but the photo is a little too light.

After this I added the grasses and piles of ore and dirt in the foreground, then last put in the sky.

I had planned on posting pretty regularly during the 10 day event, but it took at least 6 minutes to upload each photo, there wasn't service where we stayed, and sometimes there wasn't much service anywhere!  So, I'm home now and will start posting my steps and finished pieces.

This is the Vindicator Gold Mine, one of many historic mines in the Cripple Creek - Victor area. 

Gold was discovered in the area in 1890 and brought thousands of people to the Pikes Peak region.  Over 500 gold mines sprang up across the mountains.  The Cripple Creek and Victor area was linked to Colorado Springs by two stage roads and three railroads all built to carry lumber, food, coal, ore, people and supplies.  

In its' hey day in the 1890's Victor was known as the City Of Mines because the largest and richest gold mines were located just above the city.  Nearly $434,000,000 in gold (in 1890'a value) was produced.

Here are some pictures of the mines:

I had a comment in my last post about all the white (snow) that you can see when you Google map Victor.  That's not snow, it's all the ore tailings from the mine.  CC&VM ie:  Cripple Creek & Victor Mine is still a working gold mine!

On My Easel..2

On My Easel..2

17 of 30

Oil 16" x 20"

Commission

I'm adjusting the 30 in 30 challenge to work for me.  One of my goals is to paint more large pieces, and I can't do that everyday.  But, I can paint almost everyday.  So, I'm showing some of the daily progress on this commission.  

I've loved painting this!  I paint cows, bison, but I don't paint lots of horses.  I'm not around horses that often, and they say paint what you know.  Well, they also say push yourself.  (Not sure who "they" are!!)  So, when I got this commission I decided to go ahead.  I've loved the challenge.  I think the hardest part about painting someone's horse, is just that.  The horse belongs to them and if some body part is a bit different, they'll notice.  Which is why I paid close attention while drawing him.  I used grid lines and Bargue references.  I don't usually grid drawings.  Mentally using Bargue reference lines and points is always helpful and useful in any drawing.

On My Easel

On My Easel

16" x 20"

16 of 30

This is the third study of Chief that I'm painting.  I'll post the others at a later date.  This size takes me days, so I thought I'd post several steps.  I used grid lines and Bargue drawing techniques to get the horse right.  Both are helpful.  You can google Bargue to learn about it.  It's really great.  It has you visually lining up parts of the object both horizontally and vertically with other parts of the object.

Won't You Come Out Tonight

Won't You Come Out Tonight
Oil  6" x 8"
$80.00 + $10. s/h

SOLD

HOLIDAY SALE  All paintings sold during December are 20% off my normal price

OK, I know that this buffalo is not a gal, but the title seemed to work.  And, yes, I did Google the song and read all the words.  If I ever paint a woman w/ feet as big as the sidewalk, I already have my title chosen!
Click here if you want a quick song review!