Almost 100 years ago, Alfred Stieglitz took a photograph of his beloved Georgia O’Keeffe entitled “Hands”. Looking at it, I hear the voice of my father echoing in my head, “Take care of your artist hands.” This is the precious part where creativity connects with the brush. This is how dreams and ideas become solid. When I finish with a painting, it’s literally my way of reaching out and connecting with the rest of the world. Our loved ones look at the artists in their lives and know this. Today I am grateful to my Dad and Mr. Stieglitz for this simple reminder.

I am curious to know if other artists need to tire themselves out before they can focus at the easel. When I had a desk job, I found it hard to come home to the easel and continue to sit and stare straight ahead at my artwork. I wanted to run, move around, be active. I’ve gotten into a good groove where I run or exercise in the mornings and then transition into my studio time. It’s like I’m a toddler and I just need to be need to be taken to a park where I can run around and expend some energy so that I can behave later in the day.

My frequent weekend adventures help, too. On this past Thursday, we went to Fisher Mountain Hut in Creede, CO with some friends and snowshoed in 5 miles uphill. On Friday, I was feeling whooped by the previous day’s hike so I set up my easel on the front deck and painted all afternoon- calm and focused.

This balance between extreme activity and quiet meditative painting time is the only thing that I have found works for me. Good thing I live in Colorado.

“View From the Hut”, 8×10, oil.

I just finished up a week of hanging out on some scaffolding working on a mural that is much larger than my normal canvas size. Solar City’s North Denver office commissioned this piece based on their office’s team name: The Denver Mountaineers.

As I painted it, I wasn’t very happy with my original reference of the pick axes. Taking a break, I chatted with one of the Solar City employees and he mentioned that he had just gotten back from an ice climbing trip and still had his climbing gear in his truck. He brought me one of the axes and since the figure is life-sized, I ended up tracing the shape of the ax directly onto the wall. It really helped with the accuracy of the drawing and the Solar City employee who lent me his gear was stoked that his ax ended up being an integral part of the creative process.

I have often had similar serendipitous moments when searching for reference material. Many years ago, I had a dream about a dead bird that I thought would make a cool painting, but I had no idea where I could get one to paint. My roommate was frequenting the local country bars at the time and one afternoon a buddy of hers swung by the house to invite us to a barbecue. He had just been out hunting and had shot about a dozen doves. I couldn’t believe my luck! A truckload of dead birds had literally ended up at my doorstep. He happily gave me the best one for my photo shoot and I got the painting I wanted.

Whether it is the universe supporting me in my creative efforts, or just dumb luck, I am happy when these moments happen and accept the help with open arms.

On my last hut trip, we were accompanied by local videographer, David Himot. He recoded snippets of our witty banter, quiet painting time, and the surrounding beauty. Along with a few informal interview questions, he pieced together a beautiful 6-minute video that really captured the essence of why we are all drawn to plein air painting. Enjoy: