Holiday Treats!

So, for Christmas treats this year we roasted some nuts (coat them with egg whites, add some cinnamon and sugar...) and added this little tag. The bags were some that I had sitting around, and they were smaller than they should have been, perhaps, so it's good we had a tag to dress it up. Liz was the art director on the project, and it's good too, because my first few iterations were quite pitiful. Merry Christmas All!

This is the small study I did for the larger piece above. This measures about 1"x 4", and as with all studies, there is a certain immediacy and 'spark' that is fun. To help the effect, squint your eyes.
The larger piece is not that big (6"x 24") and depicts one of the cirques on the Mt. Timpanogos trail. My wife and I were hiking there this summer and on the way down the setting sun was spectacular. I couldn't take photos fast enough, and this was a conglomeration of several of them. The painting is working quite well, I think, and I would really love to do this piece larger. I can definitely point to things in this piece which are a result of knowledge gained--or at least refined--while at Blue Sky. The Art Director that I'm working with on 'Rio' and the other artists there have a really great sense of the use of lighting, value, and color as a means of telling a story and creating a focal point. Enjoy!

This is a revision of a piece from a few months ago. The original is a few posts back. The perspective was off, and it was hard to tell what was going on in the field with the ditches. So here's the next step. There are some things which are working better, and some things which are starting to get overworked. Doing most of it at 2 am probably didn't help the freshness of it:)

This is a small piece (4.5"x6") that I did a few weeks ago for the Canyon Gallery. It is of West Layton, and I like a lot of things about it. I would love to do a larger piece of it.

So, here is a little six inch square piece that I did recently. It's one of four that are going to the Canyon Gallery in Farmington, UT. I originally did this about six months ago and the background was all very light green--lighter than the flesh tones. I basically repainted the whole thing. Ok, not basically, I did repaint the whole thing. I just set out one Saturday to warm up the wreath, and ended up hours later with a completely new piece. There are things that work well, and generally I'm pleased. There are still some slight anatomical/chromatic issues, but it needs to go out the door.

Grandma Mynoa

This is a sketch I did last week for an incredible magazine called "Seeing the Everyday". You can see more of their phenomenal publication at: www.seeingtheeveryday.com. The portrait is of a woman named Mynoa Anderson, and she was an amazing individual. A short story of her life will be in the next quarterly edition of Seeing the Everyday. It was fun to do the vignette.

Here is a quick project I did tonight for my dad. They're going to start boxing up some of the potatoes on the farm whereas it has been entirely bags to this point. I wanted to make a design that had a vintage feel while carrying over some fun contemporary elements. It's quite a simple design, and I'm no typographer, but hopefully it will dress things up a bit. And the potatoes deserve it, because they're some of the best you'll find anywhere, hands down. That may sound like a used car pitch, but it's different in that it's actually true. Enjoy.

Here's a larger version of the small study below (8"x 10"). There are some things that are working well, and some things that will need to be resolved in a larger piece.

I'm beginning a series of farm paintings from reference I gathered while on a recent trip to Utah. The top two pieces will be a companion set with the field before and after irrigation. I intend to do them semi-large, perhaps four feet or so (that's as big as I can fit in my patio studio currently!) I'm looking forward to experimenting with sky/field colors more before I progress on to the final canvases. The bottom piece will be 2-3'. I have a medium-size study I have already completed of this small piece which I'll post in the next few days. Enjoy!

Each week at Blue Sky Studios, a group of 'Lunchtime Painters' do a plein air piece around the studio. There are extensive grounds, and it has been really great. The piece above I did yesterday, and it's included because it's the most recent, not because I particularly care for it. The first piece is one I did of my co-worker Ron, who is a fantastic painter.

This is a larger piece (18"x24" on linen panel) that just got shipped off to the Hollis Gallery in Pasadena (www.hollisfineart.com). The photo has a little glare, and the foreground shadow relationship to the distant cloud/mountaintop seems a bit drastic from the original, but other than that it's pretty true. The painting depicts the Utah mountains right above Farmington. I took some liberties with, well, a lot of things, but the essence is there. My last three large paintings have had a foreground shadow added to enhance focal point, so I'm going to have to start using some other tricks or else I'll get typecast!

Here are a few quick studies that have been lying around for a few months. The bottom winter piece was done on a snowy morning from the kitchen window, and the Indian corn was hanging on the wall by the stove one night and I couldn't resist. The baler and winter nocturne are from photos. All are roughly 5"x7". Enjoy!

How it works (the condensed version)

So, here are the highlights of the "Needles Peak Illustrated Life History", complete with pithy, but actual, thoughts along the way. Remember, if your initial thought is that it looks like a garden gnome, chances are someone else will too. Some good thoughts to keep in mind with logo design and painting alike:
A) Always have impartial eyes take a look at it and tell you WHAT THEY SEE (not what they think/like...at least not at first).
B) Never settle for the first solutions, they are rarely the most successful.

Coming Soon: Paintings!

Needles Peak Ski and Bike

This is a logo that I just completed for a new ski/bike shop in Utah. Needles Peak Ski and Bike is the official name, and they're just getting started. They are really committed to being a great shop, and I'm really excited about where the logo is going. We did a lot of versions, and I'll try and post some 'process' versions later so you can how it came together. I'm excited to get some paintings up soon! (All images are copyrighted)

Holcomb Valley

Here is a logo and t-shirt design that I recently completed for Holcomb Valley Scout Reservation in California. I worked there several years ago, and the camp is now under the leadership of some great friends, Ben and Kristi, who are doing marvelous things. A lot of camps traditionally have horrible design, and so hopefully this is at least one step up from clip-art and faux wolf-claw marks.

Lily

This is a little oil study (3.5"x 8") I did a few weeks ago in anticipation of a larger piece (12"x 24") which is in the works. It was a fun limited palette study, and utilized Cad. Red, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Ivory Black, and Titan. White.

And thus I enter into the blogging world. I intend to use this as a forum for sharing new work, especially sketches, prep work, and studies--the really wonderful parts that never get seen on the website. Let me know what you think, and I promise to try and give new things to see often. This little watercolor was done last Fall from a photo taken inside my Utah studio looking out at the amazing Hollyhocks waving right outside the window. They always remind me of home. Enjoy!