Mini Shiprock

This is an acrylic painted on a 4"X4"  on primed hardboard.   Shiprock has always been one of the formations I really like. I believe I am going to do some more of these small sizes. I ordered them in to try. I like how the minis come out .  Most paintings view range is 6 ' or greater these look good on a desk 2'-3 '  from the viewer.

Hope you enjoyed viewing it.

Southwest Sunset

I saw a photo with the clouds and similar color . I changed mountains foreground and mid ground . I tried to use a mountain range outline from southern New Mexico.

This is a pastel painting on 100% cotton paper Stonehenge  warm white.  12x17 . This is done with Schmincke,Art spectrum Sennelier ,and Blicks soft pastels.  With Nupastels and pastel pencils  .

Winter night in Monument Valley

This little one is a based on monument valley . A bit of artistic license  ,  I like it.  It gets a few snowstorms there. This I see as  a family in a lone hogan weathering out a rare winter snow fall.

This is my second painting on primed masonite .

This is acrylic on primed masonite 4" X 4"

Sundown at the Western Oasis

The old windmills once a common sight and icon the western states are slowly disappearing . They are being replaced with electric pumps and waterlines . Also ranchers and farmers are gradually going out of business and giving up and letting them rot.  I just love windmills, old farm or ranch houses old barns.  All the items of a by gone era.


This painting is a composite  from several references.

It is an acrylic on 16 x 20 gallery wrapped canvas .

Thanks for looking.

Spider Rock

This is in Canyon de Chelly  Az. These are impressive twin spires in the bottom of the canyon. The Taller one is approximately 800 feet tall. They are not far from Canyon de Chelly ruins .  Actually the taller and thinner spire is big enough at the top to land a helicopter on. I believe there are commercials of this spire with  cars or trucks on top of it. It sure dont look like it could fit one from looking up from the ground.

There is a story with them. Being named Spider Rock the local native legend  Spiderwoman  lived at the top and taught the local Navajo people how to weave. And they do some beautiful rugs. There are other stories with these spires and Spiderwoman it is not my place to tell them I have no affiliation with the tribe.  I just love the  beauty  of the land  like the stories and legends  and like the people and culture.

This is an acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas  10 x 20 .

Thanks for looking.

Red Valley

My better half and I took a drive out behind Shiprock over into Arizona for sight seeing and material for painting. The Town Red Valley is just over the boarder. This is an out cropping of sandstone I thought was interesting  we found just off the road near Cove Az .  I loved the juniper fighting for survival in a crack on top of  a barren rock. I thought I would make a great painting.

This is acrylic on gallery wrap canvas  16 x 20.

Howling Coyote

This is in Monument Valley  looking past the Totem pole and Yee bi chea dancers to the Howling Coyote way out in the distant about to get a shower.  Monument Valley has been a place that fascinates me the high cliffs, sunsets sunrises with beautiful colors with dark shadows. A change of 30 minutes  can change the colors from a sandstone cream to fiery reds and oranges  or golden yellows the rinsing and setting of the sun is a sight to behold if you are ever threw there stop and watch one. 

This was finished  early April , but I started it in January  this sat on my easel while I was in the hospital from that wicked flu that went around this spring.   Finished this when I came home.

 The boulders on the bottom left are the size of a home  there actually is a home and coral there for what I was painting they didn't fit  so they gone.

This is acrylic on gallery wrap canvas 16x20.

Shiprock a side rarely seen

This view of Shiprock  is from the southwest looking northeast .  The vantage point we found is half way up the Lukachuka Mountains.  In this vantage point you can see the volcanic dikes running northwest  and south. Local legends those are the wings from the great bird that brought them there.  The other peak is a Mitten also.

This is acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas 18x 24

Here is a older couple  both are of Monument valley .  That is one place that truly inspires me.

This is an acrylic  16 x20

 

 This on is a pastel   9x12

I did these 2 in the fall of 2012  .

Reworked one of Paintings from last fall

I has miss placed the reference I used on this one.  Actually I had a house full of kittens in play mode 24/7 everything got put up.

So I ad-libbed the lower part of the mitten after it was done  I wasn't happy .

The photos color is off on the pic above.

This is the finished reworked Mitten .Much happier with it. I need to keep references close at hand. I recall someone said paint what you see not what you think you see.  above is a good example .

Last year Shiprock

I did this one last year around October 2012 .  I really enjoy painting this monument. I am sure I will paint it many more times.  Working on a composition right now looking at Shiprock from the mountains in the southwest.

 

This is acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas 16 x 20.

Here is one of this years paintings. I love these monumental  rock formations of the western United States . These monuments are Ideal to explore and  display lights and darks, sunlight and shadows. Early morning or late evening this mountain will cast a shadow for miles that makes a wonderful subject for a painting.

This depicts a sunrise after the desert monsoon  season when the desert grasses turn green the vegetation is usually dry and straw colored instead of green . I have painted   this monument  before this is the best so far.

Shiprock in the Morning

 Here I tried to capture  the sunrise  right as the sun rises and is bathing the the mountain and the whole plain in a warm light golden color contrasting to the darkness of early morning shadows.

This monument is a Sacred  Place to the Navajo  Indians. It is beautiful  as well as a sacred site. This mountain is in the NW part of New Mexico on the Navajo  Nation just west of a town that takes its name after this mountain.