Troubles with a Title!

Okay, so normally I have no problem naming a painting.. it comes to me as I paint, but this one, nada.. nothing original came to mind. I am taking suggestions for a title, and decided to give the winning "namer" a 8x10 print of the painting...
I am taking suggestions on my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/raette.meredith
or
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Art-by-Raette-Meredith/206016799461944
I will announce the winner of the print on Christmas Eve!
Thank you for your help!!!

Please help me name this!
30"x40" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Little Boxes

I love this song, and this is one of the reasons I paint... I'll explain at the end...

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university,
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same,
And there's doctors and lawyers,
And business executives,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry,
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university,
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same.

And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

words and music by Malvina Reynolds; copyright 1962 Schroder Music Company, renewed 1990

I would have loved to have had the opportunity to hold a conversation with this woman. I don't know what she stood for but I sure love this song. So I was thinking to myself.. why do I paint??? This song is it in a nutshell. Let me explain...

We all know that the way we look does not define us, nor does the occupation we choose. Well, we know that because we are told that but in reality, how do we choose our clothing? Do the clothes we choose define who we are? Does the hairstyle? Does the music we listen to? How about the car we drive? What about the jobs we seek? Do we or do we not have a college education? To a degree, I think we do try to define ourselves by these things. I have tried to "define" myself by other's ideas of what I should be like. If I am an artist, I must wear artist clothes. I must behave a certain way, and I must be a bit crazy. Actually, I am an artist because I can't be placed in a box that has walls that are defined by others. I simply don't fit in other's boxes. More precisely, I don't fit in the box I try to squeeze myself into.

When I paint, I think to myself "Okay, I am going to paint this landscape because it is taking my breath away and wow, did you see those colors???". So I start with a typical palette of color. As I try to paint the way I expect the painting to turn out I grow frustrated. Halfway through the painting I switch gears, mostly out of frustration that the painting is boring. Then, this frustration turns to a dare. Who says the colors have to be the expected colors? Why can't the tree have yellow there, or magenta there or, for that matter, blue? Breaking out of this box of expectation reminds me that no, this painting does not have to fit a definition. It doesn't have to fit in a category, or be defined by what other artists have done. For a moment, while I am painting, I don't have to follow any rules. I can do whatever I want. It's my way of rebelling against a definition commonly accepted as "the way things should be". The freedom is liberating, and that is why I paint.

I still have to do my  hair in the morning, and match my clothes, and clean my car. I still want my college education, and a nice house that is painted in today's popular colors, but I get to break out of the box when I paint. That is where I find my freedom.

REAL SNOW and BEAR BELLS

I just woke up to my first real snow!!! It's REALLY snowing, not in-between slush or intermitant flakes here and there. It's actually snowing and piling up in the yard. Everything is getting covered in white - it's bright and silently falling, and it hasn't let up all morning!

So I was all excited and came out and commented on it to my husband. Having lived in Montana for nearly 10 years of his youth and young adult life, he is my resource for things to come. He told me that this is nothing! He says that in a snow storm I won't be able to see past the hood of my car. Sheesh!

I am sure that if you are from a snow state you are probably laughing at my naivety. Bear with me! I am loving every minute of this new experience, and every dorky moment of awe is excitement! Wahooo!

So today I am painting little bells (little pieces of Montana) for the Christmas display at the Gallery, Paint Metal and Mud. Some of them will have extra long string/leather attached so they can be attached to walking sticks to ward off bears! Rar!

Have a great day, and I will post some pics of the bells when I'm done!

November, Fall, Winter and Festivities!

I am utterly amazed at how quick the fall season seems to have passed here in Montana! The other night while working, I looked up at the trees and was surprised to notice that the leaves have already fallen and the trees have sucked up their nutrients, ready for a long winter nap. It really became clear how different the climate his here compared to Northern California. Recently I saw a post on Facebook from a friend of mine, living in Redding. She posted a photo of a tree at my previous house that is still red and full of leaves! How soon I forgot how long and beautiful the fall season it is in Redding. After a long grueling summer Fall was always so welcome.

