Final Paintings from my BFA Show (1st Half)

Summer Scene, 48" x 48"

Stage One, 32" x 36"

Roman Descent, 18" x 24"

Olive Eye, 20" x 24"

Midnight Covering, 32" x 36"

Internal Movement, 18" x 24"

Hit the Birdie, 48" x 48" SOLD

Hide and Seek, 18" x 24"

Fowl Scene, 18" x 24"

Draped, 18" x 24"

Final Paintings from my BFA Show (2nd Half)

Hearts Together, 9" x 12"

Hidden Thistle, 9" x 12"

Hearts Apart, 9" x 12"

Blue and Gold, 9" x 12"

Blonde Stalks, 9" x 12"

Dive, 18" x 24"

Familiar Surroundings I, 9" x 12"

Familiar Surroundings II, 9" x 12"

Familiar Surroundings III, 9" x 12"

Blue Poles, 20" x 24" SOLD

Kitchen View, 40" x 36" SOLD

BFA Show

My BFA Final Exhibit was on display during the last two weeks of October and it went really well. It was exciting to see all my paintings hung on clean walls and lit with the nice gallery lighting! I was used to seeing the paintings stacked up in my messy studio space. There were 21 paintings in the show, ranging from 9 x 12 inches to 48 x 48 inches. Three paintings were sold, which was also a nice bonus! Here are a few pictures from the exhibit....

BFA Show

My final show is in less than 3 weeks! I'm not completely finished yet, but I'm getting close. Here's a sneak preview of one of my finished pieces. I started this painting months ago, but it's finally done. The top picture is what it looked like a while ago and the bottom picture is the finished product. Hopefully you like the bottom picture better! I do. It's one of the 4 foot by 4 foot panels. Anyway, life will be really hectic for these final 2 and a half weeks. Yikes. I keep warning Josh that I'm nearing a breakdown. It could happen at any moment, but so far I've kept my sanity. Let's hope I can hold out for a few more weeks and then it will all be behind me and I'll be able to breathe.

*The show will run from the 17th to the 31st of October. The opening reception (which you are all welcome to attend) will be the Friday, October 17th from 7-9 pm in the Harris Fine Art Center, B.F. Larsen Gallery on the main floor.

Studio Time

So, my final BFA show is in about a month. I'm freaking out a little bit. Yikes. I have a lot to do, but ll get it done. I spent several hours in the studio today and it went really well. I made some good progress on a painting I've been struggling with for months. I am loving my new larger studio space!!! I never bring my camera to the studio, but maybe sometime soon I can post some pictures of the new studio space and the paintings.

My final show will be up in the main gallery of the Harris Fine Arts Center on BYU from October 17 through October 31. The opening reception will be Friday, October 17th from 7-9 pm. Mark your calenders!

Great Salt Lake Series

As an artist, some of the most important themes to me are place, land, and home. I love to explore the stories of my surroundings. This is a series of paintings I did based off of the Great Salt Lake, one of the most notable landmarks in my home state of Utah. After studying the history of the lake as well as numerous different maps of the lake, I found the lake's purpose has evolved through the years, just as it's shape and size has changed with the rise and fall of the water. Hopefully my paintings illustrate this ever-changing nature of the Great Salt Lake.  

Wairere Falls Series

I thought it might be interesting to post some of my past art, since I don't have anything new since my last big post of current art. The images that follow are part of a series I did in New Zealand a year and a half ago. They are mixed media: collage, acrylic, wax, and ink.

I learned quite a bit through this series. It became a springboard for the way that I work now. Unfortunately, all of the paintings but one remained in New Zealand to be sold. I kept the bottom one with the picnic tables.

84th Annual Spring Salon

Earlier this month I entered the annual juried show at the Springville Museum of Art. I just found out that my painting was accepted. Yay! I entered a small watercolor piece title Behind Main. It's actually quite different from what I'm currently doing. I didn't have any of my current paintings ready for display, so I entered this piece that was framed and ready to go. It depicts an alley from downtown Salt Lake.

The Spring Salon opened today and will go through the first week of July. It's always a great exhibit and I'm sure this year will be no exception. I'm sure my Mother in Law will be pleased to hear that James Christensen will have two pieces in the show, as well. If my little watercolor isn't enough to pull you, his paintings will do the trick! (She is a dear friend of James Christensen's wife and a huge fan of his art!)

Here are a few of my favorite local artists and their artwork that is included in the exhibit:

Sunny Belliston -- Itapua II

Jared Ellis -- Onsite B66 #17

Jacqui Biggs Larsen -- Song of Small Things

Brian Kershisnik -- Madonna and Child with Saints Repairing Bicycle

Jennifer Rasmussen -- Dancing Gracefully in her Ruffled Paper Dress

My art, as of 4-19-08

My studio space at BYU. Pretty chaotic, but sooo nice and convenient.

This one began as a painting about the wheat and the tares, but it turned into a painting about yellow lines.

This was my second attempt at the wheat and the tares, but it turned into a painting about green, blue, and violet rectangles. I had fun with that bright blue.

This one is larger than the other two. It's about 2.5 or 3 feet tall. All these paintings are acrylic paint on panels.

I wanted to do a painting about growth and decay, so I did this one. But I think it's more about form and color in the end.

This one is is 4 x 4 feet, and much heavier than I'd like it to be. (Thanks to Dad for building the panel with me!) I actually painted this painting the other way around, with the green at the top, then I saw it upside down and liked it better that way. This one's not done. I need to change something, but I haven't decided what.

This is the most recent painting, finished yesterday. It's about 3.5 feet tall. I wanted a big linear form of a seed or lima bean and that big blue shape is what I ended up with.

Woohoo for the new art blog!

The plan here is to update this blog with images of my art and other art that inspiring me. We'll see how it goes!