Friday

We had a small crit session last night and I brought this one out for the final inspection. So today I added a tree on the left side to help break up the rock wall and pumped up the contrast a little more in the cliffs.  Also I lightened up the water and put more reflections in from the rock wall to the right. 

On Monday I’ll be back up at the cabin.  The Midway Art Association is having a week long plein air event, which I’ll be participating in and since the cabin is but a stones throw away, it makes more sense to just stay in the area.  I have about six canvases and frames ready to go and a particular red barn that I want to paint and a few bottles of red wine to keep me going!

Actually some of the artists in the crit group will be staying up there with me, as we search around for subject matter.  All paintings have to be in by Saturday for judging, then on Monday and Tuesday they have quick four hour plein air events within the different towns. Seems like even more pressure to get a painting done.

Richard Boyer 

Thursday

More on the back ground today, there was a nice three masted boat I had to give a little care to.  Then I put the trees in a little greener and richer in color than the distant background.  After the boats in the foreground there is a small thin spit of land with the three masted boat and trees.  Past that you are looking at the city itself farther away.

So tomorrow I’ll start the foreground boats and make sure I keep them in richer color so they pop forward.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I started on the Stockholm painting again; this one is for Southam Gallery here in Salt Lake City.  It seems to be a popular spot for me to paint. From this harbor area you have a view looking over the southern part of the city. But each year when I go, they have different boats moored at the docks. It’s basically a visiting place to park the boat on your stay in town. So quite often you will see flags from Germany, Denmark, Finland, or any other country close by.  

So as usual I worked on the background first and then will pull all the masts and rigging up in front. 

Richard

Monday, June 17

I feel like I just got back from a slave labor camp. For the past week I have been up at the cabin, painting in the morning and then working on setting up a sprinkler line through rock in the afternoon.  The ground up there in the mountains is not the fertile nice soft soil we have here down in the valley, but rocks and clay compacted together so hard that the only way to dig a trench is through many hard swings with the pick axe.  After a week of breaking rocks my back and arms are feeling it. But at least I can say we have one water line in the ground for a small section of the garden up there that works now!

In the mornings to save by back from complete destruction I decided to paint.  So I took the Grand Canyon painting along to work on it.  The cliffs were the main area of concentration, the layer upon layer of sandstone and limestone rocks towering thousands of feet above. Yup, only in the Grand Canyon will you find these wonders! 

Before I start sounding like a travel agent I better get the water and foreground beach finished off. That will be tomorrow’s project.

We all went sailing yesterday for Father’s Day; pulled the mothballs out of the old sail boat up at the cabin and hauled it down to Jordanelle Reservoir.  After a few rounds on the water we noticed the boat responding very oddly, just very slow and unresponsive to tacking.  That’s when we noticed all this water in the hull, below the floor deck. We were sinking!  Thank God we had a bail bucket and could at least lighten up some of the water so it would sail right.  When we did finally get it back to the dock and out of the water we noticed a five inch long crack in the hull.  I do believe it is time to get a new boat and finally to either sink this one or retire it to the junkyard.  There seems to be a lot of little cracks forming in this aged relic, so I don’t think it would be worth fixing.

Richard Boyer

Saturday

Boats of Stockholm 18x24

Well it’s close to done.  I’ll put it in the corner and forget about it for a week and look at it with a fresh eye.  It could probably use some punching up in certain areas, and that will be for me any quite obvious if I don’t look at the painting for a while.

I’m heading up to the cabin for some prison labor, working on the springing system for the week. That usually entails swinging a pick axe into rock, its good for the back muscles but it can really wear you out.

Richard Boyer   

Thursday

I worked on the main boats today, defining the rigging and mast work. In reality there was a lot more rope used in the rigging, but I had to simplify a little. Tomorrow I will work on the reflections, which should tie the whole thing together nicely.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

Everybody waited in anticipation for the transit of Venus across the sun, and then the clouds rolled in. Thousands of silver coated eye glasses were sold for the viewing.  The viewing of overcast skies; it all seemed like a waist, until that final moment before the sun went down below the horizon.  The clouds parted and we had a short view of the sun. We all climbed out on to the bedroom porch to watch the event through funny, OSHA approved paper glasses. The only problem being for those of us without 20/20 vision, it was next to impossible to see because of the small size against the sun. The kids with eagle eyed vision saw it quite clearly, but me…no way.

I worked some more on the boat painting here. With a bunch of rigging, it was better to get the background done first. So today I concentrated on the sky and buildings of Stockholm.  Tomorrow I’ll work more on the two main wooden boats and begin pulling all the mast work up into the sky.

Richard

Tuesday

I did a large version of this Grand Canyon scene a few years back for Southam Gallery and of course it sold rather quick.  That is something I never complain about! My wife’s brother saw it and liked it as well; in fact so much that he wanted a smaller size of it.

That being said I started a 20x30 for him.  As I work on it the view will be the same but the painting slightly different with new and improved brush strokes.

Richard Boyer

Monday, June 4

As what usually happens; the gallery sells a painting and sure enough somebody else calls for it a few days later. They are wondering if the work is still available. This is when the gallery tells them that it sold, but I do believe the artist is working on something similar…….then I get the call!!!

So I started my “similar” piece today.  One of my favorite areas to paint in Stockholm is the boat harbor on Djurgården, looking across to Skeppsholmen.  If you are a Swede you will know where this is. They have a nice collection of old boats with the churches of Stockholm in the background.  So I am starting this one from a slightly different angle than the last one.

Richard Boyer