Sleeping Princess

"Sleeping Princess" 2014 oil sold

I have been working on a series of these paintings from some photos I took a few years ago, trying to squeeze all the goodness out of the subject. I have always loved the Light vs. Dark combinations and have done many paintings with this as a driving element.  This pond once existed on Pioneer crossing in the heart of Utah county. I drove past it every morning on my way to a job I hated and wished I could paint those reflections. I think the hard part of painting reflections is getting the image to really feel like it is a reflection. Most people can see that the upside down image represents the mirrored image of the object above, but a reflection is more than that. The water reflects most of the light from the subject back... but not all so the reflection should be darker. I try to make the reflection less detailed and even slightly blurry to exaggerate the effect of the image in the water.

watercolor study

I did a quick study for a painting idea yesterday and posted it to Instagram.. the only way to get a long format image to work in Instagram's square presentation was to use a free app called Pic Stitch. The trade off is that your image has a huge white space proceeding the rather small image. Sigh.. what to do?

This small watercolor (5x13 inches) is the beginning stages of an idea for a large longer painting and a symptom of my growing obsession with long landscape format. I was originally thinking a painting ratio of 1 to 3, a triple square, would be good but I like this slightly less long format.

The Scene is of a pond on Pioneer Crossing (a main road in Utah County) looking east toward the Lone Peak and Timpanogos Mountains above Highland and American Fork. I like the atmospheric quality and depth of the background compared to the dark and textured nature of the foreground. I don't have the tree placement figure out yet, I like the ones on the right.. the trees on the left seem stiff.

Open to ponder

5x13 inches, watercolor $300 (presently unframed)

Pleasant Cloud Shadows

 I take my camera everywhere I go, well I used to anyway until I started carrying a cell phone, then I thought it was easier to take photos with the cell phone. Nothing beats a fully adjustable digital SLR. I digress...

Any whoooo... I took a picture one day while I was in the Costco parking lot in Lehi Utah, looking toward Pleasant Grove to the east. The hills were just starting to turn red and golden, and despite a few clouds in the sky it was a beautiful day. In the photo there are houses and trees in the foreground that are in shadow... I had originally intended for those to be in the composition as a way of grounding it. Maybe that painting will happen in the future.

Here is the first small (4x6) study, its not exactly the same format I was planning on for the final painting, but I mostly wanted to see what some of the colors on the top of the mountain would look like..

I started a number of new paintings at the same time, I started this one first, but it came together last.

At this point in the process it seemed like the painting might make it... the bright bluish purple hills in the background to the right are a nice anchor and a good medium value between the top of the hills and the bottom foreground.

You can see that the color is off a little bit between the image above and this "official" image. There was more I could have done with the clouds, but knowing my tendency to overwork clouds I stopped while it still felt fresh.

This painting is currently at the Dixie Invitational show in ST. George Utah. If it comes back I will post the particulars....

Two rather different pieces

This is a little gem that I did a few years ago that just came back from a gallery up north. I am going to do a few paintings in this vein and thought it might be a good starting point...

Pioneer Pond looking toward American Fork

7x14 inches, Oil $525

 It seems like there are a lot of paintings with shadowed hills and water coming out of the studio lately. this one is rather different than the one above.. lots of reds and purple, black/silver frame...

Red tree

9x12 inches, Oil $625

Every Tree with a Golden Lining

I know it is sorta a cheesy title, its a play on the the cloud/silver lining saying, and it seems appropriate in my life right now.

The frame is one of my own creations, a molding I have been building and a finish I have learned from my frame building guru buddy Rett Ashby.

here are a few of my favorite "moments" in this painting. I was sad to see it go, it was a commission.

Fall colors series... to start

I have been working a new series of paintings focusing on the colors of fall. These two images are from near my Parent's cabin in Mantua, Utah (just East of Brigham City). I have been listening to Lord of the Rings audiobooks so I imagine Orcs and Hobbits all over in the hills.

 "Limited Access"

10x15 inches  Oil

sold

 "Trail of Red Trees"

20x24 inches Oil
$2200

 

Not totally convince about the frame... might need to be darkened a bit.

Details

this is one of my favorite square inches of the painting...

..this part too, and see, look real close you can see Frodo and Sam hiding in the red bushes...