Santa Drives a Jeep

Watercolor • 14x10"

Because there are some places a reindeer just can't go...

Just finished the artwork for this year's Christmas cards. They go off to the printer tomorrow and the completed 5x7" cards will retail for $3.00 ~ $4.00 each.

© Dave Wilder

South of the Border • work in progress

"South of the border,
Down Mexico way.

That's where we fell in love
As stars above came out to play..."

Sometimes songs just get stuck in my head. Sometimes they result in new paintings too.

For a long time I've been wanting to do a follow-up to my piece, Home on the Range, and I think this image will fit the bill nicely. I've always had a weakness for classic VW buses and other ghostwagons, and somehow that fondness got all mixed up in my head with that darn "South of the border" song. That, along with my usual fall/winter yearning for the beach, resulted in the above sketch.

Yes, there really are places down in Mexico where the Sonoran desert comes right down to the Sea of Cortez; where seagulls and scorpions share the view. I've always found those places to be imbued with a certain magic. A magic that is most potent after a long hot drive, a sip of tequila, and a sunset dip in the warm ocean waves. Just watch out for the jellyfish.

The finished watercolor will be about 14x20". I'll keep you posted.

DW

© Dave Wilder 2009

Finally Finished or "The Curse of Red Rock Crossing"

Just Visiting • watercolor, 14x20"

One question I am often asked is, "how long did it take you to paint that?"

My usual answer is, "47 years" (or however old I happen to be at the time), but the truth is that some paintings take a lot longer to get done than others. This one took awhile.

I started this piece way back in March but only just finished it last week. Actual painting time was probably only 30 hours but I rarely keep track of that kind of thing. I don't usually take anywhere near this long to get a painting done, but as the great John Lennon once said, "life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans."

First of all, I've been working on a lot of other stuff too (stay tuned!), and second, I believe that this painting got moved to the back-burner because of something I like to call the "Red Rock Crossing Curse."

You see, this scene has been about painted to death. And the unrepentant pagan deep inside of me thinks the Rock knows it.

Every would-be, plein aire, landscape scribbler who comes to Arizona wants to take a crack at Cathedral Rock's over-the-top majestic grandeur. And who can blame them? The light around sunset time turns this scene into an almost impossible to believe Technicolor wonderland. Especially in the fall when the the clear high-desert air outlines everything in crisp detail and the cottonwood and sycamore trees turn the color of Aztec gold. Yes, folks, this is the stuff that Southwestern dreams are made of. Even without the UFO.

So the Rock gets painted. A lot. I myself have painted it at least four times. And don't even get me started on the photographers. My veracity challenged tour guide friends tell me that Red Rock Crossing is the most photographed spot on the planet. I believe them.

I also believe that the Rock is tired of being painted and photographed and just wants to be left alone at this point. So it sends out its oh-so-subtle-yet-powerful vortex energy to infect the minds of artists like myself with a desire to procrastinate almost indefinitely.

But I have fought the curse and won. The painting is finally finished and you can even own it if you like, just drop me an email and we can haggle over price. Or, you can get yourself a print here.

I think this may be the last time that I ever paint Cathedral Rock. If the urge strikes again, I plan to lie down until the feeling goes away.

Thanks for looking.
DW

© Dave Wilder

EVAA Painting Demo

Today was my watercolor demo for the El Valle Artists' Association in Cottonwood, AZ. These are great folks and they've been kind enough to have me back three times in the last couple of years. I worked on a portion of my latest piece 'Just Visiting' and answered a few questions about technique and my approach to watercolor painting. In fact, it seemed like I talked a lot more than I actually painted!
Many thanks to Judith Robinson for snapping these pictures and putting them all together.

Well, I'm off to Moab, UT first thing tomorrow morning for a week-long trip to recharge and rejuvenate. I'll be back for my EVAA watercolor workshop on the 21st.

Thanks for looking.
DW

© Dave Wilder

Just Visiting

No, I didn't paint this, but it did serve as inspiration for a new piece I'm working on:

The working title was originally "Gone Fishing", but as I was transferring the sketch to the watercolor paper I decided to leave out the fish (better to keep things simple). "Just Visiting" is the new title and the completed watercolor should measure about 14x20".

If you've never been to Sedona, Arizona you may be surprised to learn that the area is a veritable hotbed of UFO activity. At least that's what all of the crystal enlightened and oh-so-groovy New Age folks tell me. I've never actually seen a UFO myself, but I will take their word (or the word of the angels they are channeling) for it.

The above sketch is my humble attempt to depict such an alien visitation over the famed vistas of Red Rock Crossing. My tour guide friends tell me that this is the most photographed place on Earth and I have no reason to start disbelieving their lies now. However, given the shear mass of photos taken there, and the incredible volume of UFO activity in these parts, it does seem remarkable that no one has ever snapped a clear photo of a flying saucer over this locale.

Oh, well, the advantage of being an artist is that you are free to fill those inconvenient gaps in reality.

What I want to know is why an advanced space-faring alien race would want to visit a cultural backwater like Sedona anyway?. How come they never go to London or Paris? I can only assume that it must be for the pretty scenery.

If you'd like to see me work on this painting in person, you can stop by the painting demo I'll be doing for the El Valle Artists' Association in Cottonwwod on Thursday, March 12th. It starts around 6:30 pm and you can contact Gini Goldie of the EVAA for more details.

Thanks for looking.
DW

© Dave Wilder

Sonoran Skies

Just got back from a trip down to southern Arizona and the Sonoran Desert. One of the challenges of painting the desert is capturing the unique quality of the light. The air can be very clear making distant features seem almost unnaturally sharp. One of my favorite 'tricks' for creating a greater sense of depth and distance is to vary the values between foreground, middle-ground and background. In the above sketch, the foreground is in deep afternoon shadow, with the middle-ground in full sunlight contrasting against the shadowy distant mountains. The bright sunlight striking the top of the cactus lends drama to the piece while creating a visual focal point or center of interest. The sky is soft and relaxing to contrast with the sharper features of the land, and the clouds provide strong diagonals to draw the viewer into the scene.

© Dave Wilder

More Sky Sketches

Here are a couple more watercolor sketches done in preparation for my upcoming workshop. The first is sunset on the Cockscomb butte in Sedona, and the second is a monsoon storm in the hills near Jerome. August is a great time of year to do these sky sketches as we have thunderstorms and spectacular sunsets just about every afternoon. These were painted in studio following observations in the field. To be honest, I've never been much of a 'plein-air' painter. I much prefer the control I have working in studio - and I don't get bugs in my paint.

© Dave Wilder