Spouses of Artists - Love you Babe!

This little 7x5 painting was done in about hour and half.  A little Oil - Lonely Vigil.

My wife and soulmate when I showed it to her was very thrilled with it.  She gave all the praise she felt I needed, and then as I was heading back out to the studio she said "by the way the Light house tower is not straight"  she did not want to point that out first, although it must have been obvious to her.  ( I have straightened it out - but thought I would post the picture before I straightened it ).
Spouses of artists are special people, they put up with and sacrifice so much for their artist mates.  Art is what we eat, drink, sleep and breath.  In my case it is my Mistress, she is fickle and sometimes I have my way with her and everything goes well and magic happens.  Other times she is crabby and obstinate and I get frustrated.   But my wife is always there for me to come back to with a smile, hug and kiss.   I know how much my spouse puts up with for me to pursue my passion.  


Donna I can never express how much I love you and how much you are apart of my art.  All I can say is "Thank You Babe!  You are special!! XXX

Sunday Fun

Two small 5x7 & 7x5 paintings I did on Sunday.  Decided the skies would be the focal point in each painting.  One winter night and the other summer sunset.  In the first painting Winter Light I painted a remote Cabin and the Northern Lights.  Our artic winter can challenge the best of us, but one of the joys of winter is the Aurora light show any dark and clear night.  Always different and incredible to watch.   In the second painting Susitna Sunset 4 in the summer we have 20 hours of daylight, awesome, and the sunsets are slow and amazing.  This is the 4th in a series of them I have done, and many more to go.  Because the sun takes so long to set we have a incredible display on light at sunset.  A artists dream.

Sense of Vastness

I have a First Friday Art Show at Stephan's Fine Art Gallery  in the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage Alaska the First Friday of April.  The title of the show is  Sense of Vastness.  I will be having around 15 new paintings, they will be highlighting the Vastness of Alaska.  Alaska has over 5000 miles of coastline and if placed in the continental US it would stretch from the east coast to the west coast.  The incredible beauty and different types of climates is amazing.  Come to my show to learn more about my artwork and say "hi".

HELPING HANDS FOR NEPAL - Silent Auction

EVENING ON SUSITNA FLATS - 12 X 24 Oil on canvas painted Alla Prima live on Saturday 1-22-2011 at Blaine's Art Supply in Anchorage Alaska.  Blaine's is hosting Artist A Day Event the whole month of January.  A different artist each day creates their artwork in the store live, and then we donate it to be auctioned off for HELPING HANDS FOR NEPAL.  They will be auctioned off in a silent auction running through February 2011.   You can see the artwork it will be posted on Blaine's wesite: http://www.blainesart.com/

All proceeds go to Helping Hands for Nepal.

The Dragon Moved - A True Story

About 3 years ago I had a booth at the Make It Alaskan Festival Show at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.  As a tradition after the show is over and we have packed up the gear, Donna and I drive over to the Mongolian Barbecue Restaurant to have dinner.  That year a very interesting event happened.

We sat in a booth close to the front window.  Donna went to the bathroom to wash up, and the waitress brought us our water glasses.   I took a drink out of mine, set the glass down, .... and watched it slide sideways across the table to the window.  Well that got my attention.  I was sure the bottom of the glass must have been wet and it hydroplaned.  So I lifted it up and checked the bottom, it was not wet at all, neither was the table.   So I picked the glass up again, moved it back in front of me and watched it slide to the window again.   Now you are thinking the table is tipped, NOPE, Donna's glass was right next to mine, it never moved.  Okay now I was feeling the hairs start to stand up in the back of my head.

Donna came back, I told her what has been happening, and she looked at me with that "Look" wives give their husbands that says "you expect me to believe that".   So I picked up the glass thinking she will never believe me if it stays put this time.  Moved the glass next to hers and sure enough it moved again all the way across the table to the window again.   Donna looks at me and says "we are moving to a different table. NOW".   I know that tone, it is not to be argued with so we moved to a different table.    After we ate and went up to the register to pay, I asked the person if they had ever had anyone comment on that booth and told her what happened.  She calmly listened and then explained what happened, " Oh that was just the Dragon moving under the earth".  Smiled and gave me my change.  

A true story BTW.

Saying Goodbye To Grandma & Grandpa Lindsey

 

This painting I painted as a surprise present for my wife, for Christmas.   This painting has a emotional, poignant  meaning to Donna.  Last September Shaunna (in the picture) and Christina went to the site of where my wife and her siblings combined the ashes of their parents (Sherman & Rae Lindsey),  Shaunna came to say goodbye.

As a artist I decided to use photo editing software to move Shaunna from the right of the picture closer to the tree on the left of the picture (see above picture).

 

 

 I then took the edited photo out to the studio and sketched it onto the Gesso Board I decided to paint onto.  I just did a outline sketch.   Sometimes I do a full shaded black and white sketch, but did not feel I needed it I had a pretty good idea where I was going with this painting.  I anchored the sketch with a fixative spray.

 

I then washed in a thinned paint layer to block in the main compositional elements.  As you can see I was not trying to do any work up of the image.   My goal with this stage is just to recheck the composition and its elements.  I was satisfied with what I had so I then began by painting in the ocean and distant land.  Working forward I began to paint the rest of the painting, taking time to stop and re-evaluate as I went.

Donna was thrilled with her Painting.  Nothing is better as a artist to know you have created something that has meaning to someone.  I painted this painting for my soul mate, and it came from the love I have for her.

Nymph's Prayer at Wonder Lake

NYMPH'S PRAYER AT WONDER LAKE - 20" X 10" Oil on Canvas.  Finished it this morning.   Have to let it dry.  Will take another look to  re-evaluate it in a week to see if I am still happy with it.  I have had this painting in my head for over 2 years now.  My daughter Christina suggested the flower pedals (thanks Christina), that was the perfect addition to the painting.

Nymphs, Nixies are spirits of Nature, they represent fertility.  They also personify the dangerous undercurrents of the depths below.

You will need to visit Denali National Park in Alaska and take the all day bus ride to Wonder Lake, and just maybe you will be lucky enough to spy the Nymph of Wonder Lake.