Wednesday

Over the weekend, actually three days of it, we did a raft trip down the Green River from Flaming Gorge Dam.  The river level was very high with all the mountain snow melt, they had the dam release opened up all the way.  This usually means most rapids are washed out with too much flow, you just don't notice them anymore.

Here is a picture of the top section as it meandered through pine trees and cliffs.

A few of the rapids were still left and it made for some good practice for those members of the group who have never rowed through white water.

This usually meant we got a little wet sometimes. My son,. Markus tried his hand at fly fishing but never really caught anything. Its always a question as to what they are going for on a certain day , it might be flies or worms, who knows!

It was a relaxing trip any ways and a fun time to spend Fathers day on the river. I do feel we had out dose of vitamin D from the sun and it might be good to spend the next couple of days out of it. 

Richard Boyer

Monday

I never finished posting the other two video clips from the "Where in the world is?" This time I was painting along the Provo River up near Heber, Utah. My son was with spending the time catching fish, he actually got three while I was working on this painting. Unfortunately he lets them all go, so there was no fish for dinner that night.

Thursday

I'm part of the on-line painting event called "Where in the world is?" put on by the Illume Gallery. they have a bunch of artists out plein air painting all over the country for the next three days and we all have to post small film clips of our progress. I painted this 12x16 view overlooking Salt Lake City yesterday.

I'm not the best actor, but then again nobody doing these are.Here is the link to see the clip if it doesn't turn out here on this post.

http://www.whereintheworldispleinair.com

Richard Boyer

Thursday

Its been a while working on paintings for Mockingbird gallery and the New Masters Gallery, and to get them all out the door. I also got a call from May Gallery in Scottsdale that he was closing his doors for good, no longer could he make a go of it. That was a bit of a shocker since I've been with them for twenty years or so.. So last week I had to drive down there to pick up all my work, 23 paintings in all.  I've never had the car so packed to the top as that; five paintings were even on the roof tied on to the luggage rack.

I did go around to the other galleries to see if they had any openings but most were in the same boat, just barely hanging on in the election year economy.  The last gallery I walked into, Brennen Gallery liked my cityscapes and decided to give me a try. He closes down for the summer months but opens up again in September; but still he took three smaller 12x16 San Francisco works of mine to try the market with in June.  In the fall he will contact for more larger pieces.

Well this morning I decided to try something new and fun. I bought a roller and a couple of other tools to push the paint around and produced this 22x22 cityscape of Portland. Its nice to get most of it done in one session.

Here is a picture of the Las Vegas painting. I finally finished it off,  the last one and sent them off to Carmel. There the gallery will frame all four up and put them in their main window.

This 36x36 I did last week for the Mockingbird Gallery and its now some place driving on a Fedex truck to Portland and then Bend, Oregon.  Jim is having his gallery walk night tomorrow so hopefully he'll get the box that day and put a few on the wall for the crowds. 

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I took a better shot of the painting and got the real contrast. This one I'm calling done, the gallery owner seems happy with it. And it has a little bit of a story to it with the woman waiting for the last train home.  I have another 36x36 I've started that needs to be finished and then I can send them both off to the gallery next week.

This one is number three in the aerial paintings. The 40x40 inch view is of the Missouri River at sunset. Its a little different from the New York City painting,  to give some variety to the collection.

I'm making number four a view over Las Vegas. On our last trip to Sweden we landed in the evening and I got this shot. So today I worked on the sky and will progress down to the city tomorrow.

Richard Boyer

Friday

This is the finished version of New York City, as for the elevation I'm not really sure. The lower section took some time to do with all the architecture and in the end I did blur out some of the detail so the eye would linger too long on Brooklyn.

The 36x36 here for Mockingbird Gallery should be close to finished.  I'll have to set it aside to see what else it needs. It might need some other element in the painting.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

It took two days to finish off the lower section, just a little too much detail there. So now I'll set it aside and think about it. Maybe it might be good to go back into it and blur a few buildings out in Brooklyn.

