Haylot in Snow

Watercolor on archival paper, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


2010 already?!!...wait a minute, I wasn't done with 2009!

Ready or not, it's that time when we reflect on the past, while peering hopefully toward the future. Looking back, I see how blessed I have been with the love of family and friends. I'm also grateful for the interest and support of all of you who follow my work on this blog. I've been fortunate to have made many friends around the world among fellow artists, collectors and people who share a passion for art. Thank you all!

May the coming year be a fruitful, productive and joyous one for everyone. Happy New Year!

Haylot

Watercolor on archival paper, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
Email don@dailyartwest.com for purchase


Finally getting back to the small paintings. I enjoyed the clarity of light and shadow falling across these haystacks.

Detail of "Nine Stones"
Oil on board, nine panels, 23" x 23" each
Copyright 2009 Don Gray


Katherine Tyrrell's website, Making a Mark, is one of the most active and popular art blogs on the web, so I was delighted when she shortlisted my "Nine Stones" series for her "Making a Mark Award for Best Picture (Still Life) on an Art Blog Award." There are nominations in three categories, Portrait/Figures, Places and Still Life. You can see all the nominees and, if you wish, place your vote for the final awards here: http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2009/12/vote-for-best-artwork-on-art-blog-in.html

I was nominated by the very fine painter David Page Coffin. I hope he doesn't mind if I quote his nominating text:

This is actually a post about a series of nine related images, so you can consider my nomination about the first in the series if that works better. Why I chose the piece, and the series, for this category is that it's expressly about "still life," i.e., the life force in still stones, as well as being an outdoor object portrayed for its own sake and not about the place it was found, so it stretched my idea of what a still life might be about in an interesting way. Why I like the piece is that apart from being a beautiful example of making the commonplace extraordinary with paint and vision, it also is the artist's effort to stretch his own style and his audience's expectations, so it's also an image of artist courage.

Thank you, David and Katherine, I deeply appreciate this honor.

Cottonwood and FirWatercolor on archival paper, 7" x 5"
SOLD
Click image to enlarge


Here's a Christmasy painting from my archives that is still available.

We'll be away with family over the weekend. Next week I plan to get back to more regular posts. Happiest of holidays to everyone!

Wheel Lines in Snow

Watercolor on archival paper, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

I love how a blanket of snow clarifies things visually. Shapes and contrasts become beautifully graphic and crisp. I've studied the irrigation wheel lines for years, but this is my first painting of them. If these lines weren't secured to the ground with steel posts, the winter winds would blow them across the field, twisting the pipe into a mess of spaghetti.

I am overwhelmed by all of you who have written or called in response to the loss of my mother. I'm deeply moved and grateful for your expressions of kindness and support...thank you!

Here's some video I shot yesterday of the clouds rolling over the top of Craig Mountain. The music is a piece from Ólafur Arnald's Found Songs.

It may be awhile before the next post. My dear mother passed away last night, one month to the day short of her 100th birthday! She was such a great mom. Though she had no background or education in art, she never wavered in her support of my desire to be an artist.

Streak of Sun

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

Along the road to High Valley. Sun and shadow play across these hills in endlessly inspiring patterns.

Fallen Limb

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

Two Feeders

Oil on board, 6" x 6"

$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.

SOLD

Our little barn appears yet again, this time in another early morning scene.

Shed, Clear Morning

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

Being a night owl, I rarely see the early morning light. Something rousted me up the other morning though, and despite the numbing chill, I had to step outside to explore. The sparkling clarity of that rising sun could almost turn me into an early riser.

Morgan Lake

Oil on board, 7" x 5"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


This pretty little lake sits just a few miles above the town of La Grande, Oregon. As kids, my friends and I would ride our bikes up here to fish, or just to explore. Morgan Lake road is steep, and in the winter it was (no doubt still is) a notorious sledding hill. I have an especially vivid memory from about age twelve of careening down that narrow icy track with a bent sled runner.

You know how wheel alignment problems on your car sometimes don't show up until it starts vibrating at a certain speed? That's what happened to my sled. When it really got up to speed, my American Flyer started chattering uncontrollably. Each time I tried to steer, it wildly overcorrected, throwing me into sudden lunges from one edge of the road to the other. I could barely stay on top of the beast. My toes were dug in, but stopping was useless on that ice.

Somehow I rounded a sharp curve, only to face a Jeep coming up the narrow road! Miraculously, the sled lurched in the right direction at the right time, sending me whizzing past the front tire by inches. I skidded off the roadway and down a steep embankment, heading straight toward a barbed wire fence! I closed my eyes and waited for the pain. When I opened them, I was lying half-buried in deep snow. The tracks showed that I had neatly sledded between the wires without so much as a scratch. My stocking cap was dangling from the wire.

Ah, it's a miracle we survive childhood, isn't it?

The Horse Farm

Oil on board, 5" x 7"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD


There's a ranch at the north end of the valley that raises Quarterhorses. Here, some of the mares and foals are having breakfast.

Thanks to all who weighed in with comments and emails regarding my earlier posts about style (see the November 21st post.) I was startled by how many artists feel as I do: constrained by "the art world" (specifically, dealers, collectors and some curators and critics) to maintain a signature style. Not really a conspiracy, it's just marketing 101--product recognition. It's probably not a situation that's going to change anytime soon (like...never!) but at least sometimes we can blow off some steam about it, right? You've all made me feel strangely comforted, and a lot less alone...thank you!

Waiting

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

Winslow leaps joyously into the truck to go with me every day to the studio. At a year and a half old, he still has a lot of the pup in him. When we come through the door, his daily routine is to grab his old chewed-up plastic milk jug and run as fast as he can through all the rooms.

Winslow loves to chew. I've had to "kid-proof" the studio, as in the past he has sunk his sharp little canines into paint tubes, gnawed the handles off brushes and shredded his sleeping blanket. But when given one of those expensive little pet store treats designed for dogs to whittle on, he promptly and furtively hides it in a dark corner--never to return. The other day I found the mangled remains of my college diploma scattered across the floor. I haven't a clue where he found it--haven't seen it myself in twenty years. It occurs to me that if Winslow had been around back in my school days, I could have kept a straight face while telling teachers my dog ate my homework.

When he is through with the chewing and running around for awhile, Winslow sometimes settles himself in the dark and quiet at the far end of the hall near the door, mustering as much patience as he can, while waiting for his master (master...now that's a laugh!) to take him for a walk.

Three Stones--studio view (click images to enlarge)

Panel #1

Panel #2

Panel #3

Three Stones

Oil on board, three panels, 23" x 23" each

Not for sale at this time

Not a daily today, but a triptych image--another piece in the ongoing stone series. They seem to be growing a little less literal and a little more exploratory in color. I'm just along for the ride...trying to hold on.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Oil on board, 6" x 6"
$125 plus $6 shipping in U.S.
SOLD

Here's Winslow, snoozing on the sofa after Thanksgiving dinner. He is definitely into comfort.