Art Journal

Since very few people look at this ( I think I've ended up with like 3 comments in the last 10 years)  I will probably not be adding any new entries after today unless there is a groundswell of support for continuing.  Not sure too many people ever look at it.

A couple last notes:

Rooftop, 16 x 16,  a painting I did in 2023 just won the best building award in the August Plein Air Salon, and my painting Misty Morning, 11 x 14,  won best of show at the Fraser Plein Air event in August 2025. 

Also my painting First Snowfall, 8 x 10 won the Artists Choice Award at the PAAC annual show in Central City CO in September, and Spring Walk, 8 x 10  won honorable mention at the Masters of Light plein air show at 3 Square Gallery in Ft. Collins in September. 

Below, pics of them all:

Rooftop,      Misty Morning

First Snowfall,      Spring Walk

Rabbit Mountain is a dry rugged place where many people go hiking and mountain biking in the morning. It often gets too hot in the afternoon in the summer. It's not unusual to see a rattlesnake on occasion, although we didn't see any this time although someone else on the trail we talked to did see one. We went here last Sunday morning and I painted this scene of the rocky ridge to the east, using the shaded picnic shelter as a set up area.

Rabbit Mt. Ridge, 8 x 10

Here's a painting done from Artists Point at the top of Flagstaff mountain near Boulder. The view showed the valley below and the city stretching off to the north on a slightly hazy morning. I was interested in this rugged pine tree that has endured many years of wind and weather at the top of this ridge.

Above it all, 8 x 10

This one is from Pella Crossing the other day. I was trying a different set of colors for my underpainting darks that used quinacridone violet and brown.

Spring Energy, 9 x 12

Here's a painting from up in the mountains that I did on the way to delivering some paintings to the Glass Tipi Gallery in Ward. I stopped at a little pull off and painted near the stream. The shadowed north sides of the mountains were snow covered, the south sides were completely bare. This stream had heavy snow banks on the far side but my side of the stream was completely melted off. It was a nice spring day.

Spring Melt, 9 x 12

We took a morning trip over to Rabbit  Mt. the other day, me to paint, him to bike. It's quite nice in the spring and while painting this mountainous hillside caught sight of a bald eagle soaring overhead, searching for lift. I put the bird in the painting. the hills are starting to really green up now - May and June are the only two months of the year when the hills are green before they turn brown again.           

Riding the Lift, 8 x 10.

Here's a scene from last week - instead of painting the mountains to the west I chose to paint this little farm to the east, looking into the sun. The fresh greens of the surrounding grass were almost iridescent with the sun glowing behind them, a green you only get in spring.

Cherryvale Farm, 9 x 12.

April bounced around from sunny to hot to rainy to cold and back to rainy again, leaving everything coming up fairly green.

Here are a few paintings from along the way.

April Sky, 8 x 8, on a cradled panel. This was one of those gorgeous spring days with perfect white clouds billowing up over the foothills.

Spring Rain, 8 x 10. I did this one in a steady downpour (from my car). I particularly liked the hint of the blossoming pink trees between

the pines and early green leaves.

So we are finally getting some spring weather here and to celebrate here are a few spring paintings from some previous years - it's not actually that green yet, but won't be long before it all turns green.

Foggy Morning, 8 x 10, at the Glass Tipi in Ward CO. From Sawhill Ponds last spring on a very rare foggy morning.

Boulder Ranch Vista, 9 x 12, at the Glass Tipi in Ward CO. Green doesn't last long here on the hillsides, only about two months before it all turns brown again, so you've got to paint it while you can.

Spring Greens, 10 x 8, a painting of the first cottonwood shoots with their characteristic yellow-green color, done last May in the Big Thompson Canyon.

Here's a scene from Boulder near the South Mesa trailhead. We've had a few snowfalls in the last couple weeks, typical for our spring weather and most of it is starting to melt away.  In this scene I was attracted to the pattern of the snow and tracks on the hillside melting away in the morning sun. The bushes are still bare and the grass hasn't started to green up yet on the hillsides but it definitely starting to look more spring-like.

Spring Thaw, 8 x 10

Here's a quick little plein air I did at Rocky Mountain Park last week. We went up for the day, taking advantage of the off season to go out the Bear Lake Road and see some of the places we haven't been able to get to for a while. I ended  painting this near Moraine Park.

Winter Stream, 8 x 10

Here's a scene from the trail head where I painted last Thursday. The hills in the south were still covered with a lot of snow so it made a nice contrast with the blue sky and the darks of the foreground.

Bobolink Trailhead, 8 x 10

Here's a small painting done near the Greenway one afternoon at a parking area looking off to the west on a very warm March day.

The mountains in the background were reduced to a haze.

A Distant View, 8 x 10

I did this painting mostly with a palette knife. The challenge with this scene was the problem we are always faced with this time of year. Everything is rather colorless, especially with no snow on the ground. So I wanted to find all the nuances in the color and try to accentuate them to get some color interest into the painting.

