Whistling Marmot

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I see these marmots every day when I'm out on my walks.  They hide in the large boulders lining the street and peek out at us as we pass by.  Their whistle sounds exactly like a smoke alarm battery failing.  It has fooled me many times into believing I need to change batteries!! This is painted on a canvas panel that was toned in burnt sienna.

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RedRock Spring

A recent hike brought me by this grouping of trees and rocks that I found very pleasing.  I like how the trunks of the aspens stood out in front of the cedar trees and how the red rocks complimented the color of the surrounding greens.  Below is the finished painting, a small work that just might become a larger piece.        

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Golden Meadow

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I was inspired to paint this after a hike into the hills surrounding our home this morning.  I was scouting for a place to paint and on my way back came across a beautiful meadow full of these golden wildflowers.  The scrub oaks are just beginning to leaf out and their leaves are a pale gold/green color.  I had a purple toned board already prepared and decided to do the painting using it.
I love the structure of scrub oak trees.  They are so unlike the oaks from the midwest.  They are short trees and their oak leaves are very small.  But I love the gnarly branches and the colors of the trunks.

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Mountain Wildflower

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We've had a late spring here in northern Utah. The wildflowers in the mountains are beginning to pop and there are patches of bright yellow all over the mountains and meadows.This painting showcases one of those beautiful yellow flowers. I don't know what they are, but they are a welcome site after a hard winter. Painted on Ampersand archival gessoboard.  This painting took me two tries before I got a composition that I liked and the yellow of the glower to read well.  As I've said before, the color yellow is not my favorite to paint with but I love the color itself.  I felt like the shadow cast by the flower and vase added an interesting element to the composition.

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Welcome Gold

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This golden sunflower flower was "the last one standing" in my bouquet so I wanted to honor it with a painting.  Yellow is such a happy color and a welcome color now that summer is upon us.

In my reading about the color yellow I found that one of the earliest sources  comes
from India where the it is made from the urine of cows that have been fed mango leaves.  Not such a great way to get the color, but it just shows what a society will do in order to make the world beautiful.  The yellows I use today have cadmium in them, and I take precaution by wearing gloves when I paint.  Again, what we do to make the world a more beautiful place.

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Sturdy Cedar

I spotted this old cedar on a recent hike in the neighborhood and thought it would make a great composition.  I loved how the branches, old and gnarly, went out in all directions and how the boulders and plants added to the wildness of the place.  A rocky area,  I knew I would have to be careful setting up my easel.

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Here is the finished painting.  I had to really push the values of the greens to get them to read well, and push the lights and darks to make an interesting pattern through the painting .  I like how the placement of the rocks leads your eye up from the lower right to the upper left and to the star of the show, the cedar tree.

ENJOY!!