Friday

Well nobody at the crit session bought girl scout cookies, either they didn't have cash or a check book, or thought them as too fattening! Excuses, excuses, such is life in a depressed economy, the worries of the world fall upon the poor little girl scouts trying to make their quota..........I'm trying to give everyone a guilt trip, so I hope its working!

Amazingly no wine glasses were broken last night. I was tired from skiing, but diligently took notes of all the changes I needed to do and worked on them this morning. Before I could get started though I had to move the dog again.


As it turns out, the group didn't like the figures so much in the middle of the alleyway, so I had to ask them to move over a little to the right. The guy also was accused of being a tourist, so with a cap and vest on him now, he fits in more like a local. I also darkened down the left wall some more which gives it more contrast to the side going up the stairs.

I'll have to cut this short, since all girl scout cookie orders are due on Monday. That means Lina and I need to go around pounding on doors to make some sales !

Richard Boyer

Thursday

With a fresh cup of coffee in hand I once again moved the dog out of the way to start the morning session! She just stared at me like I was speaking Chinese. I'm always reminded of Winnie-the-Pooh, who calls himself, the bear with very little brain!

So last night I took the kids to scouts, which just so happens to be every Wednesday evening. There I met one of the scouts parents David Lester, who happened to be smiling at me. He follows my blog "Soooo, how are you feeling Richard?"

He caught me off guard, I didn't think anyone follows an artists blog! I answered back "just fine, I think its getting better." Referring to the cold I mentioned about in my last entry.

With crystal ball clarity he explained. "Oh, your not done with it yet, if its anything like I had, it will move down into your chest and you'll cough for weeks on end!"

"Thanks David, thats just what I wanted to hear!"

Well if its any consultation, I do feel better and it doesn't seem to be working its way into my chest. In fact to prove it I'll go up this afternoon and do a little track skiing and that I have to add, really gets the lungs to work overtime.

According to the Julian time clock, the Mayan calenders and the Archaeoastronomy charts tonights crit session falls upon the lovely home of Rose and Nick Rees. Which also means most likely no broken wine glasses! This also means an opportunity to sell

Lina, my daughter is in the girl scouts and once again it is that time of season when they come out in full force to sell their plethora of cookies. So tonight and only tonight I'll play Lina's sales rep. and push the cockie orders on the crit members. How often do you get the chance to order your case loads of Thin Mints, Samoas, Do-Si-Dos and Lemon Chalet Cremes. Each box of Girl Scout delight is only $3.50, but a word of warning will be said; payment is required with each order in advance and the preferred method is the classic check book. No facsimiles please.

Actually we do have some friends that order case loads of the cookies, especially the thin mints. Hey, what can I say I usually get two cases myself, you can actually freeze them until summer time!

Today I just took my time and worked a little on the figures on the left side. The guy in the green tee-shirt I still need to fix, at least make the shirt more interesting. The waitress in the back ground also needs a facial make-over. All of this will become apparent during the cold harsh reality of the crit session tonight.

I'm off now to load the skate skis in the car and prove David wrong!

Richard Boyer

Wedneday

I have a cold today, sore throat and runny nose. That's what happens when you have children. They come home after school, wipe their nose clean with their hands and give you a kiss. A few days later......bang! You got the aching feeling of the on-coming common cold. You know what they always say, "nothing builds up your immune system better than having kids in preschool." Its a melting pot for viruses destined for your house.


When I made it into the studio this morning, Sasha had parked herself in front of the easel.........something she usually does on a daily basis. Yes, I'm talking about the family dog, a black lab we got about three years ago, much of the time she is hopping around bouncing off the walls like she had too much espresso.

But in the mornings most cases she will lie down about five feet behind me, so when ever I back up to look at the work, I'm in evidently tripping over the dog! I'll then tell Sasha to move over and lie down someplace else, but the dog just looks up at me like I'm speaking French. Even so, the idea of somebody stepping on her would indicate that she might very well be residing in the wrong location. In the end I have to drag the dog over to the side a good ten feet and tell her to "stay".........that lasts about five minutes.


Today I worked on the back ground some more and the flower pots in the foreground, they seem to work better than the rope fence that was there before. Now I just need to work on the figures and bring them up a little better. I'm not too sure about the guy in the middle there with the green tee-shirt. If I get rid of the figure then the people might be in to much of a straight line, right now they are in more or less a triangle grouping and that seems to work better for the composition.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

This is last night figure painting session at Rick's place. I'm still trying to get use to painting under artificial lights, I really hate it. There is something about a few bulbs in the ceiling, and a spot light on the model, that just don't cut it. But, if the others insist at having the model sessions in the evening, I don't really have a choice.....just can't seem to convince any of those members to switch over to the afternoon, that would be the best time and the best light also!

Any ways, enough bitching........this is Susan. She was out all day skiing and had a bit of a wind blown red face, when she came to model yesterday evening.

Todays fixer-upper is an old painting I got back from the Howard/Mandville Gallery, which was done several years ago. I sent them up that Amsterdam painting I was working on a while back, so they just switched out the frame for that and sent me back this one.


Its definitely old for me and I think I have learned a few things since doing it. So as your average car repair man would say "Lady, the whole thing needs to be overhauled..........she' going to need a new engine, tranny and a digital widget arm!" I need to drop the fence there, fix the floating umbrellas and add a certain who knows what!

Well its best to just start diving in and making changes without too much thought!


I started out by painting out the rope and adding some larger flower pots. I toned down the orange in the back building and fixed the umbrellas a little. Tomorrow I can work some more on it and see what comes of it.

The market has slowed down a little too much for me now, some of the galleries I am in seem to be quite dead in the water, as they say. So its time for me to try hitting a few new locations and see who might be interested. I really need to even out the rags to riches income swing of this damn career I have chosen. Some months the sales are great and the income really comes in and then others, especially if the stock market in freaking out.... can be really slow. It puts a lot of stress on the family.

Richard Boyer

Monday, Jan, 25

Monday morning once again. We tried to go up skiing at Alta yesterday, with all the new snow we have been getting it would have been a great powder day. So bright and early on Sunday we all got up, had a quick breakfast and stuffed the skis in the car. As we were driving along the freeway, we noticed the reader board flashing the message that Little Cottonwood Canyon was closed.........that's exactly where we were heading. My wife was in a separate car ahead of us, since she could only ski for half a day. Our plan was for her to park the car at the main parking lot at the bottom of the canyon and we all go up together, then she could just take the ski bus down to the waiting car when ever she decided to head back. I kept following her, as she continued to drive towards the closed canyon.

As would have been expected, the traffic was backed up miles before the entrance to Little Cottonwood Canyon. She hopped out of the car and ran back to ours, informing us that she had just gotten off the phone and found out that it would be opening up in half and hour. Two hours later we were at most a mile farther down the road with no news. We finally found out that due to avalanches, the canyon would be closed until afternoon. Nothing like waisting the entire morning sitting in a car!

We turned around in the line and heading back home.........defeated by the weather. Left with just the distant memory of what its like to feel chest deep powder from last year.

So today I worked on the stair painting and threw a few people in at the top, darkened down the wall to the left and worked on the hollyhocks some more. The crit group thought I had painting the leaves too much the same. I'll look at it again tomorrow and maybe work some more on the two people at the top of the stairs. Yesterday I sent in my two entries to the Oil Painters of America show, so now its just the waiting game, to see what gets in, or if anything at all gets in.

Yes, I have never won anything at that show !

Richard Boyer

Friday

So, last night we managed not break any glasses, nor spill any wine, in fact the group was rather well civilized. We all had something to crit, including three of mine. So this morning I spent most of the time fixing this one. The list included lightening the water and sand. Getting more paint put down in the foreground and working on the small half circles of water that roll up on the beach. Victors face also needed some work. I guess they couldn't tell if he was looking back at the other person or not. His toy boat was also enlarged........and the people off to the left were drowned out. The group thought it was too busy with them. Another words the eye was going back and forth with no clear center of interest. So I played up the waves a little more and added a few sail boats way off in the distance.

Its snowing out now, all those storms hitting southern California are coming our way. Southern Utah has been hit hard with wave after wave of snow storms. Come spring time the rivers will be flowing fast. We are shooting for a river trip down the San Juan River in May, provided we can get the permits!

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I worked some more on the old stairs to the town gate. More roses were added to the left side and the hollyhock was beefed up a little with thicker paint. I'm note quite sure about the building behind the hollyhocks on the right, still looks a little funny in the perspective. But with the crit tonight and a few more broken wine glasses that problem should come to light !

This scene is from the small village of Simiane la Rotonde in Provence. I can remember working on a smaller painting there last summer, when I wrote down a few notes. Let me know what you think?

"The sound of the breeze continued, but underneath there was something less familiar coming through, a faint scrapping sound followed with a tap. A minute later it stopped.

Somewhere up the staircase some shutters flung open and the clean up of the midday meal could be heard. Plates and silverware clamoring mixed with the muffled sound of conversation drifted down the walls. I was busy trying to concentrate on the age of the stones, capturing the endless repair work done by the masons in former times. Some of the mortar was placed carefully around the stones in some areas, other places it was more haphazard and chaotic, as if done in a hurry.

I heard it again the thump and scraping sound became much more audible now. The alleyway curved away below me offering no view of what could be making the sound. I thought to myself it might be rude to go down the hill and investigate, like some irate neighbor. Eye contact would surely be made and a response from me expected. And what could I possibly say with my three year old knowledge of the language, the sound wasn’t a bother, it was just curiosity that was getting the better of me.

I decided it would be best to keep painting, there were after all a lot of rocks to give justice to and I didn’t want to short change them. Who knows what the spirits might do to me then? It was my distant relatives that were slaughtered and the whole reason they build the town up on the side of a steep hill for defense. Most likely the hurried mortar patches were to fix the holes made by arrows or canon fire. The sunlight illuminated the wall and splashed across the worn steps farther up, making for some interesting contrast. I realized then that soon the bright light would move around to bask the area I was standing in, the shadow was visibly becoming smaller and smaller as the sun moved into the afternoon sky. Within thirty minutes I would be sweating away in the hot rays as they aligned up with the alleyway. Time was not on my side.

Behind me the thumping sound followed with a scraping was quite loud now. I knew if only I was to turn around I might see what it was making the sound. Then suddenly it stopped again and a very faint conversation was audible. The voices were heard for a good ten minutes, then they stopped and the mysterious sound started up again.

With a fleeting shadow, I continued to work on the vines growing up the side of the rocks. Wherever the mortar had fallen out, an offshoot of the vine would grow into the crack in search of moisture from behind and thereby support the plant on its journey up the wall. Mixed in with the green leaves, red flowers bloomed in clusters and seemed to cascade their way back down the limestone.

I was able to make out heavy breathing now with the sound of wood scraping across cobblestone. I turned around and glance back, still nothing, the alleyway curved away too sharp to see anything.

The line between sunlight and cool shade was moving slowly towards my feet. If I looked at it long enough I could actually watch the line moving up and over each stone in the scene in front of me.

The sound was also growing clearer and clearer, but I decided not to keep turning around. I wasn’t getting much done by looking over my shoulder all the time.

It was just about the right time to finish off the painting, towards the end is some times when I have the most fun putting down paint with a pallet knife in certain areas to add a little texture. It also is the time when the bugs seem to get stuck in all the thick paint.

From behind me the sound stopped all of sudden and before I could turn around for a look, out rang a “Bonjour Monsieur, Elles sont belles vieil escalier"

I saw a short women hunched over a wooden cane, carrying a bag of groceries. With a smile she took her left foot, swung it around and stepped with a thump forward, dragged the seemingly heavy cane across the stones and threw up her right foot beside it. Then the process was repeated.

I offered to help, but was cut off with a stern “Ce n’est pas un problème, Monsieur.” She continued on slowly up to my side and stood for a bit looking at the painting. “très jolie, Monsieur” she said in a quiet voice and threw her leg forward to continue on up the hill. A short way up she stopped once again at an open door and called in to somebody. Out stepped an old friend and a conversation ensued. A few items were pulled out of her bag and handed over to the elderly white haired gentleman. Her walk up from the grocery store took an hour and a half, but most of the time it was in conversations with friends all the way up. It wasn’t merely a simple walk back up the hill to her residence, but more of an afternoon ritual. A way of catching up on the local news and gossip with all the neighbors."

