Bison on Antelope Island - WIP

This is a new piece I am working on. Obviously, there is a lot more to do. I don't think I'll put as many of the bison in as in the photo. I am having difficulty with making my brown paint splotches look like them.  There were many in the herd (also known as buffalo).

Antelope Island is on the Great Salt Lake, near Salt Lake City, Utah. Great place to visit. I'll keep working on this painting for the next few weeks.  I changed my photo around and put different mountains in the background from another photo taken on the same day at a slightly different view.  There was only a little bit of snow on those mountains on that day in November. It was overcast and very gray. Not sure how my painting will turn out. I will probably darken the sky more at the end.

Happy holiday and happy new year to everyone.

View from the Lodge

Full disclosure -- I am not a downhill skier. However, I enjoyed watching the skiers from the lodge on Thanksgiving Day.  I painted this from my photo.  I spent my holiday this year with my daughter in Utah and we had a wonderful dinner at the lodge at the Alta Ski area in Utah. The lodge is about 9000 feet in elevation (3000 meters), the mountains are much higher.  There weren't many skiers out as it was getting to be late in the day on the holiday.

Acrylic painting on canvas, 8" X 10".  I will probably make a few cards from this one too. If you are interested in purchasing the original, or cards, please feel free to contact me.

The Old Gate (again)

I think this is finished now. I worked on the posts some more and glazed the ground (grass) a little.  I touched up some of the leaves and tree branches too. I'll let it dry for a week and decide if I'm done fiddling around.  I have another canvas ready and I need to move on.  It's tempting to overwork a painting and I'm hoping not to do that.

The Old Gate

This is a 9" X 12" acrylic painting done from one of my photos taken in Utah while I was there recently. I didn't have a small canvas in my studio and didn't want to do a large painting of this scene, so I took one of my old paintings, tried washing it off (that didn't work), let it dry, then painting on a layer of gesso, let that dry, then a layer of neutral gray and let that dry.  That worked and covered up the old painting and I have some other canvas boards that I am unhappy with and can use that process on too.  Meanwhile, I had a chance to buy more 8 X 10 and 11 X 14 canvas boards so I don't have to go through that process again. It's good to know that it works and I can recycle old boards and make new paintings.

This scene was at the Fielding Garr ranch on Antelope Island (Antelope Valley State Park).  My daughter and I had a wonderful day there, saw lots of bison, mule deer etc. The ranch was quite interesting too and we spent some time walking around and learning about ranching.  This island is in the middle of the Great Salt Lake.  They were able to ranch there (and the bison herds are able to do well there) because there are natural springs with fresh water on the island. (See Nov. 20 posting -- last 2 photos.)

My painting of the snowmobile won "Artist of the Month" at the Manchester Artists Association meeting this week and is on display at the Bedford (NH) public library this month.  (See Nov 1. posting for photo.)