Well I must confess that I have not been doing too much painting during the holidays here. Today was just another example of playing around. We went sledding, with our ten foot long Toboggan, a present from my parents several years back.
We have been snowed on here the last two days in a row with more predicted.
Looks like we are in for a good winter
Richard Boyer
We are back in
Sunday we went out with friend up at the cabin and took with a picnic, nothing like a little white wine out in nature. Monday we were at it again doing a back country tour along the Beaver Creek trail under cloudy skies for several hours.
Today Karin decided to show me a new spot up in
It’s time to put the feet up and read a book I got for Christmas
Richard Boyer
Christmas day was relaxing. The presents seemed to dwarf the small tree, as we gathered around, some of us with coffee in hand. Lina handed out the gifts, as she read the cards taped to each present. In my case it’s just a simple “to and from” But Swedish tradition involves writing rhymes about the gifts and in Karin’s case these lyrical hints as to the packages contents can be quite lengthy and involved. Leave it also to the Swedes to come up with a website and hotline for those in dire straits who need a last minute catchy phrase for their gift giving.
The day was sunny and relatively warm, so Karin and I went cross-country skiing up one of the canyons farther down the road. The children of course were magnetically drawn to their new presents and the idea of leaving them as probable as a solar eclipse.
It was good to get out for us though.
I did shoot a small clip from up there!
Richard Boyer
Here is a picture of the guilty gang. Early this morning they went up the road to a quiet spot, skied in and cut down a scrawny juniper tree. Your perfect Charlie Brown Christmas tree. It wasn’t actually a pine tree, so I doubt there would have been much commotion if they were caught anyways.
Now that we have lights and a few ornaments on the tree, it looks rather proud in our small living room. The only thing missing are the presents under it.
We had Christmas Eve dinner at Lance and Maria’s house in Park City, with a few other friends. The usually three hour-long dinner with a wide variety of dishes, toasted every five minutes to a glass of Vodka or Aquavit. You can tell that we were at it a while when somebody asked to fill just the top half of their snaps glass. It’s always a warm fuzzy feeling to spend Christmas Eve dinner with friends.
Richard Boyer
Somehow its always so easy to say the day before, “yeah, we’ll be on our way to the cabin by three, no problem!” Two hours after that prediction we were still packing the car, with the inevitable ‘just one more’ last minute errand to finish off. I think two and a half hours after our pre-determined departure time; we rolled out of the driveway. A light drizzle fell on the windshield.
We had heard through the nightly news that Park City had several feet of new snow, at least that was so until the rain came and compressed it all down. When we arrived at the cabin, it wasn’t buried under mounds of snow like we thought, but just a foot or two of wet snow, commonly referred to as concrete. The heavy stuff your back feels the next morning. After digging out several tons we had enough room for two cars to get in. With all the Christmas gear and skiing equipment we needed the extra vehicle.
There is one thing we did not take.
Our plan for tomorrow is to head out and cut down a small “Charlie Brown” sized Christmas tree from farther up the road in the Uinta National Forest. This being of course highly illegal, but to a Swede interpreted as a challenge. Normally one is required in the beginning of September to stand in a long line at four in the morning outside the ranger station in Kamas, Utah. This is why I’m not going with tomorrow, as the token American tagging along in this illicit activity we would surly get busted and end up in the Kamas town jail for Christmas. If Karin does it with her accent, they would just smile and say “You know…you’re really not suppose to do that in this country!” And let her continue on her way. So with that in mind, we put the saw in the back of the car.
I will let you know how it goes tomorrow……
Richard Boyer
So what’s the definition of a “Hypocrite”? Now we have Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks complaining that someone leaked a Swedish police report about his sexual offenses over the internet. This moron has the audacity to complain about his personal information leaking out to the world !!!
He deserves it and a lot more.
Still a little more shopping to do. Karin and Victor went out last night, leaving the last item on the baking schedule in the oven. The instructions were drilled into me, that in fifteen minutes be sure and take it out!
