New Location - Zion National Park

It is now the end of May in Zion...so fabulous...I cannot tell you how wonderful...the feeling of sanctuary.  Lots of rain this spring...flowers and birdsong...the Virgin River in full spat.  Hope to post some new paintings soon!

'Old Boathouse' - Lake Yellowstone

Painted on location from the Lake Yellowstone Hotel area...this old boathouse is still standing despite bearing the brunt of brutal winter winds off the lake. There is a small picnic area nearby...and a beach...no crowds...perfect in the warm afternoon of summer.  BTW...I will be leaving for Yellowstone [Mammoth area] for the summer season.   Cheers. KM

8x10 oil on panel  

** I am now situated in the Yellowstone high country...rainy and cold for the month of May...it is now early June.  

Send me some sun!

**Update...now the end of June...finally a few scattered sun/clouds days. Yay!
***Later update...now into the Fall season...early October.   I will be leaving Yellowstone soon and am looking forward to translating into paint what I have seen and felt about my experiences here.  I will be teaching a couple plein-air painting workshops this winter.  It will be good to get back to work in my desert studio.  KM

          

'Afternoon Rising' - Grand Staircase NM - Utah

Here is a piece I am in the process of working out the final details.  There are some problems to be solved with lighting and adjustments of color...and a few tweaks to composition.  I will post the completed painting soon and let you know some of my thoughts for my choices when seeking resolution.  

11x14 oil on panel

'Degrees of Separation' - Lake Yellowstone

On a blustery early September afternoon I was out for a cruise.  After awhile..I stopped along Lake Yellowstone's shores...and after walking a few minutes I found this area.  Small quiet rivulets of hot water were sliding down to the Lake's cold cold waters...the white chalky rocks...the expanse of blue water...the wind off the Lake was fierce.  I was blown away [well almost].  Here is an impression of that experience from my studio where no winds prevail.

8x10 oil on panel            

'Lake Yellowstone Hotel' - early June

The title says it all...and a testament to lots of snow the winter before.  As I remember...I think the Lake was still frozen when I painted this.  Then all of a sudden one day...it wasn't.  Magic.

8x10 oil on panel         

'Powell Point' - Utah

This small 8x10 oil was painted plein-air late in the afternoon while standing on one of the red dirt tracks found in the area [great for off-road adventures].  Fading sun on the magnificent Powell Point...the highest plateau in the Bryce region.  This 10,000'+  formation can easily be seen from throughout southern Utah.  The bristlecone pine forests on it's crown are the best I have ever seen...many old patriarchs...and even young healthy trees.  A good feeling.

8x10 oil on panel             

'Lakeshore Drive' - Yellowstone

Late summer afternoon on the shores of the high-elevation Lake Yellowstone...typical scene while on a short stroll from the historic Lake Hotel to the quaint Yellowstone Store for an ice cream.  This was one of my favorite things to do...beautiful colors and a treat at the end!

8x10 oil on panel     

'Sentinel'

Just outside Bryce National Park is a wonderland of sandstone formations called Red Canyon...some say it is better than Bryce...well worth visiting if you are traveling to the West this summer.  This piece was inspired by one of those formations...a large imposing monolith overlooking the highway....a regal sentinel surveying the realm.   Lots of color...fun to paint.

11x14 oil on panel         nfs

'Communion'

Inspired by the magnificent old growth trees on the shores of Lake Yellowstone...this group is next to the ice cream shop...a great place to paint!

12x16 oil painting on panel     $475

'Breathe' - Yellowstone

Time flies...doesn't it?...and time to get back to updating this blog which I enjoy sharing with all the devoted art lovers out there.  Here is a small 9x12 oil from the summer of '08 when I was working in Yellowstone National Park.   This is typical of one of those steamy vignettes found along the road between the Lake region [where I was living] and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
More to come.  Glad to be back.

9x12 oil on panel            SOLD

'Painted Desert'

8x10 oil on canvas panel......SOLD

Besides working on the revision of a couple of large 30x40 pieces...I finished this commission today...a study of the striped formations typically found in 'badlands'....in this case the Painted Desert area on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
I really haven't had much to post ...as soon as I have a good enough version of one of the large paintings...I will post a comparison before and after ...and what my thinking was and how I solved the problems that led to the major revision. Back to the easel!

'Rainbow Formation'

5x7 oil on canvas panel....SOLD

Here is one of my personal favorites...a small oil I had completed in the last few months. It was sold a few days ago... I wanted to post it anyway as an example of meeting a painting challenge I had set for myself. While driving on one of the lonely highways across the Painted Desert region of northern Arizona...a storm was quickly approaching [weather can change quickly on the high desert]...and I almost didn't see this scene unfolding in front of me...a rainbow just starting to form...the subtle veil of colors coalescing against the dark backdrop of the stormy sky. My goal was to translate this great subject to canvas...the electric light of the last rays of the setting sun...the rainbow...a sense of impending manifestation. How did I do?

Back to Work

Okay...after procrastinating and generally goofing off...I am back in front of the easel. The above image is of a large 30x40 canvas I have been working on seemingly forever...on and off for a couple years anyway...an intimate view just below the rim of the Grand Canyon. I will try to finish it so I can start another big beautiful painting...this time of one of my favorite places in the Southwest...Lake Powell. I am focusing on large work now...small paintings are good to practice a technique or try out an aspect of color theory...but the real thrill is in painting big.

'the BIG APPLE'

5x7 oil on canvas panel.....NFS

This is my effort at painting a green apple...green being a color I use rarely on my palette...and if I do...they are always mixed from yellows, oranges and blues. In this particular piece...I used cerulean blue and cadmium yellow light with a touch of orange to imply the ripeness of this big green apple. Oh...and the title of this painting inspired me to paint an impression of the famous New York City skyline...the Big Apple.

'Summer Peach'

5x7 oil on canvas panel.....NFS

Who doesn't like a fresh summer peach just off the tree? Alas...for most of us ..we have to settle for the store-bought variety....still juicy good. I usually paint landscapes but decided to brush up on my still life skills...requires quite a bit more concentration and intense eye power to see all the nuances...a good change....a good challenge.

'Courthouse Wash'

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....SOLD

Not so long ago... all the roads into Arches National Park were gravel...dusty and rutted. But the park became popular as people discovered this magnificent rock garden ...so the government paved the roads and even more people came. Today..it is very crowded two thirds of the year. I will leave it to you to discover the other third when it can make all the difference in your experience of this sublime landscape.

'Congregation'

8x10 on canvas panel

These impressive stone formations are found in Arches National Park in Utah...an example of just one of the wonderful mammoth natural sculptures dotting this popular park. This piece is a close-up without the distraction of distance or other shapes in the compostion...an intimate view. The forms have an other-worldly feel to them...as if an important conversation had suddenly turned to stone.

'Wheeler Peak' - Great Basin National Park

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....SOLD

Wheeler Peak is the second highest mountain in Nevada...surpassed only by Boundary Peak on the Nevada/California border. Here [where my studio is for the summer]... on the Utah/Nevada stateline... is Great Basin National Park with wonderful old-time campgrounds and plenty of water [for now]. There used to be large glaciers on Wheeler...but as this painting shows...there are just a few patches left from it's former glorious white mantle. This piece depicts a scene from the Alpine Lakes Loop Trail...all above 10,000' in the high thin air and intense sunlight.

'Moonrise'

8x10 oil on canvas panel

Moonrise over the West...an experience of the mystic as the full moon majestically rises over the silent desert....an experience that I have always found to be one of the best reasons to be alive. This piece is a study in contrasts... the intense saturated orange of a mesa at last light with the cooler darker violet colors of the foreground already in shadow.... the simple moon in a pearly sky contrasted with the earth's wonderful complexity and texture. Purple and orange....a favorite pair.

'Flat Iron Mesa'

8x10 oil on canvas panel

The rich saturated colors of last light in canyon country ...a perfect subject for oils....and a good reason why oil paints have been used for centuries as the preferred medium for artistic expression...no other materials come close to the luminous intensity that can be conveyed. This piece is offered for sale with a digital image to represent it...but the digital image cannot match the lushness of the actual paint colors or how beautiful it is when viewed framed in a personal space... this is where Art comes alive.

'Reservation Blues'

8x10 oil on canvas panel

Navajo Highway 6 runs north from Holbrook, Arizona...one of the many paved trails on the Reservation...trails because hardly anyone travels these great old roads ...Native Americans in U.S.-made pickups and a few intrepid [or lost] tourists. Love cruising these lonely beautiful highways...nostalgia for the late great days of Arizona.

'Mill Creek Canyon'

8x10 oil on canvas panel......SOLD

The redrock landscape arouind Moab, Utah is some of my favorites in the entire West...an artist's dream of form and color. This is a study of warm pottery -colored earth contrasted with the wonderful cool silvery blue-green sage lining an impromtu trail ...hiking in the beautiful Mill Creek Canyon area....just one of many spectacular pockets in this part of the country....best visited in late October or November.

'Kaibab Trail'

5x7 oil on canvas panel....$120

Not for the faint of heart or the badly out-of-shape...the Kaibab Trail into the depths of the Grand Canyon is a major Stairmaster workout...at high elevation...and in an unforgiving dry climate. This small oil study is from a small portion of that trail... the O'Neil Butte region not too far from the Rim....the butte being one of the landmarks on the trail. Relatively easy to descend...tourists are lulled into the chase of a new experience...forgetting about the brutal climb that awaits them.

'Desert Islands'

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....SOLD

A typical slice of a desert landscape...an intimate perspective...creosote bushes and trees surrounded by luminous golden grasses...garden islands in a swirling sea of gravel and sand...lavender reflections from the last light of the setting sun.

'Monumental Light'

8x10 oil on canvas panel....$300

The Grand Canyon is so vast ...it's size is not really experienced from the Rim. Living at the Canyon for three years allowed me to experience it in all weather conditions and different lighting conditions. In this painting...only a very small piece of the Canyon is visible...increasing the intimacy and detail of one of it's numerous monumental formations. This particular terraced temple-like structure.. shining in the last light of sunset.. is found just below Mather Point and is one of my favorite subjects...surely to be painted again and again.