When I wrote a recent post, “Why Artists Should Blog“, I left out a very important point: the value of the community’s collective knowledge and feedback. Perhaps this was obvious, but it struck home with me tonight as I was honored with the “Director’s Choice Award Purchase Prize” for my painting Moraine Park Sunset, after dozens of artists during the week helped me select the best of my work for the Estes Park Plein Air Competition. Thank you! I know that your feedback, encouragement and tips helped make it possible.

The value of community feedback–which as artists we realize in the form of group critiques–reminded me of a recent presentation I attended at a blogging conference, in which the speaker spoke about the value of blogs as a means to achieve goals. The “Wisdom of Crowds” idea is so prominent, it has it’s own Wikipedia entry. I find the idea interesting, especially since my take on the wisdom of crowds is the opposite (sorry, but it lead to the election of US President George W. Bush…which I guess means the “wisdom of crowds” is not consistent). The idea was written about by Sir Francis Galton (co-incidentally, a half-cousin of Charles Darwin and inventor of the silent dog whistle!). According to Wikipedia,

Good examples of how this principle is applied in blogging include a) the blogging network 43Things, a really wonderful site where you submit your life’s goals and share ideas and progress with others with like goals; and b) Yahoo! Answers, an increasingly popular site where you can submit a question, get answers and have the “wisdom of crowds” vote on the best answer.

For example, in Yahoo! Answers, someone asks “Who is USA’s best fine art painter?” and with 12 answers (to date) the crowd votes on the following, paraphrasing, “This is not a question to which there can be any answer. There are only opinions.” Decent answer, don’t you think? In 43Things, 117 people to date are subscribed to the goal “become a better artist“. Audrey Farber is one, and she wrote recently, “Enough with the snobbishness about community colleges. Art classes are all what you put into it. I just completed a semester of Life Drawing & feel like I’m on my way…“.

So, in the end, having won the highest award tonight yet in my art career, I’m indebted to you and await the opportunity to return the favor! Just ask!

“Moraine Park Sunset” - Oil on Linen - 8×10
Director’s Choice Purchase Prize
Estes Park Plein Air 2006

This morning about 60 artists gathered downtown for the “Quickdraw”. For those of you not familiar with this, it is a timed plein air competition. We had 90 minutes to create a painting, 15 minutes to frame, awards are given and a live auction of the paintings closes the event. I was surprisingly calm…joked around with artists before the event and selected my composition and painting spot about 20 minutes before the start.
I was happy with the result and the sale price at auction ($500, half of which is donated to the local art organization). So many great paintings didn’t meet their minimum bid…lucky day!
Click the photo of my set up to the right to see the finished painting.

Another gloomy, gray day this morning. Oh well. I decided to go out anyway and find something to paint, not expecting anything. I ended up doing one of the best of this week (I think)! I swaped out “Moraine Park Sunset” from the competition, as judges generally like larger works. I still think it’s one of my strongest, but I have to “play the game”. Moraine Park Sunset will still hang in the gallery, it just won’t be considered by the judges. Click here to see the final selections for the show.

Gray days really can be beautiful. This painting got me away from color and back to tonalism, but hey, that’s what was called for.

Aspens - Oil on Linen - 14×11″

My last big challenge is the “Quick Draw” tomorrow morning. I’ll have 90 minutes to create a painting for judges and then auction directly afterward. No pressure

Here’s today’s set up:

I need to select paintings to frame tomorrow and Friday for the show. This is my current take on ranking them. The first 3 (in red text) will be jurried as part of the competition, the top 5 (green text) will be left with the gallery and the remainder come home. What do you think? Is there one missing from the top 3?

I do plan on paitnting sunsets Thursday night, and if good there is time to get into the show, but I’m assuming this is the final group. I’m also painting downtown Estes Park tomorrow, but that’s a “media event”, so I’m basically a circus animal promoting the show for the day

I really appreciate feedback from you. Don’t be afraid to be critical–I need that too. Thanks!