That was my small experience painting at that location........now you know why I love to paint over there. You can experience a slice of life most tourists will never see!

Richard Boyer
PS Prey for me and the damn wine glasses.......Robert is coming over !

Wednesday

Today I pulled out an older 40x30 painting that was lying around the studio, blew off the dust and worked on it.

Next month on the 18th of February I have a one man show at the May gallery down in Scottsdale. So I better have a few works to bring down with me, or else the owner, Ron Bailey might be yelling at me for slacking off. This scene, from Provence I had lying around the studio for over a year now. It originally had a wall where the stone steps are and in the wall I had an open door with a window above it and sure enough the painting had this closed off feeling about it...........not a very good idea if your trying to get somebody interested in buying it. That's why it was retired to the dark catacombs of the studio.

Well.........I painted that ugly part out and added the stairs from another study I did and now one has the feeling of exploring back into the scene. I'll send this one, the other 40x30 painting of the stairs with cross above and a few more down to Scottsdale before I drive down next month.

From Salt Lake the drive is not bad, just a short ten hours in the car. Just after Beaver, Utah I'll head over to highway 89 and south through some nice red rock country. Then south of Kanab along 89A over the north rim of the Grand Canyon and down into Lee's Ferry. After that it gets a little boring through the desert until you get up into Flagstaff.

I did this trip once with Nick Rees, my contractor friend. He brought along a highway geology book about the different areas we were driving along. Way back when, in geological time the mountain there was twice as tall and blew up much like Mount St. Helen's did. Driving up from the back side you can really see the large open crater the explosion left behind. In fact you can see large boulders of volcanic carnage a hundred miles before you even get to Flagstaff. They say it blocked off the entire Grand Canyon and formed a massive lake behind it. From there at 7000 feet with Ponderosa pines everywhere, you descend down below 1000 into Scottsdale with palm trees and saguaro cactus everywhere. When its 70 degrees down there, I can't complain.

The middle of February up in Salt Lake City can be cold and snowing. Heading down there for a weekend of sun, isn't all that bad!


Richard Boyer

Tuesday

We had the figure painting session over at Rick's place again last night. Well, maybe you have noticed that I didn't put in on the blog site........I.m afraid it wasn't worthy enough.

I did work on the foreground water in this piece and I'm much happier with it now. The whole thing seems to lead the eye into the painting better. Lina also changed bathing suits to a yellow one and I gave Victor a toy boat. I'll save it for the Thursday crit session and see what they rip apart after that. I would like to submit this one also to the Oil painters of America show, they only let one in, but with two entries you have a better chance.

The smog has finally cleared out of the valley and we can all breath better now. Its actually sunny and warm, well lets say in the low forties. This afternoon we are all going up to Mountain Dell to the Cross country ski tracks, where I'll do a few laps again

Richard Boyer

Saturday

Here are a few images of river paintings I have, from a trip we did down the San Juan River in southern Utah. This was done last spring, not in the dead of winter!

A few of these I have in my studio ( that's a hint, if you are interested in owning any, just shoot me an email rboyer370@earthlink.net ) The two on the top are 12x16 inches in size and the other is 11x14. I have a few more form the trip that I haven't finished off yet. Actually a visit to Southam Gallery would treat you to some larger river paintings.

This is one of my addictions, besides going over to Europe, I love to run rivers!

Richard Boyer

Friday

After the crit session last night, I decided on re-painting the foreground.......it just need more color than the blue. A boat was added in Victor's hand and I painted out the figures on the left. I need to make them bigger, so that can wait until Monday.

I also worked on the pottery painting a little, but the changes were so small it wasn't worth taking a picture of. I'll do that next week. I wouldn't mind trying to submit it to the Oil Painters of America show. Usually they have so many applicants that it gets next to impossible to get in.

No glass was broken at the crit session yesterday.seems to only be at my place!

Richard Boyer

Thursday

"Women and haircuts", as men we will never get it right. My wife walks into the kitchen and asks “Notice anything?” Automatically red flags go up, not matter what I say, it’ll be wrong “Nice dress you h….”

“Wrong!”

It takes my daughter to notice, “Hey, you got your hair cut, looks nice!”

“Thanks Lina” I mumble under my breath. Victor then throws in the comment, “I read in the paper, if your wife asks, if there is something different - always answer with a comment on the nice haircut”

All of this information was of course twenty / twenty hindsight.

Why is it that women notice these small nuances and men are left in the dark? Yesterday morning I got up from the breakfast table and tweaked a small muscle in my back and of course after standing all day while painting, it was sore in the evening. So I laid down on the couch.

“Your getting sick, most likely the same thing I have.” Karin said to me

“How do you know that, the only thing hurting was my back?” I wanted to know what possible sign could tip her off to that kind of a conclusion.

“You pulled a muscle this morning and are now lying down on the couch, that’s not like you. Besides I see it in your demeanor.” She then went into the small diagnosis of how the body and muscles react with a slight fever. Sure enough a few hours later I was feeling the classic run down feeling of the common cold…………maybe some bacon Hors d'œuvre will help.

Its crit night again, this time up at Nick’s place, they live just a few houses up the street. In the better neighborhood! We should be taking bets on whether Robert will break or spill a glass of wine.

So I decided to work a little more on this piece, mainly just trying to get more paint on the figure and define a few other things. I'll take this one, the water painting and the small figure study to the crit tonight.

Richard Boyer

So

Wednesday

Okay, for most this is like watching paint dry, no pun intended. The idea of watching day after day the slow progress of the artist working on the same damn thing. This is why I like to work on several at once if they are a larger format, its either that or I go stir crazy. I was back working on the water and waves again...........something still bothers me about it! The arm was changed on Lina, my daughter, she had the left arm out back before, so I moved that up front and also added a few figures off to the left.

We still have a heavy smog layer outside, enough so that we can't even see the valley anymore. Our house is about 500 feet up from the valley floor and usually we have a nice view out over the city, but nooooooo, not today.

They keep talking about a small weather front that is suppose to be coming through to clean out all this soup. If Salt Lake only could get their act together and improve the public transportation system, we might not be having these serious inversion problems. Our bus system is more or less a joke, they can't even be bothered putting a time table at a bus stop, so you basically have no idea when the next one is due to arrive, nor do they give any information about the route. The only thing they can manage to tell the inconvenienced traveler is the number of the route, so there you wait at a bus stop under the sign telling you that its the number "5".........no ideas on how long you might be waiting, or if even the bus runs on that day you are waiting. As for where it might be taking you, you're on your own!

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

Last night we had a model session at Rick's place again. About seven of us crowded together in his living room again. I worked on this small 16x12 portrait.

This is the time of month when the postman can really kill all that holiday cheer, as you find that credit card statement in amongst the other bills. The envelop was especially thick with page after page of itemized Santa Claus expenses, all of that mindless shopping suddenly comes into focus..."What, how much did I blow on that stupid..." Maybe if I hide the bill in the drawer, it might go away!


Well to forget about Christmas I worked on the summer time painting and the kids playing in the water. The painting still needs something, so I might put it aside for a while and just think about it.

I'm starting to make plans for the summer time painting trip to Amsterdam, its been a while since I was there last. In fact the last time I was there was back in the film camera days, roles after roles 36 exposure. Now its 800 pics on a single memory card. So come July a few artists and I will head there for about two weeks to paint the canals and sample the beer! I was online today checking out various web sites for apartment rentals. Either we could stay in hotels, or maybe find a place with a kitchen. Any way you look at it, I'm finding Amsterdam to be very pricey. I have a neighbor from southern Holland, so she was going to check into a few dutch web sites for something more reasonable. The places I keep finding are several thousand Euros a week !

Richard Boyer

Monday, Jan. 11

It's a red level day today. Salt Lake City has the unfortunate location of being surrounded by mountains, so all the bad air gets trapped in the valley in what they call an inversion. The cold air just sinks to the bottom trapping all the pollution and the warm air just on top about a thousand feet up. It's below freezing at the bottom, but sunny and warm up higher. My wife wonders why we live here!

I worked on th waves again today, bringing more high lights into them and trying to define the waves better. It all needs more work, but maybe I'll paint in the figures tomorrow and give the water a rest for now.

Richard Boyer

Friday

We had the crit session last night. Robert managed to kick over his wine glass again, this time within fifteen minutes of arriving, its a new record for him! Normally when one of your guests consistanly breaks wine glasses, you might hint at them to bring a case of fresh stemware next time they show up. But in Roberts case, he can't even make rent. I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the various places he has rented around the neighborhood. The classic case of a dysfunctional artist.

Okay, I'm mad at having my glasses constantly smashed and wine spilled all over the studio floor!

With eight people here last night, the comments were flying and I had to write fast. Shorthand would come in helpful sometimes. But, any way, they insisted the water be broken up more along the green tree reflection line and also some more work on the trees.

The next painting was more of a religious debate!


I had a stone cross above the archway up the stairs, sort of like the entrance to a church courtyard. Well nobody liked the cross out of stone, but yet it still needed a cross of some sort........maybe a metal one. Soon the group had split up into "those" that thought no religion should ever be brought into a painting, and "those" who insisted well its southern France, there are churches all over the place. Religion is part of the culture. Another bottle was opened and the philosophical question brought up about what the client would want? Do they like religious icons in paintings, are they devote church going republicans? When in Rome, do as the Romans would, another words if the crosses are there in Provence put them in!

This went on for a good twenty minutes and it was going no where. I told them how about a smaller cross, maybe out of metal...........nobody heard. So I yelled louder, MAYBE A SMALLER ONE!
"Excuse me, did you say something?"......

Some still held fast to their values and insisted "No cross , don't give in to the pressures of the church!" This is Utah, what can I say!

I put an small iron cross in and called it good. The crit moved on to someone else.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

My wife works at the Health and Wellness Clinic at the local hospital. They have one of those programs where you can pay an exorbitant amount of money to have you entire body and all its functions scanned for any future illness or problems. More or less like the 50,000 mile check-up you get for the family car, in this case it’s the boss maintaining his select group of C.E.O.’s

Any ways last night we went their new office party, new in the fact that they changed locations from a small windowless department in LDS hospital to a remodeled and larger office across the street. Karin now has a room with a window to the outside world, a view of the valley and mountains. This was her opportunity to show off the new space and also for us, a chance to make acquaintances with some of the people sharing her department.

Normally I don’t get too excited over other peoples office parties, but in this case it was catered and I mean catered to the average male. Yes, ……we are talking bacon, unidentifiable little hors d’oeuvres wrapped in bacon. Something Karin would look at and say, “never in a million years!” But they are health, wrapped around scallops I said. She looked back at me, “it’s still cholesterol on a tooth pick!” I noticed none of the women seemed to be going for them, but most of the men had several on their small plates. Nevertheless I ate a bunch since I was starving. We hung around for maybe half an hour, but two of my boys were scheduled for a Boy Scout meeting that night. I decided it was time to go after meeting the Proctologist.

Today I worked a little on the waves, trying to give them some more form. I would like to give the illusion of my daughter running through the water. Since the painting was still wet from yesterday, adding the white highlights to the top of the waves worked out rather well. The white paint mixed with the under paint and toned it down just right. When it dries after a few days I can come back into it with some bright titanium white mixed with a little Cadmium yellow light.

We have the crit session again tonight, so maybe I'll get their input on the composition of the piece here.


Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I decided on another larger coastal painting with two of my kids in it, the scene is from Sweden. We have some relatives, actually a whole boat load of relatives down in southern Sweden. I've done this in a smaller version, but thought it might look good as a 24x36 format. Again this is something I want to really play up the sunlight on. In reality, when you are looking into the water the light on the waves is so bright, your eyes are just squinting..........yes, I know that would be impossible to get the painting that bright, but maybe the illusion. N'est pas ?

Did you know that each entry I am doing here goes onto my facebook page automatically? A friend of a friend helped me set that one up. I'm still trying to load pictures on to it, but it tells me that its a fatal error each time............my guess is that something isn't quite right with it ?

I just started facebooking, because once again, friends are saying its the wave of the future for marketing. I seem a little indifferent to that since anything where you have to ask people to be your friend, sounds pretty pathetic and depressing. Still I see artists out there with lists of several thousand friends, obviously you need to be asking every stranger you get a hold of to be your friend. So if any strangers are out there..........won't you be my friend !!!!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php

I just clicked and pasted the link, but I know it will be wrong.....so maybe its best just to look me up on facebook


Richard Boyer

Tuesday

Today was a clean up day for some of the paintings. A day when you work a little on this one, then a little on that one, just finishing off the last parts as best you can. I wouldn't mind starting a new one tomorrow, so I wanted to make sure these were done enough for the crit session.

I added the figures yesterday, but re-worked them better today, they still might need some work, but then again...I'm not to sure if I want them that finished off since they are in the background. More roses were added, the cross was made lighter in color and I threw in some pallet knife work on the stone walkway.


Next I took out the Pottery woman and darkened the background more, added more reds to the cloth and back wall, defined more of the pots on the back shelves and worked on her cloths a little. I took a shot of it with the digital camera, but I think there was more glare on it today, so the quality is not there. When I finish off a piece I will always take it outside to shoot, usually on a sunny day, but still in the shade. The light is quite soft and generally represents the colors well.

When I do the blog here, I get lazy and just have the camera set up on a tripod in the studio. I'll make sure its squared off to the camera's view finder, but if there is some glare on it...."c'est la vie".........I'm sure as Hell not going to take it outside and set the whole damn thing up again!

We had another model painting session last night at Rick's place, all five of us in his small living room with model in the corner. It actually works, I just still need to get use to the artificial lights. What more can I say, I'm so use to painting in north light which is cooler.

This afternoon we were all up doing skate skiing at Mountain Dell Golf Course. The golf course is halfway up Parley's Canyon and doubles as a cross country / skate skiing course in winter time. They have about ten kilometers of trails set up to burn yourself out on. The season has started up and we have the children signed up for the Utah Nordic Alliance, or as they call it TUNA........yeah, I know, not to be confused with the fish in a can! We seem to always be explaining that one to outsiders. Any ways, they do their training Tuesdays and Thursdays and I go off to do a few loops around the tracks they have set up.

After about ten K, my lungs feel like their ready to explode and I hobble back to the car with jelly legs.........I don't think I'll ever be Winter Olympic material

Richard Boyer

Monday, Jan. 4

Back to school for everyone today, sounds depressing to most!

Well I am back on the job, working on the old staircase in Provence. I defined the light a little better today, added some roses and put a few figures in it. The figures are just blocked in and I will need to work more on them tomorrow.

The town I am painting here in the mountain top village of Gordes, located about an hour East of Avignon. Several moves have been filmed here throughout the years, including just recently "A Good Year" with Russel Crow. Where, the actor inherits a vineyard and of course has a relationship with a beautiful femme fatale in this town.

Here is an earlier piece I did of the very cafe they filmed in the movie. The staircase I am working on is down the hill to the left. Gordes is one of those jet-set town where most French go to be seen now a days!

Little do most know that back in the the 1600 during the religious wars, the Catholic church sent mercenaries to kill all the inhabitants. Those poor souls living in Gordes happened to be protestants and this happened three times.

Richard Boyer

Saturday

Okay, okay, okay.......yesterday I didn't paint!........and I'm sure most people know what its like the day after a new years eve party. Thats not to say we went over the top, but I had to call it quit's when the single malt was brought out at 2:00 in the morning. Yesterday was a day of rest and re cooperation.

The piece I worked on today is something I did a while ago, but was never really happy with it..........so I attacked it and changed a few things around. Before, the steps curved off to the left in front of a wall. I put an arch through the wall and continued the staircase farther up the hill. Now I feel it has more intrigue, with the steps leading you farther into the piece. I'll bring the light and shade more into it and maybe put some red flowers on the right wall. A few figures at the top of the stairs might help also.

So from the bottom of my heart, I would like to wish everyone a happy new years moving into a new decade......just remember always look forward never back.

There is one phrase that has kept me going over the years, that I wouldn't mind sharing:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race"

Calvin Coolidge


signing off for now!

Richard Boyer