Going to the Sun

This piece is from the vantage point of "Going to the Sun" road in Glacier National Park, a narrow road etched into the side of a steep mountain pass. No painting or photo can adequately describe the experience of driving that road. It's a breathtaking view for sure! I always get a kink in my neck from trying to see up, as well as down whenever I'm a passenger. It would be fun to do it on a motorcycle, I think!

Glacier Runoff

This little guy was finished last week. It was nice break from all the hot sunny desert paintings, and made me want to go climb on these rocks and sit down in the mist of the waterfall with a warm snowboard jacket on for some fresh air. I love Glacier Park, and there's no place like home!

Earth and Sky

One of the latest in a series of 8"x10"  Monument Valley scenes:

Remnant of Another Era

     I love the little things about my hometown that pay tribute to the people who built it. The beautiful designs on lampposts like this one always demands a moment of notice and respect. Although it's covered in corrosion (beautiful in it's own right) it's just one of those things that can't be so easily replaced. It was made in a world that valued quality materials- or maybe only had quality materials to work with. In any case, it was another little reminder to me that it's okay to slow down in my paintings, take time to enjoy and notice the virtues of the setting, and then create something unique in every brush stroke and carefully thought through every step of the way.

Summer '15 in Montana

It's fun to be back up in NW Montana for the warmest part of the year, surrounded by lakes and rivers, dense woods and plenty of things going on. So far we've had a surprise BD party for Grandma, a Father's day dinner, an exciting drive scoping out property that we can't afford to buy up a sketchy road where we almost got shot at, :) Wading in a turquoise - colored lake, and finding the strawberry patch I planted a couple of years ago in grandpa's swamp successfully taking over.

Then Saturday, we went to the Hockaday Museum's art show and sale for all of the oil painters who went on the annual plein-air paint out in Glacier (I was so bummed out that we just barely missed that part). The best part for me - besides meeting other artists- was the show up inside the museum. We really stuck out because we had two toddlers with us and my big fat pregnant belly trying to navigate the clusters of wine-and-cheese tasting guests, but this was our only chance, and I just HAD to see the Kathryn Stats originals in the show that opened a week ago. They were worth it. The main themes I noticed in her paintings, besides the fact that they were all gorgeous, were these: Strong value groupings, with light being really separated in value from shadow; Shadow areas laid in thin or with a palette knife first, with dry-brushed lights/highlights on top; The strokes for the highlights were almost all put down in straight lines, which gave the paintings continuity, and added that kind of confident flair that makes you mad because it looks like she finished the whole thing in a few minutes and just had a blast.

Today I finished painting #2 since we got here - an 8" x 10" of one of Kalispell, MT's first houses- the Conrad Mansion. I did this one from a photo at the table while my girls colored strawberry shortcake coloring books and the youngest tried to improve my painting with an all too accessible palette knife.

Painting #1 from last week was done on location. Shortly after I started, it became clear that the space under this train trestle was a popular hangout for local drunks, and frog-catching location for a cute little boy that showed up by himself to eat his lunch and tell me all about his family, and life, and all the animals he's caught so far this summer. He even offered to give me his phone number so he can play with my nephews since he doesn't know any other kids to play with, so I told him a few reasons why he shouldn't be giving out his phone number.  He climbed up on the fence behind me to watch me paint for a long time. I kept painting until all of the drunks were gone so he wouldn't be left with them, and then made him promise not to come back whenever there were men drinking under the bridge. "Sometimes they come here to sell each other bad stuff," I told him. "Yeah, like tobacco!" he added. "Yeah, bad stuff like tobacco... and it could be dangerous for you to be here."  That seemed to convince him, so he agreed to go home after catching the Garter snake he'd just caught a glimpse of.  You never know who you'll meet when you're out painting, but it's always an adventure.

Mitchell Butte

        This is the view from my driveway at sunrise. I've been told that when you go jogging, it's a good idea to never stop abruptly in the middle of the run. Oh, well! How can you pass up a photo of something like this? . I would have loved to stop and paint with an easel instead, but being there, feeling the crisp morning air, and watching the live photo burn wash over the distant rocky cliffs and half of the sky helped me remember enough to paint it later.

The Gatekeeper

It's hard to describe the kind of childish urge to run and climb that happens when I get up in the middle of a landscape like this. Maybe you feel like a kid when the rocks and cliffs are suddenly dwarfing you like huge parental figures. On a good day I restrain myself and paint instead, so the painting can remind me of the moment there was something to discover... just around the corner.

