Our New Home

Haven't had time in my studio lately.  We went to South Dakota and picked up our 'new' 2008 5th-wheel, and that took a few days.  Late winter/early spring we'll put the house on the market, break up housekeeping, and live in this rig for awhile, traveling around until we find a place to settle in our old age.  This photo of our new home on wheels was taken in front of our house the other morning.

Back to  my Italy painting this afternoon! I'll post the PIP later today.

Sunday Morning Venice #2

Finally got back to my studio this afternoon, after several days of family stuff.  The woman is starting to take shape; I hope to finish her tomorrow, then I'll proceed to the rest of the building and flowers.



Sunday Morning Venice #1

I've gotten a pretty good start on my painting of a woman in Venice, looking down from her window at the Sunday strollers.



Sunday Morning Venice

We went to Italy twice in the past year, exploring the Cinque Terre, Venice, Florence, and much of Tuscany.  As you can imagine, I have tons of photo references.  There are a couple series that I'll do, but first I NEED to paint this delightful lady who was checking out the Sunday Strollers from her vantage point above the square. The photo pretty much nailed the composition, just a little cropping & a couple tweaks -- the finished piece will be about 22" h X 20" w.  It's about half drawn; I can finish that today & hopefully start painting.

 



The Essence #3

I finally finished my latest in the up-close-and-personal iris series.  These paintings illustrate the heart of iris from my garden -- the essence! 

I'm ready to pop this in the waiting matte & frame, and hang it on my living room wall with the other 2 in the series.

 

There are so many photo references in my queue, just waiting to transform into watercolor paintings.  What shall I paint next????? 



McKee Commission

I presented my final series of 4 'seasons' watercolors to the McKee Service League & administration representatives yesterday.  I'm happy to report they loved it and we are proceeding with framing.  The dedication/unveiling will be announced later.

Back at it!

I'm rested from Studio Tour, got my 'thank-you' notes all done, and just need to update my web site.  I still haven't finished 'The Essence #3', but should get back to it today or tomorrow.  This afternoon I present my 4-painting installation piece to the McKee Medical Center art committe; I sure hope the like what they see!

Studio Tour Day 2

Another awesome day, steady visitor traffic & great sales.  I'm pooped & am 'hangin' with my honey' for the evening.

Studio Tour Day 1

Wow!  Great turnout for the first day of the Loveland Art Studio Tour -- 100 or more visitors & lots of sales.  Hope today is just as good. 

The Essence #3

Almost done!  Just a little more left for the background at the bottom, and a couple details here & there.  There's still tons to do for Studio Tour, but I think I can find another hour or so to finish this up today.



Art Marketing

Rats!  Didn't make it to the studio & my PIP again today!  However, I did get all my paintings hung & ready for the Loveland Art Studio Tour this coming Saturday & Sunday, Oct. 13th & 14th.  Also got blank pages added to my Guest Book, and distributed invitations around my neighborhood.  I'm hoping for a really good turnout, and it looks like it will be :-)

Diversions!

No studio time this weekend -- real busy getting everything ready for Studio Tour.  Guess I'll get up really early tomorrow & hang the rest of my paintings, then I'll be about ready to receive lots of 'tour'-ists next Saturday & Sunday, Oct. 13th & 14th.

The Essence #3

Coming right along on this one, even though I haven't had a whole lot of time in my studio.  I'm hoping to get it finished so I can feature it during Studio Tour the 13th & 14th. 



The Essence #3

Managed to sneak a little time in the studio early this morning, and got some more done on my new piece.  It's starting to take shape, and I'm starting to get excited about it -- guess I'll head for the studio in the wee hours again tomorrow!



'The Essence #3'

This is the beginning of my latest PIP (Painting In Progress).  Iris are one of my favorite flowers, and I have quite a variety in my gardens -- they've been subjects of many paintings.  Now I'm focusing on the heart/center of the blooms.  This is the 3rd of a series entitled 'The Essence'.



New PIP

After dedicating over 2 months of my art time to the commissioned piece for McKee Hospital, I'm just starting a new Painting In Progress (PIP).

This is the 3rd of my 'The Essence' series.  They are close-focus images of iris from my garden.  Here's my photo reference:



McKee Dedication Cancelled

I'm sorry to inform you that the unveiling/dedication of the art installation I create for them has been cancelled.  Stay tuned1

McKee Final Composite

This is my final post for the McKee Hospital PIPs (paintings in progress).  The four pieces are at the frame shop, Colorado Frames in Fort Collins, www.coloradoframes.com.  The image below illustrates how they'll be presented, floated on black sueded matte, with a simple black frame, under TruVue plexiglas.  The framed size is just over 4' tall X 6' wide.

The dedication/unveiling is scheduled for October 3rd, 3:00, in the Coors Room of the McKee Wellness Center.  The piece will be hung behind the reception desk in the main lobby sometime after that. 

I'm happy to be done with this project, and pleased with the results.  It was fairly challenging; I used numerous reference photos of area mountain ranges, trees, wild iris and Colorado Columbine, and bodies of water.  Developing paintings this way is a great creative exercise -- much harder than painting a single scene that I've taken pictures of! 

Thanks again to the McKee Service League for selecting me to create this major new piece for the hospital.



McKee Summer 4

The final steps were to paint the water, darken the background around the columbine, and add some detailing to the aspen trunks.  This final piece for my series of 'seasons' paintings for McKee Hospital in Loveland is essentially complete.  Now I can get all four paintings together to determine if there's any fine-tuning to do.  They go to the frame shop next week. 

The unveiling/dedication is scheduled for October 3rd at McKee.

My final blog of this series will be a PhotoShop composite of all four pieces together, similar to the way they'll be framed.



McKee Summer 3

'Summer', the last in my series of paintings for McKee Hospital in Loveland Colorado, is nearly complete.  I painted the rocks and the near grassy areas, then I masked out the rocks and shoreline so I can get the water painted.



McKee Summer 2

Quite a bit of progress on the final painting for McKee Hospital.  At this point the trees are in and the Colorado Columbine in the lower left are done!  The most tedious work is finished; today I'll paint the rocks and the water, then it'll be substantially complete.



McKee Summer 1

Got a good start on the final painting of my 'seasons' series for McKee Hospital in Loveland, Colorado.  This one is Summer, depicting a mountain range in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado columbine and other wildflowers, aspen & spruce trees, and a mountain pond.

After drawing the scene, particularly the columbine and the trees, I masked out areas that needed to be saved while I dropped in the sky, mountains and mid-ground meadow.  This photo shows the painting with masking fluid.

After the painting was completely dry, I removed the masking fluid.  See how the background pops out from behind the foliage in the trees?  Today I'll work on the trees, and hopefully also have time to paint the columbine in the lower left of the piece.





McKee Spring 4

Whoopee!  I finished Spring today, the 3rd of 4 'seasons' paintings McKee Hospital in Loveland CO commissioned for the main reception lobby.  I'm pretty pleased with this one; I think it came together wonderfully. The wild iris in the lower right, as well as indications of lupine, compliment the spring grasses and tree foliage.

 

 

Tomorrow I start on Summer, repleat with Colorado Columbine -- it'll be another especially fun piece to create!

McKee Spring 3

Here I've removed the masking fluid on the wild irises, and painted the rocks and the spruce trees in the mid-ground.  Today I'll try to get this one done; I can't wait to paint the wildflowers!  I'll detail the aspen trees, lay in the pond, and finish the distant mid-ground.



McKee Spring 2

I'm working like crazy on my series of paintings for McKee Hospital in Loveland.  This is 'Spring', the 3rd in the series of seasons.  The mid-ground is laid in and wild irises drawn in the lower left foreground. The irises and foliage have been masked out with a special fluid, allowing me to drop in a deep value contrast.  I don't often use masking fluid but where there's lots of tiny detail it's really tedious to try to negative paint the background around each element -- this is a perfect example of that.



McKee Spring 1

The 3rd of my series of  'seasons' watercolors for McKee Hospital in Loveland, CO is 'Spring'.  This one has Mt. Hallett, spring wildflowers including wild iris, aspen trees just leafing out, and Engleman spruce.  I got a pretty good start on it.



McKee Winter 4

Winter is substantially complete!  It can now hang around with Fall -- they'll both let me know if they need any fine-tuning. 

Today I dropped shadows into the snow to give it more definition, and I added shadows to the snow on the pine boughs also.  The final work was detailing the aspen trees.



McKee Winter 3

Monday was down day for me -- the air quality was horrible & consequently I felt horrible too!  Didn't get much done on me series of paintings for McKee Hospital.  Luckily, the air cleared quite a bit & I've been able to work. 