Some place, somewhere I caught a stomach virus. So for the last few days its been a lot of yogurt and mild food. I have a feeling I most likely picked this up in Portland. Well its slowly working its way out and I am feeling better.

Jim Peterson from Mockingbird Gallery sent me a text yesterday that he sold this 30x30 of Portland and is in need of more. The pressure is on to paint, which believe me is better than not selling which tends to be the norm in the artists world.

So I started this 36x36 painting of the tracks line in Portland. It had just rained and the setting sun was reflecting off the rails; something I can blast in with a pallet knife so it should look nice and juicy when done. I'll have a guy waiting by the left side of the line there for the last train home feel.


Richard Boyer

Monday

Here is my finished Amsterdam Painting

Portland was great for taking pictures, the first day was rain, just what the doctor ordered. the next two were partly cloudy with some bright sun. So all in all I took around 1800 pictures and had a good time with Jim Peterson the gallery owner. He followed me around with some ideas for what his clients might be looking for and kept an eye out for me as I went out into traffic to get the middle of the street shots. He had his car there which I might just add costs quit a bit to park anywhere.

; so we did get a chance to take off to some areas I would not have been able to on foot. 

We did try out the pubs in the evening and a lot of good restaurants. The large amount of homeless people did add an interesting element to the shots, especially in the evening with their sleeping bags everywhere.

After I get these four large aerial paintings done for thew New Masters Gallery I'll have a chance to start up on all the new works from Portland.  I'm happy with the Amsterdam work above

Here is my next one from New York City. This one is proving to be more work since its from a closer angle to the city. I can't just keep the buildings abstract or else it will look odd. the foreground will really be the challenge with the city so close-up.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

Now I have the canals in place. Took a little time with the layout to make sure they were somewhat accurate. I didn't want to copy too much since one could very easy become obsessed with it. Not to mention how long it would take. The idea was to be accurate enough so people could realize what city it is without too much detail. The canals I will brighten up later on towards the end of the painting; that will help with the movement throughout the work.

Sunday I'll be flying out to Portland, Oregon for a photo shoot of the city in rain. Jim Peterson from the Mockingbird Gallery will be driving there to meet me and as he put it we will be forced to try out all the local beers at the pubs.  I'm not sure how exciting he will find it to follow me around while I shoot, but actually as the gallery owner he might know better what people are looking for in a panting. Nothing like someone in the know, telling you what some of his clients are looking for!

It will be fun just to spend some time there to play around

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

Well I couldn't wait and decided to start one of the 40x40's. The other city painting can wait a bit, its nice to have several paintings in the works that way i don't get too bored with one of them. 

This is just the start where I figure out the composition; The main river is down in front: actually this would have been the open sea back some 400 years ago; since then the dutch have been filling it in to reclaim land. I hinted at the canals just above the main waterway.

I then blasted in the background colors of the city, land and sky, keeping everything as loose as I could.

With a few darks I wanted to put those in next to establish my range of values. I now have my darkest dark at the bottom and lightest light in the upper right corner.

Next I defined the lakes in the background and some of the blues.

This morning I had fun and put in the city in the lower foreground. There I mainly looked for the broad shapes and colors of the ground below. The value was the same but there was a difference in color between the bluish trees and the warmer buildings. With the addition of some highlights on the roof tops and what ever else was reflecting light the city now comes together better. Its very loose and almost abstract but from a distance it all reads as the city below. It's amazing how a few brush strokes with fool the eye of a rooftop or roadway.  Tomorrow I'll work on the canals of the old town.

Richard Boyer

Friday

I worked a little more on this 30x30. The dark clouds were lowered down more and I introduced some more purples in there as well. The trees were also a little too round so I broke those up and worked some on the cars; especially the black one in front. So now I get to set it aside and live with it for a few days to see if anything more jumps out at me.

