Fat Cat Series, Daily Drawings, Art Journaling, Cats, Kittens,

Cat wasn't always called Cat.  We always name out cats, but regardless of any given name they almost always end up, "Cat" or "Kitty".

Yet another position of very lazy, very fat and slothful kitty















A slothful kitty isn't pretty,
But pretty funny
 When you tickle her tummy.

Fat Cat Series, Art Journaling, Daily Sketches, sketching,sketchy, drawings,drawing,art, Cats, Kittens

We were told Cat was 8 weeks old, but when we picked her up she was itty bitty, not yet weened and somewhat frail. But precious. The single mother of toddlers who sold us Cat was stressed out and wanted the kittens GONE.  The vet guessed Cat was 4 weeks at best.

She developed diarrhea ( can be deadly in such a tiny, young creature) and we had to watch over her carefully night and day for weeks. She was fed formula out of a bottle.

This Cat loves to eat.  She meows incessantly when she finds her food dish empty, even if she isn't at all hungry.  It's the principle of an empty dish, to this fat cat.

Artists' Retreat,plein air painting,mountains,fall aspen,paintings,

Ladies Artists' Retreat
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Plein Air Paint-Out
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Better than a Bed and Breakfast
                               
                               

 Eat, drink, live and breath art for 3 days and 3 nights with 3-5 other artists in a beautiful mountain setting.
Why just ladies? You'll see.....read on! :)
 ( Guys- we will get one set up for you soon)

 Here's the scoop:

Every fall, in late September, I head up to our place in Indian Mountain (South Park area- Jefferson , Colorado- about 15 miles north of Fairplay) to paint the scenery.  It's absolutely gorgeous.  I thought it would be fun to try out an idea, and this may become a regular thing:

From Thursday to Sunday ( September 17-20 and September 24-27) a maximum of 5 artists ( including me) will stay together at the cabin.   I, your hostess, will guide the group to some of my favorite painting spots. We will paint outside all day Friday and Saturday, and half of Sunday. All meals are included in the cost.

The long weekend will kick off Thursday.  Painters arrive between 4-6 pm, settle in and enjoy drinks and hors devours.  Dinner will be served at 6:30.

Friday and Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast, we will each make and pack our own lunches ( food provided for this) and head out to paint from 9:30 or 10:00 until 1:00 or so.   After a nice picnic lunch, we will head to a new location to paint for the afternoon.

We will arrive back at the cabin between 5-7 and relax by a campfire or on the large deck while I prepare dinner.  We will enjoy nightly critiques of all the paintings, and share tips and ideas. I have a nice library of art books and some painting DVDs of various artists that will be on hand at the cabin.

The total cost for the long weekend is $ 400.00 per person.  This includes 2 glasses of wine each with dinners.  Feel free to bring other beverages of your choice for the weekend.

Sleeping arrangements are as follows:

The master bedroom has one queen sized bed.
The guest bedroom has 2 bunk beds, with double -sized futons on the bottoms of both bunks.
The living room couch pulls out into a queen bed.  There are two full bathrooms.

So, it's cozy.   It's perfect for a *group of friends, and unique and daring for 4-5 utter strangers.  But artists tend to hit it off immediately, in general, and what a fun way to make some new friends!
If you like adventure, and love to paint the beauty of the mountains in the fall, please, sign up!

* If you are a group of friends interested in doing this, I am happy to include more people ( up to 8 friends) for a private retreat  ( with or without me there as guide and cook) so e-mail or call me to discuss this option.

Nitty Gritty Stuff

The cabin is located about 75 miles from Littleton, CO, or about 90 miles from Denver.  It's off I-285, so the traffic problems associated with I-70 are conveniently avoided. Breckenridge is a 45-60 minute drive, and Buena Vista about 60 minutes away.

This retreat will be casual.  No tight schedules.  If anyone prefers to relax back at the cabin after half a day of painting, that is perfectly fine. There is also hiking, biking, horseback riding and other activities available not far from the cabin.
 You will need a car.  I have a jeep, but with painting equipment we will need at least one other vehicle for car pooling to the painting sites.  A car with 4-wheel drive would be best, as the road to the cabin is unpaved.