Yesterday I dropped in the water and reflections.  The painting is getting closer to completion.



McKee Winter 2

Busy day in the studio; I got quite a bit done on the second of my 'seasons' series for McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

The masking fluide was removed from the pine trees, more pines added in the distance, and the winter-willows added in the mid-ground.  I'll probably detail the aspen trees next -- they still have masking fluid on them!



McKee Winter 1

Got a good start on the second of the series of four 'seasons' watercolors for McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

Winter: the large sections were sketched in and the aspen trees and snow on pine boughs masked out.  I added drops of masking fluid for falling snow as that will bring a sense of action to the piece.  Then I painted in the details of Longs Peak. 

Next I'll work on the pine trees and the distant mid-ground.



Mc Kee Fall 8

This first of four watercolors for McKee Hospital is 99% done.  I'll keep it handy for awhile, just to see if there's any 'fine-tuning' left to do. 

Now I'm starting on Winter!



McKee Fall 7

Continuing the first of four paintings for McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

Subtle changes from the last post: aspen tree trunks are detailed, as is the ground vegetation on the right side of the painting; the rocks are 'anchored' in the water; the shoreline middle-to-right is defined; and the moraine rocks in the center of the painting are more defined.

The final steps are to complete the left mid-ground and put the details in Mt. Meeker.



McKee Fall 6

Next step on the PIP (Painting in Progress) for a series of watercolors commissioned by McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

The water has been added, using a technique I learned from Mark Mehaffey, nationally-acclaimed watercolorist and instructor.  Rather than depicting clear definition of the mountains and trees, Mark teaches a 'representational' approach for reflections in high country lakes.  I tested his theory while backpacking in the Rockies and indeed, the landscape is not as distinct as we tend to think, but the colors are vividly reflected. 

Next I'll work on the detailing in the mountain face, using the deep rich purples of the reflection.  I'll add darker pigment leading from the water up through the meadow and on to the mountain 'focal' point.



McKee Fall 5

Continuing the PIP (Painting in Progress) for a series of watercolors commissioned by McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

The stand of pines on the left mid-ground is done.  I also lifted out some rocks in the low areas of the alpine meadow, indicating the glacial moraine, and enhanced the contrast between the aspen foliage and the distant mountain range. 

I'm anxious to do the water as that anchors the piece, and will reflect the brilliant autumn colors of the landscape. Check back soon to see how the water 'completes' the painting.

After the water is finished, I'll go back and do the fine detail work in the aspen trees and Mt. Meeker.  Then I can start on the next of the series!



McKee Fall 4

Continuing progress on the first painting of a series of four pieces for McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

The mid-ground has now been painted in, including a stand of pine near the foot of the mountain.  I removed the masking fluid from the trees, but left it on the rocks so that I can again apply pigment freely in the area of water.

The next step is to paint in the pines on the left and perhaps do the water. 



McKee Fall 3

Continuing progress on the first painting of a series of four pieces for McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

The rocks lining the shore of the body of water were painted, then the aspen trunks & other elements masked out to prepare for painting the mid-ground.  Masking fluid is tedious and I don't often use it; however, in this instance I wanted to be able to apply paint freely to the entire area without having to interrupt the flow by carefully painting around the trees & rocks.



McKee Fall 2

Continuing the PIP (Painting in Progress) for a series of watercolors commissioned by McKee Hospital in Loveland CO.

The second step for this piece was to lay in the brilliant autumn colors in the aspen trees, and continue refining the overall design.  The trunks & limbs of the aspen trees have now been established, as well as the shoreline of the body of water in the foreground and a stand of evergreen trees on the left.



Mc Kee Fall 1

I'm starting on a series of four large watercolors for McKee Hospital in Loveland, Colorado.  The individual paintings depict local mountain scenes as viewed during the four seasons.  The first piece I'm working on is Fall, with lots of brilliant autumn colors.

The first step was to paint the sky and the distant mountain range with Mount Meeker & Longs Peak.  I also sketched in the aspen trees and a rough outline of the major elements; this establishes the "flow" of the design early on.



Another Learning Experience!

I decided it's about time I had a blog, so here I go!  I'll use this to post photos of my P.I.P.s -- Paintings In Progress.  Stay tuned!