Beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Boy is it coming down here - beautiful fluffy huge snowflakes! I love this kind of snow- a fresh blanket in the morning, no tracks just quite yet. I'm down in my studio with my stereo singing songs to me, my little space heater working overtime to warm up this room and lucy in her little dog bed next to my easel. I've been looking through the images I have taken this year and am visualizing what each piece will look like in a particular format. Maybe I'll try for three large pieces this week and I can't help it - WINTER pieces! That is never my galleries' favorite words, but it gets me so excited to paint these palettes, this texture, this SNOW! One more month to enjoy it and then down to Arizona for the best winter months of the year. I miss skiing, I miss driving in the snow (I know, must have lost my mind), watching the snow from my big picture window at home. Wow - someone gave me an extra dose of nostalgia in my coffee this morning! Here is a painting that was done from my favorite parts of two tiny little miniatures done with a tertiary palette, different value patterns, same subject matter. This large one, mainly because of the size difference, is much more subtle, very quiet and I am still living with it, deciding how much further to push it. It is of that beautiful lake North of Durango, CO that I have painted and worked through what seems to be a million times. Not sure I have said everything that needs to be said about it, even to this day. My color of choice these days has been a violet. Violets and blues! Hmmm. What will today bring?

Two new watercolors!

I am having such a great time with watercolor again! Here are a couple finished from yesterday and today! Quite the value if you are interested in Christmas gifts!

Me and Lucy

Lucy is my little studio dog! She is eight months old now, very much still a puppy. She would rather be outside chasing things than in by her mom.

Shan's Chili Recipe

It's been so cold around here that everyone should have a little chili! I did my research (as usual) and came up with a few recipes. Well, add a little of one and a little of another and then some of my own and this is what I came up with. If anyone tries it, let me know what you think!

HEARTY CHILI

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can pinto beans

1-2 lbs. rib roast, cubed

6 slices bacon, cooked crisp, save grease

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 can diced green chilis

2 stalks celery

1 lg can crushed or diced tomatoes

1 8oz can tomato sauce

3-4 beef boullion cubes

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbsp parsley

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt, pepper

1 c shredded jack or cheddar

sour cream

chopped cilantro

Brown meat, add all ingredients down to cheese. Let simmer all day.

When it's time to serve, dish into bowls and top with a bit of cheese, a

dollup of sour cream and top with a bit of cilantro.

Winter Schedule

It's going to be a busy winter/spring! I'm lining up all my shows and travels and it's going to be a whirlwind. First in line is the one-woman show at Mtn. Trails Gallery in Park City, Utah, then on to Scottsdale a few weeks later for the Celebration of Fine Art. February brings the Kneeland Gallery three-person show with Lori McNee and Cary Henrie. I love exhibiting with my dear friend Lori! March brings the Diane Stewart Invitational in Palm Springs and I am so pleased to be invited back to paint with the amazing artists that will be there. A week later I will be back in SLC to do the Hospice Charity Benefit show Art and Soup. Shows after March are still in the making.... Better get back to the easel!

New Work

A new 18x36 oil named "Evening Glow"

Looking for thoughts on an art conversation....

Do you think an artist is continually getting better and growing or do you think at some point they hit their prime and maintain status quo (as in an athlete or someone with physical strength and adeptness)? Do you think the freshness of ideas and eagerness to experiment in the early stages is second to the maturity of technical skill and experience? Or maybe early in one's learning curve, an artist hits on something above their present level and then they play catch-up for awhile? Hmmmm.......Check out your older work and tell me what you think!

Madison Meadow

This painting is of the Madison River area in West Yellowstone. It had been awhile since visiting Yellowstone and though it's changed from fires, it remains one of the most beautiful places in the west!

New Watercolors

It's a Watercolor Day

I love Sundays! Painting and cooking - cooking and painting. I'm working on watercolors today - all small ones, 8x10 and 6x12's. I will frame them with a 4-5" museum mat and a nice frame. They are such a bang for the buck. They really are a good value for the size and quality. I love taking a break from my oils once in awhile to do this. I work on them right in the middle of the family room, TV blaring, family and animals all around me :) Funny how I learned to tune everything out from doing this when my kids were small. I used to sit on the floor cross-legged and paint for 14-16 hours in a day. I could see what the kids were up to and still be part of everything and paint. Now it has to be on the coffee table or I couldn't get up. The back is just not what it used to be! I would like to have a half-dozen small watercolors for each of my shows coming. Probably a little lofty and unrealistic, but why not shoot for the stars? They give me a chance to try a few different palettes and compositions before translating them to a larger oil.

Now to the cooking.....Having my mom and dad over this evening for Corned Beef and Cabbage. It's my first time at cooking it, but I tried it last year for St. Patty's Day and loved it. It's cold outside, well into the fall season, so I am in the mood for a roast of some sort. I'd give a recipe here, but it's pretty easy to throw this dinner together. That way I get to paint at the same time. As soon as this last watercolor is finished, I will take pics and post. Have a great day!

New Piece off the easel

My newest piece reflects a little back to my past work. A little rain in the air, drenched color, soft atmosphere. This piece is called "Mountain Rain Adagio". It is a 24x36, oil on canvas with the floated hand-leafed frame made by Tony at Rocky Mountain Frames.

