Fresh Art Daily by John Hulsey

Fire and Ice

2007-01-09T08:31:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

After the Storm

2007-01-08T08:06:00.000-06:00

Sold

Big Snow Santa Fe

2007-01-07T05:04:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Christmas Pear

2006-12-21T20:58:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Last Light

2006-12-20T19:45:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Roundup

2006-12-19T21:07:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Memory of Arles

2006-12-18T14:35:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Switchback Road, New Mexico

2006-12-17T16:40:00.001-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Konza III

2006-12-15T07:44:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

On the Konza II

2006-12-13T19:18:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Memory

2006-12-11T21:15:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Dream

2006-12-10T17:50:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Redbird

2006-12-07T19:57:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Jus de Grenadier

2006-12-06T17:24:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Cloud Shadow

2006-12-05T18:44:00.000-06:00

Sold

Gone South

2006-12-04T23:42:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Shelter

2006-12-03T21:21:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Dawn Harvest

2006-11-30T19:56:00.000-06:00

Sold

Jus de Poire

2006-11-29T18:57:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Shy Pom

2006-11-28T18:13:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pears in Repose

2006-11-27T21:21:00.000-06:00

Sold

Composition Pears

2006-11-24T10:36:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pear Provencal

2006-11-21T21:29:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Les Trois Amies

2006-11-21T09:18:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Silhouettes

2006-11-18T09:53:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pastoral V

2006-11-16T20:23:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pastoral IV

2006-11-15T20:50:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pastoral III

2006-11-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

Sold

Poms II

2006-11-13T22:10:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Evening Ride

2006-11-12T14:52:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pom

2006-11-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Cold Front

2006-11-08T15:55:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

On the Konza II

2006-11-08T08:55:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

October Woods II

2006-11-06T22:37:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Dawn Break

2006-11-05T12:52:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

October Woods

2006-11-03T08:33:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

The Wood Duck

2006-11-01T19:01:00.000-06:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Peace

2006-10-31T21:00:00.000-06:00

Sold
I'm always searching around on back country
roads for interesting views, and then re-
turning when I think that the light should be
great to paint. The light doesn't always
cooperate, making for a lot of return trips.
This day, however, just developed perfectly
as I came upon this location for the first time, so
I took full advantage of the opportunity, and
was able to get a satisfying result from my
efforts. It helps a lot to keep one's painting
gear in the car at the ready - we never
know when we'll chance upon some spectacular
moment, even in our own neighborhood. It
can be difficult to keep an alert attitude and
a keen eye for compositions and special light
each and every day, especially in very
familiar surroundings, but some of my
best work has come out of those situations
less than a mile from my studio door. After all
his travels to paint, Monet finally decided that
he would make his home his subject, and thereby
he was able to take his painting to a whole new
and deeper level. By exercising creativity in his
landscape design, he was also able to dive down
deeper into his creative core and discover what
moved his soul to paint. That he was also able to
synthesize that experience into a new way of
seeing and painting the world remains today
a benchmark for creative achievement, and
continues to inspire me to continue to develop
my vision.

Along the River II

2006-10-30T16:38:00.000-06:00

(click on picture to purchase)
This is a scene that only occurs at one moment
during the year when the sun is in the right
place, is low enough to send the long tree-
shadows behind me across the field, and the
crops have taken on their fall colors. Today
I cannot go back and paint the same moment -
too much has already changed. I love the
challenge of this painting - putting complement-
ary colors side-by-side on a wet sheet of paper.
This technique is so dangerous, yet so full of
potential that it is worth the risk of ruining
the painting just to get the colors to work
together. In any other medium this is an easy
task, with lots of room for corrections if you
go wrong. But in watercolor, we only get one
shot at it, for a few seconds everything is
possible, and then stop, that's it. This is
what I love about working in watercolor-
the risk is great, but the rewards are greater.
It can be an unforgiving medium, but I believe
that it also has the potential to be the most
expressive of skill and feeling of all the
materials available to us.

Along the River

2006-10-27T19:56:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Early to Rise

2006-10-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Harvest Day

2006-10-25T21:55:00.000-05:00

Sold

Clearing Storm

2006-10-24T19:25:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Passing Squall

2006-10-23T21:33:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)
Sometimes everything comes together just
right in a watercolor such as this, and the result
looks so simple and easy. This was my first
shot at this subject- they don't always work
out so well the first time. On occassion, when
I'm trying to develop a complex composition,
I may have to repaint the same picture many
times in order to understand it fully and solve
any technical problems along the way. Then
my final version, the one I show, can look as
"effortless" as this one appears to be.

