Day Trip to Billings/YAM

Since my husband had to go to Billings for a class, I jumped at the chance to go with him. I love to go explore new places, see the Galleries and check out local cuisine etc. The Yellowstone Art Museum ( known as the YAM) was on my list and did not disappoint.

The YAM is the largest contemporary Art Gallery in Montana. Quite the treasure in the city of Billings.

 

I did not find out more info about the mobile, but enjoyed it in the entry from the the exhibits. They have a great website that you can access from the link above. I'm just going to show you the pieces that grabbed me. One of the exhibits was about the history of western painting, so I took down a few names to learn more about at a later date. Sorry for some reflections and blurs, also using my new phone for pics and learning to make sure it is focused.

 Bill Stockton,  "Lone Pine", Livestock marker(!) and graphite

Adrian Arleo, "Herd", encaustic and ceramic

Kate Hunt, "2kh FLAG 24", newspaper, rebar and epoxy

Kevin Red Star, "The General"

Isabelle Johnson, "East Fiddler Creek"

Joellyn Duesberry, "Folly Island, Evening, IV", Monotype

A few shots of one of the exhibit rooms, very nicely done! They also have exhibits of young local artists and a small gift shop of local art work. 

A great addition to the museum is the "Visible Vault", it is a separate building a block behind the museum. You can get a key card and go view the storeage vaults for the museums permanent collection, fun to see. It brought back memories of getting to go to the vault in Glasgow, Scotland with Stephen Quiller and see some of his favorite watercolor painters a few years ago. 

 

As there was a meeting going on in the Visible Vault entry chamber, a nice gentleman suggested I visit the studio of the Artist in Residence. I might have been too shy to do so had it not been the case. What a delightful person Artist Carol Spielman is! Not to mention that I had seen her Art around Montana and admired it. We had fun chatting about art and Billings. The studio for the Artist in Residence is a beautiful well lit space and it would be hard to give it up I would think at the end of the residency.

Of the Galleries I found I have to say Toucan Gallery was my favorite, both for the Art they have and their display of it. There is a great vintage shop, Montana Vintage Clothing. I managed to find both a small handbag and a vintage suitcase there, it would be worth exploring further on another visit. Foodie-wise we kind of struck out in that  department, my usual go to tool "trip advisor" let us down, and we had planned on dinner out, but Jeff's class let out at 2:30 instead of 5. All in all it was a good scout mission on my first visit to Billings, our biggest "city".

Getting Outside!

Plein air painting has been pretty good this fall. I'm more motivated to get out and paint due to lack of space in my current in home studio. I've got it set up for encaustic, which does not leave room for an easel too. Now if only I could stay off Pinterest on the day I say I'm writing here. Some days the inspiration and cool finds just do not seem to have an end. Today was one of them....

I seem to have lots of painting ideas flying around in my brain, waiting to settle down and get on canvas or panel. I have to write down little notes about them when they surface, otherwise they risk getting pushed aside from the next idea. Once I have time to focus on paintings I can go to my little book of random painting ideas and see which one gets my attention. 

This time of year is my favorite for taking photos also. Some for the pure joy of capturing the moment and others will become paintings during the cold indoor months. Also a show coming up helps me to focus and get these ideas out in paintings. I've been reviewing my reference photos and choosing the ones that get my attention for new paintings in encaustic. 

First day Plein Air, on a wet underpainting, a bit mushy, but fun to get out and explore my new landscape in Montana

Windy second day out, in David Mensing workshop

Up Bridger Canyon Road, good place to park and paint.

On site vista

Day one cattails and trees

Day two, a couple days later, with a little color change

New favorite painting spot by the Story Mill

Day two, painting fast with impending rain storm, it moved in fast, but I made my sky choice before the cloud took over.

A few photos from the recent fall days, amazing to watch the changes in just a few days.

Sun lit trees!

First snows

Lingering color

Just at sunset

Alaska Art in Montana

I'm excited to say that I have Art on display in Bozeman! Encaustic paintings have been unpacked, polished and are showing at Rockford Coffee, 7th & Main. So, if you live in Bozeman, stop in and get a really good cup of coffee and see some great art in one stop. I can't decide if Rockford or Daily Coffee Bar has the best coffee in town?
But on to Art...

Rockford has a mix of walls which is really great to see the interplay of the textures of the encaustic paintings and the natural brick, wood and celadon green. As I always say, many of the nuances that make encaustic art so appealing are lost in translation in a photograph, so go see them in person if you can.