It's a Busifull Life

Here's an in-progress shot of what's on the easel right now:

I'm planning to put in a small fishing boat carrying an authentic white-shirted fisherman... none other than my dashingly handsome grandpa Zundel, who, at the time I shot the reference photos, was surely wondering why anyone could be taking pictures when they could be fishing.  The boat and fisherman will be just below the lowest visible part of the sky- a [.] for the [!] in the composition. As you can probably see, I haven't painted most of the trees yet- they're just blocked in.

On another note, James and I have been super busy. Besides drooling over Daniel Keys' upcoming painting workshop in MT, I've been helping James with various projects. He had the genius idea to use a couple of drop-side-crib railings to make a hanging painting storage rack in our garage, and we've been streamlining the studio supplies so it's easier to get going faster on each painting.

 

I found that you can order refillable, empty caulking tubes online, so I ordered a couple dozen of them, along with caulking guns for each pigment to hang on a rack convenient to both of our easels. That way I can fill the tubes myself with our non-toxic paints and have them be just as quick as the Classic Artist brand paints, which are unfortunately not quite as kid/environment/pregnant lady friendly. I'll post more pics of the studio supply racks I just built after I get them up on the wall.

Betatakin

On Monday, my little girls and I went to town to buy some baling wire for our garden fence. The store, rural as it is, was out and said to come back in the afternoon. Hmmm. Not wanting to waste an hour of driving, I decided to go exploring. We ended up in Betatakin at the Navajo National Monument, where nestled at the base of deep canyons are some ruins of an ancient Anasazi apartment complex. I didn't think my toddlers were up for the 8 mile hike to the bottom, and as we got there, they both fell asleep in the car. So naturally it was a good time to step out and paint for a couple of hours. And... I just happened to have an easel and paints and thinner and some spare panels with me. ;) One of my favorite things about painting outside is getting to meet all of the people who stop alongside the road to see what you're doing. On Monday I got to meet people from Sasketchewan, China, Indonesia I think, Texas, and some local coal mine workers. It's always fun to hear people's stories and make connections.

Beck's March

In the American Revolutionary War, young men (in one instance as young as 7) held the vital task of communicating orders from the commanding officer to the soldiers by playing pre-determined drumrolls and cadences. The drummer marched unarmed, but was sometimes found close to the center of a battle as it progressed and spread. If he stopped drumming, the men could become confused about whether to fight or retreat. This role of the drummer reminds me of the role we all play, but more specifically, the roles of those who are in a position to make their voices heard in the intellectual and moral war we're facing right now. The thought of the drummer gives me hope and courage to beat the drum that says, "Don't stop! Keep going! If you're on the Lord's side, then He is on your side, and He always wins."

The Deep Woods

 Here are a couple more plein-air studies from earlier this summer. This first one was part of a multi-painting experiment replacing Ultramarine Blue with Prussian Blue on my palette. I learned that even though I LOVE Prussian Blue (because it mixes really well with Transparent Red Iron Oxide and it's also transparent), when I didn't have a cool blue on my palette then my paintings always turned out looking like aged photos or something you see through rose-colored glasses. This painting feels scorched and dehydrated to me- I really want to put some Ultramarine Blue into it but then I'd have to repaint the whole thing or the blue would be out of harmony with the rest of the painting.

The second one was the first painting I'd done outside in months, and it was a warm-up painting and turned out tighter than I like, but I had fun with all of the opportunities for designing shapes in this scene. This was in Jewel Basin...in the top of the mountain range wall bordering Kalispell, MT on the eastern side. I painted it from a camp chair in our camping site while my toddlers "cooked" gravel and snow with all of my cooking utensils. :)

A Painter's Progress in the Wilderness

I painted this fun little guy in about an hour.  My great uncle John stopped his truck to ask what I was painting when he couldn't see anything but the slash pile. I showed him the painting and he asked, "What are you going to call it?"
"I don't know... hmm. Slash Pile." He squinted and sat back.
"I was thinking something more like, Man's Progress in the Wilderness." I laughed and said I thought he should name all of my paintings. It's funny how something very ordinary or even ugly seems important to people if there's a painting of it. I guess even Mao Zedong knew that.

Down in the Valley

From a stretch of the Flathead river where I was fishing with Grandpa in his driftboats... Well, he was fishing. I was a little distracted. It was so interesting to see the cool pink grazing the trees and grass right next to the blazing hot orange of the sky. I was trying to figure out what pigments to use in which places, since the instant you snap the photo the camera makes it either all warm or all cool, or some muddy combination. Congrats to Angela and Josh Erickson! This was their wedding present. ;)

James at Work

James found this nice little runoff spot and did a vertical piece that I think turned out great. Eden (our 2-year old) wanted to hang out with her dad while he worked.

