Spirit Cave

Spirit Cave

Painting No. 1-F-13

8"x 8" oil on canvas

A few weeks ago a local painter, Tony Lema, took me south of Moab about 40 miles to the Needles overlook road where we painted in the back country for a few hours. Since then I've gone back 3 times including today.
As the late afternoon sun pushed across the western sky I noticed this cave as I drove through a meadow and up a canyon towards an old cow camp. There's something particular about this place; I had the feeling of being watched as I painted. Afterwards I hiked a few side canyons looking for petroglyphs but didn't spot any.

Spring Color: Indian Paintbrush

Spring Color

Painting No. 7-E-12

9"x 12" oil on canvas panel

The recent Spring rains have left the hillsides full of wildflowers. My favorite is the Indian Paintbrush. I love the vibrancy of the color and the way it grows in small colonies, almost like bouquets in the desert.

Do you Wish People Would Buy More of Your Art?

Sun Glow

Painting No. 3-E-13

8"x 8" oil on canvas panel

 

As some of you know I'm painting full time in Moab, Utah. The good news is that the paintings are selling and requests are coming for subject matter. So I headed up the Colorado River and painted in the shade of the Navajo stone walls during the mid-day sun. This little painting took about an hour and felt really good. This is the light quality that can be captured when a painter takes the time to go outside to paint in the field. The plein air technique of painting from direct observation is the only real way to become a better landscape painter. I've completed approximately 400 outdoor paintings and I'm looking forward to the next 1,000.

Painting a Large Sky Scene Part 2

From Part 1 of Painting a Large Sky Scene; I transferred the line work from my preliminary sketch to the canvas surface. Now I concentrate on blocking in large areas within the painting with singular colors. For example, the entire cloud mass is painted this blue gray as a mid-tone starting point. Later I will come back and add darker shadows and lighter shadows. Later still I will add high-key sunlight spots.

At this stage I have added the darker areas to the underside of the clouds, I have added lighter areas of shadow to the clouds, (everything in this style of landscape painting is about modeling how light falls on a surface. I always try to model the shadow (low-key) areas for dark-medium-light tones and the sunlight (high-key) areas for dark-medium-light. At the bottom of the painting I have painted a medium-base tone for the distant foothills and a odd shaped foreground mass. Notice the blue sky values; the upper painting is an intense blues that fades as it falls.

The final painting has highlights in the clouds, and a corresponding foreground brightness. The lower left corner has the airport buildings and highway shown as a scale reference. The distant rain showers are hitting at various intervals for a more elaborate depth perspective.

Painting a Large Sky Scene Part 1

It all starts with an idea, a spark, something that catches your eye and stays in your thoughts while your working on other projects. That's how this studio painting came about. It started with me driving to Grand Junction, Colorado from Moab, Utah. I drive this route every couple of weeks and I always love the color and shape of the clouds that occur around 13 miles north of Moab. So a couple weeks ago I went out on a cloudy afternoon and painted this 8"x 8" plein air study. My original thought was to turn this into a 36" x 36" large work, but I started noticing the great clouds floating by to the right of this thunder head. So I photographed it as well.

Back in the studio a few days later I did this preliminary 8"x 8" painting of the different cloud layout, using the original plein air piece for a color reference.

Next I built a stretched canvas, using stretcher bars from French Canvas of New Jersey and primed canvas. This photo is from a canvas I built last year but the construction is the same.

Now that the canvas is on the easel the first thing I do is texture the surface. I use acrylic paint to add brush strokes as an under painting. Once that dries, I paint a wash over the entire canvas. I don't like painting on a white surface; this time a chose a light blue/purple wash because I'm painting mostly sky and I didn't want to struggle against an opposing color, like orange. Once the wash was dry I drew a grid out on the canvas surface . I also drew a grid over a scaled drawing and photo. Then I transfer the outlines of the clouds and ground to the canvas, using the grid as a guide.

See Part 2 for the remaining steps

 

 



Moab Weather: April Showers

April Showers

Painting No. 5-D-13

8"x 8" oil on canvas

 

Lately we have had a real mixed bag of weather, from snow to rain to shorts weather. Lately I just don't know what I'm gonna see when I head out the door to the gallery. Today for example, it was raining really hard until 11:30-ish. By 1 PM it cleared up enough that I drove out near the Moab airport and painted this little cloud study. I'm thinking of doing a large painting, possibly 36" x 36" of something along this line, and I need to decide quickly.

Don't let the weather get you down, head out just after the rain and capture it's beauty.

Saturday Night, Moab, Utah

Saturday Night

Painting No. 4-D-13

12"x 24" oil on canvas panel

Moab, Utah at night

Arches National Park: Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

Painting No. 2-D-13

12"x 12" oil on canvas panel

 

Last Saturday morning I was in Arches National Park visiting Sarah Hamingson, the current Community Artist in the Parks pastel artist. I had intended to paint en plein air at the Balanced Rock parking lot but I forgot my mineral spirits and resorted to sketching several versions of Balanced Rock before deciding that I liked this angle the best. It's a tough subject to paint, the subject is awkward and impossibly balanced.

 

This is the usual view of the rock, which is kinda ugly to work with from an artistic perspective. The angle of my painting is at the far right side of the photo, and from the base looking up. Essentially my painting is a study of warm shadow contrasts in a typically cool environment.

 

Arches National Park; North Window

North Window

Painting No. 1-D-13

16" x 20" oil on canvas

 

About a week ago I drove into Arches National Park after a full day of rain storms and painted a small plein air sketch on location at the arch known as the North Window. Once back in the studio I reworked the composition of the Juniper trees, the small wash, and Sagebrush. At the suggestion of Tim Morse I added a couple distant clouds to draw the eye through the opening. The composition is the classic Edgar Payne "O" pattern, with the help of the Junipers for scale. 

Walking in Your Footsteps: Dinosaur Tracks in Moab

Jurassic Park in my back yard.

I read in the Moab Sun News about 2 sites just north of Moab, Utah that held some interesting foot prints of dinosaurs. Naturally this got my attention.

Back in 1993 when the movie Jurassic Park came out my daughter became interested in everything dinosaur related. So with the help of a geologist and the mineral records at a university we set out cross country through the Nevada desert in search of fossils. We actually found some great sites that held fossilized bone fragments, beaver teeth (beavers like 10 feet long) and fish fossils. But now I'm in Utah which is probably as close to Ground Zero for all thing paleontology related, so I set out to see the tracks. The first set are located about 20 miles north of Moab on Hwy 191. Take the North Klondike Road about 2 miles to a small dirt parking lot and hike 500 feet up the trail to the site. The tracks in this photo are made by a Sauropod; a large herbivore. What is really cool is that the tracks clearly show the dinosaur making a right turn in the mud which is rare as far as finding tracks go. There are also many 3 toed carnivorous along side the Sauropod's tracks suggesting possibly a hunting party.....cool stuff to imagine as your standing there.


The second site is located 10 miles north of Moab on Willow Springs Road. This road was the original entrance into Arches National Park and is described by Edward Abbey in his book Desert Solitaire". Go about 3.4 miles to a site on the slick rock that has a display sign posted and look for small clusters of rocks that people have placed next to the tracks.

 This site has many 3 toed carnivore tracks that are easy to see the direction of the footprints as the dinosaur moved along in the mud. Both of these locations are easy to reach with a vehicle that has reasonable ground clearance. 

Evening Light over Utah

Desert Sunset Study 1

8" x 10" oil on canvas

 

Last night, after I closed the gallery, I drove to the high desert north of Moab and painted a couple sky studies. The quality of light in the evening sky is just as varied and stunning as the atmosphere that falls against the Navajo sandstone. At this location looking west across the Utah desert, on a clear day I can see 80-100 miles. This long-distance view only accentuates the cloud-sky colors and patterns. After painting I drove to the Monitor and Merrimac Buttes to watch the last purples fade from the spring sky.  

Desert Sunset Study 2

8"x 8" oil on canvas

Best Plein Air Day Ever......so far

Today was some of the best plein air painting that I've experienced since arriving in Moab. The day started at the Red Rock Bakery of course with the owner, Howard, pouring coffee and talking Utah politics with the tourists.....always worth listening in.
Next, I'm making arrangements with my friend Phil Wagner; oil painter, poet and renaissance man, to paint in Arches National Park at 10 A.M. When I finally arrive this is what I see on the side of the road (photo to the left). Phil has framed and attached make-shift wooden legs to a 32" x 40" piece of plywood, constructing a tabletop-like paint surface for his newest (and largest) plein air painting. Looking very-much like a giant robot spider, I'm waiting for it to start walking around at anytime now.
Phil paints a bright base coat of yellow paint which immediately gets the visitors attention and the cars start pulling over.

This is exactly why I love working with Phil; he is always experimenting with something new. He is either studying dead painters, fiddling with art chemicals or stretching the limits of whats possibly in the field.

I setup my small plein air kit close to him, it looks like a pack of cigarettes next to his rig. During the day we stop and talk to the park visitors, honestly, we posed for probably 10 photos and were captured many more times by the folks in cars who were too busy to talk.
We paint until 3 P.M. at which time Robin Straub, Phil's wife and another great plein air painter arrives to load the contraption into her 4-Runner.
Afterwards I drove out to Wolfe Ranch and hiked to the Delicate Arch Overlook. It's a short hike with the addition of a slickrock rim that rises to the east and adds an additional 1/4 mile to a point that most visitors wont ever see. I stayed on the rocks for probably another 2 hours.
It was warm and peaceful, nearly poetic in-nature.
I saw the first lizard of the year.
I saw Indian Paintbrush blooming.
I took the time to talk to some friendly looking cactus,
and I watched as silent forms of tiny people raced back and forth under the Delicate Arch, so far away that I couldn't hear their chattering.........something of Ed Abbey in all of this.

Mata Ortiz Pottery is Art

So now I have become an art trader.

 

A couple days ago a gentleman arrived in the gallery who sells pottery to art galleries throughout the southwest U.S.. The other artist and myself purchased approximately 20 pieces to resell. Since I know nothing about pottery I was relying on his advice and direction.

 

On initial examination you might think that these pots are replicas or reproductions of ancient pots used by early natives to this country but that would be wrong. What I have found out since then is that these pots are all made by hand in Mexico by a small select group of artists in the town of Mata Ortiz, hence the pots are known simple as "Mata Ortiz". It all started with a curious boy, Juan Quezada who without any outside help collected old pottery sherd's (broken pieces) and taught himself the ancient art of pottery. Here's where is gets interesting; each piece is considered an individual piece or art, no pottery wheel is used in it's formation, no stencils or airbrushes are used to paint the pots, every touch to the pot is completely done by hand, even the firing is done over cow dung (no thermostat controlled oven). 

The pottery was given the "official art" status in the mid-1970's by Spencer MacCallum who recognized the significance of the talent involved with this work.

 

 

 



Castle Valley

Castle Valley Study

Painting No. 3-C-13

8" x 8" oil on canvas panel

 

Sunday afternoon I painted out on Hwy 128, along the Colorado River. This is Parriott Mesa, another wonderful example of the plein air painting opportunities that abound in this part of the world. This is a typical morning study.

Balancing Act

Balancing Act
Painting No. 1-C-13
8" x 8" oil on canvas panel

My days are busy lately, which is a good thing.
Now that spring is upon us here in Moab, every artist in town is wanting to go outside and paint.
Yesterday it was Phil Wagner and Robin Straut, (Robins' work is currently on display at the Red Rock Bakery). The painting, "Balancing Act" was yesterdays' effort as we painted under the shadow of Ham Rock at Arches National Park. Today I painted with Tony Lema, business owner and oil painter, at the formation known as "Parade of Elephants", also inside Arches N.P. The conditions were pleasant with beautiful sunny skies, no wind and only a few tourists. One young man photographed me while I painted, others pull up in their car and watch for a few seconds before going on. I actually like painting near the tourists, it makes me work harder to produce a quality product. Perhaps I go a little beyond what I would settle for if no one was watching.

Tony Lema working on his plein air oil painting at Parade of Elephants.

The Perfect Day in Moab Utah

How do you describe a near perfect day in Moab, Utah?
Here's how....

• 7:30 am - Go to the gym and run for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I usually run for 40 minutes but I was afraid of being late for breakfast. On the IPod? Everclear. 
• 9:00 am - Meet a friend at the Rock Rock Bakery and Internet Cafe for coffee and bagels. As you know this is my favorite morning hangout location; it's always a cozy and relaxing atmosphere.
• 11:00am - Drive to Arches National Park with my breakfast friend and slowly drive through the park, stopping at the Garden of Eden. Hike up to North Arch, South Arch and Turret Arch. It was windy today but still a pleasant time with only a few tourists.
• 1:00pm - Lunch at Fiesta Mexicana with my breakfast friend. This is a great restaurant; the service is quick, the food great and the prices are very reasonable.
• 2:30pm - Back to Arches NP to paint en plein air (painting outdoors) with 2 of my new local friends Phil Wagner and Robin Struab. We painted for nearly 3 hours at Ham Rock, which is just southeast of balanced Rock. It was windy and cool, but we had a great time of being in close proximity to one another.
• 5:30pm - At Phil and Robin's place for wine and a serious discussion of art topics.
• 8:00pm - Home for dinner and blogging.

Moab plein air painters Phil Wagner and Robin Struab working

through the afternoon at Ham Rock in Arches National Park.

 

Moab Community Theatre 2013

What a great night to be in Moab, Utah.
The weather was just perfect today. I was in the gallery working on a new painting and a fellow artist came in, sat and talked for a half hour or so. Then I got a call inviting me to a "happy hour social" at a friends house after work. These are the nicest people, they've really allowed me to be a part of their lives and meet their close friends. Really a great group of Moabites, I can't say enough for their generosity towards me.
After drinking come wine and singing along to the ukulele, we all walked down to Star Hall; a cosy historic theater originally built in 1905, that's a wonderful place to see movies and plays. Tonight's entertainment was the Moab Community Theatres' production of "A Company of Wayward Saints", written by George Herman and directed by Shane Bartosh.
This play written in 1963 tells the tale of a theater company attempting to earn enough money to travel home by performing a one-night play for a rich benefactor.
I really enjoyed the production. I thought the entire cast was spot on and that everything was done with great precision and professionalism.

The play runs March 3rd at 2:00pm, and March 7,8,9 at 7:00pm.

Three Gossips in Winter

The Afternoon Gossips

Painting No. 8-B-13

8"x 8" oil on canvas panel

 

On Monday, the afternoon skies over the Canyonlands cleared and Phil Wagner, a local painter-poet, and I decided to paint in Arches National Park. With it's majestic rock formations and the La Sal Mountains as a backdrop this is one of the most scenic places in America.
The air was cool but clear as we pulled into the parking area across from what's known as The Three Gossips. The statuesque sandstone formation is iconic to this National Park and is featured in the movie: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
The name suggests 3 prominent gossips but my eye always sees the forth as she leans into the ear of the central figure, (which makes the news just a little juicier).

We had almost no company today; a few people from Boise and a couple from Texas. The great thing about painting in the National Parks is that people are friendly. They are excited to be on vacation, awed by the size and beauty of the place and always curious to see an artist at work. Last October I posed for 100 or more photos while I was painting in the Parks.

Phil Wagner painting plein air near the Three Gossips.

February Sun

This afternoon I had the pleasure of painting with a new friend of mine; Phil Wagner. He's an oil painter and a poet. I like Phil, he reminds me to live in the moment. We painted at Big Bend Campground in the warm February light. Our styles are completely different which is really interesting to see how we interpret the landscape in opposite ways. We were also joined by the publisher of Utah Stories; Richard Markosian who photographed us as we painted the rock formations. Check out Utah Stories at: www.utahstories.com

Open Mic Night in Moab, Utah

Friday night was "open mic night" at the Wake and Bake Cafe in Moab, Utah. The local paper has advertised the event for the last month so I decided to give it a try. Moab is so small, with so few things to do at night that any event is usually worth attending.
What do you imagine that a poetry reading would be like? I first see a bunch of twenty to thirty something guys in goatees, black turtleneck sweaters, berets, and of course bongo drums, reading poetry about how life isn't fair. My next vision is Mike Meyers on stage in, "So I Married and Axe Murderer". The jazz quartet riffing while Mike lays down the lines with a cigarette wedged between his fingers' (one of my favorite movies when I'm feeling down and need a good laugh).

I arrive at the cafe at 6:15, probably 10 people sitting at various tables and couches. I immediately spot a couple that I met at a poetry event last month. I pull up a chair and we catch up on the latest news. Other people stream in and the place starts to fill up with chatter. The crowd is diverse, probably 30 people total; locals, new comers, river guides, musicians and retirees. I recognize a few more faces, some have visited me in the art gallery, some I met at the Red Rock Bakery. The lady scheduling the poets asks if I'm reading tonight?, "No Mame, just hear to listen". I order a beer from the waiter.

First poet tonight is Phil, an artist (oil painter) who recently invited me to coffee with him and his wife, really nice people as are most in this town. Phil used to teach poetry in California before moving to Moab. He's followed by probably 8-10 other poets including a local musician Scott Ibex who I've gotten to know recently. Scott reads a short story about a girlfriend in New York that he loved and lost. He opens up his inner thoughts and shines a spotlight on his painful broken heart. The room sits silently as he details in five or six pages the beauty he once cherished and the total abandonment he now feels. I sit quietly, hanging on every word hoping no one sees the dampness in my eyes as he's story crushes me. 

One lady sings the blues and recites a poem about her ex-lovers, another reads about her mom, still another about the birds in her backyard. I clap after each reading and am thankful for the chance to hear from these folks and catch up with my new friends.

For more information you can visit the Moab Poets and Writers at: http://www.moabpoetsandwriters.org



Shadow Study

Shadow Study
Painting No. 6-B-13
8" x 10"
Oil on canvas panel

This afternoon I ventured outside for a few hours of painting on location. I settled on this shadow study of the Rabbit Brush and boulders along the Colorado River. It's a classic example of my head not being totally focused on the compositional qualities of the painting. Never-the-less, after repainting the Rabbit brush 3 times I finally got some shadow color that I liked. This painting will be used as a color reference for a larger studio painting, but wont be hung for sale.



Things to consider:
Only 1 in 30 plein air paintings are really the quality to be shown in a gallery.
Do you, as an artist, hold onto your studies for future reference?
How many plein air paintings to you produce each year?


Shadow Land

Shadow Land
Painting No. 4-B-13
8" x 10"
oil on canvas board

Early evening light plays across the talus slopes and cliff face of Mat Martin Point just north of Big Bend Campground on the Colorado River. This shadow land holds the heart and imagination of all travelers who come here seeking an escape from the city and a visual feast for the soul.

Where do you go to escape from the normal?
Where do you find yourself leaving the road and entering the wild?
What inspires you as a traveler or painter?
I'd like to hear from you.

Juniper Morning

Juniper Morning
Painting No. 5-B-13
8"x 8" oil on canvas

The sky opened up for a couple hours this morning. So with the temperatures around 30 degrees I hiked along the trail near my house where I spotted this composition a couple days ago. Beautiful warm morning light touching the juniper tree, bushes and scattered rocks below a towering Navaho sandstone wall.


Hiking the Slickrock Trail

This evening I hiked the fabled Slickrock Trail just east of Moab, Utah.
I had heard from locals about how great it was to hike the practice loop (3 miles round trip) during the winter when the bikes are few and the locals rule the place. I tried during New Year's weekend to hike the trail with a local artists but the snow was deep enough that we got off track and she fell on her rear-end a few times due to the icy conditions...not a good day.
But today was special. I started out from the parking lot at 5 PM, the sun still hanging in the west, no wind, temperatures in the high 40's, no people for miles. Imagine a place where you can hike for miles across twisting and turning sandstone trails that lead you past some of the most coveted views of the American west. It's really something to see, with 200 foot vertical gorges at your feet and the towering La Sal Mountains draped in fresh snow as a backdrop. The trail is marked with a white stripe every 30 feet which is a good thing because there are at least 2 opportunities on the practice loop to miss a critical turn and ride your bike into eternity. I love the wildness of this place.


Tarte Roja (Afternoon Red)

Tarde Roja
Painting No. 2-B-13
8"x 8", oil on canvas

Late afternoon light slips along the canyon walls and brings the red rock of the Canyonlands to a blazing finale as I quickly set up my plein air equipment and capture the moment. 
How beautiful the fading light is here along the Colorado River, finer that most places I believe. Perhaps it's because of the clean air, I'm not sure, but the unique quality of light is hard to describe in adequate terms.  
 

Cloudy Day

Cloudy Day
Painting No.  1-B-13
8" x 10" oil on canvas panel

What do you do on your day off?
I go outside and work on plein air paintings. Today's effort was near Big Bend Campground just north of Moab, Utah. I like this area, lots of variety in a one mile stretch of river. It was cloudy today which puts a huge dampener on telling the story of how spectacular the rock formations are.

This drainage channel near the overflow campground was the nicest composition I could find this morning. I did manage to keep the coolest colors to the background and the warmest and brightest colors to the foreground; together with the variety of round, angular and vertical lines adds a certain amount of movement to a dreary day.

A Good Friday in Moab

Today the sun came out and brightened my day here in Moab. I rose early and went to the gym for a 40 minute run on the treadmill; still too cold to run outside. I like to listen to up beat music when I run; rock or dance music keeps me moving along. Today it was "The Cat Empire".....I'll let them tell you what they're all about;

Where hip-hop meets reggae, where jazz is played with dirty hands, where a Cuban line meets an Aussie rule, where nothing seems in place but sounds like many places played in one earthy chord. This is the island where THE CAT EMPIRE was born. (Written by the band in 2001)

This band is totally awesome, check them out at www.thecatempire.com

Breakfast at my usual spot the Red Rock Bakery & Cafe. Howard and staff serving up delicious locally roasted coffee and bagels....love this place. Now I just need to get the other artists and poets to join me once or twice a week to plot our overthrow of society :)

I also got word that my upcoming Beginning Pencil Drawing class at the MARC (Moab Art and Recreation Center) has 11 students and the Beginning Oil Painting class has 4 students. Classes start next week and run for 6 weeks. This should be fun and interesting.

Also I want to mention the Moab Brewery www.themoabbrewery.com , I had dinner there tonight where they served the most delicious vegetarian Asiago & Garlic Ravioli Dinner for $10.69. Really, really good.

Frozen Colorado: Big Bend Campground

Frozen Colorado
Painting No.  6-A-13
8" x 8" oil on canvas

The weather finally broke today and I was able to sneak out of the gallery for a couple of hours and paint this scene.
Along the Colorado River, just northeast of Moab is Big Bend Campground and on the east side of the highway are these wonderful rock formations that reflect the warm glow of the sun, even if the temperature is close to freezing. I enjoy this stretch of river, the afternoon light is special and I'm thankful to be the only painter on the river.

Winter Day in Moab

Today, I hate to say it, was a gloomy day.
I had a bagel and coffee at the Red Rock Bakery, my local morning spot. The owner Howard assures me that it will eventually warm up and that I'll have plenty of good days to paint outside. I consider this as a sip my morning inspiration and read the latest edition of Fast Company. The article is on the 10 most important business conversations ever. It inspires me to believe that the planning sessions I have with my art partner are going to yield some great results for the coming tourist season.
After breakfast I go to the studio and study art. That brown leather chair in the photo is where I sit for 30 minutes each day and study one of many art instruction books that I own. It's essential to keep learning something new about art each day. Afterwards I sketch out new compositional ideas for an hour or so. These are usually imaginative ideas that encompass the trademark designs of Edger Payne. I have a notebook of twenty or so good ideas for future paintings. I was really planning on painting outside today, even with cold temperatures I had that itch to go down to the river and do a couple quick plein air paintings. But alas, the clouds rolled in and my hopes were replaced by a dull grey sky and an attitude to match.
After work I hiked again near Sand Flats Recreational Area. I started out later today than yesterday and got back to the car in the dark just as the snow started....good timing. These last couple nights I've been reading at the Grand County Library which is a really nice place to snuggle in for a couple hours with a good book. What am I reading you ask? The Journey Home by Edward Abbey. Tonight's chapter Fire Lookout: Numa Ridge.


Winter Hike on a Monday Evening

This evening I went on my first hike since arriving in Moab. I had previously hiked along this trail during Thanksgiving weekend with a local artist, but today I'm on my own, sort of.
The locals hike this no-name trail along Sand Flats Road, just below the fee booth as you enter the Sand Flats Recreation Area, home to the famous "Slickrock Trail".
It snowed on and off for a couple of hours today, but at 5 PM with the overcast skies holding the last of the sun's warmth close to the rocks, the conditions for a hike were superb. I park on the shoulder next to a young couple and their dog, we head down the snow covered trail in close company, but I speed up and give them some privacy. Grand County is a sparsely populated place; only 1 person for every 2.5 square miles. The locals generally like their privacy, the California attitude of "your here and I have a right to be right next to you" doesn't fly here...thankfully.
This is a great little walk, 3 miles round trip on a mostly level course with great views towards Spanish Valley. The trail itself wanders along the base of a large red rock wall. The wall has this smooth grey-black surface in some places called "desert varnish" which is actually clay that has been baked in the sun. It's wonderful to look at and the ancient ones preferred it's black surface for chiseling their petroglyphs into at a depth of 1/4 inch. Along this route there are 2 petroglyphs that I've seen; long, curvy, snake looking shapes that possibly represent the ridge line of the La Sal mountains or maybe the nearby stream bed, no one knows for sure.....mystery is a good thing.
It's quiet and peaceful here, yet only a mile or so from town. This is a great trail to let your mind wonder and your body get some exercise. Near the petroglyphs there's a large pile of broken stones at the base of the cliff. On further examination the broken stones are in the shape of soup cans. These rocks might have formed an arch on top of the cliff many years ago. At the turn-around point your treated to a view of the confluence of Mill Creek and North Mill Creek approximately 200 feet below you as it winds through the ancient slot canyons and eventually through the middle of Moab on it's way to the Colorado River. There is a nice big flat rock to sit on at this location; perfect for a friend and a bottle of wine on a summer evening.

Developing Large Paintings from Plein Air Sketches #2

Picking up from the last blog; this image shows the early block-in of color on a 16" x 20" canvas. Notice first that I chose a warm color for the initial wash. I don't like painting on a white canvas. It seems that when I have painted on white, I'm continuously fighting the surface to make sure that the white doesn't show through. When you lay down an initial wash, it eliminates that problem and creates a background color that can easily show through in several spots to tie the rest of the colors together; creating a color harmony. This image shows the block-in of colors in the shadow areas of the painting which includes the back rock wall with rocky tiers and snow piled on each tier. Also the willow bushes get their block-in of color. You can see that the base color for the willows is purple; not black, brown, green or yellow ochre. As I mentioned in the last blog, the color mixing for all studio paintings is subject to the color as seen in person and captured in plein air paintings...DO NOT TRUST PHOTOGRAPHS. One more thing; I took the willow block-in color and used it in the shadows of the rocks and bushes on the right side of the painting. This helps to create a color unity throughout the entire work.

This image is the finished painting with possibly a few minor tweaks to the stones in the shadows along the frozen river bank, (the 4 stones are too evenly spaced), I'll probably add some variation in the studio on Tuesday.  Notice the open water in the river; it's darker than the rear wall. Also notice the bush reflections are darker. The base color for the snow is a warmed-up reddish white (never use pure white....never). The sun lit bush closest to the river and the ice next to it are the brightest parts of the painting. This is intentional, it becomes the focal point. I designed this painting so that your eye leads in by following the open water, (left to right whenever possible). Then the eye travels up the background snow to the left, then right to the upper right corner, then follows the sunny rock wall down to the bushes in a clockwise fashion, then loops again.

Do you have comments, suggestions, questions? Let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. 

Developing Large Paintings from Plein Air Sketches

Developing large oil paintings is part science, part art and a certain amount of planning and intuition. In the end even the best painters can mess it up and have to restart, so don't beat yourself over the head if it takes you several tries..or 50 tries to get it right.

Let me say that I study art manuals all the time. I'm continuously trying to improve my techniques and you should too.

I'm working on producing my first large work since arriving in Moab. It's based on the plein air painting I did on Monday called, "Winter Breath". Above is a full scale 16" x 20" pencil drawing that I've reworked about 6 times in the last 2 days. Notice the lines drawn at the 1/3 and 2/3 distances both horizontally and vertically. Also note the lines from corner to corner. These 6 lines are crucial for laying out the objects within the painting, including the lead in line.

You should know that I took photos the day of the plein air, then I went back out yesterday and shot a dozen more detail shots of rocks, bushes and canyon walls. the details will become important in the negative space for adding detail to shadow areas.


Below is the plein air sketch that I will use for all color references....DO EVERYONE A FAVOR AND RELY ONLY ON YOUR PLEIN AIR PAINTINGS FOR COLOR REFERENCES. PHOTOS ARE ONLY GOOD FOR SHAPES!!! In the next blog I will cover the actual canvas techniques that I used.

Frozen River

Frozen River
Painting No. 4-A-13
8" x 8" oil on canvas board

The winter light here in Moab is just as stunning as the rest of the year, you just don't stop to notice it as often. As I was outside working on this small painting I noticed Ravens flying along the cliff faces, catching the warm up draft of air as it rises off the brick colored walls. I watched Robins search for seeds among the bushes that line the Colorado River banks, and I listened to the sound of ice sheets as they rubbed against each other in the still frozen and crowded water surface. How long until Spring comes? No one can say for sure, but I'm thankful for peaceful days of painting in the sunshine.

Winter Breath, Colordao River

Winter Breath
Painting No. 3-A-13
8" x 10"
oil on canvas board

Today was my day off so I went up the Colorado River along Hwy 128 known locally as "River Road" to a campground at a large bend in the river called "Goose Island". The temperature was 17 degrees but the scenery was beautiful and the traffic very lite. The Colorado River doesn't freeze over very often, the locals actually drive out here to see it....it's that rare, but with sustained temperatures below freezing for about 6 weeks the river can't help but ice over. As I'm painting I can here the water gurgling under the ice as it works the small ice breaks into larger chunks. It wont be long before it's flowing on the surface again.


Moab Midwinter Mayhem 2

Where do I begin?
This was the funnest thing I've done since arriving in Moab, and I've done a few cool things but this was WAAAYY over the top.

It all started with seeing the posters around town for the roller derby that's coming in January 19th, which sounds interesting.... then this last week the anticipation really started to ramp-up. It's been advertised on the radio like every 15 minutes for the last few days, followed by signs popping up on street corners. Big wooden signs with large arrows and bright red letters "ROLLER DERBY."

I show up at 6:00 p.m. at the Old Spanish Trail Arena (indoor rodeo arena) just south of town. Parking isn't too bad but there's probably 100 cars in the snow covered lot. I almost slip and fall on the ice trying to get to the front door. Admission is $10, which is reasonable for this kind of entertainment and the place is pretty packed-out. I do a rough calculation and figure there's at least 700 people cramming the bleachers for the main event; Utah vs Colorado. The teams are comprised of 5 member squads of young women in their teens to late twenties; all decked out in head gear, elbow and knee pads, funky make-up and an assortment of tights and bikini bottom shorts.
I'm standing on the handrail above the bleachers, as-far-as I'm concerned it's the best place to watch the show. I get a beer (Moab Brewery IPA....sweet nectar served by a guy in roller derby drag) and join some locals leaning on the rail recalling the old days when roller derby was experienced on the black and white TV late on Saturday night. Those were pro skaters, big burly women who were good at inflicting pain on their opponents. These girls tonight are here to compete and have fun, and everyone knows it.
I'm looking around at the crowd, mostly locals. I spot a young man in a tuxedo shirt, bow tie and a plaid kilt coming up the stairs and entering the announcers booth. I also notice a few twenty something white guys with dreadlocks, a cheer leading squad that could be contestants on "Let's Make A Deal" and I suddenly feel at home. Moab happens to be one of those places where you can get away with a kilt, dreadlocks and a decorated Chinese paddy hat, and no one will think ill of you. It's just part of trying to be yourself in a place that values self expression and living in the moment.
The National Anthem is played by the local marching band, not the local high school band...another band. A tuba, saxophone and three percussionists. It's more of a New Orleans rendition that, believe it or not, is actually danceable.....the "Let's Make a Deal" cheerleaders are showing us how it's done....smiles and wild cheering follows.
The skating is entertaining. Utah, being the locals favorite gets the most clamping and war-whoops from the crowd. Colorado however has a powerful cheering section in the stands. No fights breakout... that form of redneck behavior will not be tolerated in this town.

At halftime the band comes back out to play some dance music.....let's see the video....

In the end Utah smokes Colorado 231-122. I sincerely hope that this returns again next year....it really was a great evening in Moab.








 

Making the Local Paper

Moab Sun News

January 16, 2013

 

So I've been in town 8 days and already I have a mention in the local paper, "Artist James McKew will be teaching two six week classes February through March: pencil drawing on Tuesdays and oil painting on Thursdays."

I'm grateful; the people of Moab have been really open and generous to me. Today a local artist came by the gallery to show me his work, then he took me to lunch at Pantele's Desert Deli, I know I've mentioned it, but the daily soup is always excellent. Today it was Clam Chowder...ahhhh....on a cold day it's to die for! Later in the afternoon a local that I met at a holiday party stopped in to check me out. Nice guy from Castle Valley that appreciates art, I hope to see more folks from that area stop by.

 

 

Edge of the Cedars State Park

Edge of the Cedars State Park
Blanding, Utah

Today I had the occasion to travel south for lunch with a friend in Blanding, Utah. Afterwards I stopped by the Edge of the Cedars State Park which houses the largest collection of pottery from the Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) peoples that inhabited the Four Corners Region from AD 825 to 1125. This collection is outstanding; I get so excited to see the wonderful pottery that they made and the great artistic talent that went into even the simplest of common household objects. This is more than a museum, it is also the actual site of a village that is still in remarkable shape considering the age. The park has made the ruins accessible so that visitors can go down into the 1000-year-old kiva, a round somewhat underground living structure on the west side of the village. You really get a sense of life there in the village.

Bottom of the ladder into the kiva.....well worth the drive to experience this State Park!!!