I'm Still Here

It has been SUCH a busy summer! But a good one. I know I mentioned on my facebook page that I was starting a new little artistic venture. That company I started has taken off and is soaring. I'm actually struggling to keep up! Eeeeeeeeeeek! It has been exciting thinking about the possibilities it has.

But that is not what this post is about. This post is that, yes, I'm still here and I'm still painting! I had a couple of opportunities to teach some kids and adult art classes this summer through the Stumptown Art Center. I'll do a post about those in a couple of weeks after my last class. This has been such a busy summer between my new little flourishing business, art classes and all the painting I've been doing. I've had several commissions this summer....that have taken me longer to paint/finish than I ever wanted them to. :( I know I can't paint everything super fast but sometimes it's frustrating when you aren't painting as fast as you would like. Thankfully, everyone has been super patient. (Bless their hearts). I only have one left to go and I should hopefully finish that in a couple of weeks as well (fingers crossed).

I have also been painting for an upcoming exhibition at Stephen Isley Jewelry in Whitefish, MT. I've been working on some western images in an art nouveau style. It's quite exciting. I love how they are turning out. This image is Annie Oakley. I took a quick snap of the painting on my phone, in bad light, just after I finished it so it doesn't look as nice online as I'd like, but it's there for you to get a sense of where I'm going with this.

I'm going to have paintings of Annie, Calamity Jane, Bell Starr, a bison, a horse, and (if I'm able to get it done in time) Jesse James. If I finish Jesse or not, I like where this is going and want to do a whole series! Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, Wyatt Earp, Stagecoach Mary, Laura Ingles Wilder, General Custer, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Crazy Horse, ect. I want to paint a lot of western icons in this style. It's been fun exploring a different artistic style while trying to add my own little flair to it and painting what interests me. YAY for something different and trying new things.

If you do happen to be in area September 1st, the show will be from 5-8 at Stephen Isley Jewelry in downtown Whitefish, MT.

And thanks for sticking around to see what is new on the blog! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted!!!!!

Working

The past month I've been constantly working! I have a lot of opportunities and projects and apologize for allowing the blog to go to the wayside. I've been working on a lot of mini pieces for a gallery I've recently had the opportunity to become a part of. I haven't yet built up the amount of images I want to showcase to them, but I'm getting close.

I had been commissioned to paint 25 images for a wedding a while ago. A couple is getting married at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and want original artwork at each of the guests dinner tables...a different image at each table. I just finished everything today! And just in the nick of time. The wedding is next week!!!! It's been fun yet challenging. The images are small, 4x4 or 4x6 and they rang from ocean to jungle to african animals. I even painted a T-Rex, which is featured in the Academy of Sciences.

Then, in addition to attempting to get some pieces done for art fair season (which started this past weekend), I've been asked to hang for a solo exhibition next month! It will be at Steven Isley Jewelry again. :) Steve and Cindy asked that I exhibit some of my animals for the Art Walk in August! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! :D I can't help but grin ear to ear thinking about the wonderful opportunity. So, I've started working on some new wildlife pieces. I'm thinking some big game animals....and a maybe another bear! I'll also exhibit a few older pieces because I'm not sure how many quality pieces I can finish on such a tight deadline. Here is a Bison in progress. I have a LONG way to go but already liking the result!

Show today!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about today. The opening at Stephen Isley Jewelry is later this afternoon/evening. I'll be exhibiting 5 river rock paintings. I have a fascination with little rocks in and around streams, rivers, and lakes. It has been fun exploring different facets of the rocks by painting them. Really studying the color, shape, and texture has made me look at them in a different way. Now I'll look at a rock and think "Ooooooooooooooooooooooooh! This would be a fun rock to paint"! haha!

The finished paintings look so wonderful in the frames. It's amazing how a frame can really enhance what is already there and just make it glow!

I'll be sure to take some photos of the event!

But here is newly finished piece that will be at the exhibit.

Great Goings On!

Oh my! How time has passed....or more like gotten away from me. I've been painting a lot...but still not as much as I would like to. I'm going to have a solo exhibition at a local art spot in Whitefish for the 'Whitefish Gallery Nights, First Thursdays' in June. I'm going with my rock theme and have been working hard attempting to finish pieces for it. Hopefully, everything will be done in time! Fingers crossed.

I recently delivered a piece to the Dana Gallery in Missoula for their Icons of the West Exhibit! I had one of my new oils accepted. I FINALLY gave it a name..."Stillwater Summer".

The show opens Friday May 15th with an opening reception from 5-8. It stays up the rest of the month of May and all of June!

The last bit of great news is I'm going to be in a new gallery in Snohomish, Wa! YAY!!!!!!!!! I don't have all the details as of yet, but when I do (like name of gallery, location, etc) I'll let you know. I'm so very excited about this new opportunity!