Lina and I were cleaning up in the kitchen and remembered that there was laundry down stairs that needed to be hung up. Sometime during that half hour project the timer sounded off and I didn’t hear it. I came back up to the kitchen to see the oven smoking. Expletives flew from my mouth as I pulled out the blackened Christmas wreath cake. Ohhh, the tragedy. This is why I hate pastry baking, unlike dinners, fifteen minutes this way or that doesn’t matter. But with cakes and any kind of formula that involves yeast or baking powder, fifteen minutes to much and you end up with the chemical compound of carbon!
Well enough of that, this morning I worked on the
I’ll bring the laptop along to the cabin and make some entries there, unfortunately they can not be posted until I come back to civilization.
Richard Boyer
As they say “Another Pineapple Express rolled through the State last night.” That’s when they say the jet stream goes over
Some place down there in the valley is Salt Lake City!Yesterday Victor and I went downtown to go shopping; he hadn’t started and felt it necessary to go to one of the most populated shopping districts we have. And yes, it was a zoo. We both couldn’t wait to get out of there. This afternoon will most likely be a repeat again, as more needs to be bought. Yes the economy seems to be picking up!!!
This morning I took another
Richard Boyer
The crit session is scheduled at Carlie’s tonight, a combination Christmas gathering and artwork bashing mixed with a dangerous dose of red wine! It should be fun, most of the artists will be bringing along their respective others to meet and socialize.
As it turns out the model cancelled and we all had to wait around for a replacement to arrive. So it gave me a chance to meet the rest of the crew, most of whom I’ve never met before. Our group consisted of Liz Robbins, Robert Duncan, Rick Graham, Dean Bradshaw, Eric (not sure of the last name), Bryce and myself. There we killed time looking through the hundred and one art books Bryce had up on the wall. And as with most artists the conversation soon came down to graveling over just how good Anders Zorn was. The depressing realization that no matter how much we work at it, we’ll only end up being half as good as the master was. That being said….
“Here is my half as good result for the night”
This morning I worked on another
I just worked on a few changes to the figures and bringing in more detail. That second boat was also enlarged a bit.
It’s time for me to start Christmas shopping this afternoon. I have a few relatives, who need to get something in the mail before the holidays.
Richard Boyer
I asked for it !!
This morning I sent off the image to Carlie and got the bone chilling critique back, that the main figures and canoe were much too big in comparison to the back ground cliffs. After looking at it I humbly agreed and spent the next hour painting them out and then back in again. What a pain in the ass!
Carlie on the other hand did it all in a few minutes with Photoshop. She just altered my JEPG image at her job and sent it back to me with the reduced sized canoe. I wish we had that option as painters to just move an object around with a curser and be done with it!
I guess its all part of the learning curve.
Richard Boyer
The Christmas lights are up now, what a pain in the @#$%. The tree in the front yard isn’t quite big enough to support my weight. So when I try to climb up to get the higher branches the entire tree bends under my weight, giving me the sensation of snapping the trunk at any moment.
I worked more on the commission piece again, mainly with the figures. He wants himself in the painting with his son. So I had to add two different images together to get that result. It still needs some fine tuning in another session.
At the figure session last night I was looking through Rick Graham’s copy of Richard Schmid’s new book “Landscapes”. It’s a very large impressive undertaking filled with images of his work. I wanted to order one this morning, but though just perhaps it might be possible to get it signed. I know he did it with the last book he sold. So I sent off an email to Molly Schmid, the one who is handling the distribution. (That is what the web site was saying, whether it’s true or not is another story.) And so far haven’t received an answer to my inquiry.
Richard Boyer
I worked with the back ground on this commission piece, defining all those sandstone spires. And yes those rock fingers really do exist, about halfway through
As you can see I painted over the figures some what, I think they will be reduced in size to make them fit in better. Adding the boats will be tomorrow’s project.
We have warm weather today, so that means hanging Christmas lights outside. I think we are the only neighbors that have not put them up yet and people on the block are starting to wonder why?