Remembrance II

2006-10-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Remembrance

2006-10-19T22:42:00.000-05:00

Sold

Pastoral

2006-10-18T18:10:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Meadow Light

2006-10-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)
I've painted this meadow many times over the
years, but it continues to hold my interest as
a subject useful for developing painting
ideas, even small ones. Here I have returned
to paint the fast-moving morning light in
watercolor, hoping all the while that I can get
a decent result. I'm rarely happy with my
pictures just as they are done - they some-
how fail to equal the vision in my head. But
as time goes by, that vision dims and the
picture is allowed to stand on its own as a
painting. This one stands up pretty well,
I think. Thank you for your comments.

Sun Ray

2006-10-16T20:48:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)
This painting is one of a continuing series I
have been working on for a number of years
of the same field near my studio. I think
that I've painted it in every season and every
kind of light, yet it still provides inspiration
and subject matter for new work. There is
something elemental, and perhaps monu-
mental about this composition and the way
light plays around and off and through the
landscape. Perhaps it is because this field
is surrounded by woods, which is one kind of
environment, and the flat, cultivated fields
provide another contrasting dimension which
makes it so interesting to me. I always have
liked edges and boundaries like this, the same
way I was always drawn to the marshes of
the Hudson River when I lived there.

Goodnight Vision

2006-10-15T18:30:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)
Another moonlight moment that caught my
attention on my night walks during the full
moon. This little chicken coop had just been
sided with fresh, bright galvanized metal
and shone like a perfect little chapel in the
woods. To me, the scene begged to be painted.

Flower Field IV

2006-10-12T21:29:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Mulberry Moon

2006-10-11T16:50:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Claire de Lune

2006-10-10T19:31:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)
Painting by the light of the full moon is one of
my favorite challenges, and over the years, I've
learned a few things about this lighting sit-
uation that help me to get a decent result.
Because the human eye is so much more
sensitive to a broader value range than a camera
is currently, there is no substitute for painting
en plein air in the moonlight. The difficulty in
this is that one must have light on the palette
and the canvas in order to work, and there is
never enough moonlight to do this. So one
must experiment with very dim artificial light
and allow the eyes to constantly readjust,
back and forth as one works. As I said, this
is a real challenge, but the enjoyment of
painting outdoors in the cool night air and
light is one of the great joys of painting.

Fall in the Meadow

2006-10-09T23:13:00.000-05:00

Sold
These bright fall days go by so quickly. There
have been years when I've missed my opp -
ortunity to paint special places in the perfect
moment by just a day or two, and resolved
to come back next year and capture it. This
is one of those spots on my property where
I pass by frequently and do set aside the time
to paint it now and then, but haven't been able
to capture this moment until now. I try to
maintain my land as a habitat and forest
preserve while carefully shaping and
grooming parts of it for the purpose of painting
it. Over the years, I've developed this meadow
as a deer park and arboretum, and this mas-
sive oak is but one of the inspiring specimens
to be enjoyed there.

Cloud Break III

2006-10-08T09:10:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

On the River II

2006-10-06T08:47:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

On the River

2006-10-04T17:51:00.000-05:00

Sold

Sundown

2006-10-03T15:58:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Pumpkin Gate

2006-10-02T22:07:00.000-05:00

Sold

During a walk in the country, I came upon
this decorated gate. I really liked the
combination of colors in the leaves, grasses
and pumpkins.

Daybreak

2006-10-01T10:00:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

This painting is all about the intensely -
colored and fleeting light of dawn. The challenge
for me is to capture the extreme contrasts
of light and shadow in a sensitive and believeable
way. The camera cannot capture this wide of a
dynamic tonal range, but the human eye and
brain can distinguish all the subtle nuances of
tone. As an artist, though, I have to edit out
some of this information in order to make the
scene work as a painting, and I must also
choose which elements I feel need to be
heightened or intensified in order to communicate
what I am feeling and thinking about my fast-
changing subject. So there is a lot of brain-work
and hard-won experience that goes in to this process.
Later on, back in the studio, I may be able to use
this little study to create a much larger, perhaps
more polished version of this moment. I will also
have to decide if the larger work needs to be
expressed in oil, pastel, or watercolor - it's all a
matter of the feel of the final piece.

After the Rain

2006-10-01T09:59:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Glorious Kansas light at its best! This kind of
light doesn't really last long enough to finish
even a small painting. Over the years I've
had to learn how to develop a "visual memory"
for details that do not persist very long, so
that I can add them later as I am working
the picture to a finish. I learned a lot about
how to do this while painting the tidal marshes
along the Hudson River in New York State when
we lived there in the 80's. Because the river
is a tidal estuary, or 'arm of the sea', the tide
would often either fill or drain the reflections
out of the scene while I was still working on it!
So intense was my concentration on the entire
panoramic scene that I didn't really notice the
slow shrinking and disappearance of my
beautiful reflections until they were pretty
much gone. Too late! Next time, I was ready
to get them noted down in my sketchbook first.
Live, paint, and learn.

