plein air

This last Saturday I was fortunate enough to have the weather warm up a bit. This gave me a chance to get out and do a plein air painting. For me, one of the hardest aspects of painting on location is choosing a subject. No matter where you are there are literally hundreds of possibilities all around you. I decided to venture out near the lower Madison River because I hoped to do a little fly fishing after I completed the painting. When I got to the river the wind was blowing pretty hard, which drastically limited where I could paint. I found a small canyon that looked to be a good shelter from the wind so I hiked in a few hundred yards to see what I could find.

I was hoping to find a good landscape that had a lot of depth but that just wasn't in the cards. I settled on a hillside scene of junipers and sage. There was some patchy snow on the ground and I though this scene had a lot of variety for such a small study. Overall, it was a good learning experience and I look forward to the next chance I get to paint outdoors.

"Junipers & Sage - Winter" 8X10

Bighorn Sheep

I spent some time photographing bighorn sheep near Big Sky, Montana this weekend. This is a great time of year to see them because the heavy snows drive them down from the high country. They are extraordinary animals that not many people get a chance to see in the wild. That's why I love living in Montana. I took some great shots and hope to turn them into a painting sometime soon...

New Pieces and Studio Clearance Sale

I have just updated my website with two new original pieces.

http://www.kellydangerfield.com

Also, I'm having a studio clearance sale to raise funds for study materials. Check out my website to see several pieces that have been drastically discounted.

First Post

Hello everyone,

I started this blog to share the daily/weekly happenings of my art career with anyone interested. I especially want to share study paintings, works-in-progress, and photos from reference trips that are not normally found on my website or in my newsletters. I hope you enjoy.

Here is a small still life study I did in my home recently. I'm just now realizing the importance of painting from life, whether it be a still life or painting landscapes on location (en plein air). I'm already finding the influence this type of painting has on my overall skill level and style. I hope to do at least a few "study" paintings each month, in addition to my normal studio paintings. Since winter in Montana is not very conducive to oil painting outside, I'll probably stick to still life paintings for the next month or so.

My wife recently received flowers for her birthday and I thought they would be an interesting subject for a still life painting. Here is the result. I was mostly experimenting with some palette knife painting techniques and texturing. The overall result isn't that great but it was fun to do.