Richard Boyer
Well, well, well Brian Mitchell was pronounced guilty for the abduction and year long daily raping of Elizabeth Smart. Most everyone here in
I was planning on putting up Christmas light today, but with hail coming down at the moment, that project will be put on hold.
This morning I worked on several paintings from the crit session last night. On this one I enlarged the main boat in the foreground and changed around the back ground some what.
I'm still waiting on news from Southam Gallery about that lawyer and the River painting. Last time I talked with them the guy still had not come into the gallery. I raced to get the painting done for nothing!
Richard Boyer
I dropped off the 18x24 red rock painting at Southam Gallery yesterday, so let’s see what happens. The lawyer/ client was coming in this morning to look at it.
I have another Christmas order I am working on now, or at least it was started today. Martin from our scout group wants a small 12x16 painting of the last river trip we did down Labyrinth Canyon on the Green River in Utah. And, of course he would like to be predominately placed in the painting with his son. So I’ll have to do a little composite work with other shots I took on the trip to get him in the right spot.
It’s back down to the duplex now to work on odds and ends repair work.
Richard Boyer
Here is the final result, lets hope the client likes it ?
Karin and I went to the
They were selling CD’s there and if you bought one, the man himself would sign it for you. So we did!
Today in the studio I was back in my element blasting the latest CD form “Blue October”
I guess the night of Jazz wasn’t enough to convert me?
Richard Boyer
It’s still not done, needs a day of orchestration. The session where you just look at it and fine tune parts to bring it more to life, some times this can drag on for weeks.
Last night our house smelled of gingerbread cookies. It was the baking marathon with Brith and my wife, a Swedish tradition to signify the arrival of the Christmas season. Ten pounds of cookie dough is rolled out wafer thin on the table. Then different shaped cookie cutters are used by everyone to fill up all the baking sheets before Brith popped them in the oven. This assembly line production went on for several hours. Besides the usual Christmas tree, angel and heart shaped forms used and especially after several glasses of red wine and Glogg; several different species of free formed animals came to be. Misshapen goats, snakes and the occasional dinosaur lay upon the cooking sheet. Brith, our Swedish quality controller would always catch those with a “What the Hell is this?!”
We finally used up all the dough around 9:30 at night and ended up filling a half dozen large cookie tins. Thus the Christmas season has started!!!
Karin and I are going out tonight to see a jazz concert to get in the festive mood.
Richard Boyer
Day number two on the race to get it done. I worked on more of the foreground shoreline. With the colors richer and more contrast, I realize now that I may have to punch up some in the background.
Yesterday afternoon we worked on the duplex. The master bedroom there had been painted a translucent green color with gold underneath. It reminded me of a Victorian brothel color! So we went over it with a pastel green color and now it looks more like a normal room should look like.
This afternoon it back down there to work on more touch up’s
Richard Boyer
I started the Red rock painting today for that client. It’s a section from
For me it is easier if I work on the back ground first and move my way forward. I threw in the darks in the foreground just to help with the value gradation as one goes back. My value range on those distant cliffs is between a 4 and 6 out of the 1 to 10 scale and of course I’ve added a blue haze to help push it all back in the distance. My next session I’ll work on the rich colors of the foreground and that should give it the nice atmospheric perspective.
Now it’s always the big question if the client will even like it?
Richard Boyer
I ended up working on a section of the roof yesterday. The duplex has this small living room window protrusion on the south side and unfortunately during the last wind storm much of the shingles were blown off into the backyard. So up there I spent much of the afternoon freezing with hammer in hand and in typical male fashion, as Karin would say, forgetting to pick up my daughter from school. Lina called home asking where I was and nobody knew? I ended up in the dog house with my wife!
Southam Gallery called and informed me that they have a lawyer, who will be coming into the gallery on Wednesday and that he would like to see a red rock canyon painting to buy for one of the partners leaving the firm. My mission, should I choose to accept it, would be to blast out a
I told them that I would try. I figure its best to seize the opportunity and go for the potential sale, especially the way the economy is now a days.
I worked more on the Brugge painting today and sent off a picture to the Howard/Mandville Gallery. They can then forward it to their client to see if he is even remotely interested, with the option that the artist can still change things around if so desired. My only limitation is that I will not add puppy dogs or pet cats!
Richard Boyer
I worked on this piece today, bringing up the details on the buildings to the right. It still needs more work, but I have other things on the plate, as they say.
Richard Boyer
Blue skies today with a cold snap in the air. It’s cold enough so the snow squeaks when you walk on it. We were reading in the paper this morning that the next front that moves through on Thursday could be rain, which will turn all this nice snow into slush.
Last night we had the figure session at Rick’s place. Our model was Nandi from
What can I say; it’s all a learning curve that sometimes I wish would just hurry up, so we could all get it right the first time.
Howard/Mandville send me an email, they have a client that is looking for a Brugge subject for Christmas and since I have been there, just perhaps I might have something. Well if they give me a week I will. Here is the start, just a block in and hopefully it will be developed more in a few days.
It's a 12x16Richard Boyer
Last week they were hyping up the so called “Storm of the Century”. And yesterday again they forecasted some snow that might stretch into the morning rush-hour commute. The media didn’t hype this one up, they wanted to play it safe and not face the embarrassment of any wrong predictions of a mega-storm.
Well it started to snow Saturday night and kept snowing until this morning. As you can see we got over a foot and a half. And both our cars were buried under what felt like a glacier of snow, especially the one in the street. The snow plow did a good job of sealing that one in with wet concrete salted snow.
I had to get the one in the driveway free first so the kids could take it to school. Now I know you are most likely asking, “Well why didn’t they dig it out?” They were still getting dressed and eating breakfast. I, who had no obligation to get to school or eat breakfast at a certain time, was elected the designated shovel man. Karin, my wife made that executive decision!
The problem soon became apparent as to where to put all this white stuff. Canyon walls were developing along the sidewalk edge and the extra snow was just falling back down on the area I was trying to clean out. After an hour and a half I had “Salad” free from the grips of ice. When the children were small they named our green Volvo “Salad and the name stuck. Karin needed to take that car into work with no if’s, and’s or buts’.
Our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday was a well anticipated event with the Strayers, Mike, Carlie and Brian. We started at five in the afternoon with some nice high-end Chardonnay’s and soon moved into the exotic appetizers. The main course was a fantastic spread of turkey and a dozen other dishes. We stayed at the table until late in the evening with the last guests finally heading home around midnight.
As usual we still have a few pounds of leftovers and the last think I want to eat now after four days is more turkey disguised in the form of a casserole.
With the snow flying yesterday we all decided to head up to Alta to see if we could get some powder runs in. The roads were slow going with all the snow and a very slippery experience going up the steep canyon. They have warning signs plastered by the road every few miles telling people that chains or four- wheel drive vehicles are the only thing allowed in the canyons. So what do we see, some
We did get some nice powder and stayed until closing. Karin and I did lunch together, talking about this and that sore muscle. Yes it is the first ski day of the season and every joint feels it!
Here is today’s project !
Richard Boyer
So much for the storm of the century, we got a grand total of four to five inches. What did follow was some cold temperatures in the single digits last night. Looks like we are still able to walk to the store for food and that is exactly what I need to do. We are out of coffee……..good thing we weren’t trapped here or else I would have perished.
I pulled another one out of the box this morning and loosely blocked in some boats. After the holidays I’ll work on it and bring the contrast up more. All the boats will be back light with sun reflecting off the water.
I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Richard Boyer
I’ve been listening to the radio this morning as I painted and they keep updating us about the storm of the century approaching. Or at least they make it sound that bad. Many functions at the schools as well as events in town are being cancelled and they are recommending leaving early from work. Once there we should not leave the house and make sure the porch light is on to help the power company determine who is with or without. At the last update the storm was just arriving in
Well I better hit the wine and grocery store this afternoon. The dog is looking at me, as if not to eat him when we get too snowed in. In some countries dog could be quite tasty, but not here. I’ll go down and get the turkey today just in case.
I pulled this one out of the box this morning and worked on it. This was the first painting we did when we were over in
Richard Boyer
Three more days of snow, looks like any remaining leave raking will be done in the spring!
I worked a little on this piece today and decided to put a small café in the left side for more balance. This will be one of those pieces I need to put aside for a day or two and take a fresh look at it later on. It needs a little more some place and I just can not see where!
We ordered the turkey 18-20 pounds and hopefully it will be enough for two families. We are doing it with the Strayer’s and a few other friends at our place. I am expecting a lot of over eating with all the food dishes we have planned, like what else is new!
Richard Boyer
No broken glasses at the crit session last night, so I guess it was successful !
This is the older version
and this is the new, improved versionFirst was the line of boats on the left side, they wanted the ones farther back to be blurred out a little. Second was the background boats on the right side, they needed more atmosphere, so I cast a yellow white haze over the top which pushes them back more.
Next was the red boat in the middle of the canal. It wasn’t standing out enough. The boats behind it had too much color and contrast. So I changed the color away from red which was competing too much with the boat in front. I also threw a little more blue over some of the boats behind to give them more atmosphere and push them back more.
As with any critique session, people will always find something wrong with it. It’s up to the artist to pick and choose what he or she wants to change and ignore the rest. I think for me, it’s done !
Richard Boyer
Today is crit day at my place and Kay Strayer dropped by with a six pack of wine glasses that she picked up at IKEA. She was thinking of the crit members. I guess she knows the story with broken wine glasses on Thursday nights.
I worked a little on this piece today. It needs a few more figures in it and more contrast with the biker coming down the road. ALl of which I am sure the members will bring up at the critique session tonight.
It’s partly sunny and warm out today, that warmth one feels before the storm. Yes another snow storm is on the way. Another reminder that those glorious warm summer evenings are gone for good!
This is one of those days when Karin looks at me and says, “It’s a perfect day to rake up all those leaves at the duplex!”
My response is usually a mumbled four letter word. My afternoon now booked up with collecting water logged leaves and then trying to cut month old long grass underneath. We had some tenants move out and naturally the last thing on their mind would be to get the yard in shape for the winter, that’s what landlords are for.
Well I might as well enjoy that last warm day outside with the rake
Richard Boyer
I reworked this snow painting a little today, changing the water to more rust colored and the snow shadows warmer. Also the trees were touched around a bit.The Howard/Mandville Gallery had their miniature show last Saturday and low and behold I actually sold both pieces. “It’s going to be a Merry Christmas, Clarence!”, if you remember the line from “It’s a beautiful Life” with Jimmy Stewart.
And last Friday I got a call from Jim at Mockingbird telling me that a client has bought the last two
The galleries have been on a roll lately and it would be great if they could keep going, but alas that would only be wishful thinking on my part. Unfortunately I can not use
I spent today just touching up a bunch of different pieces, to many to show. I feel the need to get the rest of the
Richard Boyer
At last a sunny day, time to rake up all those pesky leaves lying around.
I finished off the commission piece; well actually I can’t really say that until the client looks it over and gives her final approval. Then one could call it done. The piece is based on a painting I did a long time ago in the late 90’s. The man on the dock reminded the client of her father, so hopefully I kept the figure loose enough to give the impression without going into the detail on how he really looked.
Morning Coffee 20x30I sent off a JEPG image to her and will just hold my breath, well maybe not over the weekend. That might be over kill!
Richard Boyer
Just another gray day again. It started out sunny earlier in the morning, but nooooo that was just a teaser!
This painting is from the
Richard Boyer
I re-worked some of the snow banks and took out a few trees on this one. That opened up the painting more so one can follow the creek into the background. Now I just would like a sunny day so I can photograph some painting here and send the images off to galleries. The 20x30 commission piece of the man sitting on the pier also needs to be approved before I send it off. Just think in the olden days I would have taken a print picture, had it developed and then had to mail it off to the client. They in turn would have to wait for it to arrive and call or write back with any requests. Now it’s more or less instantaneous.
But today it is still cold and gray out, the pile of leaves in the backyard still frozen to the grass. Looks like they won’t be raked up today!
Richard Boyer
At the last crit session they complained about my sky in this smaller 11x14
So I repainted that part of it and gave the bridge more contrast, basically by panting the lights lighter and the darks a little darker. Now it looks like its being hit by the sunlight. The water needed some work also and after doing that I decided to add a small boat there to give it some more interest and lead in.
We got more snow last night. Yes we are now officially in winter, especially when you see Christmas decorations coming out in the stores!
Richard Boyer
Cafe in Banon 12x16
Amsterdam - Canal Cafe 12x16
Garlic Sellers 20x30
Visiting the Ruins 20x30
Here is today’s little work. It’s a scene up the road from our cabin in the
Our dog considers this a living Hell to walk in, but still she wags her tail and follows along when ever we head out into the back country. Sasha will spread her paws as wide as possible and leap up into the air. This usually means that she clears about half her body mass above the snow level in a forward thrust. This momentum will propel her about two feet until she lands in another new crater. This hopping and partial swimming action is how the dog will follow us. Thank God she is a lab with boundless energy, wired on caffeine 24-7.
I found out the hard way that paint remover does not work on old lead paint, its one there as hard as steel. I’m referring to the front window, which I spent most of the afternoon scraping. It’s now ready for a coat of primer and then some fresh caulking, before the final trim paint.
With me here alone taking care of the house and kids, I’m moving the crit night to Friday. It’s hard enough getting up at 6:20 in the morning when its still pitch black outside. I don’t need to make it worse after a late night, red wine enhanced crit session. The idea of sleeping in on Saturday sound a lot better!
Richard Boyer
Here is a small 12x12 winter scene I did. Jim at the Mockingbird Gallery wanted a few snow paintings for a Christmas show. It could still use a little more contrast which I can work on tomorrow.
This afternoon I need to work on painting an old window on the front of our house. The bare wood had been damaged over the years by rain and snow. Normally one would just tear out the old window and put some newer high tech double pained, argon filled window in its place. But not here, the damn thing is over one hundred years old and I’ll do my best to preserve it. It’s all single pain with an R value of one, but nevertheless with the old wavy glass it adds character to the place. I just have to try and scrape off the old lead paint and prime it well. The window sill is made out of sandstone and seems to be flaking apart, so I’m not too sure how much I want to get involved with that ?
Richard Boyer
I dropped the parents off at the airport, five and a half hours later they should be home in
This morning I worked on another
Richard Boyer
Fridays show at the Southam Gallery turned out to be a
Early Morning on the Grand Canyon 30x44
Beauty before Age 18x24
My plan was to go down to the gallery a little after eating dinner at home with the family. Then Linda Southam called wondering in a frantic voice where I was because she just sold five paintings, two of which were mine to one client from
Saturday they celebrated Halloween here in
Richard Boyer
Last night we all carved pumpkins. The Strayer’s invited us over for the annual dinner and art festival session. We usually trade off each year as to who will host the carving event. But since Karin was leaving the next day they thought it best to have it over there, which was a big help. After a dinner of chilly and wine, we went at it with knifes and carving tools. Here is the result, all ready to scare the little kids.
The big dilemma is which night will we see the most kids. Here in Utah the local religion doesn’t like to do much of anything on Sunday the 31st, the true Halloween night; so as a result many children will be out Saturday night. Now since we live in a rebellious neighborhood, a neighborhood branded as “those liberal democratic sinners!” I have a feeling most kids will be knocking at our door Sunday night.
I worked a little more on the commission piece this morning. There seems to be just too much going on today to finish it off. Lina has a Halloween parade at school and Karin has to be at the airport for her flight. Tonight I also need to make an appearance at the Southam Gallery; they are having a show with several artists, one of them being me!
Richard Boyer
