Tuesday

With the coming of spring there seems like a lot of garden work on the list, maybe this might just coincide with my wife having a birthday party and the fact that the guests will be milling around the backyard.  So clean-up it is in the backyard.  After all there can be nothing more exciting that getting down on all fours to pull up dandelion weeds.

I worked some more on these two smaller boat paintings. From the last crit session I got some ideas of things to improve.   Mainly the water in both of them needed a little more work.

Richard Boyer

Thursday

It’s been grey skies today, so the picture quality isn’t the greatest in the studio, just a little on the dark side.  But any way here is number two of the small 9x12 boat studies. Once again just an hour and a half session on it to keep it fresh.

We have the crit session tonight so I’ll bring both of these to see what the group feels

Richard Boyer

Wednesday

I worked on one of the smaller boat paintings today, trying to only spend an hour and a half on it so I could keep it more like a looser sketch.

Richard

Tuesday

I got an email from Southam Gallery; they put in a request for some “Stocking Stuffer” sized paintings.  Generally I don’t like doing such small work because you can spend the same amount of time and do a 12x16 which would sell for more.  But if I can keep these small 9x12’s loose like a quick study they might be fun and who knows maybe they just might sell as stocking stuffers? Here are two block-ins I did this morning.

I’ll try to do a half dozen of them!

My wife has a big birthday coming up, so I haven’t been diligent about writing. Instead I have been racking my brains on what to get her.  Maybe a DeWalt 12” Double Bevel Sliding Miter Saw would be the perfect present !!!  Between you and me I am working on something secret, but the last thing I would want to do is tell the internet where it would leak back to her!

Richard Boyer

Sunday

I’ve been told by some people to write about our cabin, mainly my sister, who is curious to see pictures and hear about the place. 

The seventies are one of those decades they could easily delete and nobody would really mind too much. What do we really cherish from that era, certainly not disco, bell-bottom paints or that puffed up buffo hairstyle.  The renovations in the housing industry were equally as bad, out with the classy Victorian style in the renovations and in with the modern cheap nouveau plastics.  Most houses, like ours in the historic Avenues area were gutted, all that fine oak trim thrown out to be replaced with lovely green wall-to-wall shag carpet and dark wood paneling.  Let’s not forget the large wallpapered living rooms depicting lavish Mediterranean scenes, the olive toilets and sinks decorated with yellow or brown tile in every bathroom.  How quickly they could erase 100 years of tradition in the name of modern renovation.

We spent a decade removing and correcting the faux pas of the seventies with our house from the 1890’s.  Our cabin was, unfortunately build in the 70’s, built to save costs, built to save on labor, aesthetics and functionality. Starting with the foundation that is shy eighteen inches above the frost line, because they wanted to save money and not dig down deep enough.  At 7000 feet the foundation should have been at five feet, ours is only three.  This may explain why the southwest corned is sinking down three inches; maybe also why the floors are so ice cold lacking insulation.

Why is it that one has to sit sideways on the toilet because your knees hit the wall in front of you, the floor laminate cut around the bathroom fixtures and filled with some off white, yellowed with aged caulking to fill in the gaps?  The cheapest of trim used around all the doors and windows.  This is why the cabin really needs to be leveled and re-built again. A process that I am not looking forward to since I have done it all before and know exactly just what it entails. The endless hours and labor involved, unless you happen to win the lottery and can afford to have some contractors do it all for you. 

With that in mind I am driving up to Idaho to buy a lottery ticket !!!

It’s nice to hang out there, but we all realize that it could use some major fixing-up, someday.

The best thing about it is the view!

Richard Boyer   

Monday, April 23

This piece is an older one I did a few years ago and so since I have it back in the studio: I figured it was fair game to attack. I blasted away the dark hill in the back ground, added sky and put some more umbrellas on the right side of the road.  The greenery at the upper left was also worked on, as well as a potted plant in the lower left side to balance better. The woman on the right hanging something on the wall was also given a dress with apron. 

Here’s a picture of how it looked before.

Richard Boyer

Friday

Well after the crit session I decided to add a little more to it, mainly take out the figure on the bike and add some flower pots to the bridges. They actually have quite a few of them decorated in flowers, it adds to the beauty for the boater’s instead of just looking at cold steal girder bridges.  Behind the flowers I threw a few figures in to give it some life.   

Richard Boyer