Cowboy Poet Inspiration

This summer two of my watercolor paintings have inspired Cowboy Poet Tom Swearingen to compose a couple pieces.

"Sunbasking Broncs" inspired "Still Some Sun to Catch." Here is a video of Tom reciting the poem at 2014 St. Paul Rodeo:

And "Flying Solo" inspired him to write "Rode Away Alone."

Please click on the links to view the paintings and Tom's wonderful poems.

And now my painting "Cowboy Cadence" is the featured painting of Art Spur. Cowboy poets and song writers are challenged to use this painting for inspiration. I'm really excited to find out what they think of! Here is the link to my bio and images on the Art Spur website!

Build A Portrait | Workshop

In 2005 I took my first watercolor class. Since then I've just been painting and while at OCAC some of my figure drawing teachers did mini demos of gouache and watercolors. Other than that I haven't had a specific watercolor class since starting .... until now.

The past week I took a "Build A Portrait" watercolor workshop from Chris Stubbs at Menucha in Corbett, Oregon. She uses A LOT of color in her portraits. I learned about new colors and how to create warm and deep shadows. I had fun. I connected with other artists (and they connected with me). I really want to be a full time artist someday. I spent 6 hours painting in class and then went home and drafted ideas for the next day of class and after the last day of class I'm sitting at home working on a river otter painting. But there is yet work to be done before I make a change to becoming a full-time artist.

We worked on drawing eyes and then drawing and painting eyes. The double portrait is of my niece and husband. I made use of the light table and my reference photos and traced a rough outline so that I focus my time on the color. And the main portrait of the cowboy is 15" x 22" and the photo is used with permission from Celia Moyer. I took my time and worked a lot on looking and mixing the right colors. 

The way I painted reminded me of what I learned from Annie Heisey, one of my art teachers art OCAC. The use of heightened color: bright, bold, and alive. This workshop reminded me of how much I like to just draw. In figure drawing classes I used to draw not just the model, but sometimes my classmates, too. I don't mind going back to the drawing board. Hehehe ...

And here are some photos of all of the students 

(22!) and Chris plus the building at Menucha we worked in. And the food was AMAZING! Luckily I only signed up for lunches because if I ate all three meals there, I'd need to buy some new pants. ;-)

Dutch Auction

There are seven original graphite drawings over on my Facebook page available via Dutch Auction to celebrate my new studio name. Every day they are up, the price goes down $2. These great drawings are very affordable! Check them out! http://bit.ly/fbdutchauction

Back to the Basics of Thesis Year

This past week I've been thinking about my goals I had two + years ago while I was in my Thesis year at Oregon College of Art and Craft. Heightened colors, abstract shapes, dynamic compositions, lost edges, and experimentation (all with the subject of horses) were just part of my final year at school.

Since homework isn't a daily occurrence, I've been focusing on traditional western scenes and commissioned pieces. I really enjoying commissions, someone opens up part of their world to me and I portray something close to them in possibly a new perspective.

Lately, I've been inspired to use brighter colors and different perspectives and compositions. At the Fall WSO Convention I learned that there are many different kinds of paintings. This has triggered my crave for bright colors. There are different kinds of artists; ones who make paintings people will hang in their homes (what I primarily do) and those who make paintings for shows. The different types usually aren't interchangeable. So, now I'm playing around with this idea and am working on a new painting with this in mind. 

Bright. Color. Bold. Different. Equine.  Sunlight. Shadows. 

Western Rose Studios!

Here it is. Western Rose Studios. My own creation to showcase all avenues of my art.

The name is open and welcoming. Describing me, what I do, and where I do it. Painting, Sketching, Photography, Doodling, Designing. Anything and everything.

I have some goals to be more consistent in blogging and pinning art business items along with developing my photography (pun intended ... hehe), plus I want to post something to my YouTube channel every once in a while, too.

The possibilities are endless!

Changing to Studio Name!

On October 6 I will be changing all my social media sites to my new studio name!

Plus, to celebrate this on my Facebook Page there will be Dutch Auctions of original graphite drawings. So stay tuned!