“Grand Afternoon"
Original unframed oil, 6"x8"
©2012 Diana Moses Botkin
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This is one of the lovely inspirations from my recent trip. The Tetons are such a powerful and amazing place.
My
first real plein air experience was there almost a decade ago when I
took a workshop from Jim Wilcox. Although I had already begun to paint
on location outdoors after I moved to Idaho, I hadn't worked far from
the conveniences of my studio. The Wilcox workshop took me completely
out of my comfort zone. I
learned that painting en plein air meant alternately freezing or
roasting, especially in a place like Jackson Hole where it can snow in
the middle of summer, or heat up on a spring afternoon with burning
sun. Painting out also usually meant no running water and no nearby
coffee stands or toilets.
And I saw pretty quickly that carrying a lot of supplies very far, camera and lenses (plus lots of film!), along with food and drink, would tire me out more than the work of painting, which was plenty challenging just by itself.
Everywhere I looked was potential material and I had to learn to choose a scene, compose and edit. I'm still learning these facets of painting.
(above) "Teton Highlights" Oil 9"x12"
©2003 Diana Moses Botkin
Here is one of two decent paintings from that time painting in the park in 2003. This had started out as a 16"x12" painting which was unrealistically ambitious for a plein air piece. I managed to get the top part of the piece painted on location, so turned it into a smaller painting with some later touch-ups. The view is pretty much straight on, compared with the newer piece above showing the viewpoint more to the south (and a month later in the year, so with less snow).
I do see progress from those earlier plein air pieces, but I want a whole lot more!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Teton Muse
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8 comments:
These paintings bring back wonderful memories when I visited the Grand Tetons....It left me speechless when I first saw these amazing mountains. You did an incredible job with this, Diana.!
We first went through there when I was a child and my mother still talks about how dumbfounded she was to see them for the first time.
I remember we stayed in a log cabin. It was summer and quite cold so we built a fire in the little wood stove.
Such a refreshing vision for this dry, hot summer!
That snow up high does look inviting on a hot day.
This is so involved, yet unified into the beautiful power of the mountains. I'll bet the Wilcox workshop was memorable!
Mary, I appreciate that insight, for all those knooks and crannies in the peaks are indeed involved and need to be tied together.
The Wilcox workshop was quite an event for me. What made it so memorable was the experience of simply getting out in the Park with all my gear, watching Jim's demos, and trying to make some decent paintings on location myself. I still think it is not an easy thing to do.
superb!
The painting is very strong and dramatic. You are so right about plain air painting. It is always an adventure but brings so many memories.
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