Tomorrow begins Art Week in Great Falls, MT. I will be involved with two of the five different art shows in town. I am showing in room 176 at the Heritage Inn (part of the Ad Club’s Russell Art Show) and also have a piece in “The Russell” – the show to benefit the C.M. Russell Museum. I chose to do the wall sale this year instead of the auction. That sale is this Thursday night, March 18 from 5:00 – 8:00pm. You may view the catalog online.

I’ve shown you this painting before but since this is the big week, I thought I would show it to you again. It’s called “The Season’s Last Lilies” and is an oil, 24″ x 24″. Hope to see you there!

This area is dear to my heart. It’s out of Augusta, MT. and along the Dearborn River – my old stomping grounds. This is also my favorite time of year, autumn, when the quaking aspens turn to gold and contrast with the dark green pines as if they’re lit from within.

This painting is 12×16 and will be in my room – 176, at the Heritage Inn in Great Falls for the week of the Russell Art Shows. March 17-20th.

Hi. I know I’ve been a long time gone. I’m working on pieces for the March Russell Show(s) and have many things in the works, but none finished. I will post some of them soon.

I did just hear today that my painting “Opportunitree” was selected as one of the Top 100 in the 2009 Paint America Top 100 Competition. It will travel with the national show in 2010.  Another of my pieces was selected for the Top 200.

I thought I would also include some more – YES – SNOW pictures as that’s what it’s been doing around here lately! Recently, we got over two feet of snow, which was beautiful, but a pain to deal with when the wind started to blow. Yes, more shoveling, plowing, pulling vehicles out of snow drifts, hiking home, etc. It pays to stay home in that kind of weather! This storm has been exceptional in that we’ve had so many mornings where the landscape has been iced up just like a crystal fairyland. And interestingly, the crystals have been different from day to day. One day they were long chains of snowflake shaped crystals. Gorgeous! A few days ago those were gone, and everything was covered in little icy crystal daggers. So interesting!

Yes, it is another lily pad painting! This is one of the paintings I’ve been working on the last few weeks, and it may represent a little breakthrough for me. I have usually used a medium to thin and dry the paint which makes it easier to use as well, but the medium also smooths the paint out, getting rid of much of the texture. This time I used paint without the medium, and wha-la! Brush strokes and texture! It seems so simple a solution, I know, but we all get stuck in our ruts.

Anyway, I’m quite happy with this piece. I had called it “A Quiet Place” but think I’ve used the title before, so I enlisted my daughter Kristi to come up with it’s new name. Much better I think. This painting will be in the wall sale at the The Russell Museum Show in March.

“The Season’s Last Lilies”" is an oil, 24 x 24.

This was Saturday night at the Russell Show. A little fraternizing. I won’t go into details about what we were doing here, but it had something to do with commiserating, enumerating, extrapolating…

From left to right, Sara Walsh of Latigo and Lace, and artists Todd Conner, Frank Hagel, Sheila Rieman and Laurie Stevens. ( I know that Sara is currently working on her new website. Keep checking.)

I have to say that I learned a valuable lesson during this year’s Russell Auction: – always paint “sofa paintings”! I had received so many positive comments on my painting, “Just One Last Touch” prior to the big event. But – the bottom line, I guess, is that it wasn’t a painting people wanted to hang in their living room. I had hoped the museum or collectors might be interested in “the story” and want it for that reason, but still the market for that was pretty narrow. It did sell (I’m not sure to whom) but I came away humbled. I’m sure the economy has played a roll in this year’s event as well. Many artists are REALLY feeling the pinch.

Well, we artists are a tough lot. We have to be or we’d be doing something else – like selling shoes at Walmart.

It’s time for some reflection now, I guess…

I posted this painting last fall, but I thought I would show it again now, as it is going to be in the C.M. Russell Auction on Friday night, March 20. It will be Lot #122. (I will also be showing in Room 176 at the Heritage Inn during the show.)

I enjoyed this endeavor as the subject is my husband, Tom Gilleon – Mr. Tipi – who has been known to stroll in at the last minute with his auction pieces. I had fun with this as it’s the only way I could get away with painting a Gilleon tipi! So tip your hat to the ol’ codger. Today is his birthday!
24″ x 28″ oil www.cmrauction.com

I’ve had a lot of fun with this painting. I really did see this car with the tree growing out of it, although I’ve exaggerated that a little. I’ve been doing so many people paintings lately for the upcoming Russell Show, and at times they can “beat me up”. It was rewarding to paint this rusty bent up old car instead. The subject is much more forgiving! It’s funny that the things we wouldn’t want to have in our backyard or view shed are often things that do make good paintings! This piece is 16″ x 20″ and an oil.

To digress, I think I should show you my first “parasol painting”. It is called “Little Star” and is an oil, 24″ x 24″. I did this painting last year after having been to Crow Fair in SE Montana. This little girl was in the opening parade. I found her beautiful, and loved the mixing of the Native American and Chinese cultures. If one cares about being historically accurate, the Indians during the Reservation Period could well have traded for something like this Chinese parasol at that time.

This painting was chosen to be in the C.M. Russell Art Auction 2008, and it won the Russell Museum CEO Award given to one auction participant! It is now part of the Russell Museum collection. I have to say that when I saw this painting in a museum show recently, it was still one of my personal favorites.  www.cmrussell.org

To begin, I thought I might include my painting that was selected to be in the 2009 C.M. Russell Art Auction. The painting is titled “Just One Last Touch”, and is an oil, 24″ x 28″of artist Tom Gilleon “touching up” his painting while it hung in a Russell Museum show last year. While I did stretch the truth here, I had fun doing so, as this is the only way I could get away with painting a Gilleon tipi! www.cmrauction.com