Stage 3 Knik River - Work up the mid ground

Mid Ground Area; Gravel, Main Trees, and the small trees on the right back.

Got to paint before the Football Games this morning.  Worked up the dark low treeline on the water in the distance.  Also added darks and lights to the gravel.  Worked up the right trees in the mid distance.  Then went to work on the main trees.  What fun to play with bright colors of fall.  

I have included a picture of the whole painting along with the picture I am working from.  I took this picture with my friend Don Kolstad when we were Plein Air Painting a few weeks ago.

 

100K Trees? Nope Just Implied Them

Stage 2 Knik River Painting - 16x20 on Gesso Panel - I finally got to paint after 6 days.  I more or less have finished the background.   Looks as if I painted a couple 100K trees, nope not a one, just implied the trees with color values.  Took about 3-4 hours to work the background up to my satisfaction.  Will work the mid ground next. Lots left to work on, but so far I am very pleased with how it is coming together.

Including a look into my small studio in the picture below, space is tight, so yes it is crowded. but it is home when I am creating.  Me and Oreo (my dog) head out and loose track of the hours when I turn on the stereo and paint.

Knik River - A Begining

Started a New Painting on Sunday - Sunday as I watched the football games in my studio I sketched out 5 paintings onto panels for painting.  Took most of the day to get them right.  I knew I wanted to start one and get a wash of color onto the panel.  Was a hard decision which one to start I like all the compositions.   But I decided since it was a Sunday and the image I was using was from a picture I tool Last Sunday. I would go ahead and work on this peaceful scene.  The view is towards the Chugach Mountains and Knik River in the distance.  this big flood plane area is a favorite for 4 wheelers, motocross bikes.  It was a nice hot fall day, I loved all the colors and how green the little pond was in the foreground.  The calm water shows the reflected colors of the trees so well.   I included the picture for you to see where I am taking the scene from.  This is just the start of the painting.  I just wanted to get a wash in for a reminder for me of the colors.  I intend to get the other paintings started also with washes then will work them up.  Not sure which will capture my desire as the artist, sometimes you are surprised which ones you can't leave alone.  Feels great to be painting again!!!

It's not Age .... It's the Mileage!

This is a milestone month for me.   I have been working at Medical Park Family Care Inc. in Anchorage Alaska now for 30 years!   Where has all the time disappeared to.   Painting is my passion and second vocation.  Like most artists my "real" job pays the bills.

I can honestly say I find it hard to believe it has been this long at MPFC.   I have managed the Radiology Dept. since 1980.   I still enjoy my job; which is a blessing.   This is a compliment to who I work for, who I work with and to the patients we serve.   Some of the patients I have watched grow up from children to now bringing their own children to our clinic.   Three of the doctors who originally hired me at MPFC have  retired and one of the doctors sons is now a doctor practicing at our clinic.   Only one of the original Physicians is still working, Matt and I are the "Old Dogs" here now.   We have been through lean and tough times and good times at MPFC, through it all, I have come to love the people I work for and with.   The "Family" part of our name is truly accurate, we are a family and it has been like most families, some struggles, and some arguments but through all of that we have always had respect for each other professionally and personally.   I have learned so much about life from my peers at work and from our patients.

One of the gifts of working in Medicine is that you are reminded constantly just how good your life is when you have your health.   your health is so important.   Money and all the material aspects of life mean nothing without your health.   The other major gift of working in Medicine is that you learn how strong and wonderful some people truly are.  I have learned more about personal strength from patients that have faced some incredible hardships in life and how their attitude has helped them through.   Some have battles that they lost, but they never gave up fighting and realizing how lucky they were to have another day of life.   I have always tried to remind myself of these lessons when life's little hardships come my way.  Most of the time I succeed and take the curve balls with a grain of salt.   Sometimes I let them get me down, but usually not for to long.   As my body ages I can't do all of the things physically I could as a young man, and that is okay.  I have learned to enjoy life more as I get older and value family and friends as the true reward in life.   So the mileage has taught me good things.

In art I have a saying about learning to paint.   "It is not always talent that makes a good painter .... it is brush miles that make a good painter."   What I mean is talent will only take you so far, but it you are willing to paint, paint and paint you will become a good artist.   Practice and practice is what can teach you how to become better at all things, not matter at what age you are.

Remember "It's not the Age .... It's the mileage!"

Oil Painters Are Interesting People

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Most of my Artist Friends are very interesting people. Most know how to enjoy life, look for the beauty in life.   As we paint we know the light changes and every thing will look different in 2 hours.  This helps you see the world as a constantly changing and amazing thing.  One of the most pleasurable things is I look and think how that looks now, and what might it look like when the light changes how will the shadows change what will the composition appear like.  In other words sometimes we see the world through a child's eyes, everything is new and exciting.  Or maybe it's just the fumes from the paint thinner?

Below is a painting I have on the easel, It is about half way finished.  No detail work is done yet.  I have the lower half to work up and add more stuff to.  I am thinking about possibly cutting the top quarter of the painting off totally.  What do you think?   Give me your thoughts please.

 

AFAP Award Ceremony

AFAP AWARD CEREMONY 2010 - Last night was the Award Ceremony and First Friday show of the Top 30 entries in the Art For Alaska Parks competition.  A wonderful turn out.  Grand prize went to Robert Clayton for his painting Winters Blanket.   Best Landscape went to David Rosenthal for his painting Stranded Berg.   Best People in the Park went to Robert Clayton for his painting Clamming on Cook Inlet.   Best Wildlife/Bird went to Suzie Althens for her painting Tides That Bind.   People's Choice went to Robert Clayton for his Clamming On Cook Inlet.   Peer's Choice went to Karen Crandell for he painting Portage Glacier.  Honorable Mention went to Mark McDermott for his painting Eagle River.  I personally want to thank all the artists who sent submissions in, they were the best we have had.  I also want to thank our Judges John Van Zyle and Linda Infante Lyons, yu both did a great job and I know how difficult that was.

Link to my wife's Blog, a Alaska story

http://alaskalockerhooking.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/alaskan-fireweed/

My wife and I spent 3 days in Homer Alaska, found the best Sticky Buns ever at Three Sisters Bakery while we were there.  So for every breakfast we were consuming Sticky Buns.  The Fireweed picture on her blog with Donna was taken outside of the Three Sisters Bakery