Wood Ducks Digs

2006-10-01T09:58:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Konza I

2006-10-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Distant vistas, golden grasses and sturdy
tree-warriors built to survive the incessant
wind and intense sun always inspire me out
on the Konza Prairie Preserve. One can walk
for miles through this protected area and
really experience the ancient seas of grass
and wooded draws and vast open space of
the rapidly vanishing prairie ecosystem. I
feel very fortunate to have this treasure
within an easy drive of my studio.

Study in Blue

2006-10-01T09:50:00.000-05:00

NFS

Sisters II

2006-10-01T09:46:00.000-05:00

Sold

Two of my favorite horse subjects browse
in the dawn light among the sere, golden
grasses and prairie flowers of Tailgate Ranch,
near my studio. These two are always together,
looking out for each other, and often stand
side-by-side, heads to tails, so they can
swish the flies away from each other's faces
on long, hot summer days. I love the way that
their white coats are always changing color
with the light and the time of day, so I
continue to paint them again and again.
It also helps that they stand still for long periods
of time! Good girls.

Sunflowers I

2006-10-01T09:44:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Ted Grinter's sunflowers are back in bloom
again! What a wonderful visual treat it is to
walk across the highway from my studio and
paint in these fields. The early morning light
is stunning - as is the evening. 7:30p.m., is
usually sublime, but only for a couple of weeks,
and then the flowers begin to decline as the
fall sunshine starts the drying process so
necessary to turn them into a crop of high-
quality seed heads. Ted's fields are mag-
nificent - as good as any in southern
France, where they are celebrated as a
tourist attraction as well as a crop. Why
fly overseas when they grow perfectly
here in Kansas? Now, if we just had big fields
lavender in August, one could almost be
in Provence without all that airport nonsense.

Fall comes to the Pond

2006-10-01T09:43:00.000-05:00

(click on painting to purchase)

September

2006-10-01T09:41:00.000-05:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Near Ghost Ranch

2006-10-01T09:31:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Georgia O'Keefe country at its best. Bit of
a chore there keeping my umbrella from
blowing away as the storm pushed in, and
more than a little concern about the lightning
strikes as I was working, but, these are just
hazards a painter must deal with. Either
you cut and run, or you stand and finish it.
In this case, it was worth it, as I was later able
to create a much larger version of this scene in
the studio, which is on my website.

Misty Field

2006-09-12T21:07:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Glowing, shimmering grasses reflect first light
on a walk through the fields near my home. I
am always struck by how similar this land -
scape is to the landscape of Provence, in
southern France, where I paint and teach in
the Spring each year. We even have vineyards
around here, the grapes from which are turned
into wine - those paintings sometimes get confused
with my paintings of vineyards in France when I
try to catalogue them later. The climate isn't too
dissimilar either, which probably accounts for
my attraction to the place. On second thought,
maybe this painting is from Provence....! Oh well.

Sunday Morning

2006-09-12T08:54:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Peace and quiet along a country lane near the
river early on a summer Sunday morning. The
morning mist made everything dream-like and
the one-point perspective helped make this
composition focused, yet full of possibility. What
lies up ahead around the bend in the road?
Scenes like this are an invitation to explore,
perhaps to wander and get temporarily lost.
Always there is the potential to discover something
interesting, something beautiful. Mystery is a
wonderful thing.

Dawn on the River

2006-09-10T11:27:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Dusk on the River

2006-09-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

These next two paintings are from the same
location, painted at the two most interesting
moments of the day, light-wise. I never
ever get tired of painting the break of day;
it is always different, quiet, and full of
clean smells from the cool night air. Dusk,
on the other hand, seems to move too quickly,
as if in a hurry to wrap it all up for the day,
and causes me to struggle to keep up with
the fading light. There are treasures to be
found then, also, because the clouds change
rapidly as the heat of the day ceases to
fuel them and they put on their sunset clothes.

Sudden Shower by John Hulsey

2006-09-06T17:58:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

I love the afternoon showers in the Rockies.
For a few minutes the entire landscape changes
clothes and we are presented with an opp-
ortunity to paint an entirely new picture from
the same spot. Capturing that soft sheen of
water gently washing down in the distance has
taken me many false starts and bad finishes
to figure out. This one has it just right -
rich colors, moisture-laden atmosphere, but
sunny behind and cheery. I wish all rainy days
were like this one. Of course, it helps if one is
warm and dry, as we were, in our VW
Westphalia "rolling studio". We have finally
run the wheels off that vehicle crossing the
country on painting trips over the years. Sad
to retire it, but one must move on eventually.
I am afraid that the new ones don't really measure
to the equipment and thoughtful details of our old '86.

