creation in fast motion

I needed one more painting for my big show at the Spori Gallery on BYU Idaho campus in Rexburg Idaho that opens this week...

so I naturally put off starting the painting until the last possible second. I did actually get the painting done, but it is so cold in my studio it won't dry so I can Glaze it! Any way!.. one of the reasons I was able to paint it so fast was that I set my camera up on a tripod with a time lapse timer firing every 45 seconds. the 801 images in the following video add up to roughly 10 hours of work time.

 

 if you can't tell from the video I got a haircut about 1/2 way through... here is the unglazed final painting in the frame.

Russian Olive Tryst, oil 36x36 inches $3800

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)

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

Plein Air Provo

This week has been really busy; I have two Plein Air competitions in this week, and I have been working on frames to supply them.

Plein Air Provo is running Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (paintings due Friday before 1pm), So I have been in Provo painting the cool old houses in the Maeser and Joaquin Neighborhoods.

Update 10/4/13- this painting was awarded 3rd place in the show!
Update #2 (later) it was also awarded People choice!

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.

Tetons

This is a painting I am working on. If the Tetons don't look quite right that is because they are painted from the west side of the mountain range (or as the locals say "the Drigg's side"). I am going to try and figure out how to make a movie of all the progress shots I have been taking along the way.

Update: I was not diligent in my recording of the steps of this painting.... sorry. here is the final image and some of my favorite "moments". Enjoy!

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...