The Leaf.

This past March, when hiking near Sedona, I found this leaf right in the middle of the trail. If I had been looking off, I would have scrunched it. If my dog had been with me, she would have scrunched it. Would have previous hikers on the trail carefully stepped over it, or missed it by accident? In any case, the leaf was waiting for me to find it.

Right now, the finished exhibition print is at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, waiting to be hung in the Studio Tour Preview show, which opens September 1st. I hope this was the right print to choose, and it will draw folks into my studio during the Tour, on the 16th and 17th of September.

I guess what draws me most to this photo is the gradual change in tone on the leaf as it curls outward, against the consistent tonal value of the soil. The structure of the leaf is also intrigues me. What do you think?

My latest painting, Dirty Sams In a New Face, was created with pastels. I began this painting with a group of other artists from the Colorado Coalition of Artists, during our Old Town Paint Out, in July 2006. Old Town is the heart of Fort Collins, and the buildings there have been lovingly restored in the last 25 years or so. However, I still remember a great 3.2 bar from my college days at Colorado State back in the early seventies. Sometimes, I'm not sure change is good. . .

I did very much enjoy working in pastel. I seem to love bright colors, and pastels give that easily... and they are easy to mix, right there on the paper after application. You can create a mess though with all that pastel dust, but that may be part of the fun?

This was one of the easiest paintings (and most fun) paintings I've ever done. Creating the piece was a lot of work, but enjoying old memories with new friends created a most enjoyable experience. Should I say it...?? It almost just painted itself!