New Commission, Chair lift to Heaven

Chair Lift to Heaven. 18 x 20(click on the photo for a close up). Using the photo below as a reference, my client wanted this painting to convey the treasured feelings she had when riding the chair lift up to ski on Big Mountain.

I tried to think of my own thoughts and emotions when riding up the chair and infuse them into the layers. This is what came to mind: anticipation, peace, joy, the historical greatness of this thing you get to partake of, the mysterious nature of snow, the respect for and closeness to nature that skiing gives you... the thrill of speed, and excitement of finding untracked powder, feeling both cozy and tingly cold at the same time... there is a lot to capture there, hopefully I got a little bit of it for my client, but as usual I seem to have very little control over the actual outcome of a painting commission and am crossing my fingers in hope that she likes it!

What I think really came through is the mountain itself, or rather the ski run... When I look at this I get a sense of quite waiting, a glimpse of Tony Matt early in the morning, blanketed in a few inches of un-tracked snow. An intimate look at the run itself before the crowd transforms it with bustling energy and whoops of glee.

Snowstorm

Just finished this Snowy commission. It harkens back to some of my older swirly landscapes. I took a little bit of artistic license here... well... more than a little bit obviously, but hopefully it doesn't disturb any viewers that a winter storm doesn't usually come rushing over into a valley that's socked in with an inversion cloud layer... I don't even really know if that is scientifically possible... but this is 2009, anything is possible right?

Also posted updated images on my Old Vine commission and Sunflowers on Red commission

Land

Every so often I try to do an abstract. It never really works out like I imagine it will, but it's fun.

Lucky 13 Red Horse

The theme for this month's Lucky 13 artist card is "Animals". This of course made me want to embark on an epic work of arc-like proportions. I think maybe reading all those barnyard bedtime books to Jolie may have been an influence. But before I could begin to figure out how I was going to do that on a 3 by 4 inch card, I had a conversation with my sister where we talked a good deal about horses. Right after that phone call I popped into the studio and made this little painting. Click on the image to see it in a larger size.

New Commission, Sunflowers on Red 24 x24 in.

Here are some photos showing progress on my Sunflowers on Red Commission

Giveaway, we have a winner!

Using a toddler, a name was randomly drawn out of a hat and

the lucky winner of the original watercolor "Night Snowfall" is

Rebecca Anderson!

Thanks for playing everyone :)

a Little bit of Press

Hey my painted bra piece for the Save a Sister show was featured in the Flathead Beacon, cool! It is a piece honoring my late aunt Laurie Shonerd, a wonderful person and an incredible artist. I own a giclee of her gorgeous piece Calla Lily Splash which was my inspiration for the lilies on the bra. Read the article and find out how you can be a part of Save a Sister.

The show is at the Hockaday Museum of Art and is opening Saturday Oct 3rd, then it will travel around the country and come back to the Flathead Valley and be auctioned off next August.

Lucky 13 "Innocence" and Re-dos

Innocence is the theme for this month's Lucky 13 card. It's a sketch of Jolie from a photo taken when she was a week old. Funny little thing :) This one was a bit of a hurry up job because I also needed to finish these...





Apparently there are small time art thieves working within the Mexican postal system so "Water" and "Birds" had to be re-done. I like the Chick one, though the idea is a bit rough and the lettering isn't where I want it. I might use it as a starting point for something else... someday

GIVEAWAY! "Night Snowfall" watercolor

This little 4 by 6 inch watercolor piece is called "Night Snowfall" and is one of my many recent watercolor projects. Sign up to my email mailing list and get a chance to win it! Email me at benskigurl@hotmail.com with "mailing list" in the subject line. Don't worry, I won't pepper your inbox with endless arty sillyness. I will occasionally send a "new work up in the gallery" notice, or show opening invitation. You can opt out of my mailing list at any time by simply emailing me with "remove" in the subject line.

After you've signed up for the mailing list
Increase your chances to win! Get more entries in the drawing by doing one or more of the following, then tell me what you did in the comment area below and make sure you leave me your contact info.

1. Become a follower of my blog (scroll down and click the follow button on the left side column)
2. Become a fan of my facebook page
3. Blog about my art on your blog
4. Check out karenminton.com and tell me where you find a link that doesn't work (hint, the deeper you go, the more there are! I've got some work to do...)
5. Tell me in the comment section what your favorite painting in the gallery is

I will draw for a winner at noon on Monday October 5th!


Winner will be notified of win via email. Winner needs to email me back with shipping info before October 19th in order to receive the giveaway or another winner will be drawn. Winner will be shipped "Night Snowfall" unframed and wrapped in a protective cardboard square. Contest is open to everyone, however free shipping is for US participants only.

the tough part is over...

Progress as of 11/5/09 Roughed in the shadows for the vines and middle foreground. Tinkered with trees and foliage... Added lots of heavy tones to the old vine itself... Now I think it's time to break out the wine country books and study vine structures. Definitely needing to work on the right hand trees still, they look like one big dark blob... yikes

New progress as of 10/16 (just added it to the post below) The foreground is coming along...

I had a great painting day last saturday! Four hours of painting and I arrived at the fun part, at least for a little bit I won't have to make any tough decisions. I can just happily paint leaves and grasses and mustard flowers and trees for a bit. I'm leaving the forefront and vine until last. The only problem still bugging me is the scale of the trees. My next move will be to do some subtle corrections there...