New Work: Softwestern View, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Exhibiting: Saks Galleries, Denver, Colorado

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About this oil:

After recently doing a few bright skyscapes, I opted to try out something more subdued. Playing off my last evening sky oil, “Yellow to Orange Sunset,” I used the same composition with much softer tones. 

The challenge was to create a work that would be attractive in its own way without the dramatic color. This new set of color harmonies would demand a new approach.

As the painting evolved, I began to focus on movement as a substitute for high color. In this version, the hills are filled with patterns and behind the soft, multi-colored clouds are lighter cloud forms moving upward in the composition.

All of these things happened along the way, strategies to create a better work of art. The result is an interesting, colorful scene but more of a whisper this time.

New Work: Winter Overlook, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Exhibiting: Saks Galleries, Denver, Colorado

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About this oil:

Sometimes, making a canvas is a pleasure and this is one of those pieces. I do my share of driving in the Colorado winters and my attention is continually drawn to the bright and dark patterns of the landscape.

The temptation is to replicate that idea but for this oil my intention was to create a compelling, snowy landscape with variations of blue. Instead of the high-contrast approach, everything is softened and atmospheric. The light on the snow is made purposely brighter in a couple of places and it carries the eye outward.

There is much to see compositionally and to create more interest, hundreds of trees are represented here in groups and individually, each represented to create a variety of looks and colors.

The trees, hills and snow make a calming combination of complexity and simplicity.

New Work: Lake Haze - Yellow, oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches

Exhibiting: Sorelle Gallery

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About this oil:

As a colorist, sometimes I just want to use color in a simple and unbounded way. Since it’s currently fall, the yellow trees in abundance compelled me to begin a canvas with those trees as a focus.

The painting began with a much more complicated background of three, bright colored hills and they remained there as I worked out the lake patterns, increasing the complexity. 
After a few days of considering what to do next, a solution never presented itself. I was stuck.

The painting had real potential but it as if a key was stuck in the lock. That’s when I realized the original idea of simply expressing color had been overtaken by all of that detail in the background.

So the paints came out, brushes were loaded and the hills were merged into one mass. Detail was kept to a minimum and the background became a wall of light and subtly blended color.

Everything supports and enhances the yellow trees and the large band of color in the back adds drama and power to the work. It was an elegant and colorful solution.

Grateful Notices: Out of Steamboat, oil on canvas, 36 x 60 in.

Exhibited: Saks Galleries, Denver

My thanks to the Florida collectors that purchased this oil.

On the southern drive out of Steamboat Springs, CO, I have often caught the setting sun in a bank of clouds. The fields during the winter are covered in snow for months at a time and in high contrast. Because of the brightness, the snow doesn’t give up its color easily. Our mind says the snow is white but that’s not completely true. 

There are many subtitles in these snow-covered fields and they are all opportunities for color and light-play. I purposely brought the brightness of the snow down to allow a number of other less-white colors to come into play. Since the light intensity is down a bit, the colors are more apparent and together, they create texture and a flow in the topography. When a bright note is needed, it really shines.

This work has a variety of blues to keep things interesting and to create movement. The sun was situated in the painting at the very beginning, but as it happened at the very end, considerable changes were made to the sky and sun with quick, open brushwork – a surprise ending!

Because of its scale and color combinations, I actually had the sensation of cold when I was signing this one, a happy outcome.

New Work: Colors in the Breeze III, oil on panel, 30 x 30 inches

Oil on canvas, 30 x 30 inches  $4400 framed

Exhibiting Saks Galleries, Denver

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About this oil:

I began a series of these 30 x 30 oils to explore pattern and color. Or here’s another reason, and it’s the core one, they are puzzles for my own entertainment. 

 

The compositions began as a series of vertical gestures for the tree placements and followed by those elegantly thin bits of horizontal vegetation. Everything is up for alteration and since there are too many trunks and leaves at the start, I use the background colors to paint out what I don’t need going forward. 

 

The painting is in complete flux with those shape changes and as it proceeds forward, a large range of colors come and go as well. Eventually, the painting begins to come together and develops a life of its own but it is far from finished. 

 

Changes in the light, color or contrast can quickly shift the look of the oil and it’s very enjoyable to experiment with the variables, making it better with every session on the easel. Gradually, the work comes together, nothing else is needed, and the result is something delightful that was seemingly made out of thin air. Or so it seems, but there is a breeze at play in this artwork and that thought led me to the title, Colors in the Breeze.

New Work: Yellow Winds II, oil on canvas, 48 x 48 inches

 

Exhibiting: Sorelle Gallery, Westport, Connecticut

$8950 framed   To purchase 

 

About this oil:

I set out to do an oil with an arrangement of yellows. Long ago, and with a lot of trial and error, I learned a very good way to highlight a color – that is, to use just about everything except that color!

 

That isn’t always true but that's how I proceeded to set up this oil. The brush marks are loose and the layers of yellow leaves seem to collect light. The variety of colors in the background keep the painting interesting and heighten the iridescent effect.

 

The pale sky at the top and glowing field at the bottom contain the scene, adding light and a delicate accent. After the oil was done, the foliage pattern suggested a mild wind coming through in a way that changed how the light reflected on the leaves. The title Yellow Wind seemed to hit just the right note.