My painting of 'snakes in a jar' from 1932 - in the collection of the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. Fun painting.... you definitely don't get to paint that everyday!

We're back... we were out of town, in Wisconsin, for a project we're working on. The weather cleared up nicely for a photo from the plane window as we got near Bozeman.

LOADS of fun at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center today. I guess that's quite relative!.... I painted snakes preserved in a jar from 1932. Very interesting! I really like to paint water and glass and by adding snakes from Yellowstone Park collected in 1932, it made for a great still life. After a few finishing touches, I'll get an image of it up on to the site.

I talked about composition last night at painting class. Everyone did 'thumbnails' first to be sure they had a good design. Concentration was high and the designs were really successful. Our ending time flew right by! John helped to close up the studio. It's almost a full moon, so it was bright outside. Bright enough for him to see bear tracks in the yard! We went out this morning to get some photos of them.

GREAT wildlife viewing lately in the Park. I thought I'd share a few. You may see some of these ideas become inspiration for a painting here someday!

We watched a mother grizzly and her two cubs swimming....

A group of male big horn sheep.... It's now mating season for them, so the sound of a gunshot in the Park can be the big males 'crashing' horns!

Clark's Nutcracker at nest with eggs

oil on linen 12"x16"

A bird's eye view....I particularly enjoyed painting this today, from the collection of the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. The nest and eggs were collected in the Park in 1924! Amazing that here I am painting them 84 years later.

It was a great night of art last night! Monday night was the first of our six painting classes I'm teaching here this fall. The place was filled to capacity with lots of creative energy! We have a wonderful diverse group. We started out with some basics to get everyone warmed up. Next week, we're on to Design & Composition.