Plein Air Ranch Retreat II

Whew! The 2nd annual Plein Air Ranch Retreat (a.k.a. Plein Air Boot Camp) was a great success!
What a work out.  I don't know if it was the scenery the food or the cosmic chemistry of the group but folks showed up, painted and painted and painted!
The weather was a PERFECT window between cloudy weather.  Bears, deer, Sand Hill Cranes, Golden Eagles, Bald Eagles, trout and even a friendly rattlesnake made an appearance, not to mention the occasional tipped over easel by a friendly horse.



Thanks to; (left to right)

Nickolai Kraneis, Berlin, Germany

Karen Watland, painter, Cle Elum, WA

June Schull, painter, Cle Elum, WA

Rod Gould, painter, Greenwood, BC

Betty Buckley, camp cook

Tim Haines, painter, Spokane, WA

Lynn Haines, organizer Spokane, Wa
Mike Kowalski, instructor (sort of), Port Townsend, WA
not in the picture;
Rebecca Stauffer, pastel painter, Arcata, CA

Diana (Windy) Sanford, pastel painter, Wenatchee, WA

Neil Sanford, camp biologist

Judy Jensen, painter, Republic, WA

Molly Robinson, painter, Republic, WA

Hobo Stensgar, portrait model, Westfork, WA

AND...drum roll please..............

Betty S. Buckley, camp cook EXTRODINARE!!!

Without whom the whole event wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable, tasty and fun. Thankyou bunches Sweetie!

OMG! mouth watering meals to fuel the fires of plein air impressarios!

To see more pics; Plein Air Boot Camp Pics

7th Annual PNW Plein Air Paintout and Show

For those that don't know, "plein air paintouts", are occasions when a number of artists descend on a community and paint the town or area for that matter.  The Pacific Northwest Plein Air Show is such an occasion.  40 artists from near and far away as Alaska have come to the beautiful and diverse landscape of the Columbia River Gorge.  We all painted mountains, rivers, towns and as in Aaron Johnson's case from Moscow, Idaho, dead fish lying on the beach at Stevenson.  Hmmmm....no telling what you will see from the creativity and talent of paintbrush impressarios.
Show time is this Friday in Hood River at the Columbia Art Center.  Love to see you there.

Wa State Capitol En Plein Air

I'm enjoying the opportunity of painting on the campus of our Washington State Capitol and the surrounding area.  Fortunately the sun has been shining on the wet west side of the state.

"Bodies made of Light, Eat the Sun"

"Bodies made of light, eat the sun"
11x14, plein air, oil

Plein Air Trek, Ingalls Peak and the Alpine Wilderness

I had a plein air gig in Cle Elum Washington so I spent the time in the Alpine Wilderness around Ingalls Lake.
It was quite a slog. Not the 18 year old I was when I could hike 20 miles a day in the back country with a 50 lb pack. Matter of fact, this is the same Kelty pack that I had when I was 18 and hiked the Olympics, Cascades and Rockies as well as hitch hike from BC to Mexico. I think it is the single item I've kept in my life consistently from that time. I traded 3 pairs of skiis, two pairs of ski boots for a guitar and this Kelty pack. Traded up on the guitar but still have the pack after almost 40 years.
The online hikers guide said it was an easy hike of 9 miles round trip and ONLY 2800' gain in elevation. I'm sure that is right but ..........let's just say it was good to get t0 camp.
I guess I could have just taken my watercolors but they just don't do it for me. I gotta say though, this was the finest place to paint I've ever been. I've found the painting will paint itself when you set up in the right place.

From Headlight Basin and Ingall's Meadow, Mt. Stuart dominates your view. I have to say, the human race is amazing. I met a man and his teenage son that had just "summitted" Mt. Stuart in two days. They hiked in, climbed the mountain and were hiking out the next day. I was passed on the way up the trail by a group of 4 ladies. I don't think the youngest one was less than 50 years old. They passed me coming down after they had done a little skinny dipping in Ingalls Lake (which from personal experience is cold enough to shrivel any libido!) and I hadn't even reached the pass yet. Ouch!

