Donald Neff

Today we had to turn in our paintings by 1:30, and then the reception/sale was being held at NorthStar Village between 4-7 pm. I originally was undecided on whether to go out and do another quick painting in the morning, as I had enough time to do one, or just touch up what I had. Well, when I awoke, my bad back made the decision, and I decided to stay close to the room, and touch up the 4 paintings I had done, frame them, and not rush the morning.

I delivered my works around 12:30, and the show looked great. From what I saw, there were some excellent paintings in the exhibit.

I had a few hours to kill so drove around Lake Tahoe for awhile to gather some photo studies. I do quite a few paintings of Lake Tahoe, and am always trying to come up with new ideas. After cleaning up for the reception back at the motel room, it was back to NorthStar.

The Seasons of Martis exhibition was in a special tent at NorthStar. I have included a few pictures below.

Frankly, I didn’t expect a big turnout as it was a late Sunday afternoon when all the weekenders had gone, plus it was the off season for the area and not too many people around to begin with. I was pleasantly surprised that there were quite a few people attending. I met some old artist friends, plus a number of artists I hadn’t met, but had been communicating with as we show in the same gallery, plus others. It is always great to run into fellow artists, and I think events like this help us constructively compare and keep our craft up. After I put my paintings up, and observed others, I immediately fought the urge to pick up my brush and change just something….maybe talk about this for a later blog.

I don’t have inside information, but it seems sales were a little slow in starting, but in the end they picked up, and I think the show did fairly well with brisk sales. I think slowing art sales may be a little indicative of the slowing economy. Ed Terpening who just participated at the San Lus Obispo show reported pretty much the same. I usually sell out at plein air events, but nothing this time. The one and only juried award, best of show, went to Paul Kratter, probably one of the more well known artists exhibiting.

We artists had to stay around until 7:00 to pick up the paintings if they hadn’t sold. About a quarter to seven, one of the artists told me about a closer place I could park my car to load paintings. Well…might as well kill time and move my car closer to make loading easier. So off I went, to move my car. By the time I got back to the exhibit area, many artists were picking up their paintings. What??? There was a ribbon on one of my paintings! They had just counted the tally and I received the “People’s Choice” award. What a surprise!! Below is a bad shot of the painting–

Today was a continuation of the Seasons of Martis plein air show. As the weather man predicted, the snow moved out and I awoke to a clear sky. After yesterday, however, I knew I would have to pace myself in order not to strain my bad back. I spent part of the morning touching up the paintings I had done so far.

The good weather was beckoning, though, so I took off for the Truckee River. This time, however, I went to the canyon where the Truckee flows out of Martis Valley towards Reno. I ended up by a bridge near the town of Hirschdale. It was a beautiful day, and place to paint. The aspen were just on fire in a grove over the river. I decided to make this painting more impressionistic, and allowed an hour to finish it.

Today was the official start of the Seasons of Martis Plein Air event. The forecast was for snow overnight and throughout the day, so I wasn’t so excited about getting up early for the sunrise. Below is my car in the morning….

Around 9:00 the sun peeked out, so I thought…better go! I headed out and checked in for the show at Northstar Ski resort, and then made my way to the Martis Wildlife viewing area, which I had scouted out yesterday. It was cold and overcast, but not too bad. There were already a number of the plein air artists out painting. I set up and started painting. After about an hour, a new wave of snow came in and, it got bad enough, we just had to pack it in. I didn’t mind the cold or snow, but it was impossible to paint with all the melting precipitation all around, let alone see anything in the ‘white-out’.

Check out the snow on Richards jacket…what a die hard!!! Also notice you can’t see any mountains in the background…they were completely whited out.

We were close to Truckee, so I went in for some lunch. The Squeeze In Cafe was great…a wonderful omlette was so big, I brought half of it home. It was still snowing, sleeting and cloudy, so I retired back at the motel for some rest.

About mid afternoon, the sun poked back out, so I headed for the Truckee River to start another painting. I paint the Truckee often, and it sells well in the gallery, so why not capitalize on my strengths! I painted for a couple hours, and my back really started acting up so I got out a camping chair to sit on.

While I was painting, the owners of the property from across the “restricted bridge” dropped by. we briefly chatted and I learned they knew the owner of the gallery I show at in Tahoe City. Seasonally they post “Keep Off” and “Don’t Park” signs, but me and my Ford Explorer ignored it. The owners slowly drove around my easel in the road, checking their house, and went merrily on.

I had painted a number of paintings from this spot over the last couple years. In fact, my demo oil painting is from here. Finally, as some of you know I have been fighting back pain off and on for over 30 years. it got the best of me, and the sun was starting to fade behind a new wave of snow showers. Time to pack in and have a relaxing evening.

I have been accepted into this new plein air show near Truckee California. The event takes place October 5-7, 2007, with three days of painting by over 20 noted local and regional artists at locations throughout the beautiful Martis Valley as part of the month long Seasons of Martis celebration. This event is being sponsored by North Tahoe Arts and East West Partners through the Tahoe Mountain Resorts Foundation. A list of participating artists and the locations at which artists will be painting during this three day event will be posted on their website soon. The final display and sale will be at:

Seasons of Martis Exhibit and Art Sale
The Village at Northstar, Truckee CA
Sunday, October 7th, 4-7 pm

Awards for the ‘Best of Show’ will be judged by a well known group of California artists, including Zee Zee Mott and Jean LeGassick. Other awards include ‘Artist Choice’ and ‘People’s Choice.’ A portion of the proceeds from the public sale will go the Truckee-Donner Land Trust and North Tahoe Arts.

Below is one of my studio works of nearby Truckee River…

If you are wanting an excuse to visit Tahoe, come up and see the show! For more information, see their website.