Here, Fall comes quickly and dramatically decorates the landscape with color and movement, then leaves as quickly as it arrived. I am incredibly energized by the cold air (feels like winter to me already) although I know for a fact that the real winter cold is still to come. I am so excited when I see snowflakes fall, so relieved that it is not 80 degrees, and thrilled that we will share our first white Christmas as a family.

The house we rent is located in a neighborhood that REALLY gets into decorating for Christmas, and I can't wait to join in on the lighting festivity! Though, that means I do have to buy some more strings of lights!

Today we signed an agreement to purchase a house in North Kalispell that fits our needs as a family better, and plan to move at the first of the year. I seriously can't wait. I miss having studio space and a place to escape into my creative world and away from the chaos of others' noise. A place I can make a mess and leave it just to come back to it later. Space to create is so important, and I am SO GRATEFUL that we were able to find a home that provides it. Thank you God, once again, for answering prayers.

Needless to say it will be a very busy, exciting 6 weeks. I better get to painting, before I get wrapped up in all the fun festivities!

Let the Holidays BEGIN!

Autumn Essence

Painted this 24"x36" oil on canvas last night. Loving the colors and can't wait to do another! ;)

"Autumn Essence"
24"x36" oil on canvas 1 1/2" thick
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Following Aspens

It's fun watching the aspens change through the seasons. I was planning to go to Glacier National Park at least one last time before the park officially closed for the winter to see the colors, but with the Govt shutdown, that plan was foiled! At least there is beauty everywhere here in the Flathead Valley, I don't have to go further than my neighborhood to find inspiration.

Anyways enough talk, here they are: They are all 10"x20" oil on canvas, and painted with a palette knife.

"Aspens in the Fall"
10"x20" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

"Autumn Aspens"
10"x20" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

"Late September Aspens"
10"x20" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

"Frosty Aspens in October"
10"x20" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

The largest aspen painting to date, "Early Fall Aspens" just sold! I am so happy it is going to a great home!

"Early Fall Aspens"
30"x40" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013
This is it hanging in my living room

I am going to miss the painting, so will have to just do another to take its place!

I have so many paintings in my head, I better get started!

Until next time! Raette

Mini Glacier Series

So I am through all of my larger "paint-over" canvases, and now I am working through my smaller canvases. All I have left now are 5"x7" canvases, so I thought I would play with light in Glacier. What this means is I use the structure of the landscape in photographs, but then I add my own light/fog, etc..

These are fun little quick studies!
Here are the first two:

Both are palette knife work, both oil, and canvas 5"x7"
$60 each

Logan's Pass, facing NW - mini
5"x7" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Logan's Pass, facing N - mini
5"x7" oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Glacier Park Series

So yesterday I completed this painting "Off Hidden Lake Trail", another of the Montana Views, Glacier Park Series. I simply cannot get enough of Glacier Park - I look forward to doing some hiking, off Going to the Sun Road to get more material to paint. Just need a new pair of hiking boots and I'm on it! :)

I really believe that Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful and inspirational place I have ever been. Every time I turn around I see something else I want to paint!

To see more of my Glacier Park Series, visit my site: www.artbyraette.com and go to "Montana Views". Soon I will need to split my Montana Views gallery into sub categories, but for now they are all together.

"Off Hidden Lake Trail"
9" x 12" oil on canvas board
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

So here's what I'm thinking. I love the way the snow melt creates a zig zag pattern through the fields here, so much that I am going to paint it again, but this time I will change up the lighting a little bit. I have this vision of what I want my paintings to look like, and as much as I like the composition of this one, I want the lighting to be more dramatic. So when I am done, I will post another blog. Maybe today or tomorrow?

Bye for now!

Painting on location in paradise

This week I had the opportunity to paint on location for the first time in Glacier National Park. I pulled over in a turnout on Going to the Sun Road. One of my favorite views to paint is of Bird Woman Falls, facing South, heading toward Logan's Pass. It was quite the experience, painting on location - it was VERY WINDY!!! At times I had to hold on to my hat, and canvas board and just wait for the wind to pass. All I could do was laugh. I should have known that a paper palette was not appropriate for outdoor use on a windy day. Before I knew it, my arms and hands were covered in paint, just from holding the paper down.. DUH! Needless to say, it was a fun experience, and I am excited to go again as soon as possible!
So here it is.. a photo of the painting in progress, and finished.

