ColorFest Aftermath

Boxley Church

Well, the Ponca ColorFest is over for another year!  It was certainly bigger this year than I remember last year being.  The colors were not quite as vibrant as last year due to the drought this summer but they were so much better in the Ozarks than here in central Arkansas! 

Above is the old historic church and community center in Boxley Valley.  The left hand side of the building is obviously being refurbished, making what is usually one of the signature photo ops in the area less picturesque than usual.

We didn't get any pictures of the elk herd this year.  I guess a full moon kept them out feeding throughout the nights and we just weren't up early enough to catch them in the fields in the valley.

Elk Education Center Grounds

I was pretty much skunked on Friday and got very frustrated at my painting efforts.  I'm so much more comfortable in my studio where I can take my time.  It just seems when I'm outside and possibly more precisely when there are people around, that I cannot focus and lose my ability to "see" the painting in the subject.  I do have a hard time believing it's the potential audience though as I've painted from photo in front of people on numerous occasions.  While it IS more difficult, it isn't as terribly frustrating as painting en plein air!  It's like my brain shuts off and nothing works right.  I've been told by several artists that plein air work will advance my skills in the studio and I'm sure that it could except for the fact that plein air painting makes me feel ham handed.  Arkansas League of Artists has started their plein air group back up.  I need to decide if I'm going to pursue painting with them.

Despite my frustration with my own personal painting, I had a very good time watching Bill Garrison paint.  Bill and his wife Gloria both did some fantastic work during the event.  Below is Bill in the early stages of a painting of a bucket of flowers.  Below that is the same piece approaching some latter stages along with his subject.  Behind that on the table are two fabulous pieces he did the day before.  One is of the creek behind the Elk Education Center and the other is the Buffalo River near the Ponca low water bridge.  I wish I had gotten closer pictures of both of those.

Bill Garrison working on some flowers

Getting there!

Winston Taylor with a raku piece he had just fired

Yours truly making a mess again

Red Rock Point and ColorFest 2010

Red Rock Point, Eastern Face

8X10, Oil on Board

SOLD



Here's another view from Newton County. Red Rock Point is near Mt. Judea and is one of my favorite locations in the state. This imposing piece of rock is said to be one of the finest pieces of sandstone for climbing between Appalachia and the Rockies.

I'm posting yet another view from Newton County because that's where I'll be tomorrow for ColorFest.  I'll be on the other side of the county from Red Rock Point in Ponca however.  The event is at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Elk Education Center from 10AM to 4:30PM, October 22 and 23.  Come on out and visit if you have time and are in the vicinity!  As Chris suggested a couple of months ago, I'll be checking out the town of Nail on the way!

http://www.agfc.com/Pages/eventDetails.aspx?show=329

AGFC ColorFest 2010

I will be at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission ColorFest on October 22 and 23 at the Elk Education Center in Ponca, AR.  I was thrilled to learn that one of my favorite Arkansas based artists, Mr. Bill Garrison will be there also this year!  Hopefully, I'll be able to take some time out of my painting to watch him and learn from that experience.  Winston Taylor will be raku firing pottery on location.  That's always fascinating to see.  If you happen to be free, please come by and visit!

I have some new work I'm working on that I hope to show soon but as always, I will make sure it meets my expectations at least, and I am my own worst critic a good deal of the time.

Village at Hendrix Preview Tours

I've been a bit quiet here lately but that because I've been hard at work on 3 paintings for the Village at Hendrix Designer House.  Those are 3 of my more esoteric type pieces with coded messages.  I guess I would tend to call them abstract but that's a bit of a stretch.  Objective Abstraction perhaps??  Anyway, that show starts tomorrow night with a $50 per person dinner and cocktail party at the Designer House at 1105 Reynolds Avenue in Conway, AR.

I have 2 other events coming up in October as well.  The first is the Flying Jam at the Searcy County Airport in Marshall, AR on October 2nd.  The other is called ColorFest at the Ponca Elk Education Center in Ponca, AR in Newton County.  That is the weekend of October 23 and 24.  That's usually prime fall color time in the Ozarks.  Autumn in the Ozarks may not be quite the radiance of New England but the region certainly can hold its own and there's a definite magic to it.  I would highly recommend a visit if you can.  It's certainly a plus that you can see a herd of elk in rut during that same time in the same valley!  As that time draws near, I'll post more about that.

I hope to be able to get in some painting at both of these events as well as get back at the landscape painting.

Deer, Newton County

Deer, Arkansas

8X10, Oil on Board
Available

Deer is a town way up in the in the Ozark highlands in Newton County. At over 2200 feet above sea level, it may be the town at the highest altitude in the state. Despite having been in much of Newton County, I had never been to Deer before last fall when I made a point to pass through when attending an event called ColorFest at the Arkansas Game and Fish Elk Education Center in Ponca. The sky was full of leaden clouds and a mist hung over the hills, not at all unusual for a fall day in the Ozarks. I took a few pictures and whipped this out a week or two later. I'm looking forward to getting back up that way this fall for ColorFest again.

I'm going to start posting the prices of my pieces just in case someone sees something of interest. At this time, I will not be accepting Paypal because I'm a bit of a Luddite in some regards and the world is unfortunately full of nastiness. I will gladly accept check, money order and of course cash. Prices are shipped anywhere in the continental US.