A big thanks to my friend Heather who came and helped me hang them. I asked her to help, thinking I would just need another set of artistic eyes to help place paintings.
However with the limitations of the hanging system (not complaining-just a fact) it was really helpful to have another set of hands and someone a little taller too.

fall reflections, love the contrast of the yellow and the blue tile

summer at beluga slough

assorted paintings

the path less traveled, through the pushkie, devils club dance

from across the room

 

 A Big thanks to Rockford Coffee for supporting local Art and Artists~

 

Encaustic Conference in Texas

I was able to attend the Encausticon 2012 a couple weeks ago in San Antonio, TX. Good thing I had some practice being in hot weather in Montana. It was HOT, over 100 most days, cooled to 80's at night. It was a great time filled with all kinds of Art goodness. 

The most fun was being able to see my artist friends from Alaska and have more time with them. Alaska was well represented at the conference, I think around 10 out of 130 attendees.

There was a fantastic encaustic Juried Art Show sponsored by IEA during the conference. It was held at Gallery Nord, in San Antonio.

One of the workshops I attended was on book binding techniques. While we did not do any encaustics during the workshop, we were given many ideas for incorporating encaustic paint and techniques into book art projects. It was really fun to do something hands on for a couple hours and be surrounded by so much artistic energy. 

The book binding class was taught by Mary Maynor, she was very fun, completely organized. It all made sense when she said she was a nurse too. 

On Sunday, Joyce and I walked up the Riverwalk to the San Antonio Museum of Art and enjoyed an afternoon wandering the museum and taking lots of photos. Alas-never enough time, I would have loved to have gotten to the McNary Museum also-hopefully there will be a next time. Below are a few of the pictures I took on our fabulous afternoon.

Time to get back to the Blog

Wow, moving from Alaska to Montana was a lot of effort. I did not plan to take such a break from my creative blog here. But somehow time just slipped by in the chaos of all the change. We are still settling in, but feeling more grounded.

I just got back from a great trip to Austin and San Antonio TX. Hot, hot, hot there, whew. I attended the 7th Annual Encaustic Conference, now named Encausticon. It was great to be surrounded by so many artists and all the creative ideas. Ate some great food in Austin and enjoyed some live music. Emily Wolfe at the Cactus Cafe, a fun quirky up and coming singer/songwriter doing a residency at the University of Texas.

About the second week I was in Bozeman I found out about a plein air painting class and was able to attend. It was a great class by David Mensing (from Idaho). I met a few local artists and am slowly finding some connections here. That is the worst part about moving is leaving your artist friends.

Just looking through my photos and decided that I need to post a few days on my trip to Texas. Lots of things to share.

First I'll start with my plein air studies from my oil class. It was so fun to get back to the brushes, even if I couldn't find all my supplies. David was a great teacher, so much information in 2 days. We didn't have much time to paint, but were given so much info that will last and add to future paintings. The class was hosted by Cobalt Moose Studios, which is a mother/daughter team of artists. They are both amazing artists and were so friendly and welcoming at their studio/home and property.

Blogger is being cranky and not letting me write more, so I'll save the rest for another day.

First day, painting-quick less than 2 hours

Second day, around an hour and a half

 

 

Painting in Denali

Yes there has been a little painting! Not much however with packing for the move to Montana. I attended the David Mollett workshop in Denali, it was fabulous. A great learning experience and time with other art minded people and the outdoors, fun.

Four at Midnight Sun Brewing Co

What started out as a blustery end of winter day ended with spring sunshine on our opening afternoon.
The show looks great and is a fun mix of art styles. Just in case you can't get there, or need more prompting I'll give you a quick tour of most of the show. I dashed in yesterday to get some photos right at opening time, as it often too busy to get photos without people while they are open. It was a little challenging due to the sunlight streaming in, but you can get the idea. If there is a cloudy morning-I'll head back over and get some more pics. Enjoy.

Darla Myers oils  Erin Osinkosky Monoprints

Darla Myers encaustics

Darla Myers encaustics      Erin Osinkosky collage

Erin Osinkosky collage    Darla Myers encaustics

Cheryl Lyon Oils and Encaustics

Cheryl Lyon encaustic

Wendy Gingell ceramics

Wendy Gingell ceramic

Cheryl Lyon Oil

Cheryl Lyon encaustics

Darla Myers encaustics