Stampede Art Show

The Eleventh Annual Stampede Art Show had its grand opening yesterday! Many of the artists were there, and there were a host of buyers eagerly viewing and complimenting the works of art. The show is in a new building, and the set up was much better than it had been. They captured the flair of the west beautifully. There was a band, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a wonderful meal. The quick draw artists created some wonderful spontaneous paintings for the auction. The proceeds benefit the Stampede Foundation Scholarship Fund.

As for me, I didn't sell the painting "Yellow Earrings," but my little "Sunday in Sage" did sell. I am delighted as this is my first sale at this show. Hopefully I can build on this next year. First I have to be invited back.

But even better, was being back in touch with artist friends who I admire and don't see or am in touch with enough.

"Sunday in Sage"

4" x 6" Water color painting.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

Win a Mouse Sculpture!!

Today I saw that Steve Worthington is holding a contest to name 3 turtle sculptures. The prize is a mouse sculpture! Since I really like Steve's mice, and his turtles are really neat, I decided to pass this along. (Besides it won't do me any harm either. I'd really like to have his little mouse Nosey!) You can go to his blog and name the three turtles, or another way to enter to win is making a blog post about this contest. So, go and give those turtles a name.

Flood

Thursday, June 10
The news has been talking about the high flood waters as a result of the couple of hot days melting the snow so fast it caused the creeks and rivers to overflow. Last night they said the Poudre River was over its banks in Ft. Collins, and this morning the pasture is officially flooded. The above picture was early morning and looks like that paint was cooling his heels after the hot weather. The water spread quite a ways into the into the pasture, and the sun didn't last very long. By afternoon it was pouring cats and dogs, and the rain kept it up all night as well.
Friday, June 11
Dark clouds and severe thunderstorms today. Rain dumped twice here today, adding to the flood level, but dodged the hail and tornado's.
Saturday, June 12
Rained all day today, and all night into Sunday as well.
Sunday, June 13
The satellite reception keeps going out with clouds so thick and fully saturated. That of course means wet, and the flood area of the pasture had doubled.

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I took a walk out on the road to view the pasture. I'd say it looks like I won't have to water the horses for days! The water line is 18 yards from the "old" studio. The pasture and the yard won't be dry enough to mow until the grasses are almost too tall and too thick to mow! And just yesterday they were brown from the heat ...

This is from the culvert where all the water came from, backing up through all the old irrigation ditches from the flooding river. Clear in the background you can see two other little patches of water showing how far it got into the pasture.

This was taken from the corner. So this is looking south showing what I call the north pasture.

This is from the culvert again, looking more north west to show more of the pasture.

This is a close up of the picture below. Blogspot would not let me drag them into the proper positioning. Have even aquired a couple of Mallards in the deal. The gray in the background is my Arab gelding Count.

The Mallards, Count still behind the tree, and my green roofed barn in the background. This is what I call the middle pasture. The fence on the right separates it from the north pasture.

WIP - Yellow Earrings - Finished

The one I've been waiting for. "Yellow Earrings" is finished. I've tinkered on it long enough, so time to quit. I had several suggestions and implemented several of them. I have been wanting to do this painting since an artist friend, Lynn Thomas of Wyoming sent me a picture of a cow with her ear tags and titled it Yellow Earrings. I asked her right off if she was going to use that photo/idea or could I get her permission to use it. She was delighted that I wanted to use it. I wish she could have seen it finished.

Below is an enlargement of just the calf. I guess it was a silly thing to put up because the calf is almost the whole size of the painting and the enlargement doesn't amount to much. But it is up, so up it stays. If anyone wants me to enlarge just the eye, or any other part, I could do that for you.

Today is pretty hot. It is supposed to hit 90° ... it is a bit over that, but now they are calling for Thunderstorm warnings. It's always something.

As I said before, this painting will be shown at the 11th Annual Stampede Art Show, in Greeley, Colorado. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by. There will be a lot of really super western art there.

Okay, time to clean up my mess from this painting, and clear the decks for the next one.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings - 5

As you noticed, I skipped over number 4 in the series. This is a much better idea of what it is going to be. You can see by the sketch, that I'm enlarging her right ear some, seemed to need it. The grass is coming along, although I dread every stroke. The grass will go right up to the top of the page. The sky is only implied by the reflection in the calf's eye. The shape of her face has to be deepened some more, but over all I'm beginning to relax about the outcome. I will only post one more, and that will be the finished one.

Since this is the last post before the big finish, any suggestions need to be voiced now, or forever hold your peace.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings - 3

Okay, time for an update. Man, this blogspot is soooo uncooperative. Maybe it's just me, but it sure is stubborn software.

This doesn't seem like much of an update does it. But the black blob is filled in, and I assure you there are many hours in all the brush strokes. There will still be more color, but the color will be more subtle. Hopefully that will show up in the next update.

Today is Memorial Day and my daughter and I went up to the cemetery for the service. There were easily 300 people there, and the program was very nice. The nicest thing happened when we ended up with two fly over's. The planes were late, but before they got there a Bald Eagle flew over. He was pretty high, and I don't think many noticed. The planes did arrive at a perfect time when the uniformed men laid wreathes on the crosses of the different wars to commemorate the soldiers of our community who fought in each war.

The tributes, planned and unplanned were perfect for a perfectly beautiful day.

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings - 2

Okay, here is a little more.

The big black blob is neck and a little shoulder, and before it looks like a cow with hair on it there will be many, many layers of single strokes with the brush in many colors. I forgot to give the basic information with the first post ... This is a 9.5"x 9.5" watercolor painting. on Arches 140# cold press, rough, paper. I leave the sizing on when I'm doing animal hair and fur as it helps simulate the texture of fur, and the cold press rough paper helps also. Using a #4 brush.

One friend, at stage one, thought he was looking at a couple of squirrels or something because his eyes couldn't bridge that gap. I forget that some of my fans need more information, and cannot read my mind, and the photo didn't show the pencil drawing ... So, I have closed the white areas across the top of her head and under her chin so you can see the size/shape of her head.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome. ::grin:: no sense taking the blame all to myself!

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

WIP - Yellow Earrings

Okay, I'm back to start the work in progress for you. This is one of the paintings I'm entering into the Stampede Art Show, here in Greeley. (If I get it finished in time!) The show will be open to the public from June 24 through July 4th. This is usually a spectacular show with many interpretations of western art.

This painting will be titled Yellow Earrings. The earrings are ID tags that are put on cattle. I think I am going to leave the tags blank so should a rancher choose to purchase it I can put his own brand on the tags. So, here is the start....

I think this young calf is a cutie ...

All art, poetry and writings are copyright & cannot be reproduced in any form without written permission from Judith Angell Meyer

"Biscuits and Gravy"

I've decided to change my header to cycle some old paintings that were published on a calendar. The first one is a favorite, "Biscuits and Gravy" with a couple of rascally raccoons that got into the chuck wagon. This was always a favorite, and I am planning a Gicleé print of it later in the year.

Next entry I'll start a work in progress of the painting I'm doing for this year's Stampede Art Show. The show will be open from June 23 to the 4th of July.

Back soon.

The First Day of 2010

I have already taken a tentative step into the first day of the new year. I'm in rehab for my back now, and, well, I'm in rehab for my back now ....

The most important chore is done and the new year should go smoothly now. ::grin:: You are not going to believe this story, but I learned from my mother-in-law many years ago that if you go into the new year, behind with your laundry, you'd be behind for the entire year. This lady was from southern Germany, and I don't know if this is a traditional German ritual or not, but she was adamant about it. And she should be. She was always behind with her laundry, and she would spend several days in her basement washing load after load. I'm sure the clothes all got dry, but am not sure folding and ironing made very much progress. Just before new year's eve she would appear again from her self-imposed dungeon, declaring that the work was done, and that the new year would be much better. Then, the week before the next new year, was an annual repeat in the same grand proportions.

In those days my husband and I ran the family bakery, on Staten Island, NY with the help of four very small children. So while I had a lot of laundry, I was never behind like my mother-in-law was. But for her sake I took on the hustle and bustle of getting everything washed before the new year. So here I am now, many years later, older and should be wiser, still remembering the most important of the new years rules, and throwing my two loads a week into the washing machine.

I wish for all of my friends and fans a wonderful 2010. Whether you are caught up with your laundry or not.

~J~