#1 Moraine Park Stream - Oil on Linen - 11×14	#2 Moraine Park Sunset - Oil on Linen - 8×10
#3 Bear Lake, Morning - Oil on Linen - 14×11	#4 Moraine Valley, Oil on Linen, 8×10
#5 Lily Lake Plein Air Study - Oil on Linen - 8×10	#6 Riverbed - Oil on Linen - 11×14
#7 Falls at the Alluvial Fan - Oil on Linen - 14×11	#8 Falls at Alluvial Fan - Oil on Linen - 20×16″
#9 Old Gultch Road, Estes Park - Oil on Linen - 8×10	#10 Peak (Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park) - Oil on Linen - 10×8

I met Ron Schlorff and Julia Seelos today on a riverbed inside Moraine Park for a morning of painting. I had a back spasm this morning (I have a herniated disk), so decided to take it easy. I found a spot in the shade and sat down to paint the work below.

Time for a break! Painting 5 days straight plein air, sunrise to sunset is taking it’s toll. I have enough for the show, so I’m going to take the rest of the day off and then attend a party at my host’s home, gallery owners Ron and Ann Wilcocks. Maybe i’ll take tomorrow off too

Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

Riverbed - Oil on Linen - 11×14

I set out to paint a large sunset tonight, but I could tell the combination of low and high clouds would not produce much. Instead, I sat down and painted the same stream in Moraine Park. Sorry, nothing clever to say for myself (I’m beat) so here’s a quote that fit this painting for me:

Moraine Park Stream - Oil on Linen - 11×14

The “Art Spirit” is with me today–another clear morning to paint.  As planned, I headed to the Alluvial Falls so I can expand upon my initial study and paint a larger piece.  I think this turned out well, although I’m still not sure that a) the source/direction of the light is clear enough (separation between dark/light) and b) the pines in light…still not sure it’s the right green.

I could have sold it off the easel today, so I guess that’s a good sign. Lots of interest and one man offered to write a check right there!  I told him to check the gallery on Saturday.  Don’t want to cut out their due.  I wouldn’t be here if not for the show…

After a brief seista, I’m off again later to paint sunsets at Moraine Park. I’d like to do a large (16×20) similar to the composition I did yesterday.

Falls at Alluvial Fan - Oil on Linen - 20×16″

Ah, another nice nap today before going out in the afternoon to paint until sunset–what a life!  I ended up at Moraine Park, one of my favorite spots so far at the park.  I met another group of artists to paint a spectacular sunset. To make things even more interesting, our usually quite stream was overun with a herd of Elk!  That drew lots of tourists, which was great, because for once the artists were not the entertainment.

 Moraine Park Sunset - Oil on Linen - 8×10

Here are the Elk, beautiful animals. These kept the tourists busy while the artists worked in peace…

Another beautiful morning…I’m definitely detecting a pattern at Estes Park: nice mornings, followed by rain around 12noon.  In the afternoon, sometimes it clears, but so far not often.

The light at Bear Lake was perfect.  I ran into Scott Loyd Anderson (of MN).  Nice guy.  Set up just 30-40 yards away.  We both found spots right on the lake, although painted in opposite directions.

I spent the most amount of time on the painting below, then did a quick study of the peak below that.  Finished just as it started to rain.

Bear Lake, Morning - Oil on Linen - 14×11 

Peak (Rocky Mountain Nat’l Park) - Oil on Linen - 10×8 

After a good burger at a local cafe–and a 90 minute nap –I continued my painting adventures here, as usual, without the full cooperation of the weather.  Oh well.  At least the clouds/sky are dramatic.  They’re always changing which puts my plein air painting skills to the test.  I painted the study below in–I think–about 40 minutes. I loose track of time.  By the time I was finishing, the sun came out and just hit the rocks. I added this and lit the ground and trees, but for some reason the photograph I took doesn’t show that subtlty. When I scan the painting at home I’ll get a much better reproduction.

BTW, Thursday night I have to select which paintings to enter into the competition.  Check in Weds or Thurs night and vote for your favorites. I’m not thinking much about winning anything–judging seems so random sometimes–but it would help to have the collective wisdom of my regular readers to help me check the best paintings.

Old Gultch Road, Estes Park - Oil on Linen - 8×10