Spring & Summer Exhibits

I hope you are enjoying a fantastic spring! Here are a few art exhibits I'll be participating in this season. I hope to see you at these great events!

Visions of the Southwest

I will be participating in the Ian Russell Gallery's
annual exhibit of western landscapes
alongside fellow painters Marcia Molnar & Don Rantz
plus sculptor Diana Simpson.
May 24th thru July 1st
Opening reception Friday May 24 5-8 pm
Ian Russell Gallery
130 South Montezuma, Prescott, AZ
928.445.7009

Phippen Museum 39th Annual Western Art Show & Sale

Prescott's premier western art show
located on the north side of the historic downtown square.
 Look for my booth (#71) near the corner of Montezuma and Gurley.
I will be doing quick draws on Saturday and Sunday
at 2 pm on the north side of the courthouse.
Memorial Day Weekend Sat-Mon May 25-27
Downtown Prescott, AZ
Phippen Museum
929.778.1385

Telluride and Aspen Plein Air

Each summer the Sheridan Arts Foundation hosts 20-30
nationally renowned plein air artists to paint in the beautiful
settings of Telluride and Aspen, Colorado. 
Last year I received the best of show award at the Telluride Plein Air Exhibit.
The best part of the award is getting an automatic invite to this year's event!
I've also been invited to the Aspen Plein Air the following week.

Telluride Plein Air, June 28-July 4
Aspen Plein Air, July 7-13
Telluride & Aspen Plein Air 2013

New Work and Exhibits

The Tempe Festival of the Arts just finished and was a great success! (It seems the economy might be improving?) My next two events will be the Phippen Western Art Show and an exhibit of new work at the Ian Russell Gallery both over Memorial Day weekend in Prescott. Here's a few paintings I'm planning to include. I'll post more as I get them finished.

Grand Canyon Demo

Just completed this piece in preparation for a show at the Mountain Trails Gallery, Sedona with the GC7 group of painters and thought I'd share it along with some pics of how it came about. (Shots were taken with my cell phone so not they're not that great)

Sketch over toned panel. I'm working from a photo displayed on a computer monitor and a 9x12 sketch I painted earlier. In the sketch there's a close in foreground cliff with trees in the lower right corner, but I liked this view better with the big buttress of rock leading into the picture. The shot is looking west down a tributary creek that leads into the Colorado River taken from one of the  points on the West Rim Drive. It's around midday with little in the way of direct shadows to define the forms. I'm hoping the cloud shadows will do this for me. Anyway, a challenging subject.

Blocking in the darks and starting the cliffs. Trying to get the values about right knowing I'll probably go back to lighten them up later. In general, the foreground stuff is thin with little or no white, middle and background shapes have some. 

Canyon is now fully blocked in with undertones or colors that will remain unchanged. I left the sky for last, not sure why but it's become a habit for me. I'll lighten up the values in the distance and work in the foreground details until it's done. Leave what works, remove or change the rest.

Taking the Long View 36x36 oil on panel

New studio work...

Some new still wet untitled studio work for a few upcoming shows. 

Zion!

This year's Zion Plein Air Invitational was fantastic for many reasons. Aside from the amazing painting possibilities and hanging out with some truly great artists, a few of us took advantage of the canyoneering and hiking Zion has to offer. I arrived a day early to join artist Josh Been and friends for a slot canyon adventure down Pine Creek. This canyon runs below the famous Zion tunnels and included some cool inner chambers, cold swims and long rappels. It was great to visit a part of the park few others see and was an interesting start to a week full of painting in Zion. 

Later in the week during my painting demo at the Human History Museum, my wife Michelle made a surprise visit having driven up from Prescott that morning! It was so great having her there for a few days. A funny thing happened during the demo. Someone asked if I minded people watching me paint and I commented that if I minded I wouldn't be doing plein air events. I told the story how just a few weeks before during the Sedona plein air event, Dave Santillanes and I were painting Cathedral Rocks when a bus full of Japanese tourists showed up and surrounded us while we worked. Just one of the risks of painting in popular spots. No sooner had I mentioned this when a bus load of Japanese tourists unloaded at the museum and surrounded me during my demo! They were very polite and it wasn't a problem at all, but their timely appearance did bring a few laughs. There was a bit of rain during Michelle's brief visit so we took advantage of it to hike to the Emerald Pools to see the falls. Beautiful with the autumn colors! 

I was pleased with the work I did throughout the week and the actual wet paint sale went well. I picked up a couple of purchase awards from supporters of the event and that helped with my overall sales for the show, my best ever for this event. Thanks to Zion NP and all the organizers of this show! 

When we got the chance to do something other than paint Josh, Dave and I hiked up Angel's Landing. We resolved to do more exploring of the places we paint. Next year I'm bringing rock climbing gear...

Sedona, breathe, then Zion...

I just got back from the Sedona Plein Air and have a few days to retool for the Fourth Annual Plein Air Artists Invitational at Zion National Park that starts next week. At top below is a large piece from the Sedona event that ended last Saturday and it was chosen to be next year's poster image! What a cool award! The other two paintings are my submissions for the ongoing exhibit at the Zion Human History museum that proceeds the Zion Plein Air event. (Oh yeah, somewhere before all this there was a really fun studio tour...)

Call of the Canyon 24x24

(sorry about the poor photo quality...)

Stormy Morning 16x20

Zion Heights 23x25

Grand Canyon Plein Air on the Rim 2012!

I'm just going to post a few photos and say a few things about this year's Grand Canyon Plein Air on the Rim. I can't adequately tell you in words how incredible this event is! The location is awesome of course, but so too is the group of artists and the people who organize this show.  The weather was cooperative with a midweek storm thrown in for drama (but not nearly as much as last year!) I painted a lot with my good friend Josh Been, who really set the bar high by painting large gorgeous panels all week long! The quick draw event had perfect weather and made a record amount, and the opening night reception was well attended with good sales. During the reception I was awarded the Artist's Choice Award! I'm honored and humbled to win the award again this year. The show will be up until Nov. 25th at the Kolb Studio at the west end of the South Rim Village. Proceeds of the show support the goal of funding a permanent art venue on the South Rim

Me beneath Mather Point

Josh crushing it at Yavapai Point 

My space at the opening reception

My quick draw entry

Yeah.