There were far more mountain goats than people. They were friendly too! Almost too friendly as they are starved for salt and will eat anything with sweat on it, back straps, shoes, packs. I hung my pack in the trees from past experiences in the Rockies. Nothing like hiking out barefoot with your pack tied together with shoestrings.

Now it's back to the studio and work up some of the material I got in the back country while it is still fresh.

Blues of the North for Red of the South.

We left the warm southwest for home and 2" of snow on the 3rd day of April. Folks say and I agree that this is the longest winter we've ever known, in contrast to the Southwest that had a dry year. I wonder how it will go for the folks in L.A. who depend on this watershed for water.

I went a little farther north to my friend and fellow artist and horselogger, Rod Gould's. I thought we had it bad until I got across the line and found even more snow although the sun came out for us as we stood in the mud and painted Canadian skies. My pallet went from a warm, high key Burnt Sienna to a cool Ultramarine/umber pallet that took more energy if only because it was Colder!

Santuario Rancho de Taos, 11x14, oil, pleinair

From Sante Fe to Taos a backroad winds through the mountains. There are lots of paintings I missed but we managed to find time to stop at this extraordinary adobe church built because of the vision of a farmer and is a sacred healing place that many come to pray and take some of the dirt of the place away with them. I saw folks on crutches and wheel chairs, young and old.

We stayed in Taos which was NOT Sante Fe. I found the Church of St. Francis Assisi in Rancho De Taos, made famous by so many artists, including Georgia O'Keefe.

Real Adobe is so human. It is workman toiling, it is native material, it is a grand vision with deep roots. Betts prayed, I painted. Both our efforts payed off.

Canyon de Chilly, oil, 11x14, plein air

Stayed at the Cameron Trading Post near the notorious Lee's Ferry, NM. Wonderful stonework gardens. We got on the Trading Post road through the High Colorado Plateau, marveling at the red rock dinosaur eggs, stopping at a couple pueblos for a gander at pottery, jewelry and horse blankets. We stopped at the Hopi First Mesa and got the opportunity to talk with Hopi artist, Lawrence Namoki and wife Lucida, traded for one of his pots, decorated with Hopi Katchina, the One Horn God, Two Horned God, Sun God and Warrior. Lawrence explained as much as he could about his work in the 4 hours we had. Lawrence pushes the envelope of Hopi tradition with his art but stays true to the craft and world view of his people.

We got the deep fried Chinle, in time to view the sun setting on the red rock Canyon de Chelly, a place I could spend the rest of my life painting. I couldn't help but feel it is one of the sacred places of the planet. What a wonderful place to be now and in the past, a sacred place to the People of the southwest.

As I was painting Spider Woman Rock, the sun was coming up, smoke from a hogan rose from the roof. A person came out and threw their blanket over a horse and rounded up sheep and goats. It felt surreal to witness such a moment, as if time stood still.

Legend says that the white color on the top of Spider Woman Rock is the bones of bad little children. Pretty convincing.

Tripin' the Southwest with an easle

When we hit the Grand Canyon I jumped out with my easle and disapeared into the landscape. It was a perfect day, a little overcast but warm at this high altitude untill the sun went down then the wind from the Canyon whelled up and the temperature went down with the sun.
The Big GC is a little daunting expecially for a pleinair painter trying to get something said before the light changes. I think I managed to pull off what I did because I'm using my pallet knife to load color onto the canvas in order to cover ground fast, try to make the color, value and temperature selection on the pallet, block it in and move on, coming back to finesse whatever needs attention.
With so much beauty and granduer to filter, I knew I had to get in to the moment and let whatever come through that could. I did 3 sketches by the time the sun went down. Unfortunately Betts got worried as I had left the trail and didn't rendezvous when and where I said I would so she got the Rangers stirred up to come looking for a loss arteest. I got back in time to thank the gentleman and enjoy the wonderful chicken and martinis on the tail gate of our rental car. Twas a Grand time at the Grand Canyon.