Well, I must jet and attempt to finish some more paintings!

Western Art Week: Friends

One thing I love about doing art shows is the opportunity to see friends and to make friends. It's great speaking with people I don't know and getting to hear stories from them if we have the time to chat. But to see a familiar face in the crowd is like wrapping yourself up in a warm blanket!

There was one instance when I had been sitting for several minutes, drawing or writing something, and I looked up to make sure I wasn't ignoring anyone and I saw my friend and fellow MTWS member extraordinaire Margo Voermans walking toward me. I leaped off my chair and had a wonderful time catching up with her. She is going to be teaching a watercolor workshop in Missoula April 17 & 18 on abstract techniques. It sounds like it will be a fun spring workshop.

I also saw other people I've met before in Whitefish/Kalispell and also saw another MTWS board member. My friend Alger was in town for work to attend a conference. He owns a company on the east side of Glacier called Blackfeet Outfitters and gives guided fishing and hunting trips and jeep tours. He was such a nice friend and bought Amanda and I dinner from Chili's. Alger, you rock!

Amanda and Alger

However, the crown jewel of this post (and reason why I wrote it) is Amanda. She spent part of her vacation hanging out with me at Western Art Week. She helped me set up and take down the booth, watched my booth while I went to the bathroom or ate lunch/dinner, and shopped with me on the few chances I had. Gosh! She even made me lunch every day. She is a tremendous friend and I couldn't have done Western Art Week without her. Several summers ago she lived in Browning, MT while working at East Glacier. We took alternative way to Browning on the way home through a small town called Heart Butte. Driving from Heart Butte to Browning provided some incredible views...rolling hills with the sharp peaks of Glacier majestically rising behind. I sure enjoyed that little detour.

Western Art Week: Wild Bunch Art Show

I just returned from The Wild Bunch Art Show in Great Falls, MT. The show was part of Western Art Week, an event encompassing 10-13 shows where artists set up booths in convention centers or hotel rooms to exhibit their work, art auctions for 19th & 20th century original western art as well as contemporary artwork, and quick draws & demos of current western artists.

The Wild Bunch Art Show was held at the Hampton Inn Convention Center in Great Falls. There were 13 artists at the exhibit. It was 3 1/2 days of greeting guests and art enthusiasts and selling work to collectors new and old. I invested in parts to turn my outdoor art tent into an indoor one. I didn't have all the parts I needed to maximize my space but it worked, and looked good I dare say!

The great thing about this show was the quality of artwork and the variety. There was something for everyone! My neighbor, Jeff Renner, painted detailed images of wildlife in acrylic. Check out his site here!

My good friends Larry and LeAnn Ochsner actually recommended me to the show organizer and promoter! It was great to see them and their stunning jewelry. Click here to check it out!

Close by me was Pam Harr and Harvey Rattey, two bronze sculptures. They were the sweetest little couple! Pam even gave us all a pewter pronghorn (one of my fav animals) as a momento! Thanks Pam! You can check out their work here

Show organizer and promoter Nadine Pickthorn was so nice! She did amazing paintings on rocks and incorporated the rock into the image she was painting. It was really remarkable. I wish I would've gotten a picture them, but she sold them all (I took photos the last day). She also did paintings on traditional canvas and such. Check out her work here.

Connie Tveten (standing up in the last photo) Did incredible carvings of birds. They were pretty remarkable. There was so much wonderful art! Bridget Stiverson created incredible works of art with glass. Leith DeWeese was another watercolorist, Todd Mandeville did some pretty incredibly detailed western paintings, Andy Knudson painted on feathers and tree bark in addition to creating images in a more traditional manner (canvas, paper, etc). Jeff Hoff (the other Jeff!) Painted beautiful images of western wildlife and birds. And from my neck of the woods was Ron & Lynn of Lowery Bronze in Kalispell!

It was a wonderful time getting to see some old friends and to make new ones! I had such a wonderful experience and can't wait for next year! Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a wonderful event to be a part of!

Watermedia 2015

OHMYGOSH!!!!!!!!! Could Watermedia be any cooler this year??? *****Prepare yourselves....this is going to be a long blog post***** First things first. This was my first year as being part of the Montana Watercolor Society Board. Wow, what an experience. I decided last year that after being a member for a decade (I know, right....crazy how time flies) that I should give back and volunteer. There was a little box at the bottom of the membership renewal form that asked if you were interested in being part of the board. I checked it and boy did they put me to work! They stuck me as chair for Watermedia....the BIG annual show for MTWS! YIKES!

