Kate Withers - 'Painting Space'

5x7     oil on canvas panel Purchase info Another pomegranate painting .. a close crop with the focus on the cast shadow design. These small studies are fun to do .. and using amazing reds is especially rewarding.  Enjoy!

5x7     oil on canvas panel      Sold Getting back to the easel..decided to paint a series of still life objects.  Since it was early December and the pomegranates were ripening here in the desert.. I chose them. Such a great subject.. beautiful rich alizarin crimson with a host of other reds from my boxes of paints.  Why use alizarin you might ask? ... because there is simply no replacement.. other substitutes are close but not nearly the same.  I say.. let this magnificent red speak for itself!

5x7  oil on canvas panel   SOLD An oil study from a different perspective.. a bird's eye view above the northern canyons and the turquoise waters of Lake Powell in Utah... truly a painter's paradise.

  9x12     oil on canvas panel    SOLD Sunset plein-air from just outside the boundary to Bryce National Park in Utah.. a wonderland of colors and shapes. Powell Point is the tallest landform in this area.. over 10,000' and home to a magnificent Bristlecone pine forest.

Last night I quickly did the color underpainting for this piece.. prussian blue, cadmium red light, and an earthy light red. I was able to do this so fast because the drawing I did earlier was easy to follow [one reason why drawing is important]. Of course there are always areas of a composition that are problematic.. but eventually they will be designed to belong. The concept has to do with the awe one feels when driving into Zion Canyon.. intimate yet grand.

The concept for this piece is based on a b&w photo I took while working in Zion Canyon last summer.   From that.. I drew with a brush and some muddy oil paint I had on my palette diluted with lots of thinner... just a rough sketch on the canvas.  This is only a guide.. the painting will evolve as it will when I add colors. Stay tuned!

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 :)

Getting towards the finish on this piece.. paint is too wet for the final layer.  I changed the design yet again and added more color... the warm reflected light from the sky on the alluvial fan below.  Still have to figure out the foreground and the cast shadow area.  The next post on this painting will be when it is completely finished [never!] Hopefully soon...

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 Gallery 24 - Torrey - Utah 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. *Updated painting .. the original older piece was painted over and re-posted here in it's current 2016 version.

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.

6x6      oil on canvas     SOLD This little study is painted in an old fashioned style.. strong frontal light the subject.. lots of color. This intense lighting was one of the trademarks that made the impressionist movement so different from the preceding art styles.. and also what angered the critics. It was considered too raw.. too ugly.. and in the high years of this movement.. was best seen in Monet. Soon this type of lighting  foreshadowed the post-impressionism of Gauguin and Cezanne.. the flat colors and the strong influence of eastern design leading the way to 'modern art'.  When I teach I encourage all my students to study art history.. the past masters have influence to this day. Closely surveying their work will reveal how each art period evolved into the next. One wonders what.. from this ancient spectrum..  we are in the process of manifesting.

5x7     oil on canvas panel     SOLD High in the sky.... looking down on the spectacular sandstone formations at the northern end of Lake Powell. I needed to paint something different... a new perspective.. some breathing space.. some air... more abstract. This little study was like painting a puzzle... all the parts had to fit together.   I will probably do several pieces of this subject as a series.. investigate the structures further.    I have found the patterns you see here to be present in all aspects of our universe... from the swirls of stellar clouds to the barely discernible same designs in the dirt... the organic flow of this fractal pattern is part of the structure of our perceived reality... just look closely.

5x7    oil on canvas panel.   SOLD Blue and orange are opposites on the standard color wheel... but on the artist's color wheel.. the Munsell version... the opposite of blue is yellow and the opposite of red-orange is turquoise. Nothing says the high desert like the use of these colors. If you like art history [my minor in college]... check out the succinct work of the late great Maynard Dixon.. a master of color oppositions you can see emulated by many famous landscape painters today.

5x7 oil on canvas panel I know this looks a bit strange... almost abstract... an impression of the bright yellow color of the morning sun on the rock formations.. far above the Tonto platform of the Grand Canyon. Maybe a bird flying around would have clarified things.. it is what it is... a small study of light.

5x7     oil on canvas panel     $275 price includes shipping and frame email Kate to purchase An example of another view of the 'Three Sisters' in Arches NP which was the focus of 'Stone Sisters' and 'Procession'. This oil study is a close-up of this famous formation and is more detailed.. lots of fun to do. I love rocks and stones so I guess I am living in a good place among them here in the West :)

5x7      oil on canvas panel     SOLD Here is the revised version of 'Procession' posted last week. I changed the name.. a cheerier title. These magnificent sandstone formations can be found in Arches National Park.. .wonderful... like a huge sculpture garden. I did not change the composition that much from the original.. a few rocks here and there... and the colors of the background were made more atmospheric. Compare for yourself... like those newspaper image puzzles where you have to find 8 things that are different .. only my changes won't be so hard to find!

5x7     oil on canvas panel    SOLD It is a real challenge to portray rushing water.. the rocks magnified under the glass-like clear sheen of the surface .. the movement of the flow.. the turbulence of the waves.  And at the same time making sure to paint the reflection colors so they make sense. In actuality.. painting water is very abstract exercise. The edges and shapes generally should be clean for the best results... no blurry edges or fuzziness. This study is just that.. a study.. a foray into the magic of water.

5x7     oil on canvas panel     SOLD A stylized study of the formations below the South Rim of the Grand Canyon... the turquoise light far above. This is not a realistic image... but an impression of the architecture of the inner canyon. These studies help formulate my ideas of what I am presenting in larger works. Currently... I am working on a large 30x40 oil of this area as seen from the Tonto Plateau... just one of the many layers of this vast landscape.

5x7     oil on canvas panel     SOLD An impression of late afternoon light on the golden hills of California. A note on monitor colors.. I have viewed my paintings on several different computers.. the colors were different on all of them. This is a real headache for those of us that present work visually.. we spend much time and effort to get the painting 'just right'... at least I do. So until there is a universally adopted color management system across all platforms.. these are presented to you in the hope that your monitor version is the one that is 'just right' :)