Newfork November

Friday morning where the Paradise Road crosses the Newfork at Boulder. This is in the Mixed Media show in the library, currently.

A different kind of project

Here's what I've been working on lately.
This is a project to make the concrete barricades in front of the Elementary School look more interesting and attractive. I've collected actual child drawings of kids, and am enlarging them one at a time as accurately as I can, in groups of five per block on each side.

These are the outlines, waiting to be painted. I started with a concrete stain as a background color on the blocks, and now I'm using a grid to enlarge the kid drawings, and soapstone to draw the transfer.

Next, I use a sponge to lightly color the open spaces in the drawings. The concrete stains are water based, and soak in and dry quickly - much like watercolors on paper. I tried to keep the colors somewhat subtle, so that the barricades would remain part of the overall image of the front of the school, rather than obtrusively bright, or distractingly garish. I hope they seem cheerful, but somewhat understated. So often representations of child art become so intensely colored they don't fit with their surroundings in an "adult planned" setting, which is what I was hoping to avoid.

I outline in black last, using a big watercolor sable. (It's working really well, I love how it loads and flows, but my poor sable will never be the same!! It wasn't intended to paint miles of lines on cement, I'm guessing!)

It's really been fun, and each drawing is so different and full of personality, I could have never dreamed up so much variety. The first group of three blocks are painted with kindergarten drawings, and the second group has first grade, and so on, up to fifth grade on the last group of three.

The final picture is my view down the LONG line of blocks. It looks like I've got my work cut out for me for a while! Hope I make it before snowfall!. By the time I'm done, the back of my neck will be really tan, and my kneepads will be worn out. Hopefully it will be a piece of artwork that the school will enjoy and be proud of.

SAFV auction

I'm donating these two paintings for auction at the SAFV Task Force Art Auction this year.
They are a couple of my favorites, I'm a little reluctant to donate them, as you never know what they will bring at auction. I hope they sell well. The first is an 8x10 painting I made on a Willow Creek camping trip, trying to capture the first fall colors, the second is a little 6x8 of the back of the Sublette Center I made while it was raining one afternoon.

http://cristyanspach.blogspot.com/2006/10/thursday-drizzle_20.html

Here's a link to the origional post of this one - it looks good in it's black frame. I added some details after I framed it, too.

Back Again!

Untitled, as of yet
8 x 10
Took something of a break from posting (and painting, I'm afraid) for much of the spring - feels good to be back at the easel. This one is from a stolen evening at a conference at Jackson Lake Lodge... hard not to be inspired up there.
More to come.