Kate Withers - 'Painting Space'

If you have ever visited Capitol Reef National Park.. you know there are many different reef formations in the region.  This painting was inspired by the moonlike landscape found just outside the east side of the Park.  Clay and old ancient sand dunes with hardly any plants growing.. afternoon light on the Reef. 8x10     oil on canvas View at the Rim Rock Restaurant in Torrey Utah

Still working on this piece...getting there. I am posting all these versions of a painting so you and my students can see how a painting might evolve. Complex works of art demand lots of problem-solving.. and answers that serve both the original conception and the painting's evolution towards a conclusion that presents itself as felt. This conclusion is usually not the artist's choice alone...the painting speaks and has it's own life.. it seeks full symbolic manifestation. The artist acts as a medium and a partner in this process.

Since the rocks are nearly finished [except for fine touches]...  will be painting the water next. If all goes well it should not take long. I put a thin glaze on the water surface already... and when that dries.. I will add more warm glazes and a few floaters on the glassy surface. The time of day and mood indicates a calm surface and a deep dark color with glowing reflections... now I just have to do it :)

I thought this painitng was going to be rather easy to do...no such luck. I am still working my way through the rock structures and trying to decide if I need to make it warmer or cooler. Slow going on this...here is the current version as of this evening. I am also in the middle of creating a new website from scratch...so my studio time has been usurped. Gotta be done tho!

Finished!.. [well except for a couple more strokes of paint]. On to the next project.. I'm thinking skies. The early spring skies have been amazing here in southern Nevada.. and I feel I want to do something more abstract and not as detailed. I need a break!

About 7/8 done.. getting closer. These large paintings are fun but can take a long time to complete.. probably a couple more days [weeks] in the studio. You can compare this version to the earlier underpainting post and see how it has evolved. Colors used are a fairly limited palette... naples yellow, cad orange, two earths [light red and terra rosa], two blues [prussian and ultramarine].. and a violet. 24x24 oil on gallery-wrapped canvas. Onwards.

Slow going on this piece... getting the values and lighting right is a challenge. There is something about this that I am not happy with.. haven't been able to put my finger on it yet.. but I will. The halfway mark is usually the most difficult part of the painting. Each piece 'wants' to come to fruition and needs me to concentrate and be open.. it's a synergistic process. The next post will be the finished piece [maybe].. and I expect it will be quite different than this image [like what happened to the "Queen of Spades Range']. So back to the easel!

I am calling this finished! Of course there are always tweaks to be done... but I am on to the next project.. a large painting of the road into Zion Canyon. The concept of this piece came from the painting's title. *There really isn't a range named the 'Queen of Spades'* .. it is named for the strong paisley patterns that are found on the alluvial slopes of deep desert mountains. So here it is.. 24 x 24 oil on canvas. *Update a couple years later:  I am re-working this painting yet again!  I guess I just needed some time away from it .. I was never happy with the composition .. the balance was lopsided.. really liked the concept tho.. so back to the drawing board it goes :)

If you have looked at the previous posts you will have seen my progress.. still have a ways to go. Naturally I had to change colors several times and am contemplating making the foreground all in shadow... not sure I want that much dark.. maybe.  Anyway here is the day's work:

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 canvas panel View at the Pioneer Cafe .. Capitol Reef NP

5x7      oil on canvas panel      SOLD 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.

8x10     oil on canvas panel     $425 Gallery 24 - Torrey Utah 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 silvery light falling from the sky.. the last light of the setting sun.

8x10     oil on canvas panel     SOLD This plein-air oil painting is from a dayhike into a lesser-known area of Great Basin National Park.. one of the most remote regions of the West. Mining was a large part of the old economy before the turn of the century.. and this road was made and used by those long gone gold miners. Just up the road is a dugout.. not the baseball kind.. but a dwelling built into the hillside as shelter from the cold bitter winds of Nevada. But on this bright June day.. the past melted into the present.. perfect.

8x10       oil on canvas panel       $225 Purchase Info This is the second painting in a series of oils featuring majestic clouds.. clouds silently composing wonderful landscapes in the Space known as the Sky.. the sky we take for granted and rarely contemplate. When clouds are present.. there is a dance of forms appearing and dissolving... constantly changing shape and color.. sometimes bright white... sometime sombre gray... or reflecting the rainbow colors of a sunset. In this painting... the colors are subdued and subtle.. the soft undersides of the low clouds take on the reflected colors from the earth and pavement below.. the lavender shadow of a passing cloud on a rarely-travelled road.. fun racing the sun.

8x10     oil on canvas panel     SOLD The beginning of a new series of highway/road oil paintings gleaned from my extensive travels.. based on one of the hundreds of road photos in my collection. The title of this piece is from a famous book detailing impressions of the less-travelled regions of the U.S.. written by William Least Heat-Moon. And the asphalt really is blue in the mid-day sun. I love the open highways in the Outback regions of the West.. no traffic.. just light and space.. plenty of time to soak-in the countryside.. cruising .. the good life.

5x7  oil on canvas panel  SOLD Many artists fear using orange.. but it is an useful color on my palette.. maybe because much of the land in the Southwest deserts is naked... barren of the cover of plants... beautifully designed... baked by the intense unrelenting sun.... burnt orange.

This is a page from one of my sketch books.. an idea for a large oil painting of water as it hits the submerged rocks in the Colorado River.. the force and beauty of the spray as it catches the light.. the backdrop a stylized version of the desert along the river. The main design to work out is the pattern of the spray and also to try to capture the translucent nature and weight of the water as it rolls by.   And all this action is lit by the late morning light.. refracting.. a feeling of diamonds throw in the air.. liquid magic.

4x4     oil on canvas     nfs Another view of the famed Wheeler Peak ... first to receive the morning light. I felt duty-bound to paint at least a couple studies of one of Great Basin's landmarks. Right now.. I am focused on completing two road pieces.. stark asphalt and clouds. Back to the easel.. these will be posted soon.

4x4      oil on canvas      nfs Here is the first piece of a popular vista here at Great Basin NP... a view of Wheeler Peak Basin featuring the highest mountain in the area.. Wheeler Peak.. over 13,000'. The trail to the top is all high elevation... t starts at 10,000' from a little parking area along the drive to the end-of-the-road Wheeler campground. Once known for it's glacier.. now there is just a smidgeon of snow. The creeks formed by the melting glacier and seasonal snowpack provides a lush well-watered oasis in the dry high desert of Nevada. Better come visit before it becomes a shadow of it's former self. The mountain mahogany [usually just a large bush] are tree sized here.. and the mormon tea [usually just a small shrub] are the largest I have ever seen.. mammoth. The feeling here is like witnessing the remnants of an once-lush bygone era.. still strong and magnificent.

8x10 oil on canvas panel After getting settled in our new camp and taking a few weeks off exploring the high elevations of Great Basin National Park.. it is time to get back to work! To warm up.. a few quick pieces. Here is the underpainting for a sky study from a photo I took last summer over the Grand Canyon from Mather Point. I also completed two small oils of Wheeler Peak... he highest mountain close to our camp.. will post them later. My current goal is to be much faster painting these small oils.. more impressionistic with the objective of getting an juicy expressive stroke with just the right color and value in one go.. whew!  This kind of work demands concentration and letting go at the same time.. like a dance.. a spicy tango.