Montana Artworking by Cindy Betka

"Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?" Leonardo da Vinci I have experienced what Leonardo is talking about. My dreams are of paintings I am working on and I sometimes come up with a vision of what the painting needs. The next day I will go to implement the idea from my dream and find it difficult. The painting in my dream is much better. Here are two recently completed paintings. 'Wave Length'   20" X 16"  Oil 'Grassy Sass'   20" X 20"   Oil

There is a film out, Mr. Turner . It depicts the 19th century British painter in the last two decades of his life. I have not seen it yet, the DVD awaits in our que. Joseph Mallord William Turner was a master landscape painter that is know for his more spectacular works like The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, October 16, 1834. Turner viewed the event from the bank of the river Thames. Later he painted the vivid scene from memory. At the British Institute in 1835, he finished the painting in front of an audience as quite the spectacle. As custom, the artist were to just put finishing touches on their paintings. Instead he made quite the scene with his usual flamboyance by taking the day in painting the whole of it to completion. JMW Turner

My solo exhibition at the 'Pen Gallery' Deer Lodge MT has one and half months to go. Stop by to take a look.. The close is the end of September. Below are just a few of the paintings in the show. 'Came The Rain',  16" X 20"  Oil 'Frosted Grass',  20" X 20",  Oil 'The Source',  24" X 30",  Oil

'Send Rain',  20" X 16"  Oil 'Soul Satisfaction',  12" X 16"   Oil These two paintings were accepted into the ‘MAC Art Auction’ in Spokane , WA. This is a fundraiser to support the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC). The event is on November 7, 2015 at the Spokane Davenport Hotel. As the event gets closer I will post a link to their online catalog. It should be exciting to see the catalog. May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace…’ Romans 15:13  

With this series I am working on ‘Living Water’; I find fun with including waterfowl ( Anatidae ). Here I have painted into the composition two Tundra Swans. 'Lift',  20" X 20" Oil

Here I am experimenting a bit with water media. From Wikipedia; A triptych is a work of art (usually a panel painting ) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. This triptych is a bit different in that it is on heavy water color paper hanging from clipped on chains. In addition to water color I am using some colored pencils, gold metallic powder and copper leaf. The bird is a American Bittern that lives among the reeds of wetlands. It's plumage works as camouflage swaying with the wind as the reeds it stands in. Sketches   The set up in progress