Wednesday

This Saturday on a bright and early flight we head to San Francisco for a three day Spring Break. We'll stay downtown, walking distance to most things and show the kids the sights and sounds of the big city.  I'll take the camera along to get some nice evening shots of the town as well. Monday late at night we will fly back to Salt Lake where I have one day here before driving out to Bend, Oregon for my Friday show at Mockingbird Gallery.

Well I dug through some old photo's of the kids fishing back about ten years ago and decided to put them in the painting. It adds a nice element with the figures and their fishing rods. I'll show it at the crit session tomorrow night and make a few final changes on it Friday. This painting I'll take to the show.

After talking with Jim Peterson the owner he felt I needed a few more European works, so I got busy and blocked in a few

He found a few extra frames at the gallery, one being a 30x20 inch. So I started this painting of Brugge, Belgium. Its always been a favorite angle for me and is a well known spot by this famous hotel. Here they load up the boats for the tour down through the canals.

This 24x18 I'm still working on. the town in Banon, Provence; and I picked it because of the warm light on the stone walls. the old staircase adds a nice lead-in to the sunlight cafe at the top.  Now it still needs more work which I will do tomorrow. The figure needs to be defined more, another words more color added so she pops at the top of the stairs. I'll add some red flowers to the left side to balance the painting off as well.

Richard Boyer

Friday

Today I worked more in the background. With the trees, at the end of the meadow being so far back they tend to blend into the ones on the side of the mountain. Since there is miles of separation I needed to show that. So the pine trees on Broken Top Mountain I put a lot of blue in and darkened the value right behind the foreground trees. I also keep them warmer and slightly lighter in value so they pop out a little from the background. With a warm foreground and cool background it reads well. Tomorrow I'll add the figures on the right bank.

This one I finally finished off as well and sent the image to Jim at Mockingbird Gallery. I've ordered some nice frames for these which should be arriving on Monday.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I did this small 12x16 painting this morning, or rather this afternoon. Its of the Cathedral of the Madeline on South Temple Street and fun to work on with the car headlights all blending into a blur.

This morning I was called in for jury duty at the Salt Lake Courthouse, luckily it was for small crimes, D.U.I.'s, etc.. They said most cases are resolved in a day. I was fearing some long three month murder trial. Out of the 22 people that were there, they only picked four for the trial and I got to walk back home. What a relief and now they have to wait two years before calling on me again.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

Back from Scottsdale and it was warm down there, topping out at 91 degrees. The show was fun and I feel they are well stocked now with new paintings.

Now its on to the next show coming up in Mockingbird Gallery, Bend, Oregon.

I started this 24x38 piece yesterday of Brocken Top Mountain, part of the three sisters outside of Bend. I want to put some kids in there fly fishing. Years ago I took reference material of our kids fishing and thought maybe they might look good on the right side of the bank. It will add a little interest to the painting.

This 20x30 painting I also finished off for his show. The family is slowly working their way down through the dunes. This work I feel will also make a good limited edition print. Slowly but surely I'm building up a collection of material for a good selection of giclee's.

Southam Gallery put in a request for some smaller city paintings. So I think it might call for a trip to the local home depot to buy some masonite board. I can build some wood frames, paint the sides black and glue the masonite to it.  I'll have a modern look to the painting.

Richard Boyer

Monday

I'm heading down to Scottsdale on Wednesday morning, a show at the May Gallery with another artist Robert Tate. The weather is suppose to be up in the mid eighties, quite a bit warmer than here. Ron came through also with a few sales which is always nice to hear before the show.

He also wanted another 9x12 boat painting. So a few days ago I worked on this little row boat from Sandhamn, Sweden. The painting I did in one session which is always fun to do, it forces you to use larger and thicker brush strokes.

This snow scene I also started yesterday and more or less finished it off today. It still will need a little more tomorrow and will be quite wet when I put it in the car for the trip. The painting is an 18x24 and was a request by a client. they saw an earlier version I did of this house among the Erie Canal and fell in love with it. So I made this one slightly larger than the original 16x20 and put in a few variations in the foreground water.

I'll be taking down about 8 paintings, mainly works I have had at other galleries and have re-worked. I also have quite a lot from southern Utah which I want to try in the Scottsdale market. So we shall see what sells in the coming months down there.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

Okay I haven't posted in a while, this cold is still hanging around. Slowly it's leaving my body; I've even tried hanging garlic on the front door to ward off the evil spirits, but the neighbors just look at me funny!

This painting, a 40x40 inch I blocked in last week. Most of it in one session; then I put it aside and finished it a few days ago. I've got to say it was a lot of fun to paint, just letting loose with some bigger brushes and getting a little sloppy. I played up the yellow evening light as it was glowing around all the buildings. The only problem was dodging the traffic to get out into the middle of the road to take the shot.

Richard Boyer