'PAINTED DESERT'

8x10 oil on canvas panel......SOLD

Besides working on the revision of a couple of large 30x40 pieces...I finished this commission today...a study of the striped formations typically found in 'badlands'....in this case the Painted Desert area on the way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
I really haven't had much to post ...as soon as I have a good enough version of one of the large paintings...I will post a comparison before and after ...and what my thinking was and how I solved the problems that led to the major revision. Back to the easel!

'RAINBOW FORMATION'

5x7 oil on canvas panel....SOLD

Here is one of my personal favorites...a small oil I had completed in the last few months. It was sold a few days ago... I wanted to post it anyway as an example of meeting a painting challenge I had set for myself. While driving on one of the lonely highways across the Painted Desert region of northern Arizona...a storm was quickly approaching [weather can change quickly on the high desert]...and I almost didn't see this scene unfolding in front of me...a rainbow just starting to form...the subtle veil of colors coalescing against the dark backdrop of the stormy sky. My goal was to translate this great subject to canvas...the electric light of the last rays of the setting sun...the rainbow...a sense of impending manifestation. How did I do?

BACK TO WORK

Okay...after procrastinating and generally goofing off...I am back in front of the easel. The above image is of a large 30x40 canvas I have been working on seemingly forever...on and off for a couple years anyway...an intimate view just below the rim of the Grand Canyon. I will try to finish it so I can start another big beautiful painting...this time of one of my favorite places in the Southwest...Lake Powell. I am focusing on large work now...small paintings are good to practice a technique or try out an aspect of color theory...but the real thrill is in painting big.

CHECKING IN

*I know it has been a long time since I posted...life events replaced my attention to this journal...haven't even had time to really paint. Boo.. But all that is changing again...back to the easel! I will post as soon as I have new work....and fyi.. we are now in the southern deserts of Arizona for the winter...SpaceCamp is almost up and running. If you want to come visit..email me and I'll send you a map!

BTW..clearing out old paintings from the studio...some are on Ebay right now...search KMW in the art category. Cheers! KM

'the BIG APPLE'

5x7 oil on canvas panel.....$120

This is my effort at painting a green apple...green being a color I use rarely on my palette...and if I do...they are always mixed from yellows, oranges and blues. In this particular piece...I used cerulean blue and cadmium yellow light with a touch of orange to imply the ripeness of this big green apple. Oh...and the title of this painting inspired me to paint an impression of the famous New York City skyline...the Big Apple.

'SUMMER PEACH'

5x7 oil on canvas panel.....$120

Who doesn't like a fresh summer peach just off the tree? Alas...for most of us ..we have to settle for the store-bought variety....still juicy good. I usually paint landscapes but decided to brush up on my still life skills...requires quite a bit more concentration and intense eye power to see all the nuances...a good change....a good challenge.

'COURTHOUSE WASH'

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....SOLD

Not so long ago... all the roads into Arches National Park were gravel...dusty and rutted. But the park became popular as people discovered this magnificent rock garden ...so the government paved the roads and even more people came. Today..it is very crowded two thirds of the year. I will leave it to you to discover the other third when it can make all the difference in your experience of this sublime landscape.

'CONGREGATION'

8x10 on canvas panel.....$300

These impressive stone formations are found in Arches National Park in Utah...an example of just one of the wonderful mammoth natural sculptures dotting this popular park. This piece is a close-up without the distraction of distance or other shapes in the compostion...an intimate view. The forms have an other-worldly feel to them...as if an important conversation had suddenly turned to stone.

'WHEELER PEAK'

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....SOLD

Wheeler Peak is the second highest mountain in Nevada...surpassed only by Boundary Peak on the Nevada/California border. Here [where my studio is for the summer]... on the Utah/Nevada stateline... is Great Basin National Park with wonderful old-time campgrounds and plenty of water [for now]. There used to be large glaciers on Wheeler...but as this painting shows...there are just a few patches left from it's former glorious white mantle. This piece depicts a scene from the Alpine Lakes Loop Trail...all above 10,000' in the high thin air and intense sunlight.

'MOONRISE'

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....$300

Moonrise over the West...an experience of the mystic as the full moon majestically rises over the silent desert....an experience that I have always found to be one of the best reasons to be alive. This piece is a study in contrasts... the intense saturated orange of a mesa at last light with the cooler darker violet colors of the foreground already in shadow.... the simple moon in a pearly sky contrasted with the earth's wonderful complexity and texture. Purple and orange....a favorite pair.

'FLAT IRON MESA'

8x10 oil on canvas panel......$300

The rich saturated colors of last light in canyon country ...a perfect subject for oils....and a good reason why oil paints have been used for centuries as the preferred medium for artistic expression...no other materials come close to the luminous intensity that can be conveyed. This piece is offered for sale with a digital image to represent it...but the digital image cannot match the lushness of the actual paint colors or how beautiful it is when viewed framed in a personal space... this is where Art comes alive.

'RESERVATION BLUES'

8x10 oil on canvas panel.....$200

Navajo Highway 6 runs north from Holbrook, Arizona...one of the many paved trails on the Reservation...trails because hardly anyone travels these great old roads ...Native Americans in U.S.-made pickups and a few intrepid [or lost] tourists. Love cruising these lonely beautiful highways...nostalgia for the late great days of Arizona.