TomWolfeArt

February Update

Can you believe that it is February already? I know it is an old adage, but it seems the time whirls by so fast... I try not to waste it but at the end of the day I wonder just how much got done. Today started out very foggy and cold with the trees flocked in frost. It was beautiful and quiet. The mountains stayed to themselves wrapped in clouds but in the cabin where the fire burned cozy and warm it was a perfect day to paint. I started a new 22 x 28 in. oil. It is of a place in the mountains where the Stillwater River pours out of a wild tumble of waterfalls and rapids to a big quiet pool. In the summer there are sandbars all around it and the fish think it a wonderful place to hang out. This means I like it there as well. In fact, at the upper end of the pool I once got into a day of mighty fine rainbow fishing, so I think I will put a fisherman in the scene. This place is known locally as Hawk's Lake. There is an old gold mine shaft at the lower end but I guess the old prospector who took the time to dig it didn't find much. He should have stuck to the fishing!

In the New Work section I uploaded a watercolor of a pie I painted for the annual Nye School Pie Auction. We have this event every year around this time and the little stone one room school was packed with folks who brought pies and bought others at auction. I don't bake a very good pie so I just paint one. This year it was a spice pumpkin cheesecake with caramel bourbon sauce. The good thing about my pies is that they aren't very fattening. The proceeds go to paying for a ski program for the kids at Red Lodge Mountain, a great ski area not far from here. They also help on field trips, playground equipment, school supplies and such. We came home with a very nice pecan pie that I daresay was more fattening than mine. We didn't let that get in the way of enjoying it however.

Well, I will put the Hawk's Lake piece up when it's done. Until then, thanks for dropping by. Tom

January (finally)

 Finally, I get to this month's blog. I would have been here sooner but some interesting adventures got in the way. More on that in a minute. 

For starters, I finished an oil. There is a picture of it in New Work and Landscapes. This painting is a 22x28 oil from when we went up to the summer pasture at the beginning of August.

 It's not that the actual painting time took so long but I was away from the easel for a few weeks.  I took in a flight down the snowy Rockies on a clear day, hiked in the desert, took in the fine art around Scottsdale, Az., the Grand Canyon in all the glory of  sunset and sunrise from the vantage of the El Tovar Lodge on the South Rim. Then it was on to the Uinta Mountains, then the Wind River Mountains over the historic South Pass,  to a bunch of Indian pictographs seldom seen. We took a break for hot springing in Thermopolis, Wyo., before rolling up past the Wood River and Wind River ranges of the southern Apsaroke and on home to the mighty Beartooths. Don't worry, I brought back enough oranges and lemons to stay up on the Vitamin C in fine fashion. In fact, I'm having a fresh squeezed fruit concoction right now! What a hoot! I will post some pictures on the New Work section along with the new oil.

Of course, now that I am home I hope to get back after it. I think the next project will be a scene for my friends Jack and Pat Ross.  Jack and I were packing in the upper Stillwater one time and passed a slow place in the river where the wild water takes a break in a big, calm, deep pool. There is sand on both sides and the fishing is good. Let's see how that goes. Also, the Nye Pie Auction will be coming up soon and I will need to get something together for that. I'll keep you posted. Literally.

Well, please know that I appreciate you dropping by and hope your winter is progressing well and that you have your health.

Sincerely, Tom

December update

 
Hello! And thank you for dropping by. It's been a busy month already here at the cabin. There has been a cold snap suitable for throwing logs on the fire so I have been painting the days away.  I recently posted two watercolors in New Work.  One is a  portrait of author Peter Mathiessen that I did for no other reason than I liked the intelligent look in his eye. As an artist I consider the eye the window to the soul and very important in a portrait. The other  is of a Navajo man painted from a photograph taken by Carl Moon at the turn of the century. I liked the way his silver necklace was accented by what I assume was a purple or blue velvet tunic. I painted this piece for a little fund raiser we held here in Nye for a couple of friends and their hospital bills.

The painting I am most excited about is " Flood Creek Country".  It is finally ready to go out into the world after what has been a long yet pleasurable process.  It all started last summer when we packed up the horses and headed to the high country pastures. Those of you who know me understand that this is where I can be found every summer.  It was a perfect week  in Paradise.  Not only did I paint a study for this painting but got a few more under my belt that I hope to turn into something special soon. When I got home and caught up on all the little things that seem to pile up in life the weather had turned cold and I was driven into the cabin for time at the easel. "Flood Creek Country" is a 30x40 oil and enabled me to enjoy my mountains in different ways. First I was able to pack my ponies up to timberline where the summer pastures were still green and full of wildflowers. The fish were biting that time of year and there were snowbanks to keep the air cool enough to be quite comfortable.  Whether painting, fishing, climbing some mountain or exploring a new trail I am always at peace there. I also get to enjoy this country when the canvas is on the easel because although there may be a winter storm blowing outside I can stand in my slippers with a crackling fire warming the cabin from the fireplace. ( The radiant heat in the floor helps, too...)  By painting these scenes I am transported back to those places. Both experiences are perfect days in Paradise and I feel fortunate to spend my summers in such unbelievable country while the painting process allows me to honor these landscapes that mean so much to me. The painting is now available for you to enjoy in your own home or by returning here to the site.

