Kate Withers - 'Painting Space'

12x12         oil on canvas         Sold An impression of the late afternoon light... stylized Grand Canyon formations as seen from the Tonto... some of the best views can be found on this vast plateau... halfway down to banks of the mighty Colorado River.  Magical times. ** Update:  This painting no longer exists .. it has evolved into a much bluer version.. see it here .

8x10    oil on canvas panel    SOLD Available Paintings ..  Gallery 24 - Torrey - Utah This is from a series of studies I did of the last light on a particular Canyon formation..one that millions of tourists see from the South Rim.  My focus in these studies was the contrast of complementary colors ... and the drama it affords.  The beautiful weathered shapes catching the warm golden rays of the sun amid pools of cool cobalt blue.  Great fun to paint!

6x6    oil on canvas     SOLD A quick study from the Lee's Ferry area...here the Colorado River flows swiftly down from Lake Powell.  This is the only spot to launch a boat and enter the Grand Canyon.. a thrilling adventure.   There is a great campground nearby.. but you wouldn't want to be there in the summer.. 100˚plus.  Fisherman prize this stretch of the river.. and if you stay in one of the quaint lodges nearby.. you will be sharing the space with fishermen, avid hikers, intrepid travelers, photographers.. and painters! Go there.

8x10       oil on canvas panel        NFS A quick preliminary oil study for a much larger painting which took many months and constant re-painting to finish... after all that.. I actually like this small piece better. (There must be a moral somewhere in this :)

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.

5x7    oil on a canvas panel   SOLD Not for the faint of heart or the badly out-of-shape.. the Kaibab Trail descends into the depths of the Grand Canyon.. 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 this famous trail.  Relatively easy to descend.. tourists are lulled into the chase of a new experience forgetting about the brutal climb that awaits them.  People die on this trail .. be prepared!

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     SOLD Nowhere is Nature's music more dramatic than in the beautiful landscapes formed by clouds... the ever-changing forms in the colored light of sunrise or sunset... a painter's inspiration. I remember spending many mesmerized summer hours as a child laying stretched out on the grass watching the clouds turn into fairytales come to life. This painting is the first in a series of the abstract beauty of skies.. skies as majestic music. Here is the underpainting for this piece .. the design ..

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.

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 Sunset brings out the saturated colors at the Grand Canyon.. this view is not far from the famous El Tovar hotel along the Rim Trail. Capturing this with a digital camera is a challenge.. the colors of golden green of the pinyon trees and red violet of the canyon's shadowed walls seem to be too much for the digital lens... opposites on the Munsell color wheel.. they are a very vibrant pair.

5x7      oil on canvas panel      SOLD A different reality.. the night world rises and orange merges into the blue.. opposites of the color spectrum. How is this possible? We take this kind of ordinary magic for granted.. but it is really incredible when contemplated.  As an observer... what does the boundary of these two worlds look like.. feel like... and what color is it? How can this magic realm be translated into paint? A common art principle explanation is that the half-tone [color change area] is a darker and redder shade of the color in the light and the leading edge of the shadowed area is a tad darker shade of itself. But I feel there is more to this.. there must be a rainbow of colors represented between day and night.. the warm to cool transition. Perhaps a micro view of this limbo land would be very beautiful in a larger painting.. and would certainly be a real challenge.

5x7   oil on canvas panel   Sold One of my more imaginative paintings.. the personification of the canyon formations.. the swirling colors of the Colorado River... mid-morning light. These small oils have a monumental quality that can translate well to a larger canvas... a fairytale come to life.

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    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 Approaching storms fill the monsoon season skies over canyon country.. last last light on the rock formations before all is obscured by darkness. Small studies like this are subtle in depicting the light effects ... a close value range and muted color.. except for the saturated oranges of the late sunset... a moody piece.

8x10 oil on canvas panel Here are examples of paintings in progress. The image above is fairly well along...  think it is perhaps 75% finished... three hours into it. The subject is the earth colors and oranges that one finds in the low reaches of the Grand Canyon where the Colorado River passes through desert.. the Lee's Ferry area.. saturated in the impressionist style.. strong light coming from behind my left shoulder... hardly any shadows on the forms. The water is least developed and I am undecided how much reflection I want to show. I don't usually paint in this manner.. preferring the drama of backlit subjects.. but the flat design of the shapes and challenge of depicting space through mostly color changes was irresistible. Below is an example of how I might lay-in a quick impression... about 20 minutes worth. Now comes the real work on this piece... back to the easel. 8x10 oil on canvas panel

30x40   oil on canvas Here is the revised version.. about 98% finished. I am still tweaking the colors and I think I want to do something different to the water.  It was a muddy color [as the river generally is].. but perhaps I could deepen the effect. You can see the waterline comes down further into the picture plane than before.. and the rocky cliffs on the left are larger. The farthest Canyon formation is shades of magenta and different blues.. it is very tricky to get just the right shade there. I will also probably paint some of this area over a tad as well.. I think it is too blue. I will post version 3 soon ... the continuing saga.