New field studies from bikepacking on the Colorado trail are up on my site. Check them out. Here are a few to preview.
Mt Guyot
View from West Ridge
View from West Ridge 2
Field Studies from the Colorado Trail
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Valles Caldera, NM – Field Studies in the Volcano
The park entrance promises great skies and open fields under dark mountain ranges with pinion and ponderosa pines.
Michelle stalks her prey: subtle videos of grass blowing on the prairie, emphasizing scale and movement.
Enjoying a beautiful dirt road ride out into the grasslands of the caldera. There were many opportunities to sketch and photograph.
Michelle barreling past me as I stop for more photos.
Conte and Ink Sketches
Pictures of my sketches coming soon.
Sketching along the Colorado Trail while bikepacking
Kody and I are in Breckenridge, Colorado working for CHUMBA USA, an American made mountain bike manufacturer, at the Breck Epic. After spending the week supporting our riders and racing ourselves we got a few days off to get into the backcountry. What says recovery after 3 days of racing like 3 days of bikepacking?! We loaded up our bikes with food: avocados, quinoa, dried beans, fruit, some candy bars and oatmeal, camping gear, our cameras & sketch books and set off literally into the sunset.
DAY 1: Pushing up to the tree line of the Ten Mile range at sunset, hiking with our bikes up to 12000′.
Finally near the top it is “flat” enough to ride again.
The sun is going down, but we haven’t traversed the peak yet.
At the peak at 9:00 PM, the Milky Way is arching right above us, terrain is all bowling ball sized rocks.
DAY 2: After a long night of hiking our bikes down from the peak in the dark, Kody and I slept in until 10 AM and then enjoyed a nice fire, coffee and breakfast.
Recharged we set out on the trail again, now enjoying our first hard earned descent.
Coming up hill I saw this incredible light hitting the grasses and had to stop.
Inspiration, I love the contrast in textures.
We came up on so many great views, but it was easy to choose when to sketch. You just know. All of the sudden I just had to stop. This happened a number of times, it was very exciting. Luckily, I chose a good riding partner who was equally enthralled with photographing. Kody was happy to enjoy the opportunity to shoot.
Warming up after another long day on the bike.
Kody plays with long exposures again, this time with our fire lighting up the trees. I was ready for bed, worn out after riding, starting a stubborn fire and eating the last of our dinner food. Though I agree, you have to shoot that Milky Way!
DAY 3: We went a bit overboard on lunch yesterday and only had a pack of oatmeal and some dates/apricots to split today. We still had enough energy to enjoy the views and I couldn’t help but pull off and sketch again.
We made it to Georgia Pass. Not sure how far our ride was, but it felt far, so I’ll say it was. From Copper Mtn at RT 91 to Georgia Pass to downtown Breckenridge nearly all on the singletrack of the Colorado Trail. Tough trails and fun trails, I have added respect for Continental Divide riders.
Kody doing a victory lap before our final descent down to town and finally to breakfast. Once we hit town, around 2PM, we were so hungry we went out and bought two breakfasts and a pitcher of warm coffee each at the Blue Moose Diner.
One last sketch, I will post some images from my sketch book when I return in a few weeks from Colorado and New Mexico.
Thanks to Kody for always having the camera ready, CHUMBA USA for the reliable bikes, Wanderlust Gear for the well designed bikepacking bags, and to Orange Seal for keeping us flat free all ride!
Photos courtesy of Kody Gibson and CHUMBA USA. 2014 Copyright.
“Former members make a scene” Review @Grizzly Grizzly
I recently sent off a piece to Grizzly Grizzly in Philadelphia as a part of their founding members show. A group of art friends and I started Grizzly Grizzly a number of years ago to showcase compelling artists from around the world. We decided to keep ourselves removed from showing our own work so that we could focus on the curatorial process and remove our egos from the common vanity gallery collective.
We wanted to do something unconventional and unlike other art venues in the Philadelphia area. It was a real push for me to celebrate artists so different from my own work. I think that was the most rewarding experience. We gathered a diverse group of members to push ourselves in unique directions that a typical gallery would not. It was a way for us to view the art we wanted to see and champion.
I left the collective back in 2010 when I moved to Austin, TX. I miss putting on shows with Grizzly Grizzly, we had a great time and it was a fulfilling experience. Its makes me so happy to see the space thriving. Thanks to the current members for inviting us to show and for all of their hard work continuing to grow what we began!
Read the show’s review by Knight Arts, and of my piece. “Galbraith”: http://www.knightarts.org/community/philadelphia/to-all-the-girls-ive-loved-before-grizzly-grizzly
Sketch From Alaska
Upcoming show at Grizzly Grizzly
I am part of a founding members show at an art space a group of artists and I created in Philadelphia back in 2009, Grizzly Grizzly. We’ve left it in good hands and over the years Grizzly Grizzly has continued to thrive! View my piece, Galbraith, at the Friday night opening.
Galbraith, 2013, Encaustic and Oil on Found Wood, 16″ x 26″, Vincent Colvin
As Reference: Quick On Site Sketches
After so much technical plying with the camera I needed to loosen up with some field studies.
