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

I guess I’ve been gone from my blog for awhile…  I’ve been working on a few larger pieces, delivering others, and also have been lured out to again experience spring in Montana! It’s easy to find excuses to be working outside now!

I love Glacier Park and all the wild places I’ve been lucky enough to experience over the years. This painting was inspired by a sketch I had done at Lake McDonald near West Glacier, looking out toward Mount Stanton. It’s hard to beat the subject matter! The painting and the original sketch are included in the Montana Painters Alliance show at the C. M. Russell Museum, opening this month. The show is called “Russell’s Haunts” and includes sketches and paintings we did at two of Charlie Russell’s favorite places, the Judith Basin and Glacier Park. “Mountain’s Majesty” is an oil, 24 x 24.

The last few weeks, I’ve been working on some larger paintings, now to submit for the Russell Museum Art Show in the spring. Nothing to show you yet, but I should have one done in a few days.

I’m posting two pictures I took a few weeks back during the autumn Montana Painters Alliance (supposed) paint out in Glacier Park. I pulled into Duck Lake just as the snow clouds were descending. The storm lifted for a few hours the next day, so I did get  some pictures at least, at Many Glacier. It’s so beautiful there, but painting in the snow is something I was not prepared for! This hawk was nice enough to pose for me and was very patient. I believe it was a Swainson’s Hawk by the markings.

MPA is going to have a show at the C.M. Russell Museum next summer with paintings we’ve done, inspired by Charlie Russell’s haunts in the Judith Basin and Glacier Park. That will be fun!

In 2007 our Montana Painters Alliance paint out was in the Highwood Mountains, east of Great Falls. It was cold and rainy, but I still remember the smell of the downed leaves those crisp autumn days. The MPA is a group of Plein Air painters that get together twice a year for paint outs under the Big Sky. We then have gallery or museum shows every so often to show our work as a group. This painting hung in our show, “From Study to Studio” at the C.M. Russell Museum this last summer, 2008. www.mtpaintersalliance.com. I was also recently informed that with the submission of this painting, I am one of the 100 finalists in the 2008 “Paint America Competition” – open to artists from all over the world. This painting will travel around the country with the show for the next year, and will be for sale through www.paintamerica.org. I’m thrilled! “Time of Yellow Leaves” is an oil, 20″ x 24″.