"Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder", 22"x 30" Watercolor
This painting is a semi-abstracted interpretation of an old and abandoned mine in the Colorado Rockies.
Oh, to be inspired once again
About a month ago Diane and I decided to take a trip to Montana. I taught a watercolor workshop several years ago in Billings, Montana but neither of us had ever visited the state solely to explore and discover how beautiful it is. Some good friends of ours had taken a trip through the northern plains states and had told us that Montana has a remarkably beautiful and diverse landscape and history that is well worth seeing. So we decided that after a hellacious year of seclusion and isolation we needed to go somewhere and just relax, for our mental health if nothing else. So we made the decision to fly to Bozeman, Montana, rent a car, explore the different areas and take in the scenery, the history, and the people. We spent two days in Bozeman surrounded with beautiful views of the snow covered Northern Rocky Mountains. We visited the Museum of the Rockies where we saw the most impressive collection of Dinosaur fossils either of us had ever seen. Montana is one of the prime Dinosaur fossil collecting sites in the world. In our opinion, this collection put the Smithsonian to shame. This is also one of the areas where the Lewis and Clarke Exposition passed through on their journey to find a route to the Pacific Ocean. There is an incredible museum that showcases their journey through the area.
As we traveled east we found ourselves in the plains with wide open views that seemed to go on forever. Now I know why Montana is called the Big Sky Country. Diane and I are both history buffs so one of our destinations was to visit the site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn where Gen. Custer and over 600 soldiers under his command met their fate in a bloody battle with over 1,500 Native Americans from several tribes that had banded together to fight what they agreed was a common enemy. It was a soul searching experience to see the grave markers on the side of a grassy hill placed at the exact spot where both Custer and each man under his command as well as where several of the Native American warriors fell. Surprisingly, the battle was not all clustered in one spot as we have always seen in the movies. Custer's men were pretty spread out and most of them died in small groups on the hillsides as evidenced by the random grave markers.
One of the real highlights of the trip for me was a visit to the Charles Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. I have always been an admirer of his art and even his lifestyle. In addition to being an incredible artist of western scenes he was also a real life cowboy and spent several working years on cattle drives and ranches before getting married and settling down to become a studio painter. He would often paint his fellow cowboys during the cattle drives and, as rumor has it, he would trade some of the paintings to bartenders to buy a few bottles of whiskey for the boy's when they came to a cattle town. His studio was a small log cabin located beside his home. His wife Nancy had the cabin built so the he would have a place to hang out with his friends and paint without stinking up the house with the smell of oil paint and turpentine. Diane certainly identified with that. Nancy was a smart business manager and spent years promoting him and handling all of the business affairs. She convinced him that his paintings were far more valuable than the bottles of whiskey that he was accustomed to getting.
From there we drove a little ways into North Dakota to the Theodore Roosevelt National park in Badlands. It was an unusual and almost other worldly landscape carved out from millions of years of erosion. Everything had soft pastel colors and unusual rock formations. Sometimes, as an added treat, you would see an exposed petrified tree trunk protruding from the side of a formation. I can't talk about the badlands without mentioning the herds of wild Buffalo that roam through the area. It's hard to imagine just how large these animals are until you are sitting in your vehicle and one is just a few feet away. Trust me, they're huge.
The the next part of our journey was a visit to Glacier National Park in the northeastern part of Montana bordering Canada. However because of the Pandemic, we were not able to venture too far into the park . Much of the park is on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. They have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic and were not allowing people in at the time, which is quite understandable. Fortunately though, we found another route to the park on the west side where we experienced the magnificence of the snow covered Northern Rockies as far as you could see. It was truly breathtaking and we both almost wore out our cell phone cameras taking photographs. Then we hit the road to the Kootenai National Forest; the scenery looked more like the Pacific Northwest. We were surprised to discover Kootenai Falls is beautiful and well worth the side trip.
In between all of the specific sites that we saw we spent our evenings visiting
lots of small towns, art galleries, and eating in some great restaurants. We also enjoyed having a sip or two in some really intriguing old western saloons. The flavor of the area was captivating and you could almost imagine the countless numbers of characters that had been in the same saloon over the last 150 years. If only those walls could talk as they say.
I came home from this trip more inspired to paint than I have been in the last year. In my mind I was painting every site that I saw. I was mentally working out the composition, the color palette, the size of the painting, the medium, and all of other other things that we artists do when something inspires us. I will probably be putting some of the paintings that I do from the photographs on future newsletters as I get around to painting them.
I needed this, Diane needed this, you need this, we all need this. Even if you can only get away for a couple of days don't pass up the opportunity. I cannot believe how it has changed my attitude from feeling cooped up and cut off from the world to feeling positive and having a fresh outlook and new energy.
*Please Note*
I have recently replaced two of the colors on my palette because they did not project enough color saturation when filming with a webcam as I do for my live classes and my downloadable videos. The two colors that I have removed are Royal Blue and Green Gray. I like both of these colors which is why I originally chose them for my Holbein color palette. At the time I selected these colors I was not filming. Now that I am filming I have noticed that both of them do not come across as strong colors and appear washed out on camera.
I have replaced them with Holbein Prussian Blue #620H and Hooker's Green #675H.
If you currently have Royal Blue and Green Gray I suggest that you continue to use them as they are both good colors unless you are filming your work. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Gift Certificates
We have received several request for Gift Certificates recently so Diane and I have decided to offer Gift Certificates that can be redeemed for Videos, Live Classes, Art Supplies, and Paintings. (Not redeemable for workshops)
To purchase a Gift Certificate go to www.sterlingedwards.com. Click "Contact the artist". Let us know that amount you would like to purchase and the recipients name. We will send you an invoice.
On a personal note:
(Please read)
Lately I have seen more and more artists selling copies of my paintings on their artist websites, at my workshops, and in small shops and galleries. This is both illegal and unethical. It is also illegal and unethical to enter a copy of someone else's painting in a competition.
All work that you sell or enter in a competition should be of your own design and execution. Not a copy of someone else's work.
I really don't like having to even write this but it is becoming a big problem and it needs to STOP IMMEDIATELY.
It's theft of Intellectual Property and can result in severe consequences.
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Well, it's official
(At least until I change my mind)
As many of you know, for years I have offered my students a discount on my watercolor paintings at workshops and on my website. I do this because it's a way of showing appreciation for their support while at the same time increasing sales, which every business needs. I've been asked several times if the discount on paintings is available to those who take my Zoom classes as well as those who attend my four and five day on-location workshops. After thinking it over, Diane and I have decided to offer a flat 25% discount off of the listed retail price on ALL of my unframed and unmatted paintings (on paper) to anyone who has attended one of my Live Zoom Classes or on-location workshops. In addition, I will pay the shipping and insurance provided it is being shipped to an address in the U.S.
So if you are one of our students and see a watercolor painting or an acrylic on paper on my website that you are interested in purchasing, DO NOT click the "Add to Cart" button because if you do it will charge the full price for the painting. Instead, go to the "Contact" page and send an email telling us which painting you are interested in buying and what class or workshop you attended. We will email an invoice to you with the discounted price and instructions on ways to pay for the purchase.
This offer is NOT available for works on canvas or Whiskey Paintings
