Tuesday

We had a good model last night at Rick’s. What I mean by good is that she was quite cute looking and able to hold the pose very still, which may sound easy to most, but when you try it it’s actually very hard to do. She was able to just fall right back into the same position after each break; which for me was great since I was working on a portrait shot. And every artist knows if you want to capture a likeness the model absolutely, positively has to be still!

Today I jumped back on the winter snow scene, working on the architecture of the house and background trees and yes, I am putting some lights in the window. Yup, following in Thomas Kinkade’s footsteps….if I do that I might be sick.

Richard Boyer

Monday, Jan 30

I started another 24x30 block-in just so I can work on several at a time and keep everything a little fresher with each piece. This scene is Sofia, one of our relatives going out in their boat on a lake in Sweden. It should be a fun one with all the reflections in the water contrasting against the green lily pads.

We spent the weekend up at the cabin, where a foot and a half of new snow had fallen; and also where the small narrow unimproved private road became covered in slick frozen packed snow. Our car was sliding backwards as we tried to drive up the steep incline. After three attempts we decided a little speed would be the answer. So I backed up some distance and tried to get the spinning tires up to second gear on the icy road. The momentum carried the car high enough up the incline so the front tires were able to grip on a patch of exposed asphalt. We continued farther up to within 50 feet of the cabin there the road had not been plowed; a foot of fresh snow blocked our way. We spent about an hour Friday night digging out the entrance so we could pull the car in to unload all our gear. The hillside was a winter wonderland with thick snow clinging to every branch; it was Christmas all over again.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I started another winter scene from back East; Joseph from the May Gallery had a client about a month ago that was interested in a snow painting for their home. So I agreed to see what I could do about it, being an artist, and also able to paint winter snow scenes with the brush. I figured there was a niche I could fill here!!!

So I found this gorgeous Victorian House from the area where my parents live and decided it would make a good subject matter, especially if I can get some warm lights glowing from the windows - “Thomas Kinkade, watch out!”

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I love attacking older works that I have in the studio. These two I changed around quite a bit and had some fun adding a little of this and that. They were at a gallery for a while with no luck, so like most artists you look at it with a fresh eye and see just what it is that the piece could use.

Here is the original

And then with the added changes!

Here is the next original

And with a few changes added also.

Richard

Tuesday

We got another small snow front moving through last night adding to the total!

This is today’s project; it’s an older piece that I have been re-working. Mainly changing out a few figures for new ones and re-arranging the tables here and there. All of this would naturally be soooooo much easier with Photoshop!!! But alas, I only have the brush, so it may take a few days to get it all changed around the way I want it. I’ll put it off to the side now to look at it in a few days with a fresh eye.

And as Debbie suggested I got rid of the red flag above the older man walking up the stairs, a very quick fix!

Richard Boyer

Monday, Jan 23

Yesterday was one of those picture perfect skiing days. After Saturdays storm the mountains received over two feet of fluffy white snow and everybody was up to enjoy it on a sunny Sunday. The only problem being the traffic; Little Cottonwood was closed for much of the day due to an avalanche that closed off the road. They finally dug the snow out of the way by two in the afternoon. When that happens the skiers all default to the other neighboring canyon, the neighboring canyon where we have passes to. The cars were parked for miles down the road and some of the lift lines were just as long; but we finally found a spot and spent the day up there skiing powder and enjoying the sun.

Today I worked a little more on this piece adding an older man walking up the stairs.

Friday

So after looking at it for a few days I figured it needed a figure. I decided to put Sofia in it from a photo shoot this past summer. It does seem to help and adds some interest to the subject. So once again I’ll put it aside in the studio and see if any new ideas come to mind after a few days

You are welcome to throw rocks at me if I end up put a cute kitty cat in there with big eyes!

Richard Boyer