Lighting and painting in a Montana residence...

We just finished a lighting project for a new Montana residence. We designed and created these one of a kind pieces for their particular space and needs... they really fit in perfectly. It's great seeing the pieces we made in their 'new home', looking like that's exactly where they belong. They are just starting to collect art for the home now and chose Autumn Hillside to hang in the master suite... It's really a beautiful home - we're proud to have our work included and always hope our efforts add to our clients enjoyment and appreciation of their surroundings. Everyone should get to experience the feel of a home with hand made pieces throughout and art work - so lacking in our society today. (I'll save that tangent for another day...)And yes, we are very lucky to have such a wonderful 'job'!

The wolves are here....

Scouting the Valley - wolf pair in bronze by John Stacy

The wolf pair has made it into bronze! Two pairs were created.... one with a black patina and one with a brown finish - a client has taken #1 (the black patina was the first set to be made) and the other with the brown patina we have here in our gallery to see in person.

The Wolves Are Coming!

I was at the foundry recently and had the opportunity to watch them pour the 'liquid bronze' for John's wolf sculpture - an amazing process to turn a sculpture into bronze via the lost wax method....

The patina is being done this week. Watch for photos of the finished pieces here soon!

Painting Classes

Last night we had a fun painting class at the Gallery. Our topic of the evening was COLOR - one of my favorites! To illustrate some of the basic principles, I whipped up some blue and orange Jell-O for us to paint. I cut it into LOTS of cubes, so everyone could have their own plate of colors and shapes. A good exercise to illustrate complementary AND warm and cool colors. We also looked at the relative warmness and coolness of EACH color. Even though many people think of blue as a cool color and orange as a warm color - it's relative. There are warmer and cooler blues - so we looked for those varieties in our Jell-O. Where the colors overlapped, since Jell-O is translucent, you could really see a change in the temperatures and colors. VERY interesting and fun to paint! This session we're focusing on color and design, but I can't stop myself - next week I'm also going to be talking about VALUES. It's just too important of a concept to not bring up!

We just returned from a trip to upper Wisconsin to deliver a large group of our lighting we had designed and created for a client's guest cabin. Years ago, we created the lighting for their second home on this property. So it was great to return! Wonderful clients in a beautiful spot - you can't beat it. Above are some images of their guest cabin after the lighting was installed. It was a really enjoyable trip. The weather was perfect for traveling and we fit in a stop at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts where we viewed their current exhibit - Masterpieces from the Louvre - www.artsmia.org. We also stopped at the Museum of Russian Art and 'indulged' ourselves - www.tmora.org. There was a one man show of an artist from the area, Jeffrey Larson, that was a treat to see too - www.jeffreytlarson.com. ... Happy Thanksgiving!

Let the painting begin....

I'm teaching a panting class this fall here at the Gallery in Gardiner. We had our first class Monday evening. The focus of the class will be composition and color. Particularly... what makes a good design (along with what doesn't!) and mixing your colors using complements to grey the colors down (opposites on the color wheel), We started working mostly with the complementary colors of red and green (apples were our subject) using a limited palette - only cadmium lemon, cadmium yellow light, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue and white. So everyone had to mix ALL their greens. ALWAYS a good exercise. It went really well - lots of creative energy packed into the room. I sent home directions for making color charts with everyone for homework. So much to learn, so little time!

A new studio painting....

Life Springs Eternal by Shirl Ireland oil on linen 24" x 30"

This area of Yellowstone (Upper Terraces) is just 5 miles from home, so I paint there often. It's a beautiful, almost surreal landscape. The colors, shapes and textures are great painting inspiration! I've been there many mornings plein air painting, often before the sun rises. It's my favorite time to be there. This particular morning was a gem. The reflected colors at dawn were absolutely amazing!