ART CONTESTS

I recently won "FINALIST" in the RayMar Fine Art Contest 2 months in a row.

click to see NOVEMBER 24X36

OCTOBER 9X12

      Starting in August I also placed as a "FINALIST" 4 months in a row in the DAILY PAINTWORKS CONTEST and I am the judge this month, December. 

click AUGUST  6X6

SEPTEMBER 48X60

OCTOBER  (same painting that won above)

NOVEMBER 60X48

TAMARISK BUSH

8x10

     
What is tamarisk?
Tamarisk (also known as salt cedar) is a deciduous shrub or small tree from Eurasia. Tamarisk can grow as high as 25 feet tall. The bark on saplings and young branches is purplish or reddish-brown. Leaves are scale-like, alternate, with salt-secreting glands. Flowers are small and the petals are reddish, pinkish, or white. Each plant can produce as many as 500,000 seeds annually. The seeds are dispersed by wind, water, and animals. Seeds are small with a tuft of hair attached to one end enabling them to float long distances by wind and water. Seeds are short-lived and can germinate within 24 hours after dispersal, sometimes while still floating on the water.

How did it get here?
Eight species of Tamarisk were first brought to North America in the 1800s from Southern Europe or the eastern Mediterranean region (DiTomaso 1998). The species were first planted as ornamentals and later as windbreaks, and to stabilize river banks. Tamarix species escaped cultivation and are now widespread throughout the United States, with heavier concentrations in the Southwest.

SAGUARO BLUFF

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     This spot is about a half mile down the river bed where the coyote stand and lookout over the valley.

DESERT RIVER BED

8X10

     This  is a view of the river bed where I hit my golf balls. After the spring floods there is a small creek like flow in the lower part of the painting where the  water runs for weeks afterwards.

BLUE WINDOW

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      This is the garden shed in my yard. The blue window grabbed my attention. There was a lot of sunlight bouncing around playing with the shadows on this one.

LAST OF THE FLOODS

8x10

     This was the last bit of water remaining from the summer floods in the river. A couple years ago the water got up to 35 feet deep in places, washed out part of a RV Park. The river remains dried up for  most of  the winter, making it a good golf driving range.

SUNSET SAGE

8x10

   This is the second in a series I'm going to do on locations within walking distance of my studio here in Black Canyon City, Arizona. My studio is on a cliff looking out over a river valley that my dogs and I hike every day. This was done just  before the sun went down behind the distant mountains. I was sitting down amongst all this sage brush with the sun lighting up the tops and creating shadows down deep.

WILD HORSE VALLEY and Backpack information

8X10

          The weather here in Arizona is cooling off. I threw on my backpack and the dogs  and  I went down to the river bed to do some painting. This  was  the first one.

This is my Kelty Redwing 50 with my Standard Size Plein Air System

That's Lexi telling me to get to work. I seldom use an umbrella, but this is how I use it.

Kelty Redwing 50 with my palette, wet panel carrier, brush holder, and  paper towels in the main section. My plastic trash bags are in one zippered side pocket and my extra thinner is in the other side pocket.

The center compartment holds insect repellent, sunscreen, palette knives, drawing materials and paint tubes.

My brush cleaner container is in the very top compartment.

This is the Kelty Redwing 40 with the MINI Plein Air System ready for longer hikes. I always strap the tripod on one side and  the Panel Holder on the other.

Another set up with my backpack tied to the leg of the tripod in case  of wind.

MANY GLACIER

12x16

     This scene was done on location at Glacier National Park on the Canadian border. While painting it I was aware that there was a Grisly Bear feeding and  slowly making his way down the hill about 200 yards away from me. Needless to say I was eager to complete my painting and get the heck out of there.

PURPLE DESERT

12X16

     I did this one on location out in the desert south of Phoenix on the way to tucson. It was late in the afternoon and the weather was threatening rain, which created a strange kind of light.

DESERT ROCKS

9x12

     It's cooling off in Arizona, time to get out and do some desert painting. I picked this simple scene because of the contrast. I used a palette knife for the highlights on the rocks.

DREAM LAKE

60x48

     I'll be starting my fall painting class again September 28. It will meet every Saturday morning at 9 am for 6 class periods and end November 2. It's called "From Basic to Plein Air", and it be held at the  Scottsdale Art School.  We will spend a couple days in the studio and  then move outside. The weather should  be  great!

TORTILLA SELLERS

30x40

POINT LOBOS CHINA COVE

12X16

     I found out that I couldn't take the dogs into the Point Lobos park. I had to park outside on the highway and hike back in and take the trails around the entire perimeter with my painting gear (seemed around 100 miles, HA!). I had not brought my smaller easel with me (I put it in the camper immediately when I returned home), so I was carrying my larger easel and back pack.
     I saw some of the most incredible ocean scenes and the trees were out of this world. This was a spot at China Cove in the afternoon.

Fisherman's Wharf Monterey

8x10

     I just returned from the Plein Air EXPO Monterey 2013. I spotted this scene the first day that I arrived at "Cannery Row". I was a little rusty on seascapes, but I think it came out all right.

MAROON BELLS

26X26

     This is a popular scene in Aspen, Colorado. I spent a summer up there taking Tango Lessons from Heather Morrow (Aspen Tango) and painting.