Winter Grays, 8 x 10

The rainy weather we got one day last week is so unusual for February  and was a real incentive to go out and paint - we're so used to having sunny bright mornings winter and summer. I know that sounds pretty unappreciative but it's nice to have some different weather effects to work with. It was coming down pretty steadily though, so I opted to paint inside the car, along Union Reservoir. There was a patch of clear sky to the south which drew me to this view. There's not a lot of color out there this time of year. Everything is so drab.

 Rain at Union, 9 x 12

I worked o n this painting the morning after an evening snowfall. I wanted to paint before the snow had a chance to melt off and thought of this dirt road nearby in the country. Not a great painting but an interesting exercise on a high key subject.

Snowy Road, 9 x 12

Here's a painting done west of town near the foothills. This was painted on a morning after a light snowfall. I have looked at this farm many times often thinking that some day I would end up painting it and last week that day came. The red barns looked great against the whites in the snow.

Red Farm, 8 x 10.

I was out looking for someplace new to paint and saw this scene along a road in Boulder County.  It was one of those overcast glaring days so common in winter.

Field Tracks, 8 x 10

The day I painted this a whole flock of geese came flying in, small groups at a time until there were hundreds ( or thousands). It's like they all decided to meet at this particular pond at a certain time, all honking and flapping around joyously together. I noticed they are starting to pair off into couples here and there.  And it's starting to feel a little bit like early spring with some nice days for painting happening more often.  I'm looking forward to it.

Winter Rendezvous, 9 x 12

Here's a plein air done at boulder valley Ranch  - kind of a challenge to get the shadowed foreground to look shadowed while the back hills were in sunlight. By the end of the painting session, the light was completely changed, with everything in the sun. Still it was a fun challenge to get it to look the way I wanted it to look.

Shadowed Foothills, 8 x 10.

The show opened  on January 12th at the Great Frame Up Longmont and will be up until March 2nd.  Amazing  how fast this fall seemed to go by, Christmas over and now we are looking toward spring (although today it was -17 degrees this morning).

Anyway here are the two paintings I have in this show. Stop by if you want to see them in person and all the other work that's on display.

Greenway Sunrise (Winter Dawn), 12 x 12

Morning Shadows, 10 x 12,  a painting done on Guanella Pass this summer

I did this painting at the edge of the Chiricahua Mountains on a late afternoon. This was a scene far across the valley as the sun was going down highlighting some nice shadow patterns on the mountains in the distance, while the hillside near me was staring to fall into shadow. Those mountains in the far distance at the right of the painting were probably in Mexico or close to it. Sunset came pretty fast and by the time i was done I had lost the light on both the hillside and the mountains.

Chiricahua Afternoon, 8 x 10

On a recent trip to Arizona, we stopped at the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument, in the Robedo Mountains, a very interesting but austere desert-y place.  We hiked up the mountain trail to see some fossils, but before we did I had a chance to do a quick painting near the parking area in the early morning. the place is well worth visiting ( but must be blazing hot in the summer). As their website says:

          "The trackways contain footprints of numerous amphibians, reptiles, and insects (including previously unknown species), plants,

           and petrified wood dating back 280 million years, which collectively provide new opportunities to understand animal behaviors

           and  environments from a time predating dinosaurs.  The site contains one of the most scientifically-significant Early Permian 

           track sites in the world."

Here's my painting from that place - Ancient Hills, 8 x 10.

Everything is a shade of brown, or blue, or bluish-brown.

This was an almost foggy day, with low clouds and bone chilling temperatures, and lots of atmosphere. The location was Pella Crossing. You can see the edge of one of the iced-up lakes on the left side of the painting. Here the challenge was getting the bare trees to read right, and the atmosphere of the distant trees.

Overcast, 9 x 12.

I went to Sandstone to catch a few photos, hoping to get some good reference photos while the scene still had some snow cover.   After that  I stayed to paint the valley view to the south. It was one of those typical wintry days with blue sky covered by hazy wispy white/orange cirrus type clouds and a lot of sky glare, but not a lot of direct sunlight. Add on an occasional fitful breeze and the weather got downright chilly,  and never made it up to freezing unlike the day before. The scene, with the fields all spread out below, some melted, some not, fading into the distance kept me there fighting with my painting.

Winter View, 8 x 10

Hamms Pond is my go-to place if I want to do a quick painting for practice. It's not too far away with trees and water and a clear view to the east for dawn paintings. This painting was done from the west side of the pond where the trail winds in and many locals go to walk their dogs. It turned out to be a fairly warm morning so painting was pleasant. I was trying a larger size than I usually use for these trips.

Winter Walk, 11 x 14.

I got up super early and went to paint along County Line Road at a bike trail pullout. It wasn't the greatest view but this was a chance to get out and paint something before the cooking and kitchen work bogged me down for the rest of the day. The clouds were not encouraging for good weather. The old saying, "red sky at morning sailor take warning"  comes to mind, and sure enough the day grew grayer and colder finishing with snow by early evening.

