Montana Artworking by Cindy Betka

Looking out my window I was inspired by the Claude Monet series of painting images in my head. You must be familiar with them. With this first snow fall, I took this photo in morning sunrise light. So, my project then, is to do a series throughout the seasons and various lighting conditions. What a challenge; must stick with it. The canvases will be smaller sizes, keeping it simple, but taking a couple of years. Haystacks - Monet       From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Monet noticed this subject on a casual walk. He requested that his stepdaughter Blanche Hoschedé bring him two canvases. He believed that one canvas for overcast weather and one for sunny weather would be sufficient. However, he realized he could not demonstrate the several distinct impressions on one or two canvases. As a result, his willing helper was quickly carting as many canvases as a wheelbarrow could hold. His daily routine involved c...

These are 2 oil landscape paintings I recently completed. In both paintings I inspired from the fall colors this season. The one titled, 'Pine Scent', I went for the ephemeral lighting passing through the tall lodge pole pine forest. Perhaps the olfactory memory recalls the pine scent when looking at this scene. 'Pine Scent'  22" X 18" The forest is constantly changing. When you are able to observe it on a daily basis the subtle changes are very apparent. Trees and plants die off as new ones take their place. The world goes on and on. Such is life. 'Shadowing' is a very small example of the changing forest around me. 'Shadowing'   20" X 16"

In this little sketch book I have been creating quick character sketches of our dogs. It is great exercises for the hand eye coordination and getting it right the first time. I use as few lines as I think is necessary to say what I need to say. As I was scanning them in, I kept some of the quotes that are in this sketch book. It is fun to read along.