painting

The Most Magical Place on Earth

Published at In Category Travel Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

This past week Bryan and I took a van crammed full of teenagers on a Bible retreat to the Olympic National Park in Washington. We had visited before during a cross country trip across the US about three years ago, so we were eager to share this magical place with our youth group hoping their young innocence would draw out all of the unicorns hiding in the misty rainforest skirting the Pacific.

I love traveling. There’s the thrill of anticipation on a long road trip that pushes you to keep driving. This trip was especially memorable. Nine teenage girls belted out the soundtrack to Pitch Perfect for almost the entirety of I-84.

There were a lot of “firsts” too. Many of the teens had never traveled beyond Utah or Idaho while others had never even seen the ocean. Someone saw their first shooting star. For another, their first starfish. We saw seals and otters playing in the undulating grey water.

The landscape is surreal. Seastacks, obscured by a cold white fog, rise out of the ocean like shadowy giants. Pockmarked tide pools, berated by the wind and frozen surf are teeming with bright star fish and underwater flora and fauna.

I brought my pochade box along for the 15 hour journey hoping to do a little plein air painting.

Here’s my setup with the initial underpainting. My palette included (from left to right) Gamblin’s Radiant White, Ivory Black, Raw Umber, Asphaltum, Transparent Oxide Red, Cadmium Red, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, and Viridian. I tried to bury the legs of the tripod deep in the sand, but the wind still blew my setup over multiple times. It’s not visible in the photograph, but I have a hook on the bottom of my tripod to weigh it down for such blustery occasions. I hooked my backpack onto it and tossed the camera in the bag and that helped weigh it down.

Here’s the finished painting. I would have liked to have spent another hour or so finessing, but the tide was changing and it was very, very cold.

It was a stunningly beautiful and uplifting week and I am sad that it’s over. Especially since I did not get to see a unicorn.

Springville Salon

Published at In Category Shows Tags: , , , 1 Comment

The 90th Annual Art Salon hosted by the Springville Museum of Art is the premier exhibit for contemporary artists residing in the state of Utah.

This year out of over 800 entries only 214 were chosen for the show, and I am honored to have had one of my pieces chosen. Here’s me with the lovely little lady who got in (shout out to my beautiful model, Whitney!).

Bryan and I went to see the exhibit for the first time this evening and the caliber of work is truly admirable and very humbling. I’ll be honest when I say it feels strange to be exhibiting alongside so many incredible artists that I have long admired.

This painting is by my good friend Leslie Duke, an incredible artist who uses pure color and robust strokes to create rich and vibrant sculptural still life paintings.

Here is Bill’s entry. It’s a portrait of his beautiful wife, Sandra. He took this rather candid photo of her during the time I was studying under him in Bruge, Belgium, in the summer of 2012. Last year Sandra fell incredibly ill and was in the hospital for months. We had no idea if she would recover and I know Bill was in more distress than he let on. Any time he was able to come into the studio from the hospital, this is the painting he worked on. When I look at this piece, I see a lot of the pain he went through, as well as his love and adoration with every painstakingly exquisite stroke.

One of my favorite pieces was by artist Mary Sauer, a prior student of Bill’s. Reading about her process, Mary says she tries to complete the painting in one pass. Her method gives her work an incredible luminosity. I especially liked where you could still see the underpainting in the shadows on the figure.

An artist I have greatly admired for a while now is Ryan S. Brown. The painting below is part of a series called the Bre Project. Bre, a beautiful muse at only thirteen, discovered she had cancer. Ryan started the Bre Project to help the family cover the cost of the medical bills. You can read more about her journey and the project here. The painting below is truly remarkable.

This little gem by artist Heidi Daynes Darley really spoke to Bryan and me. I felt very inspired tonight to paint bigger, but this piece reminded me of why I love painting small. There’s an intimacy in tiny paintings. You have to stick your nose in it to see and treasure each stroke, obstructing everyone else’s view. Suddenly, it’s just you and the painting. In that moment of awe and appreciation, it belongs only to you.

How to Care for Your Brushes

Published at In Category Tips and Tricks Tags: , , ,

 

It was super fun today to pay my daily visit to James Gurney’s blog and see Bill featured in a demonstration on how to wash oil painting brushes. I’ve tried almost every solution and soap on the market and, in all honesty, the most efficient and cost effective brush cleaner I have found is plain ol’ liquid dish washing soap. I prefer Dawn, and appreciate that it is also non toxic. It has also been a life saver getting oil stains out of clothes!

I definitely agree with Bill on conditioning brushes after cleaning them. Not only does it significantly increase the life of your brushes, but it retains the quality of the brush especially if you’re hard on them, like me. And again, no special brush potion is required. Bill has shown me regular hair conditioner works just as well!

The above video was created by Trekell, a wonderful brush making company based in California.