"Bird Woman Falls in July"
11"x14" oil on hardboard
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Painting on location in Glacier National Park
"Bird Woman Falls in July"

July 6, 2013 - working in the gallery, Paint, Metal, and Mud

How embarrassing! I can't believe it has been so long since I wrote last! Seriously, folks, where is the time going?

It's July and Summer is in full swing here in Kalispell. My daughters and I are playing the license plate game - where you see how many out of state plates you can find. So far, it's been a week, and we have already seen at least 15. Not to mention the visitors that I meet in the gallery - Paint, Metal and Mud! Today was Virginia day. I must have met 4 people that were from Virginia today, visiting Montana for the first time. It sure is fun to live in a place that people like to vacation. The scenery never gets old.

So today I am working at the gallery - one of my two shifts this month. I like to paint while I'm working as it passes the time when it is not busy. Unfortunately, I only brought two canvases, and when I finished the second I still had 3 hours to go. I could have easily done another. Ah well.. no biggie. Not sure how I feel about the second one, because I don't do wildlife very much. I would really love to become good at painting animals though, as I am fascinated by them. For now, my wildlife paintings are a little crazy but fun!

The first painting is 24"x20" and is called "Bird Woman Falls, Glacier National Park" and the second is called "Mountain Goat of Glacier", and it measures 12"x12". Both are oil paintings on stretched canvas and painted with a palette knife.

"Bird Woman Falls, Glacier National Park, MT"
24"w x 20"h oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

"Mountain Goat of Glacier"
12"w x 12"h oil on canvas
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Happy Mother's Day Moms!

Here is my latest painting, actually I completed it a couple of days ago, but wasn't sure if it was done yet. Now, after looking at it for a couple of days I have decided that I really do like it. This one is called "Aspens in Blue".

"Aspens in Blue"
oil on canvas board
palette knife work
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

It's been a wonderful Mother's Day, and I got to play games with my kids, bake bread, and garden. I'd say it's been a darn good day. I got to sleep in until 1:30 - I didn't even know I was tired!

My eldest daughter made me breakfast of oatmeal and toast with homemade bread and honey, my three kids and husband painted me a fabulous card, 16"w x 20"h shown below, and my husband cleaned the house! Oh, I feel spoiled. The day closed with a great SKYPE session with my wonderful Mom. Oh, how I miss her!

Happy Mother's Day card from my sweet kids and husband

I hope all mothers reading this feel as loved, if not, may you ask God to wrap his arms around you and remind you how loved you are!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

It's warm outside, and that means Mural Project Season!

Over the last few years, I have looked forward to the warmer weather, because that means it's mural season! The warm weather is perfect for creating large scale paintings!
Here is a slideshow that features the past 4 years of mural work. I am itching to get up on my scaffolding and get started on your dream!
I can work up to 17 feet high using my scaffolding, and can go as wide as forever! We are talking HUGE!
The fun thing about murals, is they create such incredible depth on a flat wall, they completely transform an area. I enjoy painting everything!

Please feel free to call me if you are interested in discussing a custom mural for your home or business!
Raette 406-309-2939 or cell (530) 2009-7769, or email me at artbyraette@gmail.com

A rose by any other name would not make you think of hot dogs

"Mustard and Ketchup Rose" or is it Ketchup and Mustard? I am not sure.. but I already named it so there it is... I painted this rose for my Mom for Mother's Day. I have to say. it was definitely a challenge, this one.. I scraped the canvas clean THREE TIMES before I felt it came out okay. I actually really like the way it turned out, and I think my Mom will be pleased.. It's her new favorite rose. Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you!!!

Oh, yeah.. the painting is 16"w x 20"h, oil on canvas - applied with a pallet knife.. so how do you spell pallet anyways? Okay, so this whole time I have been spelling it all wrong. Apparently, I worked at the Home Depot for too many years! The correct spelling is "palette" Ha.. sorry about that to all those that care about spelling things correctly!

