Artist & Painter Rebecca Latham’s Nature & Wildlife Art

My studio is almost in place.  I should be painting again in the next few days or so.

I’m moving out.

Ok, I’m not really moving "out".  I, and all of the other artists in my family, have been working underground, in our basement art studio, for a few years now.  It’s tough to make inspirational wildlife and nature paintings when you can’t even see the outdoors.  So, we decided to change that.  We will also be getting some more space to work as well.

Yippee!!!   

My apologies — I have been/will be posting irregularly until I’m finished with my new studio.  Thanks for visiting!!!! :)  I’ll be back up and running shortly!!

We attended a Ducks Unlimited chapter’s banquet tonight. My Mom, Karen, is "Artist of the Year" Sponsor Print Artist for Minnesota’s Ducks Unlimited (as you may already know).  The chapter often has the state’s Artist of the Year attend to sign prints, frames, etc. for the sponsor members.

I will likely be here next year as I will be the MN DU Artist of the Year for 2006. 

Thanks for having us!!

We left for Minnesota today after a stop in Jackson to repair the damage to our vehicle.  It took a little longer than we were hoping, but we’ll get home ok.  It is sort of cold, rainy, and miserable outside today, so we opted out of any photography.

I had been planning to paint some plein air pieces while I was here, but I was so involved in gathering references for my studio work that I left them out.  Oh well.  Maybe I’ll be able to get some done the next time I come out.

This morning our means of transportation had some technical difficulties …and, well….  I’ll just say I won’t be using it to go anywhere today.  (everyone is fine, but glass did fly!) 

So…  I (we ) are going to be hiking right here for some new references!!    This slight change of plans will be ok.  The fall colors here are almost at peak, so we should see some great things!!!!

Today we spent the day driving to a few locations to hike around and photograph some habitat.  I think we found some very nice habitat reference!!

Here’s an ink sketch of Mt. Moran I made last night from the porch (where we’re staying).  It’s a little smudged — the cleaning crew apparently found it interesting.

Today we visited the Arts for the Parks artists’ reception at the Ranch Inn here in Jackson.  Very nice.  I (we) really appreciate all of the hard work that goes into the AFTP event — thanks for everything!!!

This evening we left for a few days of research at Signal Mountain in the Grand Teton National Park (after we stopped in to say our goodbyes at our gallery, of course! ) .  We arrived just in time to see the sunset over the Tetons.   It was beautiful!!!  I did some sketches along with some photography of the scenery.

Galleries West held their Fall Roundup show this afternoon.  A snapshot of the show is posted above.  Thanks guys for such a great show — you’re the best!!!!!   I will be painting some new pieces for the gallery soon (to replace the pieces that found new homes today ).  -www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com-

Also, congratulations to my mom, Karen, for her new hardware (medallion) from the Arts for the Parks banquet and awards ceremony tonight!

The Fall Art Festival’s "Quick Draw" started at 10am this morning.  It’s cold and drizzling outside, so the painters and sculptors worked in tents on the square .  The artists had an hour to finish their paintings before they were put on live auction.  Quite a few artists from our gallery were in the event and did well!  Congrats guys — nice job!!

We spent some time with some of our friends/clients who were in town and visited a great spot for shooting wildlife in the area.  :)  We also shot a lot of reference photos of both landscapes and wildlife in the Teton Mountain Range.

After concluding our photoshoot, we went back to our gallery downtown for some "studio" painting with a number of other artists represented by Galleries West Fine Art.  -www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com-  There was a lot of traffic through this evening :) – thanks to everyone who dropped by!!!  We appreciate it!!

We had a wonderful photoshoot this morning with some of the local wildlife!! :)  I will be using some of these new references in one of my next paintings.

I painted in the gallery (Galleries West Fine Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming) this afternoon with a few other artists from our gallery.  I worked on my 20×30 cougar piece - roughing in a bit of the background habitat today.  Thanks to everyone who visited the Arts for the Parks Top 100 exhibit and dropped by Galleries West to say Hi!!  We appreciate it!!   I will be in the gallery painting again tomorrow. -www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com-

We also attended the preview party at the National Museum of Wildlife Art’s Miniatures and More exhibition this evening.  It was a very nice event — so many nice paintings and sculptures!!! 

Lastly, (but not least) congrats to my Mom, Karen, for placing 6th in the Federal Duck Stamp Competition this year!!!!

My family and I painted in the gallery today (Galleries West Fine Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming -www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com- ).  The gallery was completely rehung this afternoon for the upcoming "Fall Roundup" (their third annual) group showing for the artists in the gallery during Jackson’s Fall Arts Festival.  It looks really nice!

I’ve added a photo of a view of the gallery’s interior — my Mom, Karen’s easel (left) and my little "studio" setup (center).   I am still working on my large cougar painting, as you can see.  It’s coming along pretty well.  My Mom is painting on a new bull moose piece (which, of course, I think is fantastic!).

Pictured in the background is R. Scott Nickell, one of the gallery’s owners as well as the gallery’s resident sculptor.  He has a lot of large bronzes in the gallery featuring Native American Indians (that are also pictured in the photo).

I shot a few pictures this morning of some waterfowl near where we are staying in Jackson Hole.  These are Ring-necked ducks (pictured above) that were fishing for some early lunch. 

I painted on my new cougar piece for most of the day today.   I will be painting at Galleries West Fine Art -www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com- tomorrow during the afternoon.  I think it’s coming along pretty well! 

I started this painting this evening in my motel studio  — it will be a young adult cougar stalking.  The picture above is the sketch phase of the painting.  The piece will be 20×30 when it’s finished.

I am planning to work on the painting in the gallery during the Fall Arts Festival (Galleries West in Jackson Hole, Wyoming), but I will have to get a little farther into the color phase first.

We were lucky to have such a nice day today to shoot reference photos and drive through parks.  :)  I’ve included a few pictures in this post of some of the views.

Some of the wildlife came out for us as well — elk (& calves), coyote, moose, beaver, etc. 

On the road.  I decided not to paint in the car for this trip :).  I will be starting a new piece for my Jackson gallery soon -www.gallerieswestjacksonhole.com- and will be posting the progress as I work.