Have you ever noticed how clouds drift through the sky at dusk? I have and this is my presentation of that action.
As you must know by now, sunsets are my favorite subjects to paint. However, I am also onto something brand new and I invite you to keep tuned to this blog! I hope to unveil a new type of painting for me on this website....I am offering these paintings as framed items, as they are ON glass, not just UNDER glass, so I have put them into some basic black frames with gold lips....I was inspired by an Italian master on a recent trip to Italy and took the dive into a new medium for me. I'll unveil them on Monday! Please send me your thoughts or questions....
Meanwhile, back to this post. Travelling is 18"x36", oil with palette knife, on gallery wrapped canvas and is available for $870. Click on "Works/Skies" and buy directly from Paypal -- or order as a print at www.karlanolanprints.com. The original painting need not be framed!
Occasionally I just see the most sumptuous sunsets over the Rockies. This is an example of one of them. When I paint with oil paints I use a palette knife throughout the artwork. Brushes and I do not agree on anything; they make mud, I usuallly don't want mud!
The colors in the sky vary. I don't think it's such a seasonal thing, just Nature working magic. This is the most serene time of the day for me. It's work, hurry, go, plan, quick...all day long, just as everyone does. Then, get home, go outside, avoid mosquitoes, sink back into a better frame of mind, maybe a glass of wine....You get the gist!
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This painting, "Billowing Dusk" is 12"x9, oil on canvas panel, sold unframed and costs only $220.00. Not too bad for these tough economic times, huh? Call me at 970-225-0025, e-mail me at KarlaNolan@gmail.com or through my website, http://www.karlanolan.com/ (go to "Works"/Skies and buy through Paypal) or at http://www.dailyartpainters.com/.
Living in Colorado has tremendous perks when it comes to artwork. The
natural beauty of the state is stupendous and I am fortunate enough to
live in northern Colorado, right next to the foothills.
As I walk out in the evening to view the sunset, I am amazed at how
lovely it usually is, but also at how quickly it appears and then
leaves. Capturing any part of it can be difficult; I am compelled to
refer to photographs but usually end up changing them rather rapidly --
I am the Great Editor for a brief time!
This sunset, as I recall, was during a hot summer night -- the
temperature at nighttime usually drops 20-30 degrees, but I remember
being unsure about this night. It wasn't a sure thing that we'd have
such a good one! What do you think? I was very pleased with that
evening's works.
"Another Torrid Sunset", 9"x12", pastel, sold unframed
Contact Karla at KarlaNolan@gmail.com or 970-225-0025
Okay, I put up a pretty dusk for you to gaze at. Sorry about the poor English there, but I'm annoyed with myself today. I'll explain why.
I am involved in mastering a new form of art, paintings on glass. I love it. It's very, very, very difficult to learn, however, and takes a large measure of patience. Patience is not my prime virtue, although I have certainly acquired a lot of it from raising children.
The paints I use are specially formulated for this type of art. Some of them can be quite dangerous to breathe and also to get into one's eyes. Guess what I did yesterday? I had a blob jump into my left eye when attempting to put the lid on the can of lacquer paint.
What SHOULD I have been doing? Nothing differently, other than wearing SAFETY GLASSES or GOGGLES! I spent 3 1/2 hours in the Emergency Room, having had much help from my studiomates flushing my eye with water, then taking me to the hospital. The blue lacquer paint was no longer on my cornea but surrounding my eyeball in the socket. It burned and scratched so I had to go through a liter of saline water dripping into my eye -- another eye flush. Then more drops of numbing medicine, and a special gel to take home to apply to the eye. Plus, of course, a pain killer to get through the night.
Morning has broken and I can see again through the left eye, without wearing sunglasses now. The sensitivity to light was intense and I missed my favorite moments of the day -- sunset. I couldn't bear to look up towards the West as my husband drove me home from the hospital. Luckily, all is turning out well -- even though I look disastrous -- my left eye is swollen around the outside and appears to be quite red and half of its normal size. And, oh, lest I forget -- I also severely bruised my right foot walking through the dark hallway in the basement where I decided to sleep, should I wake up in the middle of the night, so as to not wake my husband. I ran right into SOMETHING, don't know what, but was so hobbled I could barely walk. Quite the day! (And night.)
So...my advice: Wear your safety glasses when it is warranted. I suppose that's when you varnish or actively use dangerous paints, such as I did and will continue to do. I feel foolish but as my dear friend Cheryl reminded me: Accidents happen. I can't really get off that lightly. Enough said. Have a good day.
This oil painting, "Tranquility' is 9"x12", sold unframed, costs $220. Contact me at info@KarlaNolan.com or 970-225-0025.
With a title like that, it sounds like the beginning of the end of a romance! I guess in a way it is, as I'm saying goodbye to Red Mountain today. On to other views.
Every time I see Red Mountain in southwestern Colorado, it looks different to me. Either it's the time of day, the clouds, the sun hitting it at a certain angle, the season....you get my drift. It never ceases to amaze me, however. It's a truly beautiful part of the state.
As you may know, sunsets are my favorite paintings to make. There are never two the same, so you'll get to see many different ones from me! Sometimes I just make them up completely -- I bet there's one like it out there somewhere in the world! I've studied and studied them over the years -- they're split seconds in time, always drifting and changing colors. I hope you join me in my Colorado skies and sunset journeys tomorrow.
If you would like any details about the paintings I present in my blogs, look under the "Works" category of my website, www.KarlaNolan.com and you'll find what you need, hopefully.
This oil painting, "Red Mountain II" is 11"x14", sold unframed, and costs $300. Call 970-225-0025 or contact me at info@KarlaNolan.com.
Early autumn in Colorado means the very beginning of the leaf changes. Our mountains are chock full of aspen trees. They are lovely trees, not so rugged looking as one might think would be necessary for mountain survival, but they actually are much healthier up in the mountains than down on the plains, in the cities, where disease often strikes. The autumn colors are not the same as in the Eastern U.S., where you'll find multitudes of reds, oranges, yellows, and various hues of those colors. We tend to get the yellows almost exclusively. Periodically you'll see a red or orange grove of aspens, but usually it's yellow, yellow, and then more yellow.
The evergreen trees are in crisis in our fair state. The pine beetle is slowing chewing its way through our pine trees. I read that this (!&&$$$##**) beetle, yes I swore there, is all of 1/8 of an inch long but apparently this guy has quite the appetite. Driving near Grand Lake this year, up in the high country, I was amazed at the devastation brought on the trees by this little culprit. Nature takes strange twists and turns.
This is the same red mountain as in yesterday's blog, but from a different angle. My husband and I saw this mountain for the first time in the mid-1970's and he suggested I photograph it from this position. I want to give him credit for this. I could paint this over and over and over again, I enjoy it so much.
See you tomorrow.
This painting, "Red Mountain I" is oil, 14"x11", sold unframed, costs $300. Contact me at info@KarlaNolan.com or 970-225-0025.
Colorful Colorado! "'Tis a privilege to live in Colorado." I grew up with those phrases. Sunshine 300 days a year. The word "Colorado" actually is Spanish, defined as "ruddy". Let's start our Colorado tour in the southwestern portion of the state.
There is actually a "Red Mountain" in Colorado, down near Silverton and Durango. It's red and gold and ochre and beige....covered with aspen trees and firs. I've painted it numerous times, will never tire of that. I think, am not sure, there have been mines there. This state has a mining history, silver, gold, molybdenum, coal. What riches the earth bears!
Colorado has mountains, yes, but also prairies, mesas, foothills, valleys. Unfortunately, the plains get overlooked. My mother was born and grew up on the plains in the southeastern portion of the state, in Springfield, where ranchers and farmers work hard to provide food for the tables of the land.
When you say "Colorado" to people, they envision skiiers and freezing temperatures and mounds of snow. Personally, I'm not a skiier. Did that one winter, had a blast, was vain enough to ski without eye projtection (vain or dumb? I was in my 20's) and got snow blindness. I don't suggest doing such an idiotic thing to anyone!
So...this is the place that I love to be. It is a pleasure to travel to other lands and cities but return home to the blue skies and wide open spaces of this beautiful state. Please enjoy your tour.
This painting, "Red Mountain, Colorado" is available unframed. It is and oil, 10"x8" and costs $160. Contact me at info@KarlaNolan.com or 970-225-0025.
Oy! This is one tough blog. We just returned from a quick, short, and wonderful trip to New York City. I cannot say enough good things about The Big Apple! It is exciting, endearing, enchanting, energizing, I could go on and on....and it is intense, exhausting, frustrating, also. I prefer to dwell on the good .
I was fortunate enough to see approximately 150 paintings of the English artist, J.M.W. Turner. Turner is a hero to me, a true art adventurer, pioneer. He was far, far ahead of his time, a modernist in a strange sense. I encourage you heartily to view his works until September 21st at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Take your time, it's a bit overwhelming. The very last painting made me stop and gasp, needed to catch my breath. It's one painting I had seen in many books. Seeing it several feet away was delightful. And, yes, I'm a brat -- I will not tell you what it was.
So why am I torn between two worlds? I'm back in my beloved Colorado but already missing New York City. I recall taking an art road trip with you -- and my next planned state was my own state. So, I'll continue on with that (with Turner in the back of my head).
Our skies go on endlessly here. You see all shades of blues in them and the clouds can be phenomenal. They rise up into balloon shapes, cotton balls. We are of the brown and red earth here and the mostly azure skies. Dramatically opposite of the Northwest and the Northeast, we thrive on sunshine.
My particular passion happens to be skies. Perhaps it was the years I worked with meteorologists that, unknowingly, influenced me. I took it all for granted as a child growing up the first ten years in Colorado and then living five years in St. Louis. New Jersey affected me as an adolescent, though. It's more gray and green there -- very green! When you grow up with the sun, it's hard to give up the sun. So while I enjoy visiting the East Coast, I thrive in the West.
Enjoy the view!
P.S. If you look at the "Works" heading, you'll find more descriptions of the paintings presented in my blogs. Feel free to subscribe to the blogs, clicking "RSS" above and selecting your delivery system.
This painting, "Blues Skies" is 36"x36", available unframed, gallery wrapped canvas, oil, for $1295. Contact me at info@KarlaNolan.com or 970-225-0025 for information.