But thankfully, they all held my hand pretty much! LOL and I learned a LOT about what really goes on in MTWS and how much planning and preperation goes into it from all aspects. Very cool. Oh, and if any of you readers out there are ALSO MTWS members, you should volunteer and help out. It's actually a lot of fun. I've gained some awesome friendships by being on the board. Ok, back to the blog.

So, besides being part of the board and helping plan the event (I got to find the juror for next year, the banquet location for this year, reach out to vendors for merchandise awards, etc), I also entered the show. I've had a couple of people ask me if that was legal and I assure you it is. The Juror (Jean Pederson and she is AWESOME) is sent only the images with numbers....no indication of who painted them. There were over 200 paintings submitted this year and 47 paintings made the cut with 3 alternates. My piece 'The Edge' made it in!

Days before the opening reception, the juror spends time looking at the exhibit, getting to view the pieces in person instead of as a small digital image. I was able to watch the process. We cover up the name cards on the wall next to the paintings with sticky notes and she picks paintings off the wall and studies them, arranging them in order of ranking she sees fit for awards. I held my breath as I watched her pick 'The Edge' and put it with 20 or so other paintings. Would she put it back? Or would she keep it? And if she kept my piece, where would she rank it??? I was screaming inside my head. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHH :D AGHHHHHHHHHHHH! We had SO many amazing awards from incredible vendors, I wanted to win them all (hey, starving artist here....I want a LOT of supplies! haha!) I ended up with a merchandise award from the University of Montana with $150 worth of art supplies! HOW COOL IS THAT???? WAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It ended up being 11th place. Not bad out of 47 paintings :)

As part of Watermedia Chair, the board and as social media gal for MTWS I became a little fly on the wall and took a TON of pictures at the workshop and the banquet. I'll share some pics from the reception with you in a bit. My darling friend Angie agreed to be my date for the evening (I enticed her with a rocking free meal from Grille 459). It was such a wonderful evening. The opening reception was held again at the Bigfork Museum of Art and History and our Juror Jean Pederson gave a gallery talk and spoke about the award winning paintings and why she chose them. Jean mentioned that she really like the luminosity that was present in 'The Edge' and felt that I captured the essence of the sheep. She said she liked the look of the sheep standing in a hot sun. She felt there was a story and wanted to know did he just climb steep terrain to stand where he was? Where was he going? Why was he alone? She said my piece reminded her of Walter Phillips, a deceased canadian artist. She said to continue on my journey and to paint what I love because it shows in my work!!!! :D

After the gallery talk about 30 of us went to the Grille 459 which was just about a 1/2 block down the street from the exhibition. It was awesome. It couldn't have been a nicer venue, the staff was AMAZING, the food was divine (Mediterranean Chicken - pesto excrusted chicken with kalamata olives and feta served with grilled asparagus, White Cheddar mashed potatoes and ended with a Lava Cake! YUM

It was such a great evening to be spent with friends and fellow watermedia artists! I can't wait for next year! :D

Finished Painting and a couple of mini's

I finished it! Spent all day working on this piece and a bunch of mini pieces for upcoming benefit auction exhibitions. So, you get two posts in one day! :D

Trunks & Tops, 30x11

I wish digital images captured all the subtle details but sadly they don't. As cool as it looks on here it's much more striking in the flesh. Oh well...Hope you enjoy it! I'm happy with the result.

It's a busy/chaotic piece but there is a method to my maddness. I have the subtle focal point that draws your eye, but then you look to the left, the right, back at the middle, back to the left, back to the middle. I wanted to capture the look and feeling I get when I see a patch of daisies. There are always so many different ones but of equal beautiful. I look at one and think of how stunning it is. 'Surely another daisy can't be more perfe...Oh look! There is one. Hey! There is another. Oooooooh, three more over there. Oppp, two over here'. When I'm looking at a patch of daisies, I usually spend a bit of time looking at all the different flowers. They are all so stunning and compete for my attention. So, hopefully you get that sense in this piece. I have another daisy one (vertical one this time) that I'll be starting soon...that isn't so spastic!

Here are a couple of mini's. These two are my favorites from today. So much so that they are probably going to become larger paintings soon! For sure the grey one!

Both of these pieces are under 4 inches.

A Rambling Sort of Post

Whew! It has been awhile since I've been able to do a post. This might be a long one....

So first is my SUPER EXCITING NEWS!

I'm going to do an art fair in TEXAS! Yup, I was accepted to one in The Woodlands and decided to go for it. I'm going to drive 4000 miles (round trip) but I figure if I'm unable to recoup my expenses, it'll make one heck of a road trip! I've never been to Texas and am very excited to go visit.

The show is the Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival. It will be April 12th & 13th, 2014. I'm very excited but nervous too. The drive will be close to 30 hours one way (I google mapped, it's 2001 miles from Whitefish). So! If ANY of you fabulous followers, art lovers, horse lovers, and friends are in the area, please stop by and say hi! So, Those of you from that area in Texas, what is the weather like? Windy? Cold? Warm? Hot already? Do you recommend any cool places to visit? Eat at? AGH! I'm so excited

I've been working on a commission and I finished it. But I'm not happy with the result. I go back to it every few days and just sit in front of it and stare. It doesn't have that it-thing and I'm not happy with it. So, I've started over and in a different direction to too. I just hope my patient client isn't getting annoyed with me! As always, I'm not just working on one piece. (I often have several pieces in different stages going at the same time). I was able to finish one over the long weekend...partly because my epic plans of snowshoeing/hiking/running were foiled by an unexpected eye infection. Apparently my eyes don't like old contacts >:( So, I hid in my dark den of an apartment with all the shades/curtains drawn and kept the lights on low and finished this piece. I'm thinking I'm going to go back and punch it up a bit with a few more darks but am SO happy with how it turned out. This is one of those pieces that I based 98% off the photograph. It was just so awesome I couldn't think of much to change. *photo taken by nature photographer, rulon gardner*

Caught My Attention, 30x22

The last little bit is I participated in the Holiday Food & Gift Festival in Billings, MT a couple of weeks ago. I was able to see some friends and make some new ones! The best part is I was able to spend some time with my fabulous parents and my Grandma. I haven't seen them for several months so it was a great way to spend the weekend with them. Lots of fun...Although, my car decided it needed a new battery. 2013 was not my year with traveling to art festivals. Lets hope I won't have any issues with driving to the Texas show next year!!!!

Watermedia 2013

I attended the opening reception for the MTWS annual national juried exhibition, Watermedia. It was held at the Bigfork Museum of Art & History in downtown Bigfork, MT. The show runs the entire month of October.

Over 200 entries were submitted and only 50 were chosen. I had the opportunity to hang among some AMAZING works done by some fabulous painters. This is the 9th time in 10 years I have been accepted into Watermedia.

The juror for this exhibition is a very talented watercolorist, Sue Archer. Her works are stunning. Be sure to click on her name and check out her work. I'm pleased to announce that she awarded me the MTWS Founders' Award (4th place) for the amount of $500!!!! THANK YOU SUE!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I can't contain my excitement. I seriously keep doing a happy dance...kinda like the one Katherine Heigl does in the Ugly Truth

Yeah....that's how excited I am.

Well, here are some images from the exhibition. If ANY of you are in the area of Bigfork during October, 2013. YOU REALLY NEED TO GO. The works of art are fabulous.

Sue is discussing the reasons why she chose my painting. She said I took a big risk leaving so much white space on the left side of the painting...a risk that paid off. :D

Me posing by my 4th place piece!!!

My FABULOUS friend Elena who came with me to the show!

Hockaday Museum, Arts in the Park

Here are some pictures from the Arts in the Park put on by the Hockaday Museum of Art in Kalispell. It was a good show. I had a nice shady spot that stayed shady ALL day long! Oh yeah! It was REALLY hot in the afternoons. I had a spot on the street a couple of years ago. I vowed never again. It was miserable over there. So this year I opted for the park. It was soooooooo nice and cool compared to areas not in the shade.

I was able to see some vendor friends and got to make new ones. Plus, the biggest exciting thing is I met a couple, Steven & Karen Boyd, who put on the Art Show at Teton Village...an invitational only art show in Jackson Hole. AGH!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D I can't wait for next year just for this show. I'm still on the wait list for the Jackson art fair in Miller Park....still. Oh well. Now that I have this invite I'll finally get to be where I've been trying and trying for!

Enjoy the pictures!

Summerfest Art Faire

I received notification today that I was juried into the Summerfest Art Faire in Logan, Utah. The outdoor art festival will be taking place June 13-15 on Tabernacle Square. This will be the 2nd art fair of the season...and the third state I'll be exhibiting in this summer.

Weekend Works

Dance With The Flowers

Well, here is the flower & butterfly piece I had planned this weekend. Didn't really turn out like I wanted it to, but I still like the result! It's amazing how differently soft press and cold press WC paper work. I was wanting it to have a certain look that I realized (after the first few brush strokes) I could more easily achieve if I were working with cold press. There is a deadline for an exhibit with a gardening theme in Bozeman that I will submit this piece to.

The Edge (study)

This small piece (6x6) is a study for a larger piece I have planned. I want to do a full sheet, 22x30 and this was to give myself an idea of what it would look like. That being said, the scale is so dramatic that it might have an entirely different feel and look. This one will take me awhile I think.

Happy Sunday everyone!