I got a lot done on this one yesterday. The left side and background are close to done. Now its just that right side I need to figure out what to do with. It will need some figures there and some good reflections in the road. A few more days and I should have it done.

I chatted with the New Masters Gallery yesterday in Carmel and they want to try a bunch of those aerial 40x40's. They told me they could frame them up locally so I wouldn't have to worry about making them myself; which generally took more time to do than the painting itself.  This weekend I'll head to the home depot for the masonite and get them all ready to go for next week.

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

Here is a 30x30 I've been working on for Mockingbird gallery. Excuse the quality of the photo, its raining outside so I can't really get a better shot of it. I am trying to keep it fairly monochromatic in the green range and it probably needs a little bit more added to it, but for now I'll set it aside and work on something different.

So this afternoon under dark skies I blocked in this 36x36 of Portland.  There is a nice window lit building in the background I can play with to add some excitement. So I'll try to take shots of it more in progression. I feel like I need to get some back log of works here for the Mockingbird Gallery.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

I finished off the Shackleton painting and sent off the image to the American Society of Marine painters show. We'll see if it gets in or not, then I'll need to get it framed up and sent back east..

I've had a slight rash of sales happen the last few days. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it might pick up. 

New Masters Gallery in Carmel sold this 30x30 of San Francisco. I called this the canyon light of the city. With the buildings blocking out the noonday light it reminded me of some of the river canyons I've floated down.

And then the same gallery said they sold this large 40x40. They had a problem with UPS breaking the frame I made for it, so they are waiting on them to make a claim.  That seems so typical for UPS, I gave up years ago using them for that very reason, too many damaged boxes. I found Fedex to be far superior. 

Then last but not least Jim Peterson from Mockingbird Gallery sold this 30x30 of Portland last night. So once I get paid for these I should be happy.

Richard Boyer

Sunday

I went skiing yesterday up at Deer Valley and it was warm, most likely up in the 60's. My face feels the sunburn. At the end of the day it was like skiing through mashed potatoes. Yup its melting fast in these warm spring days.

Well today I took it easy and worked on my Shackleton painting. The boat I did make a little bigger then the last block-in, some how it wasn't looking right in size against the ice blocks. The paint was dry enough for me to come over the top with some richer colors which I put up in the sky. The blocks of ice I also added some warmer oranges to contrast the purples of the background. It still needs another day on it, the boat needs more color in it and maybe a stronger sense of light. But it does look like I will make that deadline.

Richard Boyer

Friday

Its been a while, my daughter and I were over in Sweden visiting our son working at a Ski resort in Vemdalen, It was spring break so we took off ten days. for me this was one of the shortest times I've spent in Europe. It seems as soon as you get over the jet lag your back on the plane again.

Victor was staying in a nice cottage almost walking distance from the resort. Guests would put on their skis and head on down the hill. This view is out the front door. now his job wasn't the most exciting thing to do, they had to clean rental units everyday for a company. He needed the job to earn some money and one of the perks was a free seasons pass to the local ski resorts. They also collected a lot of gear from guests just leaving stuff behind. 

Our first day of skiing was quite cloudy at the resort called Vemdalan, but it was fun to try a new place that evening I made lasagna for them.

The next day the weather cleared up and we tried a new resort called Bjornrika, about twenty minutes farther down the road.  This mountain was quite a bit higher and a lot more fun to ski. The hill was more set up for racing which was a lot of fun.

After several days we all drove back to Osthammar to stay with Victors Grandmother, at 87 she was glad to have the company. Sweden was a good month behind Salt Lake City with the arrival of spring. There many of the lakes and coastline were still covered, or had ice remaining. the trees were all grey from winter still.

Well all good things have to come to an end and reality hits you again. I found out as a signature member of the American Society of Marine painters I am required to submit a painting to their annual show. The deadline is next weekend!  So I started a painting, 22x34 of Shackleton's boat the "Endeavor"  I pulled some old black and white images off the internet of his boat before it went under the ice. Now I am also inspired by a German artist, Casper David Friedrich ( 1774 - 1840 ) who did a similar piece of a shipwreck with large ice blocks in the arctic.  I've kept it in my own composition but used similar colors that he used. His shipwreck was reduced to a few pieces of crushed wood, where mine is more intact.

The painting is really quite wet now so it will need to set up a few days. then I can hit it again with richer colors and it should really start to sing. Or so I hope!

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I finished off the three 16x16 studies from Salt lake City. Now I really shouldn't say that because something will pop up that I feel needs to be changed!  Seems to be with the crit session they will find some small error that needs to be fixed.  This one is a view down South Temple Street looking west.

This next one is a view looking down Main Street, just before the two with the umbrella are hit ! Now actually the train was stopped at the station :-)

The last one is looking up State Street at the Capitol building. I took this shot from the middle of the road. I like that they all seem to have that twilight look to them with the purples and pinks

This Saturday I'll be going off to Sweden with my daughter to visit our son working at a ski resort near the Norwegian boarder. It should be a fun time and I'm looking forward to some skiing over there. I went l;last Sunday up to Brighton with my son who skied us under the table as they say. We seemed to be always behind in his trail of dust!

Richard Boyer

Thursday

I decided to try some medium sized studies over the last couple of days, each one here is a 16x16.

We had a rainy Sunday afternoon, so I went downtown and started shooting with the camera. Trying to capture the wet streets and reflections as best I could. This one needs help, it might be just too blue. we have the crit session tonight so I can throw them at the group and get some feedback.

This one is a view up State Street with the capitol building in the background.

This one I seem the happiest with, its a view down South Temple with the old Hotel Utah on the right..  These all need some work, so tomorrow after the input I'll work some more on them. See if I can bring them to life. I've ordered some black frames for them which will set off the colors better.

Its time now to do some home repair. I guess at the last wind storm we had some of the white rubber roofing pad blew up underneath the back porch. So I need to clean it off and re-caulk it down. I'll do the classic southern European trick and put some bricks on the end so the wind won't lift it up again.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

Today I worked on the right side shadow area and brought up some of the values and definition in the buildings. The vehicles I worked on a bit as well.  I still need some figures on that side, maybe one or two standing by the foreground cars.  As for the left side in the light...well I haven't made up my mind yet. Whatever I do it needs to be simple so the eye isn't pulled over there.

Right now I'm burnt out from painting and heading up to the mountains to do some track skiing at Round Valley. Its sunny and warm out , just what I need

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I finished off this one. well then again is it ever finished.. The waves I changed about a little and worked on the foreground water. The city itself I gave some more detail to, defining a few of the buildings and roads. So now its in the corner as I work on a new piece. I figure I can bring it to the next crit session and get some feedback.  Maybe after a few weeks I can call it done and start working on the frame.

This 36x36 I started a few days ago. The subject is San Francisco again in the noonday light. I'm trying to keep much of it in shadow to play up some compositional elements. There is a nice rule if you can keep either two thirds of the painting in light or shadow it will help make for a better design. I still have a lot to do with the shadow area, adding hints of color and detail.  Once I get the damn architecture nailed in I can have a little fun with the brush strokes. Right now I am working on getting the perspective accurate, which is not easy.

Richard Boyer

Tuesday

I worked more on the 40x40 today; decided to take a break from the city painting and try to get this more resolved. The background might be a problem, since it looks like its covered in a fog layer that reads as water.  I'll need to keep it dark enough to push it back or just get rid of it. The problem there would be that the sky wouldn't really show much at this steep angle and I do like the lighter look of a morning sky. Maybe I'll play around with the sun up there and see if I can keep it abstract and blend it into the background haze. The city of San Francisco I still need to define with some more detail, showing some of the buildings.

Richard