Storing Paint for Plein Air Painting

It drives James nuts how fast the oil paint dries out in a Soltek easel (since it's not airtight), and what really gets to me is how it all slides down to one side of the palette when you're hiking if any of the pigments have some extra oil in them, so when you open it you get this big mess of paint soup to deal with. So... my latest attempt to solve this problem has worked out quite nicely so far: Airtight pillboxes.

I just set this, open, between my palette and painting on the Soltek when I'm working and scoop paint out as I need it. No need to put piles of every color on the palette, and that way there's more room to mix paint. I'm liking this a lot.

Paint Camp Week One: Barretts, MT

We weren't really sure where we'd camp that night, but the first day on the road landed us in this gorgeous spot on the Beaverhead river. We were grateful to find a free campsite, a fire pit, an old fashioned hand pump with clean well water, and a few friendly neighbors. So we set up camp and stayed here for a week. With plenty of organizing and logistical problems still to solve, painting time this week was less than the place deserved, but still gratifying. James and I have long faced the problem of how we can both paint with two little kids without neglecting them. Here it's an easy fix... one of us paints while the other plays with the kids. :) One week he paints mornings and I paint afternoons, and then the next week we switch. The awesome thing about painting all week in the same location is that you can do a finished (and even large) painting without being rushed so long as you get several days of similar weather throughout the week. I did one painting multiple days from 8:00- 10:00, and then another (multiple days) from 10:00- 12:00 of a different scene. That way I didn't get frustrated with the changing lighting since I'm not that fast yet. It's working great so far.

Breaking in a new Dutch Oven

Breakfast with Daddy

The best ready-made composition was from right in our campsite. :)

Free entertainment...

In the Works

I've slowed down on posting of late, and thought I'd take a minute to give an update on our exciting new plans! While James spends his days in the beautiful foothills near Tetonia, Idaho taking K-12 graders on nature walks and teaching art skills along with plant ID and geology, I'm busy packing all of our junk (over half of it indispensable art supplies) and planning how to remodel our recently acquired truck and camper. In June we'll officially be free for two months to head to the mountains and paint landscapes outdoors in parts of Montana and Idaho, including Glacier Park. Woohoo! Oxygen and sunshine, here we come! I can't wait. Except that I have a ton of work to do before we can go. Like take the roof of the camper off and rebuild it. And stuff. Lol. Here's what our truck looks like:

And the camper looks something like this:

These aren't my photos- It's too dark out to take photos right now so I grabbed these off the internet.
The inside of the camper is a hideous burnt orange, brown, and tan, with nasty old wood paneling and retro linoleum that doesn't match. So it's all coming out. James and I already ripped out the ceiling and insulation, and some of the wall paneling. Tonight I'm working on recovering the seat cushions. I found some upholstery fabric on etsy that I absolutely LOVE and it was only half the price of the fabric I found anywhere else of the same dimensions.

I'm going to paint the walls grey, the trim white, and put in a faux wood floor and countertop- probably dark. I'll post some before and after pics when I get that far. :)

I've also been thinking about how we'll store wet paintings, and am planning to build some sort of wet painting rack above the table. Also, since we're taking two toddlers, I need to build an easily removable railing between the table area and the floor so they don't roll out of bed. Yes, a camper crib. :) Wish me luck!

Highlight of the Flathead

This is a miniature painting- 4"x 6" - a teenie weenie little hard to make your brush touch right where you want it to painting. But a good challenge, I suppose. This one is for the Hockaday Museum of Art benefit auction, and the proceeds of the sale will go to the museum.

Waiting Backstage

This isn't the best photo so I'll swap it out when the lighting's better, but here's the painting finished about a week ago. It was painted from a live model- a really great one. :) She was perfectly still, and multitasked- studying geometry from a textbook on the floor while modeling. I decided to make up quite a few things, like the fringe on the outfit, the hair sticks, and the background. I just didn't want to paint a dancer sitting in front of a chalkboard. So I thought, "What if she's actually sitting backstage, waiting for the intro to her song to come on? It's the final performance of the evening, and all of her family and friends are watching, waiting with the film crews for her to come out and be awesome! ;)"  So that's how I painted it. Better photo coming soon...

Waiting Backstage

Quick Study

Here's the quick study from today's painting session: