Towards the Foothills

The foothills are beginning to green up and the trees are slowly leafing out, this has been a slow spring, but the flowering trees are finally in full flower.
I love all the apple, crab apple, plum and fruit trees in Fort Collins. Right now you can drive from one end to the other and see flowering trees on every street. I rarely paint the flowering trees and they seem to be pretty "spring specific" but maybe this year...!!

Norwegian winter

I received this photo from my friend Sigmund Aarseth a few weeks ago. He and his wife Ingebjorg live in this beautiful log house in Norway. I think they have had a lot of snow this year, but what a beautiful day this shows! I have been to their home a couple of times, it just reminds me of Monet's house and garden as they have built it and maintain the garden for Sigmund's gorgeous paintings. He doesn't have to walk far to see a paintable subject.

Into the Swamp, Pastel, 20 x 20

Hopefully, back at my blog! I haven't had very good luck posting because my computer (with Windows 9) became incompatible with blogger. So, I am now on my NEW computer with Windows 7 and it is compatible with everything! Why do they invent new things that are incompatible if I may ask? Wouldn't you think it would get better...and not worse with a new "upgrade"? Windows 9 seems to be incompatible with so many things, I don't know why they even bother with it. Thank goodness I hadn't "upgraded" my new computer yet, just getting used to it!
This painting, "Into the Swamp" has won an Honorable Mention at the show at the Madden Museum of Art in Denver. Very exciting! I had entered it in several shows that it wasn't accepted into, just goes to show that jurors are "incompatible" also! Whatever. It is very frustrating to be an artist these days. What I think is my best work seems like it takes so long to break into shows...am I a futurist or what? Ha.

On the Way to Steamboat over Rabbit Ears Pass

This is from one of the photos I took while leaning out of the van in the midst of a snow storm going over Rabbit Ear's Pass on the way to Steamboat Springs.
It is one of the paintings that I am showing at Art on Mountain Gallery this weekend. Come on down and see my work,I have 14 paintings, some of them new right off the easel.
I have been painting like a crazy person all this fall and I have 30 new paintings, but not all of them are presentation ready.

Painting in Taos, New Mexico

This oil is of our local sculpture park and I just liked the hazy swamp grass and the ambiance of the September water swamp. Another outdoor painting that brings memories of the smell of the swamp (not as bad as you would think!) and the warmth of the hot Setember sun in Colorado.

Really could it get any more beautiful than Taos, NM? The golden chamisa, the blue mountains and the blue-grey sage? The trees had yet to begin turning but we still had plenty of color in all our paintings. I only wish I had the stamina to paint as many hours as I used to. Knee surgery has certainly slowed me down this summer. This beautiful scene is just north of Taos by Arroyo Seco. I will post my finished painting here as soon as I get it photographed.

Bear at Bear Creek Park

Could there be anything more appropriate than a bear wandering around Bear Creek Park while we plein air painted? There he was just a few yards away seemingly enjoying himself as we were!
Painting en plein air is certainly one of the most satisfying ways to enjoy your day outdoors. I don't know of anything that is more fun, enjoyable, frustrating and almost impossible! That has to be one of the reasons I am so drawn to painting outdoors. I am preparing for a show of my plein air work at our Art on Mountain Gallery starting September 1 here in beautiful downtown Fort Collins. Come and join us on Art Walk night, September 3rd, at 102 West Mountain Avenue from 5 to 9. I will have about 20 new plein air paintings to show from the last couple of years of painting from Tuscany to Malibu, Colorado to Texas. The great thing about a plein air painting is that you can almost feel the atmosphere that the artist enjoyed at the time of the painting, unlike a studio painting, it's all right HERE, mosquitoes embedded in the painting, a few bear hairs and the usual blood, sweat and tears!!

Cruising the Baltic Sea

Could anything be more beautiful than cruising the Baltic Sea? Visiting London, Bruges, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Rostock, St. Petersberg and Tallin, Estonia. Wow. We are numb with exhaustion! But it was gorgeous and there will be a few paintings resulting from this trip although my forte is landscapes, mostly with just nature and there are lots of buildings on our photos!

Glad to be home.