For the art collector, if you have wandered to my website or are a return customer these are a few categories of art that may be applicable to you. Just click the link and it will take you to a collection of art on Fine Art America that fits that description.

bird paintings, bird greeting cards, bird prints

alaska paintings, alaska prints, alaska framed prints, and alaska posters, winter paintings, wasilla prints, alaskan paintings, snow paintings

landscape paintings, landscape greeting cards, and landscape canvas prints

hawaiian paintings, tropical paintings, tropical framed prints

crossbill prints, redpoll paintings, finch framed prints, honeycreeper prints

wasilla prints, alaskan paintings

lupine prints, still life paintings, floral prints

(Cover Image: “Eagle River Summer” – Prints available here )

It’s not every day in Alaska that an artist is awarded the honor of their work gracing the cover of a magazine… And for this specific publication, it’s the first time ever! I am excited to announce my Artist Profile featured in the Fall 2012 issue of Alaska HOME Magazine. It was a treat to sit down with Jamey Bradbury at Krazy Moose Subs in Wasilla and chat about what drives us creative types and how we go about harnessing that drive. It’s a subject I never grow tired of!

For this painting I am using another one of my handy slate panels. It is so fun starting with a dark neutral surface and laying that first stroke of light onto the panel.

I strain to lay a stroke down and leave it. The very nature of this material begs to be host to intentional strokes of light.  

“Through The Vog” Sunset at A-Bay in Waikoloa, Hawaii on the Big Island
Some detail crops of the painting are below…

Thanks for reading!

When the new slate craze came over me, this concept was the one thing holding me back.  It was hard to give myself permission to freely pursue this ‘clean slate’ (pun intended) of ideas, inspiration, and exploration.

After conquering this artistic guilt, I found those shapes within the slate that first intrigued me began to take recognizable forms. What was once a strained and abstract connection, was now becoming a freely developing and tangible path that I would take with each piece of slate. My creativity had been so clouded with the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of paintings waiting for their turn to be created, that my brain had a hard time fulfilling it’s creative lingering at the sight of those tiles.

Finally I was free and the subjects were developing on each respective tile faster than I could catalog them… but that was ok. I chose two small 3×6″ pieces of slate to begin this new adventure.
The first had a deep green hue that faded into a rich and vibrant gold. There was no question what was to be painted. It would be orcas, at sunset, with mist, lots of swirly mist! Quickly I began to lay the paint down. The orcas seemed to paint themselves! I was tickled. Leaving pieces of the unaltered slate color showing through was difficult at first but a good exercise in trusting my initial inspiration.

Immediately following the orcas I picked up tile number 2. What had drawn me to it was when it stood vertical there was a unique ledge that caught lots of light. No question, a waterfall was beckoning, but not just any, a moonlit-tropical-waterfall. I eagerly obeyed and put down the brush strokes. Just as the first, this tile painlessly came to be.

This experience was both exhilarating on multiple fronts and intimidating in how far I could/would/should take it. How will it effect my ‘plans’ for studio work, future pieces, what are it’s limitations, how will it be perceived…? My mind whirred with questions before I breathed deep and decided not to worry about it. I am inspired. The paint is flowing. My creativity is being exercised. That is enough for me.

Every time I wander through the flooring isles of a local home improvement store, I find myself mesmerized  by the unique beauty found in natural cut stone. The veins, colors, textures, topography, and over-all-”voice” varies immensely from one piece to the next. It didn’t take long for shapes, and compositions to intrigue me from within their otherwise unassuming hosts. With this criteria set, I quickly adopted each piece that spoke. Some of them even broken, it mattered not. Once home I proudly lined each piece up, eager and excited by my new acquisitions. Those same shapes, began to develop more now that the slate was in my studio and not in a pile down the warehouse isle. This is getting more and more enticing!

As soon as I could, I quickly sealed each piece on all sides twice, then put a couple coats of clear gesso on them. The colors and contrast popped even more!

How on earth would I choose which to paint first or even what to paint on them!?

This is the photo I chose for the class…

It was taken with my iPhone from a moving vehicle of the Little Susitna River near Wasilla. From blurry grass obstructing the foreground to blown-out highlight areas, this pic qualifies as ‘less than optimum’.

With a couple quick adjustments to lighting in Photoshop we regained some lost values in the highlight areas. From here we can attack the canvas…

Students hard at work! Some had never painted with oils before and jumped right in. Way to go!

Below is my version of the photo…

“Little Su Sunshine”
8×10 oil study

Detail of boulders in river (below)

The view from Pandemonium’s parking lot after wards.

I had a great time with the students and can’t wait to do another class!
Thanks for reading!

Sold

30×40 • Oil on Panel • 2011

Details of texture and knife work…

It took a few weeks to finish this big guy but wow was it fun! Approximately 99% of this painting was completed with a palette knife, the exception being the steam pictured above. The texture is quite thick and I love it! Thanks for looking!

Giclee prints of  “Winter Bull” are available here.

What fun to meet with old friends, make new ones, and mingle with new collectors.

Here is my new release…

“Orca Sunrise”
24×36″ Oil on Panel • Available here

Another piece unveiled at the show  is the following plein air piece…

“Bear Valley Illuminations”
9×12 oil on panel • Sold

In September of 2010 I was able to join the Alaska Plein Air painters on a jaunt to the Anchorage Hillside. Though the weather barely cooporated I was able to capture a fleeting instance of the sun lifting the misty clouds, if only for a moment.

A big thanks goes out to all who attended and my fellow Painted Ladies who made the day amazing!

Thanks for looking!

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