Grazing by John Hulsey

2006-09-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Back in the plains, I am always taken by the
sight of grazing cattle in the billowing tall
grass prairie. The grasses move in the wind
like waves on the ocean while the cows slowly
work their way over the field. I am also
interested in the way they distribute them-
selves across a field - it is often such a
visually perfect design that I suspect one
could only predict it with a supercomputer
using fuzzy logic or some other advanced
form of mathematics. Maybe the cows know
something that we don't.

Jenny Lake by John Hulsey

2006-09-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Storm Approaching by John Hulsey

2006-09-04T18:26:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Blue Bales by John Hulsey

2006-08-30T18:17:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Valley of the Bison by John Hulsey

2006-08-29T17:28:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Another sublime moment in Yellowstone. With
some artistic license, this view became a great
subject for this little study. All of the images
posted to date have been small studies for
larger works. As I slowly enlarge them
into incrementally bigger paintings, I am
able to solve pictorial problems and change
the composition around to suit me, play with
colors and so forth. I may decide not to take
the image to the largest size - it may prove not
to be strong enough. Or it might not gain anything
by just being bigger. Usually, my final size works
out to be 30"x 40", or 40"x 50" for a watercolor
or an oil, but some images have benefitted by
being executed life-size, which can be 8 ft.
in width or more. It all depends on my energy
and enthusiasm for the subject.

Yosemite Falls I by John Hulsey

2006-08-29T17:24:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

What a challenge to paint! More explorations
of this subject are necessary, and perhaps a
very large oil would convey some of this grandeur
and vast space.

The Ox Bow by John Hulsey

2006-08-26T07:38:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Roll Cast by John Hulsey

2006-08-24T20:38:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Watching an expert fly fish in a narrow
stream is sheer poetry in motion - and this
encounter was no exception. While I enjoy fly
fishing myself, it takes the same amount of
time as painting does, so I am always faced
with a tough choice when I get on perfect
water such as this near Blacktail Ponds in
GTNP. In this instance I made the right
choice for this perfect moment of meditation
and beauty.

String Lake by John Hulsey

2006-08-23T20:22:00.000-05:00

(click on picture to purchase)

Here I was painting near the cold, clear waters
of glacier-fed String Lake, one of a chain of
connected lakes created when the ancient
glaciers receded back up the mountain slopes
of the Teton Range. Dodgy light conditions
forced me to work fast and apply some
memory to the fast-moving cloud shapes.
It was important to get the illusion of trans -
parent water right in order to pull this one
off. More to come.

On Signal Mountain by John Hulsey

2006-08-22T20:15:00.000-05:00

(click on painting to purchase)

Signal Mountain rises to 7593 ft. above Lake
Jackson creating a spot for incredible dawn
and sunset views of the mighty Tetons. This
moment is a challenging one to paint or
photograph because the sun was full in my
eyes causing a lot of squinting, but otherwise
well worth it. The low angle of the sun and
the evening mist made the mountains seem
insubstantial and ethereal, an effect of light
that only lasted long enough to execute this
painting. More to come.

Teton Evening by John Hulsey

2006-08-21T22:18:00.000-05:00

(click on painting to purchase)
A sublime view of the Grand Tetons
near Schwabachers Landing

These paintings are from my recent trip to
Wyoming to camp in the National Park and
backpack to paint the incredible scenery and
light. One of my artistic goals is to paint in
all the National Parks in North America before
my days end, and Teton was still on my list.
The task is not as easy as it appears at first
glance, and has taken me years to see only 6
so far! Along the way I have had the honor
of being selected by the Parks Service as
an artist in residence in both Yosemite and
Glacier. More to come.

Supercell by John Hulsey

2006-08-18T12:25:00.000-05:00

(click on painting to purchase)

A supercell is a hugely powerful and very
immense weather system that often spawns
very large hail, high winds and tornadoes.
They also create some eerily beautiful light
and cloud effects that are worth some
personal risk to try and capture as art. The
trick is in knowing when to get out of there.
I have painted many storms that ultimately
produced tornadoes, and to my pleasant
surprise, they have always found eager and
appreciative buyers. So I guess that I am
not alone in my fascination with dangerous
weather. This one did produce destructive
tornadoes and came very near my house,
but, thankfully, missed me.