Kate Withers - 'Painting Space'

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?

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 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.

5x7     oil on canvas panel     SOLD 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.

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.

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.