more works in progress

Now that all our camping trips are finished I'm getting more time in the studio. These paintings are all at about half way there. It feels great to have renewed energy and inspiration after being outside so much this summer. When the bad weather hits this fall I'll have to remember how necessary it is to get out and breath fresh air everyday.

New still life in progress

This still life is inspired by memories of my Grandpa Ken. He had a shed on his property that housed all of his tools. I loved the smell of gas, oil and lumber as you walked in. There is a feeling of possibilities when you're surrounded by the tools and materials needed to fix and build things.

Small summer paintings

These are some studies and plein air paintings from August. It's amazing how spending time really looking at what happens to light and atmospheric changes the way you see the landscape. I took a workshop from Jim Lamb and really appreciated the ideas he discussed about simplifying and editing.

Inspiration from August Trips

We just arrived home a couple of days ago from camping. The weather was gorgeous and we were surrounded by breathtaking vistas.
Some so beautiful they were almost surreal. There is enough from this trip to keep me busy in the studio all winter.

Just a note: notice the people standing on the large rocks on the right hand side of the photo of the gorgeous swimming hole. The scale is amazing!

New works in progress

As you can see, I've been getting outside to paint. The four small paintings were the result of a workshop taught by Jim Lamb on plein air painting. We spent five days painting in Kittatas (sp) area, which was absolutely gorgeous. It's so helpful to paint on location, all of the nuances that are lost in photos are there for us to see. The atmospheric perspective is especially interesting.

The rest of the paintings are from my studio. They are all in progress. I hope to start on some new still life and landscape this week, as I'll be finishing up these paintings.