Montana Artworking by Cindy Betka

Above are a few steps in the progress of one of the paintings I am currently working on. It is oil on board, 16" X 16".

You complete a painting when you are satisfied with the end product. It is your best work at the time and it is ready to be released into the world. Hopefully it has much exposure and many people can connect with it. Someone makes the purchase and your art has a meaning in a home proudly displayed. Many years pass and the painting maybe recollected into a different setting or home. Most of the time you never find this out until the collector actually contacts you. Recently I had this happen to me on two occasions. One collector emailed me to confirm that I was the artist on a piece they were resurrecting from being in storage for ten years. Another collector again wanted to confirm a painting I had done about 15 years ago that they had just purchased from the original collector. I recycle canvases after I accept that a painting is not working and I simply paint over it. That is what is nice about painting on a hard surface such as hard board or wood panels. Keeping to the idea of recy...

Over the holidays some of my artwork found homes. Isn't that a nice reward to know that your art has touch something in someone. I want to bring that beauty and joy I feel when creating into each piece of art. Hence, I hope that is somehow transferred into the viewer and shared with others. I made a composite/collage of some of the paintings and drawings that found homes. The 48th YAM Yellowstone Art Museum Art Auction Close with Pink Curtain ,   Oil, 20" X 20" Don't miss the Opening Reception Jan. 21th to preview the art on display. The auction is March 5th, at the Yellowstone Art Museum, 401 N. 27th Street, Billings, MT 59101 Contact Kat Healy at events@artmuseum.org, 406-256-6804 ext.236 for inquiries.

Whether you make your strokes with a pen, pencil, or brush each tool and the way you handle it is forming your own style. Many of my brushes are not the expensive ones. I find even the cheaper ones last a fair amount of time. Perhaps I am a little rough with the brushes. Lately, I have been picking up whatever tool I find that will give me the result I want. Below are examples of those tools.         By Faith,  16" X 16"  Oil

We traveled to Bozeman today in good weather. The scenery was dynamic especially looking south toward the mountains in Yellowstone. The afternoon sun was shining on the snowy mountain tops in such a way to make a,  'wish I had my camera' scene. So, what makes for a dynamic design in a painting? It is not just the lighting or elements in the scene, but the placement of shapes and how they create movement. Not sure you would call this painting I am working on dynamic in its design, but movement is there in a more passive way.

The dawn of a new year, how fast they travel through our lives. Here traveling through an area called Elk Park, MT. It is a large flat open valley just along the Divide about 6800' elevation. So named for the elk herds that roam there. The sun has not been seen for a few weeks and here we have it washing the mountains on this beautiful dawn. His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Lamentations 3:22-23