Taking time to blog

These are a few of my more recent paintings.

Inspiration

I'm often asked where I get my inspiration from.  The answer is simple - everywhere.  I live in a beautiful mountain valley in northern Utah so just looking out my window can be inspiring but actually inspiration comes from within.  What I mean is we can get inspired by a garbage can or a torn piece of paper if we are in the frame of mind where we see beauty wherever we look.  The opposite is also true.  Our mental frame of mind influences how we react to the world around us and also how it responds to us.  Or better yet, how we think it responds to us.

Busy painting

I've been busy painting but haven't been very good at blogging lately.  I'll post some of the work I've been doing as soon as I get some photos taken.  In the meantime, here is one I'm working on.

Back in my studio again

When I looked at the date of my previous post, I couldn't believe it.  It has been a little over a month since I've painted or posted anything.  Yes, the holidays are one excuse but this year's holidays have been gloriously laid back.  Maybe it is that I needed a break for awhile.  Whatever the reason, I'm back in the saddle (studio) again.  The colors of the paintings are richer.  There was a lot of sunlight coming through the window when I took these photos.

"Balanced Rock at Sunset"

Oil on Linen 12"x16"

"Window in the Rock"

Oil on Linen  20"x16"

Another View

This is another view of Lake O'Hara in the Canadian Rockies.  I would LOVE to go back there again!  I feel peaceful even when painting from photos I took.  The water is this amazing color of green with bits of the sky reflected into it.  I'm told the green comes from the minerals in the water.

"Another View"

20"x16" oil on board

Devil's Garden

One of the great benefits of living in Utah is our beautiful national and state parks.  There is something spiritual that happens when you hike through these parks.  I never tire of visiting them.  They change with the light of day and also with the weather.  Rain, especially intensifies the color.  This painting was inspired by a photo I took while hiking in Arches National Park.

Devil's Garden Trailhead

20"x16" oil on linen

Fall or Winter?

"Season's Change"

11x14 oil on board

This is the time of year that Mother's Natures seems unable to decide if it is autumn or winter.  Some days the temperature drops, the winds pick up and the snow begins to fall and I'm convinced it is winter.  Other days I look around and discover some trees are holding on to their leaves as if they too don't want winter to begin.

Standing Watch

I love evergreen trees as they always give color to the landscape no matter what season it is.  This painting was done plein air (on location) with finishing touches done in my studio.

"Standing Watch"

11x14 oil on panel

Zion Park

One of our favorite places to visit is Zion National Park.  I still remember my first time there and how the amazing canyons and towering rocks took my breath away.  No matter how many times I visit the park, I still find myself filled with awe.  The rocks change right before your eyes.  One time they are dark and almost without color and a few minutes later, they glisten and sparkle with color.  If you wait and are lucky, you might have a gentle fog roll in or a few snow flurries, depending on the season.  All are beautiful and remind me to stop and just enjoy this place we call Zion National Park.

"Zion's Fog"

11x14 oil on panel

Oil or watercolor?

People ask me what I prefer, oils or watercolors?  I love both.  I truly do!  Each have their own unique characteristic.  I never know when I wake up whether I'll feel the urge to paint with oils or watercolors.  Here is a watercolor that I'm entering in the local chapter of the Utah Watercolor Society.

Storm's Coming

I love summer storms that bring rain to help cool down the hot days.  I especially love looking at clouds as they build and the sheets of rain that follow.

"Storm's Coming"

24"x36"  oil on canvas

Starting to cool down

The temperatures are beginning to cool down with the turn of the calendar.  The high today was 80 and evenings seem to cool off earlier.  This has been an amazing summer once it got started.  We had some days in the low 90's but most were in the 80's with low humidity.  I could adjust to living in this type of weather year around but when living at almost 5000' I know cold and snow are just around the corner.

This small painting reminds me of the color of the season and the darkness that is ahead.

Barn Yard

Can you tell I'm enjoying summer painting?  The Cache Valley offers spectacular view in all directions so one is never for lack of things to paint no matter what the season.  There are times I wish I was ambidextrous so I could put a brush in each hand.  That might calm all the visions that constantly run through my head.

BarnYard 

11x14 oil

America West Heritage Center - Another View

"Man With Cart"

11"x14" oil

This past weekend I did some plein air paintig at the American West Heritage Center here in the Cache Valley  The top painting was 90% finished on location before the sun became too flat.  After I got back to my studio I added the man and the handcart.    The second painting was done from some photos I took of children playing at the center.  It was hot enough where I wanted to go over and stick my mouth in there too and get a cool drink of mountain water.

Addicted to painting

Hello my name is Sue and I'm an addict.  I'm addicted to painting.  It not only takes my daylight hours but I dream about it at night.  It's all I can do to not run into my studio when I awake in the middle of the night.

"Iris on Gold"

12"x16" oil on canvas

"Red Rocks"

12x16 oil on panel

So many subjects - so little time

Every where I look there is something I'd like to paint.  I especially love the central and southern part of Utah where beauty is everywhere.  This is Wilson's Arch, on the highway south of Moab.  I'm still fiddling with it, as usual.  I had done a smaller version of this scene a couple of years ago and that painting is now hanging on a wall in India.

"Wilson's Arch"

16x20 oil on board

Hot days of summer

Temperatures are up into the low 90's today with low humidity.  I can't help but think of the desert when temperatures rise to over 90.  The last two winters, Bob and I spent some time in Arizona taking in the amazing southwest sunsets.  This painting was inspired by those memories.

I love clouds

I love clouds but not cloudy days.  I especially love the billowy white and grey clouds that come with the passing of a summer rain storm.  I don't like the long, grey days that winter can bring.  This painting is what is on my easel right now.  It's close to being finished but not quite there yet.

Springtime

Spring has finally arrived here in the Cache Valley.

I love the way our mountains hold on to the snow while the fields are a study in abstract patterns.

There is never a lack of inspiration when you are living in a lush, green valley surrounded by mountains.

And spring is not spring without flower!!!!

The Joy of Both Watercolor and Oil

It's been awhile since I got out my watercolors.  It's not that I don't like watercolors, I do!  I can't even say I prefer one over the other as I love both watercolor and oils.  When I sit down to paint I follow an inner guide that leads me to one or the other.  It is more instinctual rather than a conscious decision to work in one particular medium.  Lately,  I've been led to play with my watercolors.