Please come to my gallery in SLC, Cornerstone Gallery of Fine Arts tonight.  It is the Grand Opening Gala from 6-9pm.  Many of the artists will be there.  Click on the link above and check out the roster of incredible artists.  Hopefully you'll get to meet some of them at the opening tonight, 3/22/13.

I hope to see you there!

Busy week.  A bit late with this post....but can't break tradition now :)   Yeah Ravens 2013 Superbowl Champions.  I'm so happy for Haloti & the team.  Can't wait to see his ring.  Too cool.  We're sorry Halot got hurt.  Sprained knee.  He'll be okay, thankfully.

My sister and nephew got to go to the game.  I've heard some of the adventure this week when they returned, but can't wait to hear more.  They had a blast, of course. 

Looking forward to seeing my niece and nephew when they get home for the off season.  My niece is a tennis player as is my son, so they'll have a blast hitting.  My son and I hit, but I'm just a warm up :)   He's a competitive player.  104mph serve at 16 yrs old!

Was this supposed to be an art blog???  Art contains all aspects of  life...how's that?

YEAH!!!  Way to go Ravens.  Nice job, Haloti!  Man, what a win.  On to the Superbowl!!!

Let's do it Ravens!  Congrats last weekend...do it again!

Nice to finally have the snow here in SLC.  I don't like driving in it, but I love to paint it and for me, a must have for Christmas.  I'm a sporadic poster, I know, but so be it.  I still need to upload paintings, including some plein air and my new 2012 Santa painting, 'To All a Goodnight".  I'll try to get those up next week sometime.  

You can see the Santa original and purchase it at the Bountiful/Davis Art Center.  The Holiday show will be up until December 22nd.  Many nice pieces from many artists on display and for sale at a good Holiday price :)  this year, as always.  BDAC used my sold 'Checking It Twice' Santa on their announcement.  Very cool.  Thank you!  Funny story:  a local newspaper printed it stating that it was on display at BDAC...oops...wrong painting.  It is my new one on display.  Not sure what the owners of my other Santa thought when they read that :) 

I'm not handling the life drawing sessions at BDAC anymore, so for the remainder of December and next year please contact Bountiful/Davis Art Center.  I sure enjoyed it, but life gets busy and it is time for another to monitor.  A big thank you to Emma and Theresa at BDAC for that wonderful opportunity.  Thank you to all the staff who helped it all move forward.  Thanks to those who attend and the models.  Without the artists and models there would be no sessions!

Happy Thanksgiving.  Hope we all enjoy our family time and we all remember our blessings!  

A little football weekend too :)  Go Ravens!  Pretty cool, my nephew is Haloti Ngata.   Nice sack the other night!  Always wish him the best of luck, and especially good health & injury free.  More than a great football player, he is an excellent, kind, warm person, wonderful dad and loves and treats my niece so well.  Fun, 'cause I'm a Star Wars fan and his oldest son, Sam, is a Star Wars fan too!  We love our family!

We were able to visit them a year ago and see a pro game in Baltimore.  Awesome experience for our family...Ravens won too..we must have been good luck ha :)  We also enjoyed visiting Gettysburg, Fort McHenry, the Aquarium and NASA's Cryptologic Museum.  No better hosts than the Ngatas!

Congratulations to Brittany Scott!  She won the Terra Nova Provo Plein Air People's Choice Award.  Here is her piece:

Industry by Brittany Scott

Way to go Brittany!

OK, so I'm NOT into the 'Vote for me!!! Vote for me!!!'  thing.  A bit conceited and I think artwork should speak for itself.  So, with that in mind, why am I posting this?....

At the request of some of my SLCC students.  They appreciated seeing my work from the Provo Plein Air, Terra Nova Gallery paint out and so I reluctantly am posting this the night before votes are due.  I do agree, nice to see the paintings, so special thanks to David, gallery owner and pro photographer, for posting the images.  Yes, I was honored to place in the contest, more on that later, but I really don't think that should matter.

Go to http://terranovagallery.wordpress.com/ to vote for your favorite painting.  NOW having said that, please do NOT vote for mine if you don't like them.  A student of mine made a great point that it would be more fair without the artists' names.  There was a lot of nice work painted.  It is a popular vote for the painting, so vote for the PAINTING you like NOT BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE ARTIST... If you vote only because you know the artist, then it is no longer about the paintings.

What can I say, I'm 'old school'.  My artist/illustrator generation didn't personally know Leyendecker, Sundblom or Jessie Wilcox Smith, ..but WOW...we LOVED their ARTWORK... (still do, they stand the test of time) Awesome!!!

Please enjoy the show. 

Great White Throne by Anton Rasmussen

I've had an awesome visual feast and a flood of student memories these last couple of days this week.   I helped my good friend and former professor Tony Rasmussen set up his show at Springville.  Well, not the entire set up, but take some paintings down and place them where he wanted :)

When I was 18yrs, I met Tony through my mom!  He was in the midst of painting the big Delicate Arch mural at the SLC International Airport and my mom asked if he taught classes.  It just so happened that he taught at the University of Utah.  I signed up for his  classes and that's where it started.  I decided to stay after class and ask him if he remembered my mother from the airport, and yes he did.  I expressed my interest in his work and told him about my artistic goals.  He then invited me to his studio to clean, wash brushes, mount canvases and eventually paint with him.  What an incredible experience.  I even glazed an area on one of his Capitol Reef National Park panels!  I went on to study further with him at Utah State University.  I learned glazing from the glaze master.  I employ that method when needed in my work today.  I also met my wife in his class at USU!!!  (A story for another day:)  All thanks to Tony.

You've got to see this show!!!  A MUST! 

Show info and image above from Springville Museum site:

Explorations: 50-Year Retrospective of Painting by Anton (Tony) Rasmussen

July 14 - August 29, 2012

Few artists have captured the Utah landscape in the way Anton ("Tony") Rasmussen have. A well-known presence in Utah painting for decades, Rasmussen is regarded for his abstract works and his masterful and powerful renderings of Utah's canyons and deserts.

http://smofa.org/exhibitions/exhibition_details.html?exhibition_id=114&name=Explorations:_50-Year_Retrospective_of_Painting_by_Anton_(Tony)_Rasmussen

Robert McKay iPad Painting:  The Captain/Life Study

I'm pysched to be a part of Terra Nova's first iExhibit!  I've been loving the ArtRage program for iPad and desktop.  Come tonight for the opening of iExhibit 2012.  Check my Events Page for info.