I have another "Mystery Painting" in this auction.  Please get out to support BDAC.  They do so much for our community in bringing a wonderful variety of visual art shows, speakers, entertainment and classes.  I love the people at BDAC and their continued efforts in their support, advertisement and promotion of the arts.  They are also the ones around town who started exhibiting illustrators!  (Hey, we're artists too!)  They exhibit a wide variety of visual art genres.  I can't say enough good about them.  Thank you for all you do!

Bountiful/Davis Art Center announces our 2nd Annual 'Evening in the Art' fundraiser on October 29, 2010.  The event will include entertainment by the Three Tenors and Two Sopranos, hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction of donated items.  BDAC's address is on my events page.  Tickets are $30.00 per person.

I'm thrilled to paint another figure demo at David's Terra Nova Gallery in Provo on Friday, November 5th at the opening of the annual Great Things, Small Packages Show during the gallery stroll.  More info to come.

I've been wrapping up illustration work so now I'm finally getting the "secret" work posted my wife and I painted for Ogden Union Station's Secret Show.  They didn't ask or show titles, so I left mine untitled.  Cynthia titled hers.  We also got a chance to see Tom Howard and his beautiful landscape show at the Station.  He also had a piece in the Secret Show.   I felt bad that we'd missed his opening.  It was the same night as the Provo Plein Air opening.


Celebration 7x5 acrylic on canvas Cynthia McKay Secret 2010


Untitled 7x5 oil on canvas Robert McKay Secret 2010

I'm now working on another secret painting.  It is for Bountiful/Davis Art Center's 2nd Annual Evening in the Art fundraiser October 29, 2010.  Tickets are $30.00 per person.  They are doing the "secret" auction thing this year.  I demonstrated a donation portrait for them last year. 
(I don't know what happened but those demo photos disappeared along with that military donation landscape and some personal photos of my dad.  Maybe I thought I had them burned or filed and accidentally trashed them???...breathing too much retouch varnish :)   I'll be able to get the military one from a friend, but the others are gone unless they somehow... re-appear). 

Come this Friday, Oct. 8th, to Union Station in Ogden Utah for a fun show.  It benefits the Station.  It is such a terrific place.  My wife and I participated again this year.  We can't tell you what we painted...go on Friday, get your pencil, and find out!

Info:

SECRET!
Friday, October 8, 2010, 6 – 9pm
2501 Wall Ave, Ogden, UT 84401

For $10 you will receive a Secret! pencil needed to purchase art. A drawing will determine purchase rights with each piece selling for just $99. Doors open at 6pm, sign up begins at 6:30 with the drawing for purchases at 7:30pm when the secret will be out and the artists revealed. Preview the show Oct 5-8 or online at the website listed below.

http://web.me.com/catalinagirl/Secret_Show/Union_Station/Pages/Secret!_2010.html#grid

Had fun at Spring City's plein air...that is after my tent pole snapped in the wind, then I had to sleep in the cab of my little painting truck and got a $90.00 speeding ticket, nice officer but it was a typical small town speed trap...I wasn't speeding...ask Dennis, he was with me,...plus I painted two bombs.  Oh well, I was happy with two out of the four of them.

The upside was that I got to see friends I hadn't seen in a while and may thanks to the Anderson's for sharing their home and providing wonderful lunches and a final barbecue!

I enjoyed the open fields and sky:

Through the Pasture 12x9

I love painting structures:

House on the Corner 5x7

No ticket this time  on my way to Terra Nova Gallery's Plein Air Provo.  I'm extra cautious now.  (When you are stuck behind a slow, small  Toyota truck on the freeway...guess who? :)

20 + artists attended.  I was honored to get third place!  Interesting that no honorable mentions were given?  There were some terrific pieces.  Spencer Budd had a couple of palette knife beauties and James Gunter captured Provo's gestalt so well.  The exhibit is up at Terra Nova until October 29th.

My adventure started Wednesday.   Here, I enjoyed the lawn's foreground shadow and perspective leading me to the home and mountains:

Freshly Mowed 12x9

Thursday was a full day driving around Utah Lake's bay, by the Provo Airport.  An interesting combination of wild places and airplanes flying overhead.  The September colors really appealed to me there:

September Hues 9x12

Later that afternoon I painted an historic yellow house that has always called me to paint it whenever I turn east on 300 North going to David's gallery.  Loved the foreground purple dappling and complementary light struck house:

Clark-Taylor House 8x10
3rd Place 2010 Provo Plein Air

After painting, I went to the Museum of Art at BYU.  If you haven't been...you gotta go!  Right now they have a landscape exhibit downstairs,  Wide -Open Spaces:  Capturing the Grandeur of the Southwest.  What a study after paint-battling the outdoors. 

The day culminated in a wonderful, inspirational presentation at BYU's Harris Fine Art building by the great illustrator/painter Greg Manchess.  Thank you Bob Barrett and the Design Department for inviting him.  Manchess discussed the importance of WORK NOT talent.  I loved his thumbnail sketches.  He is a terrific draughtsman.  Nice to hear him discuss the importance in exhausting design possibilities of a piece.  He emphasized that students often don't do the preliminary work necessary for an effective painting.  I'm currently in the middle of another batch of illustrations myself, so it really hit home to me.  He also talked about his influences, and showed nice progress photos of his paintings.  I was pleased to see a few of my students there.  Good for them!  (Where were the rest of you?...you missed out!)