"Mustard and Ketchup Rose"
16"w x 20"h
oil on canvas
palette knife work
Painted for Mom for Mother's Day 2013
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

Crazy for color in our new home!!!

Okay so the big move is over and we are officially residents, here in Montana. What makes us residents? Well, we have fishing licenses of course! Ha.. no seriously, TOTALLY can't wait for fishing season to start in May!  It's the 25th of April, and I think have painted more in one month than I EVER have. I am learning A LOT and loving every minute of it. Every time I complete a painting, I can't wait to start another. But alas.. I have a family to care for too.. sooo.. one a day is good.
Let's see.. I have tons of new paintings to show you... but I think the best option will be for me to share the album with you.. or you can take a look at it on my website in the "Montana Views" gallery.

Okay, so what else is new? A couple of people like using my greeting cards, and I REALLY appreciate it! So I finally updated my "Cafe Press" site with current paintings and some old fav's. You can order them directly from my website now, and they will be delivered right to you...

Umm.. Oh yeah.. I also found a professional photographer for my artwork. My goal is to have one painting each pay check scanned / photographed so that I can make supreme quality limited edition prints available. I have one scanned so far..Wahoo! :) Of course, any time a painting sells, I can get one or two more photographed, sooo.. I guess it depends on how much you all like these! :)

There is so much inspiration here in Montana. .it is so pretty, and it's Spring! The grasses are just now starting to turn green and I can't wait for the flowers to pop! My neighbors have daffodils and a few have other bulbs too.. and I SO appreciate them!!! I miss my tulips in Redding! Will have to plant some here!

Okay, so here you go.. COLOR! :) WAHOO!

Montana Views - Finally here!

Well, we did it! We moved to Montana! There is so much to see here, I am pretty overwhelmed with where to begin. I decided to start exploring really close to home. It is the beginning of Spring, and the grasses haven't turned green yet, so the dominant colors are browns, golds, oranges and reds, purple and dark green.

So today I got up, got the kids to school and took my dogs out for a walk. I decided to do a little exploring and found the Lone Pine State Park trail heads. I found single track bike paths along with walking trails that are nicely groomed. The dogs got a great walk, I got to see some fabulous moss and rocks, all in the solitude of the woods. Then I came home and took a nap for an hour. Feeling unproductive, I grabbed my easel and paints and decided to go paint.

The first Montana painting is below. (I actually did this one yesterday from a photograph I took a couple weeks ago. It is of a ranch on the Upper Thompson River. My husband and I took a drive out there the first week we were here.

"Upper Thompson"
oil on canvas
11"x14"
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

This second painting I completed today. It is literally within a mile from my house. At about the middle of the painting, in my head I got kind of frustrated, so I just said "Whatever" and just let the paint glide. I liked grabbing the dominant colors and just focusing on that instead of trying to get nitty-gritty accurate with the painting. It worked because I am not accurate with anything I do anyways. I am still not sure how I feel about the painting, but I like the colors and it was fun to do. 

"Three Mile Drive and Spring Creek"
oil on canvas
20"x16"
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

A Quiet Place near Keswick Dam

Today I decided to paint up near Keswick Dam, in Redding, CA. I found this great big tree - oak or cottonwood - truth be told, I'm still not sure, because it was on the other side of the River. Under the tree was this peaceful spot, perfect for a picnic! Every time I passed this spot, I longed to sit under that tree and read a book, take a nap, and simply enjoy the quiet.

Of course, I am constantly thinking of different ways to paint things I have already painted.. that's what makes me a forever student, but I enjoyed painting this one. 

Here it is:

A Quiet Place near Keswick Dam
oil on canvas
pallet knife and brush
16"x12"
copyright Raette Meredith 2013

New Years Crags - Plein Aire

Yesterday we went to the Crags again, the most dramatic mountains around here, I just love to paint them.

"New Year Crags" (detail) 10" x 30" oil/pallet knife copyright Raette Meredith 2013

"New Year Crags" 10" x 30" oil/pallet knife copyright Raette Meredith 2013

On location "New Year Crags" 10" x 30" oil/pallet knife copyright Raette Meredith 2013