Alpenglow
Watercolor on Arches 140 lb. cold press
8" x 10.5"
©2007 Kate Hamilton

So hey, look! I painted a picture this week. In between manic job quotes, billing and rush projects I crammed in a watercolor painting. I needed something to use as a backdrop for an ad I've placed in Rocky Mountain Bride Magazine. In the next issue I will also have an illustration published in an article about spa days. I'll let you know when it's available.

What is really significant about the painting above is that I completed it, start to finish in just a few hours. I had no choice. The ad deadline was that day. I had no existing ads to pull and reuse. A few times in the process I almost abandoned it. It seems that there is a point in every piece I create where I feel impatient and just want to Get. It. Done. Already. This usually happens after I have all my basic elements laid in, but the detail is not yet there and the colors are merely an underpainting and very non-representational. It is easy to walk away at this point, especially when my pesky inner critic starts to whisper, "This painting is going nowhere. You're really going to mess this one up. Don't waste your time." As a result I have dozens of unfinished pieces in my collection, and all are pretty much in the same underpainted phase (hmm, there's a pun in there). These abandoned efforts annoy me. I hate them. I want to throw them all out but for some reason I hold onto them. They're in a portfolio under the bed.

So I had a few opportunities to abandon my painting above but I persisted. And I finished it. And I like it. So there. Take that, inner critic, Ms. Poopynannyhead.

Labels: fine art, landscapes, painting, process, snow, watercolor, winterpark

This week is my favorite of the summer--Arts Week. In town we have 67 nationally and internationally renowned plein air artists for the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters paint-out and show. All week my county has been the subject of their paintings. All week there have been artists perched precariously along roadsides, on mountainsides, and waterside doing landscape paintings in under two hours. It is a delight.

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take two painting workshops in the midst of all this, practically in my own back yard. Last weekend I did three days in the field with Jeanne Mackenzie of Fort Collins, Colorado. In that span I started/completed/messed with 7 little oil paintings. I'm planning on finishing one or two that I feel have strong foundations. I hope to take more classes with Jeanne in the future.

Then yesterday I took a one-day workshop with Karol Mack. I took two classes with Karol last summer (on the other side of the Continental Divide) and fell in love with her easy-going teaching style. So of course I was ecstatic that she had a workshop planned in my town this year. And in that class yesterday, I painted the little (5x7") study above. It's the first piece I've completed start-to-finish in plein air, and that I'm consequently very happy with. I definitely learned something this week, something clicked that was elusive to me before. I am starting to understand the properties, strengths and idiosyncrasies of oil paint.

My goal is to become a member of RMPAP eventually, or be invited to participate as an artist in this event next year. This will require a lot more successful little paintings between now and then. I think it's reachable...

A big highlight of the week happened last night--the artists and sponsors were invited to an "Artist Patrons" dinner at Rendezvous (a development in Winter Park). Since our friend George lives at Rendezvous he was invited and could bring guests. So Andrew and I accompanied him to the dinner/auction, and I got to talk again to Jeanne and Karol, say a quick hi to local Karen Vance, have a wine-induced-rambling conversation with pastelistClive Tyler, and give a spontaneous hug to charismatic Teresa Vito.

During all of this, Karol very kindly introduced me to another artist as, "Kate Hamilton, an up-and-coming artist." I had a tummy-butterfly moment.

Labels: art, painting, plein air