VALLEY OF THE SPIRITS

    I finally escaped for the weekend to Canyon de Chelly. I arrived late in afternoon on Friday. The dogs were ready to get out of the truck for a long walk. Jack drug me out onto a plateau when I turned around a saw this scene. I hurried back to my painting equipment and hiked back over to capture the last light into this enchanted valley. I could see the hogans down below where the occupants of the canyon live in the summer. There were some trucks passing through the river bed as well. It was very restful, while at the same time exhilarating.

Brittany

     This is one of the better 10 minute poses of the day with the model, Brittany.

RED CUP

   This is my entry for Carol Marine's Daily Paintworks Challenge.

A SINGER'S BUDDY

     The musician is a singer and actor. It was just him and his guitar out under the Mesquite trees on a sunny morning singing his tunes. A little slice of enchantment.




Rest Stop

     This was the second to the last painting and my favorite of the first day in Kim English's workshop. The last one was a 20 min. and my mind kicked in and ruined it. I started thinking and planning too much, I totally changed my approach, well you get the idea. I learned a lot on this first day about the value of a free and spontaneous technique to create a fresh and poetic painting.

HOT ROOF

   This was a quick sketch of the roof from the parking lot of the Scottsdale Art School. It was a little demo for my plein air class.
   Every year i like to "attend" at least one workshop from another artist. I start that workshop tomorrow, so I will be at the Kim English workshop all next week. Maybe I will have something to post when I get back. If not, I will hope I at least learned something.

Buddas and the Bird

     This is the first painting on my new "Carol Marine still life Box". We had below freezing temperatures here in AZ that set records, they also froze and broke some of my pipes. So during the many trips to Home Depot for plumbing parts, I finally picked up the PVC pipe and Construction Light I needed to make my Still Life Box! I am so glad, because this thing is incredible! The way you can control and experiment with light is amazing. I will be having a lot of fun with this little box for a long time.
     Also I am very proud to announce that the Daily Paintworks group of very fine artists accepted me onto their web site, Daily Paintworks.