FIRST AWARD OF 2011

My painting (see below) "Overgrown but Usable"
was recently awarded "Finalist" in the Boldbrush
painting competition at Canvoo. There were over
600 entries in the month of December so I am very
pleased to be one of the top paintings of the month.

















"Overgrown but Usable" 12" 16" oil/linen

Click on the painting to view the other
winners from December. Many thanks to
Canvoo and FASO for sponsoring the monthly
competition and for all of you who voted
for my painting.

I have entered "Classical Apples" (see below)
in this month's competition. So do me the huge
favor of visiting the home page of the competition,
scroll down to find my painting and give it a "Like" vote.

SALON INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES

Some habits are hard to break. Waiting
to the last minute is one of mine. Yesterday was
the deadline for entering the Salon International
competition at Greenhouse Gallery. I blame
my 20 years as a commercial illustrator where
I jumped from deadline to deadline. I was a very
good customer for FedEx...that's all I'm saying.

Anyway, I entered three paintings online yesterday.
Hey, at least I got the paintings done in plenty of
time. Its not like I waited until yesterday morning
to do the paintings. Below are my three entries.

















"Canyon View" 24' x 30" oil/linen


















"Color Change in the Canyon" 9" x 12" oil/linen

















"Port A Tug" 12" x 16" plein air oil/linen

I BLAME KATHRYN STATS

"Terlingua Creek" 20" x 24" oil/c

Well there went three hours of my life I
won't ever get back. In the interest
of blog reader education I post my most
recent failure. Recent as in today.

Painting failures happen. There is no
avoiding them and you never know when
they are going to happen until they do. If
you are living a charmed life a failure never
happens in front of a workshop or, even
worse, while painting in a gallery in front of
a group of collectors. YIKES!

Maybe I just thought about this one too long.
I did a 12" x 16" plein air study two years
ago during a trip to Big Bend. (see below)
















I love this painting. Maybe it was the
three beers I drank while painting this one
or maybe because I was painting with a
really good group of friends. Who knows?
All I know is I hit a home run on this one.

So today I decide to pull this sketch off the shelf
and try to paint it one size up with the intent
of eventually doing a huge 36" x 48" or something.
I've got my music playing and I know I have at least four
hours of uninterrupted paint time to play with. Things are
going good. The paint is flowing. I seem to be in the
proper groove. Just finished watching Kathryn Stats'
new video so I am fully pumped with creative juices.
Three hours later I have this dog of a painting
sitting on my easel. Crapola!

I never share my failures. My wife is the only person
allowed to view them. I usually sulk for a couple of hours,
never more than a day, then I clean the palette, throw
a new canvas on the easel and got at it again knowing
the failure is a fleeting thing not to be worried about.
"Just keep slapping paint" I tell myself.


Right now I blame Kathryn Stats. In her new video
"Overview" she paints this stunning mountain pass.
Fairly large one too. Looks to be an 18" x 30" canvas or so.
I sat and watched it...then I watched it again...then I
jumped to my favorite spots. She is amazing and she
is the reason I put this one in the tank, because I was
channeling Kathryn while I was painting and she was
apparently not listening.

Anyway, I've done some good work recently so I was due.
I cleaned my pallette, washed my brushes and closed the
door to my studio. Tomorrow is another day.

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SALON INTERNATIONAL 2011

"End of a Winter Day" 24" x 30" oil/linen

Seems just like yesterday I was sending paintings
off to Greenhouse Gallery for the annual
Salon International. This is one of my favorite
shows even when I don't get in. Greenhouse
does such an exceptional job with this show and
every year the work keeps getting better.

"End of a Winter Day" is from one my trips into
the snow last winter. We had three incredible
blasts of snow and I had several days of plein
air painting, which I never get to do here in
Texas. I've decide to enter this painting and
one other yet to be done painting. Monday is
the entry deadline. This is when spending all
those years as a commercial illustrator pays
off when every job seemed to be pressed right
up to the last minute.

So back into the studio I go.

Port Aransas, Texas is one of my favorite places
to paint. I have been fishing there since I was a
boy and the smell of the salty air, the constant
sound of seagulls and the opportunity
to visit old stomping grounds like
the Lydia Anne lighthouse, the Tarpon Inn
and the fishing pier evoke all kinds
of great memories.

My work is represented by Port A Gallery and for the
past three years has been host to the Coastal
Paint-out. For three days gallery artists gather to
paint, eat tons of seafood and show our work.
There is a Quick Draw on Saturday morning which
always draws a crowd.

This year I took along my video camera and as
I painted with my fellow artists shot plenty of video.
From that I created the video above for the gallery
to put onto their website and to use it to promote
next year's show.

This gets right to the heart of the matter. In these times
when galleries are being threatened with the ability
of artists to connect directly with their collectors through
the internet, I believe we have an obligation to
demonstrate our loyalty to the galleries by doing
everything we can to bring business to their doorstep.
I like producing the videos because it gives me another
form of creative expression, but my intent is to provide
the gallery another outlet for promoting my work and the
work of the other talented artists in the gallery.

Okay....stepping down off my soapbox now. Time to go paint.

"CANYONS AND BADLANDS"

"Grand View" 24" x 30" oil/linen

"Grand View" is my first painting of 2011 and
represents my goal of painting more larger
pieces and is the continuation of the "Canyons
and Badlands" series I started last month.

My number one goal for 2011 is to do a
better job of supplying my galleries fresh work.
My plan is to do two paintings a week just
for the galleries so each gallery will receive two
new pieces every five to six weeks. My other goal
is to get into a few new shows and increase awareness
of my work.

My third goal is to produce more video of my work
and the events I'm involved in and to produce
videos that will help my workshop participants.
So be on the look out for new videos on techniques
and tips appearing here on my blog.

Hope everyone had a happy holiday. Time to
get back to work.