On other fronts I am getting ready for a seminar I am giving in Red Lodge this weekend on painting Native American portraits in water color. I also have printed up  three new series of greeting cards featuring a few of my paintings. They might come in handy as Christmas cards or as personal note cards.  Also in time for the holiday season, you will find  two new limited edition prints. One of the Red Scarf  ( 11x14) and the other of The Blessing (16x24)  These are done on high quality archival watercolor paper. Details for purchasing these can be found on the Contact/Orders page.

Well, thanks again for dropping by. I appreciate your taking the time out of your day to do so.

Meanwhile, it's a beautiful morning in the mountains and although the thermometer said twenty below this morning the sun broke out of the tree line to the east into a clear bluesky day. There are frozen swirls of crystals  floating around reflecting the sun and sparkling like diamonds. I guess that makes me a wealthy fellow.  I think I'll throw a log on the fire and paint.  Merry Christmas from my home to yours!

november

Mid November already. As usual, I apologize for being so slow on the draw about getting this update together. I know the myriads of you devoted collectors plan your days around this blog... Seriously though, I do appreciate your patience and  for continuing to check in on the site. It is winter now. The snow is beginning to blow, (although today a nice Chinook breeze is baring the pastures for the horses).

There are a few uploads on the New Work. The 12x16 oil  Flood Creek Study and Opening the Gate, an 8x10 watercolor are recent. The waterfall and the first Flood Creek Study ( both 8x10 water colors) were done while I was up in the mountains last summer and I am just now getting around to framing them. The mountain scene of the upper Flood Creek area on the Lake Plateau has developed into the project of the moment which is a large 30x40 oil. It is not a commission and everything going on the canvas is what I want to see there so I am having a very enjoyable time at the easel. I hope to have it ready to put up on the site for you to view before the month is out. ( Go ahead and plan your calendar without worrying about it, though. You know how I am... distractions and all. Tonight it is an Emmy Lou Harris concert in Billings. Anyway, please enjoy. I am going to sign off now so I can get upstairs to spend the day lazing around in the mid summer sun at my summer pasture up Flood Creek. I  love it up there.

Mid October 2009

A long overdue how are you and thank you for dropping by. As usual it has been quite the whirlwind but today the afternoon broke sunny and warm. This shirt sleeve weather feels good after the cold and three feet of snow that blew in from the north a couple of weeks ago. The snow  is just a dream now though as the Chinook wind came blowing warm and dry, leaving very little of the white stuff.  Most of that should be gone in a couple of days as the temperatures are headed into the 70's. A nice reprieve but they claim more winter is around the corner next week.

Before the big snow fell I was able to get up onto the Buffalo Jump to block in a painting. The calm blue sky Indian summer days were perfect for a scene related to the jump as this would be about the same time the Indians would have had the big drives to secure their winter meat. From my perch at the confluence of the old stacked rock drive lines I was once again humbled by what must have been an amazing spectacle.  If all had gone well and part of the herd could have been stampeded from high up on Horseman Flat, and if none of the panicked Bison was able to get past the lines of defense and direction the people made to get the huge creatures to the brink of the cliff, and if the final push scared the bison in the rear to push the ones on the brink over the cliff, then just maybe the people would stand a better chance of making it through another winter. The noise of the thundering and bawling herd combined with the orchestrated yelling and trilling of the people accentuated by the extreme excitement of the moment must have made this a very big medicine place in the long ago. To me it still is. In fact, one day while I was working two full grown golden eagles came floating along on the slightest of thermals rising from the cliffs. They paid me no mind and it was quite a pleasure to float along with them for a while...

These days one sits up on the brink on a calm day and all you can hear is the river as it meanders through the cottonwoods in the valley below. There is a big white rock right at the spot the drive lines come together and this is in the foreground of my painting. Mountains in the distance are catching the morning sun but most of the nearer ones are still in shadow.  I  think the drives would have been made at day break so as to blind the bison at the brink of the cliff.

I have painted up here quite a few times already and each time the power of the spot affects me more. I swear that sometimes my mind's eye wanders and before you know it I am watching the stampede over the cliff. The din of the yells and bawling mingle in to the dust and the sunrise and I am left amazed by something that happened  in my beautiful valley so very long ago.

Now that the winter snows are beginning to blow in I hope to get more work done at the easel. One of the studies from this summer is up on New Work  and next I am going to work on the seen from the Lake Plateau that I blocked in last August. As I look from my cabin up into those snow clad mountains it is hard to imagine the grass green and wild flowers in the horse pastures like it was last summer.  I think I'll dream about it into a painting and see what happens. Until then, thanks again for dropping by. Sincerely, Tom