Productive Day

Well, off the soapbox for another year :) It was a great day for painting. I have a group miniature show coming up in Ketchum ID at the Kneeland Gallery, so it was a catch up day for miniatures! I also worked on a piece that I am "crushing" on! Do you ever do that? Do you get a crush on a particular piece, so much so that you can hardly stop working on it? I'm going to continue tomorrow, but it was a teaching day so I had to put it away for the evening. I can't wait (but will have to) to post the finished piece! Until then, here are some mini's......

I VOTED!

There was a time in my life where the passion of politics consumed me, especially around this time of the year! I was worked up on issues to the point of obsession for sure! Ask my poor neighbors, my kids, my friends - dear Lord - poor people! I have been this way my entire life, even as a teen. I felt it was my obligation to study and soapbox every issue - worry and stew, worry and stew and scream about it. Kind of runs in the fam....! At 48 years old now, I've lived through enough elections and enough party changes to know that we will survive most anything and anyone and that big changes rarely happen unless tragic events force change. I have adopted the philosophy now that real change happens at home, with the people you love in showing tolerance and hope for the future. I know I risk sounding Pollyanna, but I wish to bring about change by showing love, acceptance and high expectations in a positive way instead of screaming and b---ing about how bad things are and what jerks are out there. They might be, but I don't need to put my energy in that direction. I will always VOTE and do my civic duty to let my voice be heard. I will always try to be informed on issues in case I can do anything to help, but I will quietly envision a more beautiful world and show my children the example of love as much as possible instead of spewing venom upon them!

Aren't we lucky to live in this country and to be able to speak our minds and live our lives by our own choices? What a privilege it truly is!

Low Key Work

These are the two low key pieces in progress from last week. STILL working on them, but they are at the point I really need to live with them for awhile before deciding what to do next. Talk about drama!

Monet

This is a photo of one I saw in Chicago. I think its my favorite of the series!

Lessons from Monet

This week in class, I demonstrated two identical compositions, two identical tertiary palettes of purples, greens and orange with different dominance. I pulled out photos of Monet's work on The Seine near Giverny. He produced 21 pieces of this river. Each piece was concerned with the changing light, moment by moment within one time period. In my demo, I was not outside capturing the light, but putting together a completely different emotional response using the same color in a very different way - a way to think outside the box.

I love studying from the masters, especially Monet. I like to feel that he is standing over my shoulder whispering to me about his work - no, not literally :) I'm not crazy, just very imaginative! The work has stood the test of time and every time I study it, I see something different, something more to learn. I also love painting in series for the same reason. Every time I revisit a painting or place, I see and feel something new about it.

I will post my demo's later!!

One of my Fav's of all time!

I gave my classes the assignment of doing a high key, low contrast painting this week. It is possibly the most challenging composition to make successful. One of my favorite paintings of all time is a Monet piece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This painting made me weak in the knees! It is so delicate, so sophisticated in color and such an emotional piece. Take a look and let me know if you get the same response as I do! Attached is another photo of it side by side to a Monet Low Key Low Contrast piece. My photo does not show the subtle change of color temperature like in true life as well as I would like it to! I think it's time to get back out my Monet masterpiece book and do some studying :)

Holiday Fun!

Nesting again! I went to the HALLOWEEN SUPERSTORE today! Good Lord, who would have thought Halloween would ever get this big? When I was a kid, we would go into the local Skaggs Drugstore and there was an aisle of box costumes of assorted ghosts and monsters with a plastic mask that attached with string around your head and a vinyl costume that would slip over your coat so you could stay warm when you were trick or treating. You could hardly breathe through that mask, so most moms would put makeup on their kids faces - it was also so you could see and not get hit by a car! And that was back in the day when you actually went house to house with a pillowcase begging for candy. Nowadays, you can buy elaborate costumes and go to a school or church parking lot and "trunk or treat" and acquire quite the bounty in about a half hour and go home. Just not so much fun as it used to be! And what is with this dressing like hookers for one day a year, as naughty as one can possibly imagine - even little girls costumes! I like the SCARY idea much better! Oh well, I guess that's my personal opinion and you know what they say about those! Never-the-less, my house is now appropriately decorated, pumpkins, cobwebs and all - and I'm feeling quite festive! Here are a few pics of my favorite place to hang out- the front porch! Happy Halloween!

Harvest Season!

Oooh baby, it's cold outside! I wandered out to the garden this morning and it is on it's last leg! Marco picked all the peppers, green, anaheim chili's and jalapenos and most of the tomatoes and we put a small bag together for his grandma and the rest are for todays project - Canned Salsa! It's probably been three years since I have made it. I used to put up 3-4 large batches a year, but that's when my garden was huge! I really don't miss keeping up with that garden. This is so much more manageable. I think by next week, it will be time to take out the plants, fertilize, till it up and get it ready for winter. So into the kitchen I go to chop vegetables. I have been told this is the best salsa recipe ever so I will post it for you.

Best Canned Salsa Ever!

(I know, everyone says that)

3 lrg onions chopped 8 tbsp. oil

5 lrg green peppers chopped 5-6 jalapeno's chopped

13 cloves garlic 5 yellow peppers chopped

3 tsp oregano leaves 5 tbsp salt

3 tbsp cumin 1 tbsp pepper

9 tbsp wine vinegar 27 oz green chili's, or 18-24 fresh chopped

1/2 bushel tomatoes, chopped

Mix and simmer 7-8 hours. Hot pack 15 minutes.