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 .

 18x18        oil on gallery canvas        SOLD Almost sunset... a late jaunt to the windswept dunes beneath Valhalla Canyon.. an imaginary expedition from the comfort of my studio.

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.

This is the kind of painting that one could re-paint many times. Since the basic composition is interesting.. I decided to experiment further.. more shape changes and increased the chroma ... a strong red orange light is being reflected from an unknown source on the left.. plus there is still the last rays of sunset on the top rocks. I will continue to refine this idea until it all comes together.  However.. since I have been working on this exclusively for so long now.. I am looking forward to the next project.. so this will be wrapped up soon. More color/ value adjustments on the rocks and then the final glistening effects on the water.

I decided on changing the shapes of the foreground rocks and tweaking the other forms somewhat. Also you can see the first layer of color on the water. I want to make it look like still dark water with a glossy foreground bow wake.. coming into 'sanctuary' for the night.

Today's effort focused on painting the sky and cooling the formations as they turned from the reflected light. More work to do!

I am into the refinement stage on the rocks now... the water reflections won't be painted until the formations are 90% finished. Time to get out my mediums and start mixing with the oils for the final layers. I will be using a high-gloss mixture of spike solvent, varnish, stand oil and turps for the water.. and a dammar varnish, stand oil, wax/turps mix for the rocks and sky [a much more matte medium]... this will add to the sandstone texture instead of too glossy. I also might pull out the palette knife for a few thick pieces of paint on the foreground rocks. Since there is not a lot of depth in this composition.. I will use some texture for contrast.

Here is today's effort.. more painting on the rocks and the dark dark underpainting for the water. After this dries somewhat.. I will apply thin paint in lighter colors for the reflections.. but the rocks need to be mostly finished before attempting this.

24x24     oil on canvas I decided on a major change... now there is a larger juniper tree in the foreground and more bushes on the slopes. I needed to break-up the orange shape on the right.. it was too much and was competing with the main focus.. the towering citadel of stone. I also needed to balance the dark masses ..more of an entrance feeling. So don't be afraid to go for it.

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:

Here is where I am in this painting... still working my way through the color harmony... design is very close to where I want it... minor tweaks to be done.  But the colors and values are not where I want them yet.  Back to the easel!

8x10      oil on canvas panel     commission 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!

8x10     on canvas panel      SOLD 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 composItion... an intimate view. The forms have an other-worldly feel to them.. as if an important conversation had suddenly turned to stone.

8x10      oil on canvas panel       $225 unframed price includes shipping Purchase info 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.

8x10     oil on canvas panel     SOLD 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.

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 ..