Two Extras

Here are two extra paintings I did while in Crested Butte for the show this past weekend.

The one just above is of a pond at the campground I stayed in. This pond was lined with these beautiful Cottonwood trees. The light and the reflections were too much to pass up. When I left the campground to go to the show Friday morning, I had to stop and do the painting. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be a good one. Unfortunately I had already turned in the paintings for the show and they were already hung.

The first painting pictured above, is of a scene between Crested Butte and Almont, that I did on the way home Sunday. Even though the show was over, the artist in me wouldn't let me pass up the opportunity to do this painting. It is the road to "Jake's Cabin" which climbs throught the pass and down to the Taylor River on the otherside. Again it was the light on this scene that prompted me to stop and do the painting.

Stopping to do the painting of "The Road to Jake's Cabin" reminded me of a time that son Ted and I were going to go to Canada several years ago to paint and fish. We had two weeks. The idea was to paint and fish our way to Calgary, Alberta where I had a friend who had invited us up there to fish the Bow River. Ted would do the fishing and I would do the painting...and maybe do a little fishing too. At the end of ten days, we hadn't even gotten out of the state of Colorado, so we had to call the trip off. Ted said that next time I couldn't do any painting until we got to Canada, which was the case the following year. That time it worked out better.

So is the risk if I stop to paint everything I see no matter when or where I am going I might get anywhere. I would love to have the time to do that, just wandering around stopping to paint the picture and then move on to the next one, maybe stopping to fish a bit too. It's a good thing I got home Sunday, even though a bit later than I had told Kathy I be there. It is a wonder that I get anywhere, when I'm supposed to, when I have a painting kit with me.

Although these paintings weren't in the show I have framed them and they are available at my sudio/gallery. They are both 9x12 watercolors and are framed with linen mats, fillets and Museum glass and for sale for $600 each. I can send you a photo of them framed if you are interested.

Crested Butte Plein Air Invitaional

I have to say that the reception and show in general for the Crested Butte Plein Air Invitational, hosted by the Oh Be Joyful gallery in Crested Butte this past weekend was very well done. The quality of work was very good. As with all shows, there were some paintings that weren't up to par but overall it was very impressive. The hard work of Shaun and his staff in setting up the tent and the lighting and the hanging of the paintings definitely showed. It is a difficult task to show art properly in an outdoor setting but they did it.

The idea here is that 45 artists (all professionals), including myself, were invited to come to Crested Butte and paint the subjects of our choice as long as it represented Crested Butte and the surrounding area, and then display and sell the results. I was fascinated by the choice of subjects that each artist made and how he or she represented the chosen subject matter in their paintings. It is well known that if you take five artists and line them up to paint the same thing, the results will vary. That's art. Each of us sees the same thing in a different manner and will portray what we see differently than the artist standing next to us. Click here to see what each of us painted and what sold.

While the big show is over, select pieces of art have been kept by the gallery for the remainder of the show which runs through Sunday. If there is anything of mine that you see that interests you please let me know as I have all of them back here in my gallery with the exception of "CB Alley" which the gallery chose to keep until the end of the show. I was fortunate to have sold my "quick draw" painting (a quick draw is a set time limit we all had to do a painting) on Saturday. It is not pictured however. Thanks to Brenda from Tulsa who bought it.

Crested Butte Plein Air Art Show

This is one of 9 paintings I've done in watercolor in the Crested Butte, Colorado area for the Crested Butte Plein Air Show which opens the 15th of July. You can find more information on my gallery page at www.facebook.com/simpsongallery. You DO NOT have to belong to facebook to access my gallery page. It is available to the general public.

Bears, Eagles and Fireworks

Wondering how others were going to spend the 4th my wife Kathy and I and another couple, jumped on our Harleys and rode up to Red Lodge, Montana to find out. Ya, I know, it’s a long way to go for the weekend. Every little town we rode through was having, or getting ready to have, their 4th of July celebration.


First off I will say that the countryside was green, green, green, and the rivers were all running really muddy, really wide and really fast...and there is still a lot of snow left in the mountains. Looked more like April than the 4th of July.

In Lander, Wy, Main St. was closed for their celebration. We spent the night at an old RV/Tent campground right in town. It was run by an old codger who told us to pick a spot under the shady cottonwoods and put up as many tents as we wanted. I don’t care how many of you there are. That’ll be $20. CASH! We paid up…CASH…and picked our spots.

In Cody, Wy they were getting ready for their tribute to the 4th. Lots of flags and folks in town. We kept going on to Red Lodge, Mt, at the base of the Beartooth Mountains. We rode our Harleys down Main St. and it looked like a mini-Sturgis rally. Motorcycles and bikers everywhere. We fit right in. Lots of American flags waving in the breeze in a grand display of patriotism. Camped in the KAO, all of our neighbors were bikers. Harley’s lined up like it was a dealership. All good folks and proud to be Americans.

In the morning we rode over the famous Beartooth Pass. It rivals our Red Mountain Pass. Fabulous views. Alongside the road there were still drifts of snow 10 to 15 feet high that the road had been plowed through. Coming off the other side, as far as one could see, the mountains were still VERY snow capped. We entered Yellowstone NP where we were treated to bear, buffalo and elk. That evening we sat around the campfire sipping some of Lynchburg’s finest and kept mosquitoes at bay with DEET and cigars.

In Flaming Gorge, Utah we saw an eagle in a tree eating a freshly caught fish. As we came off of Menoken Hill Monday night we were treated to the great Montrose Rotary fireworks display. We even got onto our deck at home, with a cold one, in time to catch the grand finale.

The cost of our curiosity? Gas, $122.81. Campgrounds, $52.50. Food, $32.50, for a total of $207.81. The material gathered for paintings and the sheer pleasure of it all? Priceless. It sure beat staying home and mowing the grass.