Lubber run paintout with Steve Fleming

Not so good

In Capitol Reef NP

Fuzzy nature

An evening's work

Came home with a strong urge to play drums and to paint. So I did. I had bought a cheap block of paper from Utrech on my way home so I could just practice with little regard for wastage. Big mistake. Cheap paper is cheap. I had tried this Utrech French made paper last year but had forgotten how bad it was. Not a pleasant experience. Anyways, this piece inspired from some fresh peonies given to me by a colleague was done on this paper. I used up 4 sheets tonight and want to throw the rest of the block out. I'll likely end up practicing my brush strokes on it guilt free.

I also started working with the Utah images. I'm going to call these two "warm up" sketches. I did grab some Arches CP for these however.

3 more mtns.

3 More

Mountains & Figures

Been painting less than I was over the winter. Moved to the burbs and new studio space is in a basement and a lot less convenient. Y is always hanging out upstairs so in the interest of spending more time with her I have to move the paints upstairs whenver I want to paint which is a bit of a PITA. The light is a whole lot better there but it's not my space so I feel less comfortable and it's less encouraging to work.

I did  take a figure painting workshop with Steve Fleming in early April that has inspired me to paint figures more. I've been working from an Anthropologie catalog that came to the house and from some Selkirk photos taken  in 2006 and 2009. Also from some amazing John Scurlock photos of the Cascades.

I got many good images from my backpacking trip into Grand Gulch a few weeks ago that I'm looking forward to interpreting when I get the courage. I did not do as much sketching as I had planned or hoped to do. The first night was snowy and cold and the other evenings more comfortable but I was either exhausted or it was too late when we stopped. Focused on photography: