Upstream Downstream

Here are two pieces of a triptych I finished up before the holidays--oil on Claybord (archival panel,) the long narrow piece is 10x30 inches and the other two (one not pictured) are 16x20 inches in size. These are part of the running water series I've been working on; the third panel is finished but is not being photogenic enough to post at this time! I also have a series of pics of the underpaintings on all of these. I will try to get those cropped in and posted soon.

It's always difficult to work in enough studio time this time of year, between the holidays and year-end taxes and everything else. I am hoping to pick up the thread on this series and finish the other images I have been thinking of and then go on to something completely different. This series came about because of my endless fascination with running water. There is something magical about streams and rivers. The way the light refracts off the surface and also illuminates the bottom of the stream as it moves constantly, calling out its own music; it seems to have a life of its own. The many organisms that share this environment are also part of the allure. With these paintings I am attempting to capture some of that living motion in a still media; a moment of time frozen but hopefully still fascinating.

I will keep you posted (bad blog pun, sorry!) on the rest of the series as it progresses!

Dawn

Living Waters

Here's a piece from my latest series, which is all about moving water. This is the first presentable piece, titled "Living Waters," an oil on Claybord, a type of archival panel I'm very fond of. This piece is 18"x36" in size, and comes from a car trip we took up the Unaweep canyon on the Uncompaghre Plateau. Unaweep is Ute for "canyon with two mouths;" it is a very unique canyon in that the creek that created it has it's own divide; halfway up the canyon the waters split, so that the creek feeds into two different tributaries on each side of the divide. This is of West Creek (as opposed to East Creek; so the English names aren't nearly as poetic as the Ute...) The day we headed up was one of those weirdly beautiful days only Colorado can create; the fall color was still in full force but there had been a light snow which dusted everything in pearly white and diffused the light both above and below the horizon. At this point in the journey I had just disturbed an American Dipper, a small bird which fishes in rivers and creeks in the Rocky Mountains (the only bird which does not have hollow bones because of it's diving proclivities, just FYI...) (The dipper I disturbed was quite annoyed; they hang out on rocks in creeks and hunt for small fish and insects. I was in the way.) It was a truly magical afternoon; expect more imagery from this trek.

Here's a completely unrelated quote I just found in a book I'm reading titled: The Desert Is No Lady, Southwestern Landscapes in Women's Writing and Art, edited by Vera Norwood & Janice Monk.

The desert is no lady.
She screams at the spring sky,
dances with her skirts high,
kicks sand, flings tumbleweeds,
digs her nails into all flesh.
Her unveiled lust fascinates the sun.

Pat Mora

Desert thoughts for you during the last vestiges of autumn!

Dawn

In Lieu of Cake

Above: The Red Brick Art Center with a few of my pieces showing. Here's the ski slope in Aspen Colorado, shortly before the snow falls in earnest! We have a terrific show up at the Red Brick Center. Aspen is the place to be for Halloween, by the way. I have never in my life seen so many people in costume and in character as well... People come from all over to be there. That being said, we had a poor turnout for our opening on November 1st, largely because the entire town was hung over. If you are in the area please come by and see the show; my colleagues are amazing and the space itself looks terrific. The downtown galleries in Aspen also had poor opening nights--the entire town does an Artwalk on the first Thursday of every month and apparently the commercial galleries had the same problems we had.
The Adjunct show at Mesa State came down today; after this I have a long break from shows and, as of December 7th, I will be done teaching for a little while. This is good as I have a lot I'm hoping to accomplish in the studio this winter. Actually I have a lot I'm hoping to accomplish in the studio this weekend. As always I will post anything worth posting!

Dawn

Aspen Show

"The Myth of the West" finished piece
30x40" oil on canvas




"The Myth of the West" underpainting

Here are a couple images of the same painting: the first is the completed piece and the second is the underpainting. All my work begins with a technicolored underpainting; I let some of that layer and each consecutive layer show through to add interest to the piece. The underpainting is necessary to establish the composition, begin the values, and set the overall tone for the piece--I find if I don't have a firm underpainting it isn't much worth pursuing the rest! Sometimes the underpainting is the most interesting thing about the piece and I wish I could leave it there, but so far I have more to say than that. What can I say, I'm a chatty person.

So Aspen is right around the corner--we're going up there on Halloween to hang the show and it opens on November 1st. This is one of the new pieces for the show--I have a few others I'll try and post soon; one of them is not finished yet so it may not make the show. Now I have a bunch of framing and varnishing and all the work that goes into getting ready for a show: so, of course, all I want to do is paint! Oh well, I should have time for that soon.

Come up to Aspen in November if you have a chance--should be a great show!

Dawn

Update-a-rama

Red Brick Art Center
Aspen, Colorado




Woo-Hoo! "It's Always a Matter of Time" took 2nd place at Glenwood in the professional pastel division. I also sold a piece today in the "Grand Tribute Show," ("Cold Shivers") which opens today (Friday, Oct 5th.) The Western Colorado Congress, a not-for-profit group dedicated to water conservation over here asked if they could use the image from the sold piece for some posters as a fund-raiser. I'm offering them a limited license to use the image for that purpose; it's a good group and I'm a.) happy to help them out and b.) glad they chose my piece out of all the images in this show as the one they'd like to use to promote their cause. Now it's all about Aspen: the Mile High show has opened at the Red Brick and I need to get focused with what's going up next month for our big show. No worries--only teaching 3 classes 4 nights a week plus working at our business The Coffee Studio 6 days a week.... not stressed out or anything!


I will let you know what's going to Aspen as well as other fun things from the studio. Cheers!

Dawn

Calendar of Upcoming Events

"We Are Far From Home"
pastel on paper
22x26"

This is one of the two pieces that were accepted into the Mile High National, a pastel exhibit sponsored by the Colorado Pastel Society. It will be hanging at the Red Brick Center for the Arts in Aspen, Colorado from Oct 5th-Oct 31st, with an opening reception on October 5th from 5:00 - 7:00 pm. Red Brick is located at 110 East Hallam Street, Aspen CO 81611.

Other upcoming events: The Art Project, a small art group I belong to, will have a show also at the Red Brick through the month of November. That show opens on Nov 1st with an opening reception from 5:00 - 7:00 pm, and will be up until Nov 29th.

Glenwood Springs Art Guild's 45th Annual Fall Art Festival runs from Sept 26 - 30th at the Ramada Inn and Suites (I-70, Exit 116) in Glenwood Springs, CO. I have two pieces entered in this show, one of the best juried shows in the region.

Mesa State College will have a faculty adjunct show in October. The show is open Oct 22nd, and the opening reception is Friday Oct 26th from 6:00 - 8:00 pm. This show is up untio November 8th, and is at the Johnson Gallery in the student center at Mesa State College, 12th Street and Elm Street in Grand Junction, Colorado.

I have several pieces in the Mountainside Miniatures exhibit, sponsored by the Mountainside Art Guild. This show is at the Foothills Art Center, 809 15th Street, Golden CO. It is up currently and runs through October 28th. As the name implies, it is a juried show for small works, 5x7" or smaller.

A Grand Tribute Art Show will be held Sept 25th - Oct 28th at several venues throughout the Grand Valley. This show is "a community effort to preserve the unique, unspoiled natural landmarks of the Grand Mesa and Grand Valley. The focus of this show is artwork that personifies the aesthetic wilderness beauty, wildlife habitat, pristine water resources and recreational opportunities of this area." In other words, it's right up my alley. They accepted 3 of my pieces, it is a juried show, and I'll let you know when they let me know where my pieces will hang.

It's a crazy year and a crazy time of year, but keeping my artistic self in motion keeps me motivated!

Autumn in the Studio

"These Bleaching Bones"
oil on canvas
24"x48"


This piece is almost finished; I'm going to go back in with a few glazes and tweak the light just a bit. (Official Artspeak: "Light Tweaking.") I've been working on several large oils, but also spending quite a bit of time on the business side of things this month. I'm in several upcoming shows, which involves working on art presentation (I do most of my own framing) as well as meetings and meetings and then, just to shake things up, a few more meetings. Ah well, it gets the artwork out there in the end and that's all for the good. I'm also teaching at Mesa State again this fall, a watercolor class this time, and teaching some smaller classes on the side. We've got a pastel class and an oil class lined up for the next few months; will probably do drawing in the spring. The students keep me on my toes and I feed off of their youthful artistic motivations. Lots of great art energy building up; I'm excited about the upcoming shows and classes and excited about the images currently piling up in my brain. The old sketchbook has once again become a log of what I want to do when I'm back in the studio. So enjoy this sole image for now and expect more soon! Dawn

New Work, July 19

Here are a couple new pieces from the studio this week. I'm trying to build some stock back up for the upcoming regional shows. These are both pastels on Wallis sanded paper. The first is titled "Bright Morning" and is 18x24" in size. The second is, as of yet, unnamed; it is 12x18" in size.

New Work June 2007

I apologize--it has been pointed out to me recently that I need to update the blog. In my defense, I've been quite busy in the studio. Here are some images I've been working on lately. I'm still working in the print studio, but as of yet my two plates are not worth sharing. In fact, I liked both of them better about two steps ago. I'm still hoping to pull something off that's worth posting--will let you know. In any art one of the most difficult challenges is knowing when to stop. It's even more difficult with a media you're unfamiliar with; I honestly don't know if I've killed the plates dead or if I just haven't pushed them enough yet. Yikes!

The other work I've been doing this summer so far involves my black and white pastel images. I really like this series; they are really flowing for me. They are from part of myself that I cannot explain verbally.

The other main project I have going is a watercolor study series. Way way back when I was in school one of our ongoing assignments was to paint studies of famous paintings of the past, images of our choice to be turned in every Friday. I hated it. And yet... You can learn so much about composition, color, etc. by this method. I was so inspired by "Twentieth-Century Watercolors" by Christopher Finch that I started some small studies of the images he chose for the tome. As you can see, these pics are straight out of my sketchbook. It's a little manic, but nothing as to the Great Intaglio Project! (Intaglio: miscellaneous printmaking techniques including etching and engraving. Josh could explain this much more clearly to you...)

Hope you enjoy the new work. I will try to post more regularly!

Dawn

The Aftermath of Art

"Painting a picture, doing a dance, writing a poem, any act of art can be a magical ritual, the doing of which has nonlinear effects. Seen in this way, most acts of creation are private rituals done in personal caves. What we usually think of as works of art are the aftermaths of art." Frank Moore

In preparation for a watercolor class I'm teaching in the fall, I've been reviewing some of the history of art I once knew. (I feel at this point in my life I would like to review much of what I once knew...) In Watercolors of the Twentieth Century, Finch wrote that while Cezanne felt he was honestly depicting his reaction to form, color, and composition, what his youthful followers were most interested in was his ability to get away from form, color, and composition. (I'm paraphrasing here.) He was one of the first artists to highlight the picture plane itself as a compositional element, to point at the paper itself while still creating the artifice of the painting.

I was thinking of this a lot yesterday. My friend Josh is teaching me some basic printmaking techniques. I'll admit that as a younger person I never had the patience to really learn printmaking. The process always seemed to get in the way of the art. With painting you have that instant gratification of knowing exactly what a brush stroke looks like at the time you paint it. Printmaking takes a little more faith. You make a mark and you think you might know eventually what it's going to look like on the paper. (Okay, real print makers have a clear idea of what it's going to look like--I'm a beginner so it's more of a blind jump for me.) What really intrigued me is the disconnect between the art (the act of drawing, scraping, etc.) and the substrate it will eventually rest on. It points to the process of art more than any other media I've ever tried--truly by the time the final print is pulled it is the aftermath of the artistic process.

It's all very intriguing--I went home yesterday with my brain full and spent all night in my dreams pulling prints. If I get anything vaguely worthwhile I'll post the results. Maybe I'll post them anyway for comedic purposes...