Weekend plans.....

See you tomorrow at the Lewis & Clark Caverns....I'll be accompanying a friend, artist Carol Guzman, to the Lewis & Clark Caverns State Park tomorrow for a "Land Snorkeling" morning. If you can make it to Montana's first state park in Whitehall, Montana, be there at 9 AM for the kick off. Click on any of the above links for more information.

Meanwhile, enjoy the views from this morning

in the world's first National Park....

Yellowstone

(a lot of 'first' Parks around here!)

Yellowstone Guest Accommodations

Thanks for the request to see more....

Our remodeling project culminated with a total of 5 bedrooms, 5 baths with full kitchen and dining room, along with a deck overlooking the Yellowstone River with Yellowstone National Park across the River.

We did our best to make the spaces creative and luxurious....with high-end perks everywhere and of course, art. After all, if you're on vacation, it should be beautiful and comfortable!

A random sampling of photos that will give you a feel for the spaces....



Dish hutch in the kitchen - stocked with all the kitchen amentities to keep life easy while on vacation - dishes, glasses, platters, silverware, etc.
And topped with a bronze scuplture of an elk by John.



Left to right....Antique hutch for dishes, copper pans from France, a fabulous Lacanche stove from France - with 5 gas burners and 2 ovens (one electric and one gas) with handmade brick tile and a pot filler above. At the far end, is a Subzero refrigerator/freezer behind antiqued cabinet doors. The island on the right is outfitted with an extra large granite sink and soapstone counter tops. Finishing it off with 2 dishwasher drawers in the island, which you can't see in the photo. But they are also behind antiqued cabinet doors.

A sitting area off of the kitchen highlights my work from the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. The collage of original oil paintings shows the diversity of the pieces archived in the Yellowstone collection.

The view from the Gallery Bedroom overlooking the Yellowstone River with Yellowstone National Park beyond.

Antique Montana Bath vanity with heart shaped stone sink.

Some details of the tile work in the River Bath shower. 

Floor detail in the River Bath shower

Details in the Yellowstone Bath include a crystal chandelier, corrugated metal ceiling, and a curved glass shower.

We used a lot of 'circles' in the Yellowstone Bath. You may remember that I love metaphors in my paintings. Well, I like to use them in my design work as well....The 'circle of life' is seen often, dramatically at times, in Yellowstone.  And so, the idea for the circular motif in the Yellowstone suite.

The circular sink compliments the circular shower and chandelier above.

and even circular glass floor tiles.

Yellowstone bedroom with linen and velvet bedding.

A bronze deer stag crystal chandelier above the original oil portrait of the last surviving whooping crane in Yellowstone - (she died at the age of 16 in March 2000).

The view out the window of the Yellowstone Bedroom of Yellowstone National Park.

We tucked one of the bedrooms into the bank of the Yellowstone River, at the waters edge. The "River Bed" - Unattached from the main lodge, made of river rock with a natural sod roof, it is meant to give our adventure seeking guests a "glamping" experience.

The River Bed Queen bed - down pillows, ultra warm down comforter and high thread count linens for a cozy, "glamping" experience.

View from the River Bed of the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone National Park.

Exterior deck with double doors with our hand made solid bronze sconces flanking them, leading into the dining room.
The deck overlooks the Yellowstone River and Yellowstone National Park.

Exterior south wall of the Gallery, with large windows to take in the incredible views beyond.

The Gallery, which we offer to our larger groups, as a space to live with art and relax with family and friends.

I'm working on a web page describing the guest accommodations more in detail. That will take a little longer - but I'll post the info when I get it together. In the meantime, I'd love to hear comments and suggestions... and I'm happy to answer questions anytime!

Aaahhhhh....we did it!

Well, we've been working VERY hard this year on remodeling John's workshop and some other additional gallery spaces to create guest accommodations...creative, unique, luxurious, artistic guest accommodations. (You may have noticed the absence of blog posts.)

It was no little feat - but WE DID IT! The space is now happily and comfortably housing guests. A quick preview of some of the spaces that can now accommodate groups who welcome a creative space for their 'home away from home' and enjoy being surrounded by art....as well as our trememdous location overlooking Yellowstone National Park on the Yellowstone River. Here's a preview....there will be more to come once my fingers recover a little more!....

A view from the dining room looking into the kitchen with seating at the island.

The dining wagon with our custom made 'pack saddle chandelier' above and a grouping of my Yellowstone Squared plein air paintings behind. (The table is an antique restored luggage cart from Yellowstone National Park. We love reusing antiques in a new and creative way - this was one of our favorites!)

Double doors from the dining room open onto a deck perched over the Yellowstone River with Yellowstone National Park across. That's Electric Peak in the background - one of the highest peaks in Yellowstone.

Cruiser bikes at the porch entry.

We have such a great location...we're at the edge of the tiny mountain town of Gardiner, Montana with Yellowstone National Park and the Yellowstone River out back. So we added cruiser bikes to our list of amentities. The small and friendly town of Gardiner is easily accessible and a good spot to 'cruise'....to go white water rafting, get some groceries, some ice cream, go out to dinner, etc. etc.

Yellowstone wildlife "marching" by -

This is such a great time of year to see wildlife.... Since Gardiner is the mild spot around Yellowstone, a lot of animals come our way around March - after a long winter in the Park. Bison on the football field is NOT an uncommon site. And since our schedule is packed full these days, it's certainly nice that THEY come to US!...

Bison on the Gardiner football field...
with the Roosevelt Arch in the background and snow on the mountains in Yellowstone. Much easier grazing here in Gardiner!

Our Yellowstone Zoo

photos taken from our windows this morning....

Otters at the river this morning. We've had a few of them hanging around for many days now. We saw five here about a week ago - but I missed my 'photo opportunity' on that one.

This one hopped up one a rock in front of our place after catching a fish.

Eating the catch....

Heading back into the river after finishing breakfast...

From our perch above the river, we often can see into the water. It's interesting to watch the otters - and often ducks too - swimming and foraging for food from this angle.

I'm keeping my camera near the windows these days, since you never know what may wander by. Hopefully, I'll get a good shot to post!

Choices

Sometimes I find it’s all about choices. I have been known to tell my kids – Life is a sum of your choices. Yes, even my six year old hears that. Can’t start ‘um too young.

Choices have been harder lately – I haven’t been able to fit it all in. That happens around here from time to time, when the schedule just gets TOO packed. Choices need to be made. What are the priorities?… What HAS to be done?… What can wait??

We’re adding guest accommodations to our gallery, beginning this summer. And we want it to be nice – real nice. That means I’ve been testing shower heads and mattresses (very important things to overnight guests!), hunting for great antiques, purchasing furnishings, etc. It takes time.

A corner of the Gallery Bath.

The Gallery with some new furnishings for our guests.

Both John and I have been invited into the Clymer Museum of Art exhibition, in Washington, this spring. They need images of our work that we’ll be submitting soon. It’s a fabulous show and we want to submit our best work. That takes time.

We’re creating lots of wonderful lighting pieces, from sconces and table lamps to pendants and chandeliers, for a client on Lake Champlain in Vermont. We want it to be gorgeous for their new home. Time, more time.

I paint at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center weekly –  I carve time out of the schedule for an appointment every week.  A combination of Yellowstone history and painting too – how lucky I am to have that available to me. Can’t miss it! So I set aside some time.

My current project at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center....

Bear #264 - A very famous grizzly bear in Yellowstone history - in the collection of the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center.

Bear #264 study - 9" x 12" Oil
by Shirl Ireland

Click here for more info on grizzlies in Yellowstone with a section devoted to Bear #264

If I want to be the best painter I can be, time must be devoted to practice. Not only studio time, but plein air painting needs to get squeezed in from time to time too. Yes, even in the winter - keeps me on my ‘painting toes’. Plein air painting is like eating your vegetables - it’s good for the painter. Must be done.

And, of course, there are those short people who run around here – HIGH PRIORITY. They take LOTS of time. Had one home sick yesterday… that takes even MORE time.

New puppy in the house – VERY cute. But does need some training and attention. Takes time.