A detailed menu for the weekends will be laid out in a subsequent blog post.

Mountain weather is very unpredictable.  There will not be refunds for bad weather.  We will do our best and paint inside the cabin if need be.

Cancellation/Refund policy:

100% refund if cancel 2 weeks prior to retreat
50% refund if cancel one week prior to retreat

To pay, e-mail me at Tracy8haines@msn.com and let me know which of the two dates you prefer ( September 17-20 or Sept. 24-27.  I will then send you an invoice via paypal.  You may also pay by check if you prefer.

Please call me or e-mail with any questions.
Tracy 303-525-6871
Tracy8haines@msn.com

Visit my website at Tracyhaines.com or check out my you tubes on YouTube channel, Tracy Haines Fine Art.

Acrylic Underpainting by landscape artist Tracy Haines,Figurative, the zone, right brain activity

For so long I've wanted to tackle this image of my daughter, which was taken several years ago.  I liked the casualty of the pose, the attitude. It's Jordyn!

I finally started!  This is the acrylic underpainting.  I don't often start an oil this way, but lately have been playing around with loose acrylic underpaintings to get the canvas covered.  I will continue the painting in oil, and I will attempt to keep the end result loose, too.  I love a painterly quality in works; just not a big fan of especially tight paintings-although I admire the realists.

What is particularly fun about this approach, is that once the tough work is done- the work requiring left brain activity (which is always a strain for me , and why I beat a hasty retreat out of medicine)-one can put in "time out" the chatty, over- analytic left brain by, say, listening to an interesting podcast.  This frees up the right brain to take over and allow a more fluid, intuitive completion of the painting.  For me , this is where the painting really comes to life.  This is that zone where I lose all sense of time and place and self.

Thank you for checking this post out, and I will post the painting again once it's completed.

Tracy Haines art sale boutique Christmas crafts oil encaustic acrylic and pastel paintings original fine art Colorado landscapes

Please stop by and bring a friend or two! Or ten! :)

Tracy Haines pastels paintings landscapes crested Butte Colorado wildflowers mountains hills streams

Title:  Hill's Pattern in Crested Butte

Artist: Tracy Haines

Medium: Pastel on black Canson mi Tientes mattboard

Size:  8x10

Unframed

This is one of many plein air pieces I did on a trip back to Crested Butte, Colorado earlier this July.  The scenes everywhere were simply show-stopping.  It was the week of the wildflower festival.  This year the color purple seemed to dominate over the yellow we saw in abundance last year.  I loved the pattern the hills and trees made, and the hint of the stream leading the eye comfortably into the composition.

Tracy Haines pastels landscapes paintings art plein air crested Butte Colorado mountains

Title:  Evening in Crested Butte

Artist: Tracy Haines

Medium: Pastel on sanded archival-treated MDF board

Size:  8x10

Unframed

This is one of many plein air pieces I did on a trip back to Crested Butte, Colorado earlier this July.  The scenes everywhere were simply show-stopping.  It was the week of the wildflower festival.  This year the color purple seemed to dominate over the yellow we saw in abundance last year. 

Haines original art landscape paintings oil on canvas mount Elbert Colorado mountains fall foliage aspen trees paths

Mount Elbert is a 9x12 oil on linen canvas attached to masonite. This piece was done plein air.

Thrice I've tried to climb this 14er!  Each time we were forced to turn around and beat a hasty retreat. At one point we were a mere 30 minutes from the peak.  One day, perhaps. (although this ole body is starting to kick back against things like 14ers.....)

Tracy Haines, colorful, Colorado, landscapes, pastels, mountains, trees, snow aspen

Title:  Aspens in Springtime Artist: Tracy Haines Medium: Pastel on archival Canson mi Tientes paper Size:  8x10 Unframed I was attracted to the gorgeous colors of the scene here and also liked the vertical light aspen trees against the parallel arrangement of bands of colors from the ground on up to the sky.