Plein Air Trippin' and a "Duck 'n Pencil!"

We just returned from our very first OFFICIAL Braithwaite Family Reunion in Boulder, YEW-Tah!!  What a blast!  Doug planned it all and pulled it off without a hitch!!  All I did was pack my bag and head to the car.  Here's what I found:

Seriously??  Jeff, on the left, is looking a bit perturbed, "These ya-hoos think they're going with us!  bahaha!" I kinda thought the same thing!!  

We stayed at my brothers cabin on Boulder Mountain at the Peterson Ranch - the pasture where my mother lived as a little girl.  We arrived Thursday afternoon and Amy and her bunch arrived Friday afternoon.  The boys (Doug, Ryan and Wes) all brought their paints (haha, I first wrote pants! - they brought those too!!) and were up and at 'em bright and early in the morning to go paint - well, Ryan and Doug painted.  Wesley is still on the fence committal-wise.  6:30 am is still allocated as sleep time for him!!  I'm like "You're on vacation, for hell sakes!"  But to no avail.  Ryan got the itch after sitting in on two or three of Doug's demos at classes over the past couple of years and spending a week painting with Zach and Company in Helper last summer - he just built him a new pallet, he has a "studio" in his garage and is tearing it up!!  Here was he and Doug's first morning:

Ryan's plein air study
Boulder, Utah
June, 2014

Not bad.  Not bad at all little boy!!  Here's Doug's from the weekend as well:

"Kiva View"
10 x 10
oil on panel

"Sky Hole"
10 x 10
oil on panel

"Morning Glow"
8 x 10
oil on panel

We had such a blast - the dogs were in serious heaven.  No cell phone service.  No electricity.  Just a whistling wind blowing through the pine trees outside and squirrels teasing our 3 dogs to no end.  We rode motorcycles, played cards late into the night, sang songs around the campfire while roasting perfect marshmallows and s'mores!  Don't let me forget to mention the "out of this galaxy" star gazing!  We were as close to heaven as we could get--except . . . for Wesley's nose that wouldn't stop "crying tears" due to allergies.  poor Wesley . . . note for next year:  bring extra soft tissues with aloe . . .

Speaking of Wesley, he and Doug went and did the whole Helper Workshop thing!!  Wes had a blast painting and serenading the group with his electric guitar.  I "face-timed" them a couple of times and Wes is standing out on the back porch jammin' with his amp for the group!  BONUS!!  They had such a great time, although the weather was a bit dicey - didn't seem to stop them from some great paintings.  One of the very talented students, Sue Nuhn, said about the workshop, "Doug Braithwaite is a fabulous artist.  If you get the chance to take one of his workshops, RUN don't walk, to sign up!"  Doug, did you steal Sue's phone during break??  haha Byron Smith another talented student, emailed me midweek and said, "Hey Jeanette, I have had a great time working with  Doug down here in Helper and starting to feel like I'm making some progress.  Therefore, hook me up for the September workshop in Torrey!"  The Torrey workshop is almost full!  What a great place to paint!  Here's some paintings from Helper:

"Power Line"
(I just took more "titling" liberties just now!  It is such a cool little painting!)
8 x 10
oil on board
SOLD

"Helper Fields"
8 x 10
oil on board

"Duck 'n Pencil"
 uh, yeah, I just came up with that one too . . . I'm seriously on a roll . . . 
10 x 8
oil on board
I mentioned that the weather was dicey . . . therefore, they got a couple of extra demos inside as the winds literally took their paintings and covered them in dust!!  mmmm . . . texture . . .

Doug is heading to the Wasatch Plein Air Paradise in Midway - leaving on Thursday and will be up there through July 4th!  I'm hoping to get there for a few days with him!

So just a heads up:  Doug is preparing for some Plein Air Trippin'!  Take note because this is going to be a fun time for all of us.  First off, I'm super sad that I can't tag along this year to Wisconsin and give you day-by-day updates.  So, I've asked Doug to get up early, before he packs up and moves out of the campsite, and go paint us a little painting that he'll send to me and I'll post.  I'll post one each morning and they will be available to purchase at the "trippin" price ONLY while he's traveling!  (July 14 through, probably, July 31st or so).  These little studies will be unframed and ready to ship as soon as he gets home.  They will go on a first-come-first-serve basis so watch the blog daily!

K, I'm heading to bed.  Nice to chat.  

I'll post again next week with some Wasatch Plein Air pieces!!