Grateful Notices: Last Snow I, pastel, 8 3/8 x 12 3/8 inches

LAST SNOW I
Pastel 8 3/8 X 12 3/8   private collection
Exhibited: Dominique Boisjoli Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM

When I first moved to Colorado many years ago, I was living in a snow climate for the first time. This pastel was done soon after my arrival and I had kept it in my own collection for over 20 years. Creating snow scenes was a bit of a rarity for me and because this was my view almost every day when I lived in Castle Rock, Colorado, I felt compelled to make a pastel of the scene.

Now that I'm living in Steamboat Springs and surrounded by snowy landscapes for many months of the year, I am creating more winter artworks rather than the one or two in each of the past years.

When Dominique told me that a Denver collector added this work to their collection I was delighted and encouraged to create more. Thank you!

New Work: Brilliant Forest, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches

Brilliant Forest,  oil on canvas, 40 x 40 inches    $6650 framed
Gallery 89, Steamboat Springs, CO

Working on this canvas was like being in a candy store. There is a lot of color and form packed into this scene, like a big bowl of bright candy wrappers bursting with color and concealing the bright flavors hidden inside.

The bright trees in the back intensify the composition and care was taken to make the darks interesting as well. The shadows are also an important design element and their presence became a happy excuse for the application of even more color at the bottom of the canvas.

It was very satisfying to finish this oil since it was started about 4 years earlier. There were numerous changes and improvements along the way, and each alteration moved the work closer to the goal of creating this expressive forest.