It is all I can do to make this post, but I need to do so to honor a dear friend and a great artist. Sheila Rieman passed away on Thursday, Nov 17th, 2011. She was traveling (as she was always traveling) to an art show in Billings, MT. She was just outside of Billings when she had a car accident that took her life.

Sheila was a bright spot in so many people’s lives. She was always laughing and fun to be around, a true friend, always there to help, a hard worker, an amazing multi-talented person, a great teacher, a great artist. I can’t tell you how much she’ll be missed – by so many.

Just last week I tore the following poem out of the paper, meaning to file it away. In seeing it now I know that it was meant for Sheila. She has lived her life close to nature, with her own animals and the wild ones that frequent her space. Her great art has been a tribute to all of those things. Sheila, my friend, my family, I can’t tell you how much we will miss you. The world won’t be the same without you.

“The Song of the River” by W.R. Hearst

The snow melts on the mountain. And the water runs down to the spring.

And the spring in a turbulent fountain, with a song of youth to sing,

Runs down to the riotous river, and the river flows to the sea.

And the water again goes back to rain, to the hills where it used to be.

And I wonder if life’s deep mystery isn’t much like the rain and snow.

Returning through all eternity to the places it used to know.

For life was born on the lofty heights and flows in a laughing stream

To the river below who’s outward flow ends in a peaceful dream.

And so at last when our life has passed, and the river has run it’s course,

It again goes back o’er the selfsame track to the mountain which was it’s source.

So why prize life or why fear death, or dread what is to be?

The river ran it’s allotted span till it reached the silent sea.

Then the water harked back to the mountain top to begin it’s course once more.

So we shall run the course begun till we reach the silent shore.

Then revisit earth in a pure rebirth from the heart of the virgin snow.

So don’t ask why we live or die, or whither or when we go,

or wonder about the mysteries that only God may know.

For our 100 Mile Radius Show, I chose to do this painting of an old motel sign on the Montana high line. This is quintessential Montana of the 1950 – 1960′s. There are still quite a few funky old signs of this era scattered across the Montana countryside, probably not because anyone had the foresight to see what great pop cultural art they might become over time, but because nothing ever changed enough in the area to warrant putting up a new sign. You have to love that about Montana!

Galata is a tiny town with a current population of 67, give or take. Sadly for these old towns, the younger generation moves away, leaving just a few of the die hard older generation to hold down the fort. I thought the sign, and the focus on a town like Galata was important for my view on this 100 mile radius – a snapshot of Montana from my perspective.

“Motel Galata” is an oil, 48 x 36.

I am busy doing sketches now in preparation for the Western Masters Art Show and The Russell Museum Auction next March. These six months will go by pretty quickly as I need to get a lot of work done!  Winter is conducive to spending lots of time in the studio, although I’m hoping we have a long, beautiful fall. We deserve it after last winter and spring!

I just ran across the image for this painting and thought it was timely. This subject is of the Kalispell / Whitefish, MT. area and was a painting I did during a quick finish benefit show for the Hockaday Museum last fall. The western side of the Divide is so pastoral and picturesque, very different from our more rugged East Slope country. “The Golds of Autumn” is an oil, 12″ x 12″.

For the 100 Mile Radius Show, we decided that we would all do a piece about Great Falls, as it was the epicenter of our radius. Most of the pieces were interpretive. Mine of course was pretty literal, and hales back to my scenic artist days and huge motion picture and theme park backdrops. YIKES. To me, Great Falls is about the confluence – a meeting place, and about the river. “Before the Falls” is an oil, 48″ x 36″.

Yahoo! I see that TWO of my paintings were chosen for the Paint America Top 100 competition for 2010! I am excited! Those paintings will go to Kansas and then travel with the National Show. I have been lucky and made the cut a few other years as well. I am wondering though, does having two paintings in the Top 100 move me into the Top 50? Ha! Just kidding!

These are the paintings that were chosen. “The Home Place” is 16×16 and is of a ranch homestead near my home. Much as I don’t like getting up early, I was driving down the road early one morning, and was lucky enough to catch this view of the sun coming up on Mt. Cecelia, or “Pooh Bear”, as my girls used to call it.

“The Season’s Last Lilies” is 24×24 and one of the series of lily pad paintings I have done. This particular scene is on the north end of Yellowstone Park.

Both of these pieces will be for sale through Paint America.

The Home Place 16×16

The Season’s Last Lilies 24×24

You really can’t beat the Montana “big sky”. This is a view looking east from our house. The summer cloud formations can be incredible at sunset! This is the other painting I sent to the Settlers West American Miniatures Show, to be sold the night of February 12th. It is 9×12, and an oil. If you’re in the Tucson area, I hope you’ll get there to see the show.

Spring is so exciting in a place where you have the seasons. I love watching the earth come alive again! Driving to Red Lodge, MT this last spring, I was lucky enough to see these willows along the banks of Beaver Creek. They turn a wonderful yellow before they begin to bud out. I was attracted to the yellow as seen against the warm grays of the hill beyond. This painting is a small one, 9×12.

2010 is the centennial year of Glacier National Park, which is an absolutely amazing place. If you have never been there, you need to see it at least once in your lifetime. I did this painting of Many Glacier for Helena Montana’s Holter Museum show “Montana Landscape: The Eye of the Beholder”. The show runs from July 1 – through October 17th, 2010. In picking this scene from countless others in the park, my focus was scale. To me, Glaceir Park is about grandeur and all about scale. In that context, we people are so insignificant. I liked this view of Swiftcurrent Ridge, as the Park buildings below point out how massive the ridge is just beyond the lake. “A Break in the Fog” is an oil, 24″ x 32″.

Need I tell you what Sishiqua means? I think every mountain peak in the western territories with a similar shape was given a similar name by one explorer or Indian tribe or another. This volcanic cone peak  is in one of my favorite places, near Augusta, Montana.

A few years ago, I forced my daughter to climb with me to the top of what is now called Haystack Mountain. The climb up and then down again was brutal, over big lava rock boulders. Smarter people quit half the way up. I was so tired when I reached the top I didn’t even take any pictures, darn it all, but the view was beautiful!

I did this painting to submit to the Paint the Parks Competition. It qualifies as a representation of the Lewis & Clark Historical Trail. Lewis camped near this spot on his return trip from the coast on July 8th, 1806. “Sishiqua” is an oil, 24 x 32.

I just noticed that it’s been a month since I made a Blog entry. This title, “In Blows Summer” bespeaks both the painting and my life as summer rolls around! So many projects in so many directions have kept me from thinking about my Blog, among other things! This larger painting is one that I finished for the MPA Show, “Russell’s Haunts” now showing at the C.M. Russell Museum, and is the piece I picked that is representative of the Judith Basin, SE of Great Falls, MT. I thought I might include both the sketch here, “Spring Storm”(9×12) and the final painting (24×30). Sometimes my final painting is quite different from the sketch. That isn’t true this time, although I changed the format some. I do like the fresh, rougher quality of the sketch, which may have had something to do with the time issue as that storm was rolling in! I will never quit being impressed by the drama and incredible power evidenced when our storms descend. Nor will I ever quit loving the big expanse of sky we are privileged to see here in Montana! Those are, of course, the subject in these paintings.

“Spring Storm” 9×12                  “In Blows Summer” 24×30 is below