Cody landscape

Thought I'd add a photo of the Cody area landscape.... quite a change from the Teton landscape where we were the previous weekend. Both Cody (to the east) and the Tetons (to the south) are about a 3 hour (awe-inspiring!) drive from Gardiner. Certainly beautiful - and VERY diverse - day trips.

Buffalo Bill Historical Center

We took a quick trip to Cody, WY to visit the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and Museum along with some related art events during the town's annual 'Rendezvous Royale'. But the hands down highlight was the Whitney Museum (which is part of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center). Last winter they did MAJOR renovations on the building and WOW what an improvement! I can't say enough good things. We were very impressed - and thoroughly enjoyed the art. The large Moran painting of Yellowstone Falls is a must see...AMAZING! The Rungius paintings are phenomenal and I also really enjoyed all the Remington studies. They have an absolutely wonderful collection there. I highly recommend a trip to take it all in! www.bbhc.org

Studio Tour

If you're passing by our Studio and Gallery today - stop in! We're here from 10 am - 4 pm, as part of the Park County wide Studio Tour. It's been organized through the Danforth Gallery in Livingston Montana. You can get more information, including all the participating artists at www.pcfadanforth.org.

A busy September

It's been a busy month and a REALLY busy week around here. So busy it's hard to find the time to post. So I'll do a bit of a catch up - 2 for 1...

I finished my copy of the 1887 Stewart Yellowstone Falls painting. I made the painting different dimensions, so it's not an 'exact' copy, but it was a lot of fun to try to paint his painting and I feel like I learned some things too. I'll be doing more! I've been re-reading Composition of Outdoor Painting by Edgar Payne and he believes an artist should create a large collection of copied paintings as a great learning tool - I'd have to agree!

This past weekend we also also headed down to Jackson Hole to catch a bit of the Fall Arts events going on in September. So much art to see, so little time! There is certainly a lot of eye candy between here and there - both in the landscape and the art. You can't have a bad time! Even though we've seen the Tetons many many times, they are always stunning and gorgeous in a different way. Since I've also been copying some Moran paintings, I thought a photo of 'his' mountain in the Tetons is only appropriate. This photo is of Mt. Moran at sunrise. No matter how many times you see these mountains, you can't get tired of the view....

Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center collection

This morning I got to 'sit with' a painting by James Everett Stewart from 1887 of the Lower Falls in Yellowstone, at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. I've been doing a few reproductions of some of the paintings in their collection. Doing copies is a great learning tool for an artist. There's no better way to get 'in the head' of another painter.... especially deceased ones! I've done a couple Moran watercolors and this morning I worked on this larger oil painting by Stewart. I'll post my 'results' after I finish it up.

Clash

We saw Bob Landis' newest movie Clash last night. It was an early preview of the film that will be showing on PBS Nature in a few months. He's a wildlife cinematographer and a Gardiner resident. He films in the Park just about everyday. So he has some amazing footage! This film is about bears and wolves and how they coexist in Yellowstone. Some of the footage we had seen 'live' in Yellowstone while he was filming it. Very interesting to see it now edited and 'up on the screen'. It really it phenomenal what we see here in our 'backyard'. How fortunate we are to live in such a wild and wonderful place - and in such an interesting community of people!

Yellowstone Lake weekend

We paddled out with some friends to Peale Island. A very remote spot of the Lake with lots of wildlife....cutthroat trout, loons, cranes, eagles, owl, deer, elk bugling. We watched a spectacular electrical storm that split a tree about 20 feet from us(!!) and saw a beautiful rainbow. I painted a few plein air studies. It was a WONDERFUL weekend on Yellowstone Lake.... certainly an amazing, wild place!

Aahhh, summer....

Sheep Mountain 9"x12" Plein air Oil

Summer plein air season was great this year! In June, July and August I paint outside just about everyday - sometimes even more than one painting. It's fun to 'look up' at the end of the summer and see the results. I have A LOT of studies. Some will turn into larger studio paintings over the winter. I'll put up some images of other plein air paintings over the next few weeks, as I wind it down. Since I'm not a 'fair weather' plein air painter, I'll continue to paint throughout the year - but not at such a 'frenzied' pace!