OPA National Show

The two works above are the plein air paintings that I did during the OPA National Show. The first one is on Bear Creek and the lower one is a small tree coming out of a large rock near the area we painted out on the first day of the Plein Air event.

On June 20 - 23 I attended the OPA National Show.  The quality of the show was very impressive. The Evergreen Fine Art Gallery did a great job displaing and hosting the show. It was a great time networking with the other artists in attendence and taking in some of the lectures offered. I also participated in the plein air paint out sponsored by Southwest Art magazine. There were about 80 artists spread throughout the property of Kimberly Moore. These works then were displayed for sale in the Plein Air tent adjacent to Evergreen Fine Art on Saturday night.

On April 28, 2012, I  traveled to Topeka, KS to paint plein air for the Topeka Paint Out sponsored by the Southwind Gallery of Topeka. There were over 50 artists painting through out Topeka. We were to paint anything that we thought represented Topeka. I went to the Ward Meade park to paint the historical residence and in the afternoon I traveled to Ensley Gardens to paint the gazebo near a small run off.

Plein air in the Gyp Hills

It was a fantastic day for painting at the Gyp Hills outside of Medicine Lodge, KS. There was no wind and the temperature in the morning was in the 60's warming up to the lower 90's. Several people from Wichita area came to paint with me in the wildflowers of early summer. My paintings show the Gyp Hills and a farm pond of the area. We spent about 2 hours at each location and then traveled to the small town of Sun City to eat at the famous Bar and Grill of Buster's. Then when the painting sessions were over we went to Caroline Norton's studio in Medicine Lodge for a critique of all the paintings. What a way to wrap up a perfect day with Plein air painting friends.

New Beginning

I have promised myself a new beginning as it deals with this blog. I do not do well when it comes to updating the blog. I am more comfortable doing painting. So I am going to do better about promoting this blog. I have been painting, I have been doing several painting from my treks in Colorado. This painting is around the Grand Lake area at Colorado. It is a view of small lake called Monarch Lake. It is a beautiful walk and a great place to do plein air painting. I am going back this year for a longer time and can not wait to do more painting.

Standing Tall

"Standing Tall" is a 10x8 plein air painting out in Colorado. It was fall time in Colorado and the dark pine tree was standing tall amongst the fall grasses and the smaller trees.

After the Storm

After enduring a storm near Suppesville, KS driving back from Wichita, KS the storm clouds gave way to a beautiful sunset. The setting sun gave a beautiful hue to the landscape and the sky reflected in the numerous puddles that were left by the storm. Thank goodness, we had the camera to take numerous pictures of the sunset. Then back in the studio I painted "After the Storm" from the photographs, it is a 20x24 oil painting.