Winter Dawn, 8 x 10

I have two paintings currently on display at Mary Williams Fine Art for the small works December show.

Here are two of those paintings, Ophelia's Fennel and Winter Pasture.

I have a selection of five paintings currently hanging at Fly Away Home in Niwot Colorado. They will be up for the month of December. Stop in if you are in Niwot anytime. Fly Away Home is a great little shop, over near the bookstore and supermarket.

Some of the paintings:

This one, Aspen Light, is sold.

Here's the second painting from the trip to Pella. In this one I used the limited palette paint I still had on my palette from the first painting but added a few more colors, ultramarine blue and lemon yellow and a touch of alizarin.

Quiet Season, 9 x 12

We've had a couple cold days and a little snow, so most of the fall color has washed out before it reached its peak.

Here's from a morning spent at Pella Crossing. I did two paintings. The first one I did with a limited palette, black, white, Venetian Red and Naples Yellow  (sounds like an Italian palette) which was a palette used in a demo by Scott Christensen that I thought I'd try.

This is the first painting.

Autumn Fields, 9 x 12

I used to get up early and go out to paint at sunrise when I was still working. It was one of the few times I had available to do some plein air. Now since I am not working I've kind of gotten out of the habit of those early morning trips, and it's much more tempting to sleep in. However with this warmer fall  weather we've been having, getting up to paint has been relatively easier, and so I went out again to catch the sunrise over Union Reservoir.  Here's the result of that trip.  Once I'm out there I'm always glad I went.

Union Sunrise, 8 x 10

This was one of those days when evening came with a perfectly clear sky.  The day before had produced a spectacular sky and a wonderful sunset so I had high hopes. No such luck. I went out anyway and painted at Hamms Pond.

Here's the painting from this trip out.

Cloudless Sunset, 8 x 10

This is from Lily Lake in Rocky Mt. Park. The aspen season in the mountains near the park did not last long this year, barely a week and a half and the aspens were blown out or brown, and were mostly gone. One week it was too early, the next week was too late. There was still a little bit of color in the woods across from the Lily Lake and that is where I painted. I ended up doing two paintings, one smaller  10 x 8 and then another quicker 9 x 12.  Here's the 10 x 8.  I'm sure the leaves are all gone by now.

Aspen Light, 10 x 8, sold

Here's a plein air painting done on an early evening at Hamm's Pond. It ended up being one of those murky days when the colors of the sky never got very intense but faded into an orange-grey, unlike the day before which ended with a spectacular sunset. This painting became an exercise into using a lot of grayed out colors.

Late Afternoon, 9 x 12

Here's a plein air painting done in a park along the Big Thompson River. The cottonwoods were just starting to get some tiny new leaves in that very spring-like color of pale green/yellow that matures into darker green full-grown leaves so quickly. Anyway they made a nice contrast against the shadowed canyon side of the river.

Spring Greens, 12 x 9.

This was originally done as a plein air painting which I called Spartan Life (it's a Spartan trailer).

Sometimes I look over my old paintings and see things I want to change and this one was one of them.

I've called the new version In Storage, and it's now an 8 x 10.

Here's the new version. I think it's improved, but who knows. I de-emphasized the junk, changed the roofline and lightened the value of the background, plus added a bit more color.

Here's the old version, Spartan Life, 9 x 12.

I went to Sawhill Ponds to paint but it turned out to be another gusty day with 40 mph winds, and it was quite impossible to stand out in the wind, so it was another day to paint inside the car.  When faced with a scene at a lake or pond I have so many times ended up with a line across the canvas, somewhere in the bottom third or top third or middle where the water horizon is and decided I didn't want to do that again this time. So I concentrated on the scene in the distance across the ponds. There were some nice pale spring colors going on there with the trees starting to show the warm color of pre-leaf buds, almost like autumn, and the pale colors of the shadows in the mountains beyond. The pond ended up as a sliver at the bottom.

Sawhill Ponds, 8 x 10

Here's a painting from March. We'd had weeks of terrible painting weather so on one Sunday when it looked good the local plein air group met at Teller Farms North for an impromptu painting session. There were still snow patches around and I found this one remaining patch of snow under some bushes near a little copse of trees.  Nearby a coyote wandered across the path.  I liked the shadows on the snow.

 Lingering, 8 x 10

Here's a plein air painting from March. There were still some patches of snow around. This is a scene from Pella Crossing looking across the lake near the parking area.  It was one of those bright days with the sun shining through the trees, glowing with that red/orange look that some of the trees get as the buds are starting to come out.

On this painting I used cotton canvas primed with Gamblin Oil Prime. The canvas has a rougher texture than some of the canvas I've used in the past and I am trying that out as a surface.

Snow Bank, 8 x 10.