Final Touches! My largest painting

30x90! All but the final touches are done. Wow! This is the Chief Joseph River by Wisdom Montana. What do you think?

Progress!

Coming along a little more slowly than I would like, but here's to progress!

Here goes!!!

Well, my largest painting EVER! This piece is 30x90. I have had the canvas with a partial drawing on it for three years - intimidating me into submission. I've finally got the gumption to dive in. I have absolutely NO idea who will have the space for a painting of this size, but I've got a studio wall large enough so it will have a home one way or the other :) Please excuse the messy studio, but I have been working pretty much non-stop and lost my studio helper (Marco) to a job. Maybe by January I can do a little cleaning ! LOL

Endurance, 36x48 oil on canvas

I've been working on this piece this last week. This is another previously thought finished piece, only to really dig in and push it a little further. The palette in this piece is so analogous, so subtle that it was lacking something that gave it "umph". I love the tension of the diagonal, the strong value key contrast between the foreground and the background. Something needed to tie the two together with a common thread. I cut back into the trees a bit more, gave them a little more definition to make the separation even more dramatic. Then I added a highlight of water coming down the diagonal to bring a little sky color into the green and break up the subtle values in the foreground. I also like the thin background layers against the thick foreground texture. I reworked a little brushwork in the distance to give the surface just a little more continuity, but I don't want too much. This painting really emphasizes a minimal composition and that is what gives it strength. It's always a challenge for me to paint this large and keep the quality as strong as I possibly can. It's getting me ready for my 30"x90" piece - WOW, scared to death to do something that big! Stay tuned.....

Sunlit Pines of Flagstaff

New piece off the easel! This piece was inspired by my recent trip to Sun Valley for the Kneeland Plein Air Exhibition. I was painting up by Galena Lodge and the side of the mountain fascinated me with the abstract shapes, shadows and color. I did a small little 6x6 of it which sold at the show, but it haunted me to do a larger one a little less abstract. I think I will do a series of this, maybe a couple more. Square formats fascinate me as well. For my upcoming shows, I plan on using quite a few square compositions, maybe a few more odd sizes as well. I am not quite ready to put my signature on this piece above - not for a day or two so I can live with it, but I'm pretty happy with the feel of it!