On Christmas morning, Santa brought a new sketchbook! Here’s a photo of a longer sketch using the field study from the video as a reference, drawn with Faber Castell PITT pens on 14″x11″, All Media Paper.
I hope everyone enjoyed a great holiday! I’m thankful I was able to spend mine with family, friends and sketchbooks.
Hiking at McKinney Falls, TX, Christmas Eve
I’ve been wanting to sharpen my photo skills. I was fortunate enough to have Suzan and Sal to school me in the finer points of controlling shutter speed, ISO and aperture together to get properly exposed phots while on a nice hike this Christmas Eve. I set myself up with a challenge in the shot below. It was hard to capture a balance between the shadows beneath and the sunny bright rock while keeping the figures in focus. I used a shallow depth of field blurring the closest part of the rock and focusing on the figures. A polarizing filter gives the sky its rich color, deepens the shadow under the rock, and along with shutter speed, subdues the brightness of the sun reflecting off of the rock, allowing me to keep an low open aperture to get the shallower depth of field.
1st Weekend of East
I had a wonderful weekend sharing my new work with many insightful and enthusiastic visitors. I was really taken by the range of responses to the work and the ideas they generated. I am already looking forward to next weekends East Austin Studio Tours! One highlight of the day was when a 2 year old, “Pepper”, decided she liked one of my landscapes, which apparently was the first artwork she had ever verbally responded to. Though she couldn’t tell me why she liked it, she did recognize many of the colors. The moment happily reminded me, “Who do you make art for?”.
Thanks everyone who came out!
Upcoming E.A.S.T. Exhibition @ Up Collective, Austin, TX
Come out and see my new work at the East Austin Studio Tours! I have new paintings on view at my new downtown studio. I will also have many prints (framed and unframed) for sale. I recently opened a studio downtown on the East side at UP Collective, 2326 E. Cesar Chavez. The space has over 21 artists exhibiting for the studio tour so it should be a definite stop on your schedule.
My new work is available for purchase and exhibition, commissions are also welcome. If you have an idea that you would like to discuss I would love to talk about it with you. I have enough 2013 work for a solo show and am seeking a Texas Gallery to show with in early 2014. I will have artwork in a wide range of sizes and prices, so it will be a great time to get some new pieces as gifts for the holidays or for your home!
Sneak Peek | Some new work coming out of my studio, encaustic with huge charcoal drawing transfers.
I will be at my studio all four days of E.A.S.T. and am looking forward to meeting lots of new people and discussing art! Dates/Times: Nov. 16th -17th and Nov. 23rd – 24th from 11am to 6pm
If you head out to see DUE E.A.S.T., the studio tours group show, be sure to keep an eye out for my piece there, “Wiseman”.
I am also instructing some new classes coming up in 2014 and a Drawing Better and Faster course starting this Nov. 21st at the Contemporary Austin. Click here to sign up.
A weekend @ The Contemporary Austin: Museum Day Demos, Openings, & Cocktails
It was great afternoon to share encaustic with Museum Day guests at Laguna Gloria. The grounds were particularly beautiful on this sunny cool day, a welcome change to our Texas summer. Musicians were spaced throughout the grounds simultaneously playing “Inuksuit”, a composure of drums and other percussion instruments. I could hear them as I explained the properties of encaustic medium and built up a landscape painting to demonstrate the layering process of encaustic painting to curious passersby.
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- Encaustic Demo with Vincent Colvin
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- “He’s Heating Up”
Liam Gillick’s new sculpture opened this weekend at Laguna Gloria and it cast a fantastic shadow as the sun slowly began to set, highlighting through its colored slats the passage of the day. The sculpture is a simple structure that emphasizes the viewers spacial point of view and sense of time. On Friday I enjoyed the Member’s Cocktail Reception at the Jones Center. There Gillick has a video on view inspired by Texas and the Laguna Gloria grounds. The film is its own piece. but also reminded me of a sketchbook of ideas related to the new sculpture and its surroundings. The scenes distort the viewer through familiar shots that have slightly altered sensations of sight and sound.
Marianne Vitale’s new sculpture at the Jones Center stands as two intersecting covered bridges built of raw burned wood, scaled down in size and assembled in the interior space. My first reaction was to the powerful display of positive and negative space. The long view through the bridge invites the viewer to look through the bridge forms and make connections to the viewers on the opposing sides. The burned bridge looks unusable. There is a curious connection as both viewers are forced to contemplate the same questions, but are separated by the burning and are unable to meet at that moment.
Liam Gillick
Marianne Vitale
I found the Jones Center’s showing of only two pieces in their entire gallery space extremely refreshing and bold. The pairing of works allows you to focus in and invites you to see the art. This created a sense of calm and focus, the show is free of distractions showing only the essential.
I was unable to get into the gallery at Laguna Gloria were the space has been transformed by Erin Curtis’s work Further West. Through the windows I can see the show is not to be missed, I will be back to view it.
the benthos 