Tuesday, May 31

It’s back to reality again, no more floating along the quiet peaceful waters of the San Juan River. As the rains were pounding Salt Lake City last week, we seemed to be missing it all in the four corners area. The only thing we noticed were a few cloudy days as the fridge of the storm passed north of us. I don’t think we had a single drop of rain.

We did experience a tornado, or what looked like a very large dust devil. Generally I think of a dust devil being mild enough to walk into the center of it without anything happening……not this one.

Wednesday afternoon we pulled into our camp at a site they call False John’s canyon, we unloaded the raft and canoe and set the chairs out to dry after being wet from the last rapid. Within half an hour the wind picked up and we noticed some turbulence over the water, in seconds a large dust devil formed and was sucking up water as it moved towards us. It then blasted right into our camp and picked up the canoe, which was tied up to a large bush and the sixteen foot canoe was blown up nine feet in the air and spun around like a toy three times. Okay, you might be saying well a canoe doesn’t weight that much, but this one still had the water jugs in it. Front and aft we had two full, seven gallon water containers strapped onto the thwarts; a combined weight of over 250 pounds flying around in the air. We threw ourselves to the ground as it blasted over the top of us and watched river bags, chairs and what ever else was on the beach all flying up into the dust devil. Thirty seconds later it vanished leaving a mess in the camp, bag were up in the trees and the water jugs in the canoe smashed wide open.

That was one hell of a dust devil!

We had to watch our water supply after that experience.

Last night we had five relatives flying in from Sweden, they didn’t arrive until 11:00 at night. Saying they were tired would be an understatement. Sunday was spent clearing out rooms in the basement to fit beds in and get everything ready for Karin’s mother, Sister and three kids. It will be a full house for the next few weeks.

I worked on this Amsterdam piece today, there were a few things I changed around. The foreground boats were added and I lightened up the water.

The sun has finally arrived in Salt Lake City and it’s supposed to be close to 80 today. Yesterday we had a dusting of snow on the ground. The newspaper thought it was funny to show a picture of some guy enjoying ten inches of fresh powder up at Snowbird Ski resort !!!

Richard Boyer

Friday

Last day to get things done before we leave on the river trip. I delivered four works to Southam Gallery yesterday for their show tonight. I'll miss the opening night since Karin bought tickets to an Opera tonight, but at least I'll get a little culture before leaving.

Right now I need to start getting my supplies together and to find that damn headlamp!!!

I'll be back in a week

Richard Boyer

14x11 Clearing Storm at the Market, Provence

I worked on two pieces today for the Southam Gallery show. They want all work delivered today so that means putting them in the frame wet. Let’s just hope nobody brushes up against them. I was hoping to have these for the crit session tonight, but “C’est le vie!”

12x16 A small village in Tuscany

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I got a call from Southam Gallery yesterday; they are having a show this Saturday and wanted to know if I had anything lying around in the studio. Well as it turns out I have a few smaller pieces that I never really finished off yet, so I decided to work on them today.

The first one here is a sketch I did in Stockholm. The café umbrellas don’t really exist in the scene but I thought they would add some needed color. So I just blocked them in and will hopefully finish them off tomorrow. I’ll have to put some tables and people there also to give it that afternoon life feel.

It’s been another dark session with rain forecasted for the next couple of days. They actually got eight inches of new snow up at Snowbird Ski Resort yesterday; normally it should be in the 70’s. Strayer called me yesterday and wondered if we should start building an ark?….

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

It was snowing this morning….when, oh when is it ever going to let up?

On Saturday Markus and I, along with Dave Stayer, his son and a few of the boy’s friends will be driving down to Bluff, Utah for another six day river trip down the San Juan. The last thing we need is snow in the canyon that would be just miserable. Oddly enough with all the snow we have been receiving here in northern Utah, the four corners area is below normal for the season.

That being said Dave was even considering leaving the raft here, with a flow of anything under 600 cfs, the last two days you could more or less be pushing the raft through the sand bars. Yesterday it was around 400 cfs. We found out that next week they will start releasing more water from the dam upstream in New Mexico and that should bring the water level up a lot more. It’s nice when the flow is above 1200 cfs (cubic feet a second)

Last night we had the model session at Rick’s and this is what I managed to get done.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I got a frantic email this morning from an old friend back when I was a wee lad. Apparently someone had hacked into her Yahoo account and sent off emails from her address book list about how she was stranded in Aberdeen, Scotland. Its was the classic Nigerian scam letter about how the luggage was stolen with all the credit cards and of course no family members are around to help out, she is just desperately waiting at the airport to get money for a plane ticket home.

Well I sent her, aka the Nigerian hanging out in a coffee shop in downtown Abuja, a reply email saying I was ready to help out (of course) and could immediately wire her the required $ 2,500,000. from my Swiss Bank account (number 345 677 890). The only thing I would need is her corresponding bank account number to do the transfer…………so far I haven’t heard back from her!!!

When will these idiots stop with the lame email requests? I could have been a billionaire by now with all those inheritance letters from the high court in England representing the estate of Abdul (insert last name here). If only I had sent them the small required handling fee !!!

Okay, back to reality now, and Debbie I am sorry to hear about the hackers, especially when they sabotage your email list. Today I just worked more on this piece, mainly the clothing. I wanted to bring it far enough along for the crit session tonight. I feel it’s important for every artist to bring something.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I just worked on the painting of my daughter today, mainly defining around the face and upper body. It still has a ways to go since I really need to capture that feeling of light flooding around her body as she carries the milk jug up the stairs.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

Here is the beach painting. It could still use some tweaking here and there.

I'll save it for the crit session this Thursday and see what a glass of red wine will bring out!

Unfortunately it’s time for me to get back down in the basement and work on the base board. We got one bid on carpet for the room from Home Depot at two thousand……..yeah right; I think its time to try somebody else. With so many carpet companies advertising all the time there must be a better deal out there.

Monday, May 9

It’s another rainy day and will be so for the next three days. We celebrated Mothers Day with a hearty brunch and then a hike in the foothills. Actually the short hike we were thinking of was up Kiln Canyon on Tomahawk Drive. Well it turned into something much longer as we followed deer trails farther and farther up the ridgeline. Before we knew it we were up on the crest looking down into City Creek Canyon and watching dark storm clouds rolling in. We were making bets on when the rain would start. It was a good hike and we all felt tired afterwards. It was Gin & Tonic time then!

I’m sending off this piece today to the May Gallery. I did a few changes on the stone wall and pots, so now I think it’s finally ready for the outside world. As they say let’s see if we can find a home for it!

Richard Boyer

Friday

The crit session went well last night, at least up until when Kay brought out three bottles of single malt at midnight. We have a few beginner scotch drinkers in the group and she wanted to introduce them to the different varieties there are. “But why, oh why at midnight?”

I just had a small draught and called it good; it was time to kick everyone out. The crit sessions can sometimes drag on into the morning hours and for me if I don’t put an end to it at midnight, I won’t be getting much done the next day.

I worked on this piece today. It’s my wife and some relatives decorating the “Maypole” for midsummer night. At the crit session they commented that the painting was for a very specialized market, since most people would have no idea what the Swedish midsummer celebration is all about. This maybe true and as they said, I might be hanging it on my own wall. But nevertheless I wanted to paint it and now have it out of my system, time to move on to something different like that beach painting for the client!

Richard Boyer

Thursday

The temperature seems to be screaming up there, today it’s climbing into the seventies. Which means all that snow we have in the mountains will start to come down. They say we are close to 200% of normal snowpack and predicting that when it all comes down at once with the warm temperatures, it will cause flooding. Not too far off from the records of 83’, back then they blocked off State Street and turned it into a river.

I should be outside enjoying the sun, but noooooo I will be in the dark basement working on the baseboard trim. We have a @%$@ schedule to uphold to get this project done.

Well I started a new piece this morning of my daughter carrying a milk jug up some stairs. Our relatives in Sweden have a house on the farm from the beginning of the 1700’s and it makes for some fantastic subject matter. It’s just a crude block-in so obviously the figure is just sketched loosely in. I was more concerned with the composition at first. I’ll let this piece dry a bit and spent tomorrow working on the beach painting again. When I hope back and forth between several pieces it keeps the interest up and makes it easier to judge the work with a fresh eye.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

This story happens more often that I care to admit. A painting sits in a gallery for what seems like eternity, no bights, no interest; you even consider taking it back and re-working it to see if it will move. Then out of the blue a couple walks in and falls in love with it and the painting is sold. This is when the gallery calls you up a few days later to inform you that another couple came in and wanted to buy the same painting.

Well this is the small 18x24 piece that sold.

And here is the block in on a similar piece. I really like to do beach scenes, they have a nice atmospheric quality about them.

I remember the May Gallery saying that if you put a red dot on a piece inevitably everybody wants that same painting. So it’s best to just take the work off the wall and hide it. Then you can steer them hopefully towards the other fine masterpieces hanging!

Richard Boyer

Monday, May 2

Well they finally got Bin Laden, unfortunately this won’t be the end of terrorist attacks. I have a feeling that will go on for decades to come with all the unrest in the Middle East.

Yesterday we celebrated “Valborg” up at Mountain Dell with all the Swedes. It’s a springtime holiday where they collect up all the deadwood from the long winter and set an “out of control” bonfire to celebrate the arrival of Spring. One of the members drove a trailer filled with old Christmas trees and logs down from Park City. A ten foot large pyramid was set up with the trees and the center filled with firewood. One match and a few minutes later the flames were twice my height and most people moving a good distance away for fear of their eye brows being singed. The younger ones in their constant state of pyromania thought it was the coolest thing to watch pine needled explode into flame. Needless to say many a hotdog were burnt to a crisp by the heat.

I decided to work on the flower pot piece this morning and finish it off. But then again is it really? The crit members will surely find something to tweak on it.

Richard Boyer