The CMPA paintout came to a close with a great show in the Rock Run Gallery in Buena Vista, Colorado. It was great to see the gallery filled with the inspired work that the artists had been painting all week. A young woman named Kelly won both Best of Show and the Southwest Art painting award. My friend Barbara Martin won Artist's Choice and a Business Patron award. Although I didn't win any awards this time I came away with a couple of paintings I really like. The aspens were at the peak of their color so every day we were inundated with great scenes to paint. I got to paint with some great painters and learned some awesome things from them. All in all it was a great week! 

Today was the last full day of painting at the CMPA Paintout. This morning I drove south of Salida, Colorado about 10 miles to paint a barn with Kelly and Barbara Martin. The barn is on some property being rented by the owners of a local coffee house. I think this was the best painting I did during the event. It's a pretty bad photo but you can get a look at it on my Facebook page. Tomorrow the show begins. There are some great painters here and there should be some great paintings. This afternoon was devoted to signing and framing three paintings for the show. Delivery happens tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. Then there's a 2 hour quickpaint that I hope to participate in. It should be a fun ending to an awesome event.

I didn't put up a post yesterday because it rained all day and we didn't paint. After some good coffee and conversation I drove to Denver and picked up Cheryl. While in Denver I got some plexiglass cut for my Soltek easel and another palette I use. After a good night's sleep I tried to drill the palette and it cracked. Oh well, I just used the old one. Another one of a series of little exasperations that are making the week difficult. I decided to paint by myself this morning and get my head together. No good paintings so far and I was pretty frustrated. I was headed to a field to paint some horses but about a mile and half outside of Salida I looked to my left and saw an amazing view. It snowed in the higher elevations and the mountain tops were white. I decided to try and capture the scene before the snow melted. The result was one of the best paintings I've ever done. I'll post pictures when I can get ahold of the good camera tomorrow. This afternoon a bunch of us went painting together on the Arkansas River. It helps to know some of the local painters. I would never have found this site. It was incredible! The bushes on the banks were turning yellow and casting a reflection. I did a painting I'm proud of. It was an awesome day. The weather was perfect. The painting sites were outstanding. The company was inspiring. Finally I have two paintings I can put in the show on Saturday. 

Day two of the CMPA paintout went a little better for me. I got two paintings done. The first was of a beautiful waterfall in the morning and the second was of a stand of aspens reflecting in a lake. The colors are absolutely amazing. Photos don't do this place justice. There are people in town from all over the U.S. for the changing of the aspens. It's worth the trip if you can ever get here. They say the peak is Sept. 25th each year. It's going to be hard to beat what I saw today. It takes a little getting used to Colorado colors. They are much more muted than Missouri's. As I was finishing my second painting a couple of ladies stopped and asked me how much I would sell it for. They pooled their money and offered me every last dollar they had. I felt sad that I had to turn them down. All they had was $79.00. 

I've got good news and bad news. First the bad news. I took off from Denver this morning for Salida, Colorado to participate in the Colorado Mountain Plein Air Paintout. On the way I stopped to see a good friend and fellow artist, Rita Cirillo. She was at her friend Tom's house in Conifer which was an awesome 4,000 Sq. Ft. dome. (It's for sale if you're looking to move) As I was leaving I suddenly had a vicious nosebleed - the worst I've ever had. My nose bled for four hours! I stuffed a paper towel up my nose and drove to Salida. As I pulled into the emergency room parking lot the nosebleed finally stopped. It started bleeding again tonight during dinner but it wasn't nearly as bad. I think the dry air has something to do with it. The good news is that the aspen trees have all turned and are as beautiful as I've ever seen. You can't imagine the brilliant yellows against the green background of the evergreens. I got here late and didn't get any painting done but I took some amazing photos. Tomorrow I'm going to hit it hard. Had dinner with friends Barb and Kelly Martin who are staying next door at the Super 8 and Josh Been and his family. Josh is an amazing painter who was recently featured in Southwest Art magazine as a young artist to watch. 

I'm sitting on my son Jarrod's couch in Denver after having hugged my granddaughter for the first time. It was the best thing ever!  Brielle was born September 7th so she sleeps alot. I'm thinking about doing about 1,000 paintings of her. We're staying here for the weekend and then I take off Monday for the Salida, Colorado paintout. I'm really looking forward to this since I've never done it before. I was in Salida several years ago visiting some friends. People tell me it has changed significantly - becoming something of an art town now. The good news is that I've been all over these mountains in years past so I know some GREAT painting locations.

Okay, that was just a dream I had last night. Seriously, I'm so glad you took the time to look at the new site and read this blog. In the future I hope to offer my humble thoughts on life and art, which for me are practically one in the same. The summer has been filled with the art show in Ste. Genevieve, MO and commission work. It has been so flaming hot here in SE Missouri that plein air painting screeched to a halt in mid-June. The heat index was over 100 for something like 40 days straight. However, the weather has broken and as soon as I finish this blog I'm out to paint the Alley Spring Mill. I look forward to updating you via the blog in the future. All I can tell you right now is that exciting things are in the works in the near future! Stay tuned.