Thursday

Yesterday I got a letter with check from Tom at the Berkley Gallery in Warrenton, Virginia, he sold this 18x24. The client was there in traffic court with his son down the street, so not in the best of moods. But he saw the painting in the window and came in, maybe he needed something to cheer himself up, maybe he had his son pay for it!  Any ways I am grateful he sold it and hoping there will be more to come. 

So today I started another 18x24 for the gallery, similar subject matter.  This is from our trip to Sweden this summer. As the sun was getting lower in the evening sky I sent out Lina and her cousin Sofie in an old wooden boat. The light was absolutely beautiful, so if the smaller version of this turns out, I would love to do a bigger one.

Time for lunch now and off to the duplex again, I'm painting the ceilings in the north half and insulating around some skylights in the open loft area.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I need to come up with a couple of smaller works for the Howard/Mandville Gallery, every year they put on a miniature show. This one I started in the Coos Bay area with Dutch Mostert, but never could finish it due to the weather.  So I worked on it this morning and added a few figures collecting shells

I finished the deck at the duplex, just need to let all the redwood planks weather a bit then I can seal them with a finish. The inside the south unit is all painted, just need a major cleaning now. I have a few electrical problems there also to deal with today and then on to fix a few skylight windows on the other half.

Richard Boyer

Friday

I finished the deck at the duplex yesterday, feels good to have that out of the way. Now its on to painting the walls.

I worked some more on this piece today, adding more purple to the sky and greens in the water. I feel its more or less finished, putting it aside for a few days might revel some more that I could work on, so we shall see.

This little 12x16 I started over in Östhammar, Sweden one day. As I blocked it in the storm clouds rolled in and the sky began to look quite ugly. Heavy rain clouds were building up fast and I was ready to pack it in for the day. I kept working on the boats and then the sun came out again, the front was off to my side moving sideways. I was at the very edge watching it go by.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

Today I worked on the main boat with all of the rigging. The sails I did make translucent to give the work some drama. That boat in front of it I will also bring more into focus with light. The sunlight up in the sky I also brought down into the water.

Now its not done yet and I do have quite a bit of orchestration to work on. The foreground water I need to make more lively, either by bringing some sunlight into it or playing up the froth on the water. With the crit being tomorrow I'll see how much I can get accomplished by then. Right now its off again to work at the duplex. I need to get the last and final section of the redwood screwed down on the deck.

Richard Boyer

Monday, Aug.18

Today I blocked in the sails and worked some more on the water, laying down some richer colors.  I'm still trying to figure out how I want the lighting to look. A darker foreground with a shot of sunlight in the middle might make for some good drama. Then I could play up the translucent sails.

Yesterday we painted all the ceilings on the down stairs level and the last remaining bit of porch railing…it was a long day. My son and I will head out to get some more redwood for the last third of the deck.

Richard Boyer

Friday

Worked some more on the large boat painting. With a scene like this, boats in front of a city, its best to get the background blasted in first. So I worked on the sky and city of Stockholm, trying not to get too detailed with it all. The background can not compete with the foreground ships and their rigging. I'm going to put three boats it with some of them catching light through the sails; this should add some nice drama to the work.

I've been busy the last few days. We have a duplex we are going to sell and it needs a lot of work done to it to get it ready.  This is the one where we had to get a lawyer to evict some tenants.  The back deck is also being re-built, a rather large one at 20x30 feet; but its always been a strong selling point for getting tenants. I'm on the home stretch with that project then its on to re-painting the inside.

Tomorrow we are having a large yard sale with all the stuff we hauled out of the duplex. The lawyer said we had to keep it for one month after the eviction. Now its time to get rid of the junk!

Richard Boyer

Tuesday, Aug. 12

It was a good three week vacation, starting out with a trip up to Seattle to see my brother and pick up my son, Victor who has been crewing on a one hundred year old boat for a week. Scott and I were allowed to tag along on a three hour sail with them. I shot a video of it with my phone and hopefully the link will work here.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=925224064171479

After the sail we were driven to the airport to catch the evening flight over the arctic to Sweden. Didn't get in until evening the next day and were then subject to a three hour drive up to Halsingland.

Here is a picture of the farm near Kilafors, with a lake near by its the perfect spot for all the kids and cousins to hang out for weeks on end.  I gathered up several of the relatives for photo shoots for future paintings. Everything from hanging laundry in the wind to rowing boats on the lake. I took over 3000 pictures.

Here is another evening shot across the road. The sun never really got much below the horizon, so blinds on the windows are a must for sleeping in summer. 

After two weeks up there we headed down to Osthammar and then Stockholm. 

I took in the museums with my daughter and starred at the Zorn paintings for a long time. She finally nudged me away from them and told me to move along.  We spent most of the time in Stockholm walking around taking shots under the evening light. The three days we were there we must have wandered 30 kilometers.

Now we are back to reality in Salt Lake.

I blocked in this 30x40 for the Mockingbird Gallery, Jim wanted a nice big sail boat painting with story skies.

Richard Boyer