And to keep any semblance of an organized house and happy, well fed family, that takes a bit of time too – so you see what I’m getting at. My blogging may be a little sporadic through this spring. It’s just been tricky to fit it all in lately and we have a lot of upcoming deadlines...among other things! I’ll certainly be trying to keep up the posting – but if you don’t see anything for a week or so, you’ll know what’s going on around here -- Time starved. Juggling those choices of where my time must to be spent.

If nothing else, I hope it inspires you to think about, and make good choices, of where YOUR time needs to be spent. After all is said and done; Life is a sum of our choices….Choose well.

And as a reminder to fit in some ‘play time’ too – three otters swam by this morning….

Our Yellowstone Zoo -

photos out our windows....

I paint WHAT???.....

very old, dead fish in a jar - in discolored liquid.

frog skins and their storage box

An old rusty bucket

very old snakes in a jar - with ropes around their necks!

a dead loon with a tag

WHY??

'cause I can - is how the saying goes....

But for me, 'cause I can, is because I do.

What that means....my recent posts about warm vs. cool, the color of snow and shadow, the subtle differences in value, etc. etc. Whether I'm plein air painting a gorgeous mountain scene in Yellowstone National Park or dead snakes in a jar...It's all the same.

Yes, the above objects are all in the collection of the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. They have intriguing stories, interesting history and are part of Yellowstone's amazing heritage. But, they are also interesting shapes and colors - ripe for the painting...and learning.

What we are painting are shapes and colors. If they are interesting shapes and colors, or an interesting enough subject to you to motivate you to pull out those brushes - do it. It will all transfer. If you learn to really see and then record what you are seeing in paint, you can paint anything. (Yes, even metal, glass, water, a portrait, a plein air landscape....all those things that many people consider "hard".)

All we're doing is learning to see and translate that vision into paint on canvas. Do not have a preconceived notion of what you are painting. Don't decide a tree is green or water is hard, before you paint. LOOK at it as shapes and colors - NOT trees, grass, mountains, water, and snow...or even dead loons, snakes in a jar or rusty buckets. Different light, different weather conditions, etc. make objects appear differently. Wipe your brain slate clean and just look at it. Paint what you see.

It's all just shapes and colors. (I know I keep saying that - But that's the point I'm trying to get across.) If you can nail the colors and put the right shape in the right place on your canvas, it will appear correct - weather it's a person's face or frog skins.

Here's a recent painting I've been working on....

Pronghorn study - 6" x 6"

Just like our recent snowy landscape / plein air studies we discussed in earlier posts... Look at the white fur in the shadows. (Just like the white snow in those earlier discussions.) Compare the values of the white fur in the shadows to the light on the bushes. That white fur is a darker value than the bushes. It is NOT "white". And it's cooler. (Sound familiar from our snow discussions?)

Cool colors in those shadows, control the values when compared to the background. It's the same principles working here as the snow in a plein air painting. Learn to see that, and you'll learn to see it all!

So, why do I paint dead fish in a jar? Because it all crosses over to make me a better all round painter. I'm adding to my knowledge of painting shapes and colors. Honing that visual skill. The more I paint and the more variety I throw at myself, the better a painter I will become.

Paint the salt shaker on your table, your cat, your children, your foot, whatever hits you - they are all shapes and colors...notches in the rung of the learning curve. Keep a curious air of discovery and you will enjoy painting anything.

And if you keep your brushes moving... when you go outside to plein air paint, where the information bombards you and time is of the essence, the neurons will remember some of that shape and color information and translate it into the current problem solving on canvas. And "Wa-La", it got just a little easier.

Our Yellowstone Zoo

- photos from the windows of our gallery....

We see many pronghorn (often called antelope) out our windows. Fastest land animal in North America. Amazing creatures. (Hence the study above of "the neighbors".)

This photo I took a couple days ago. Not my best pronghorn photo, but it is a good example of light and shadow on them. Notice the strong difference of value from their white fur in the sunlight to the white fur in the shadow. If you can see that, all that is left is to translate that into paint on your canvas. Luckily, we have a lifetime to hone that one!