Jeff Potter - latest Work and ongoing blog on my art in creation

Back to Home Jeff Potter Fine Art

About the Artist New Work Pastels Watercolors Oils Archival Prints Experimental Art Group Link

Ladron Mtn. Sunset photo by Jeff Potter

a little about me

Jeff below Powell Point, Utah during Oct. 07

recent photo in Utah

Jeff at an Art Fair in Patagonia, AZ 2002

starving artist

Freckles, Zosia and me

latest Stuff / My ART Journal

This page will be kept up as my bi-weekly/monthly journal describing work currently underway, my thoughts and my art adventures. New info will be added at the top.

August 16, 2011 Several shows I have applied to recently and have been accepted into. Plein air painters of NM "Land & Light" in Taos, Albq Open Space Division "Little Gems" More on the way - Corrales Art Show at Old Church, PSNM National Exhibition and RGAA Encantada.

Working hard as well organizing the Alameda Studio Tour

Small plein aire pastel "Rincon Ridge from Sandia lakes"

Here's my most recent Distractionist effort "Rufus Hummingbird at feeder" acrylic

July 15, 2011 some more recent paintings influenced by the ongoing drought in New Mexico

"Las Conchas Firestorm" an acrylic painting inspired by videos from YouTube

"Wallow Fire Cloud Sunset" another acrylic painting

"Fire Smoke at Morphy Lake" a plein aire oil painting done June 19 during the Pacheco Fire outbreak

Low water at Morphy Lake"plein aire pastel painting

June 10, 2011 some recent paintings

"Raven in snowy ponderosa" acrylic collage

"Low clouds Sandia Mountains" pastel

June 1, 2011 Jemez Creative was fun but late spring winds punished the vendors and kept crowds away.

May 31 - Click here to link to a nice story about me in the Corrales Comment as part of of the featured Corrales Studio Tour artists

May 26, 2011 April and May have been busy with several enjoyable and successful arts events. The Jemez Beauty show was fun although early spring weather put a damper on visitors to Jemez Springs. The Corrales Studio Tour was well attended and I appreciate Jaci and Paul Anderson's hospitality in sharing their lovely Corrales home on Walden Road. Still to come is Jemez Creative at the Jemez Canyon Fine Art Gallery Memorial weekend. There will be a "Jemez" theme to the work I have for sale, like this plein air pastel.

February 8, 2011 I have done lots of new work and entered several competitions. Am gearing up for a one - man show the 1st week of April at the Jemez Canyon Art Gallery in Jemez Springs. All plein air and small oils and pastels. Winter weather of late has been tough and very cold. Check back in the next few weeks as I make some headway.

Some fun paintings of late "Azor asleep" painted left-handed with a wide brush. This painting was accepted in the 26th Texas & Neighbors Regional Art Exhibition in Irving Texas which was on display during April and May 2011.

October 5 Back from a fun and productive week in Escalante, Utah.

I garnered a 2nd Place, Award of Merit for the plein air pastel I entered for judging! I did 4 pastels and 3 oils during the 4 days I painted outdoors. See my Demos, etc page & Newest Works page as well as Pastel and Oil pages.

Here are thumbnails the pastel I entered and the oil I entered

June 16 - Starting a new series of outdoor small paintings. I have joined the Plein Air Painters of New Mexico as well. Here is a 6" x 9" pastel looking up towards the Sandia Crest from under the Tram.

April 1, 2010- I have updated the Non-Traditional, and Demos. etc. pages, so do check them out.

Mount Cochetopa Storm studio done pastel - 9" x 12". This was done for the upcoming PSNM Signature Members show at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, NM this May and June.

Back in December I stopped on the way back to NM from the Tucson show to paint en plein air. I drove south down US 191 to Sunsites, AZ and stopped to paint the east side of the Dragoon Mountains in an area called Cochise' Stronghold

February 16, 2010-OK so it has been a while!!! I have been busy working on a multitude of projects and also entering competitions and art fairs. I have done primarily oil - related monotypes or oil paintings proper.

The area is renowned for the place where the determined and fierce Chiricahua Apache leader Cochise evaded the U.S. Army Calvary for years after raiding nearby Anglo settlements like Tombstone and Wilcox. Here is the plein stage of the oil from Cochise Stronghold near Sunsites, AZ. What an impressive display of colorful granite! As a plein air subject I found it overwhelming and the lighting was continually getting darker as a storm moved in.

Even more work after showing the ptg at an RGAA meeting.

I have also done another 11" x 14" oil titled "Whetstone Mountain Shadows"

January 22, 2010 - Wow - I have been busy and have not added my thoughts of late. I have been using my Facebook page as a blog of sorts so do visit there for better news updates like the reception for the Water Utility Authority calendar artists January 29th. Anyway, I have entered 3 pastels and 3 oils in MasterWorks of NM and 2 oil paintings in the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition. For the former I maybe have a better chance but for the latter probably little chance. I am pondering entering the Texas&Neighbors Regional Exhibition that I won a 1st Place Award at in 2008, although I would probably enter something non-representational rather than realistic.

I have also done a couple projects with the collaborative experimental artist group "The Distractionists" so be sure to check out those new pages Nov. 22 '09 and Jan. 10 '10

December 17 - I am back from a generally disappointing Tucson 4th Avenue Winter Art Fair with zero sales and 1000 miles driven. I hope the economy picks up soon. The show is not truly a fine art show with many vendors selling small items. Too close to Christmas too. Lesson learned.

Here is a pastel I did from some photos I had taken last March while in Tucson. It did not sell in the show at Tucson, but I am pleased with the stronger color use and dazzling patterns throughout. I

November 10 - I have been working on a 12" x 16"commissioned oil painting for a couple in Lincoln, Nebraska. The scene is nearby my studio - a scene of the irrigation canal with the native Cottonwood trees changing color. Here is a photo of the finished work. My complimentary color underpainting method is really making my work worthwhile and satisfying as it gives me a bit of confidence that everything will work out.

In other events, I went out yesterday and worked 2.5 hours on a 12" x 18" plein air pastel of a scene near Algodones. We've been fortunate to have a long stretch of perfect Indian Summer weather of late and the autumn foliage has held well on the trees with the absence of any wind.

here is the final studio completed pastel

October 21 - I have completed improving my studio by building six storage cabinets for framed paintings , re-painting the room and installing storage shelves and a flat file. All I can say is WOW what an improvement. I sold two linoleum prints at the Fine Art Show in Corrales held at the San Ysidro Church. Johnson's of Madrid will be showing more of my prints during November and December as well.

October 3 - I am back from a great week in southern Utah. I did 5 paintings over 4 days and entered 1 oil and 1 pastel in the Juried Plein Air Competition. My pastel "Escalante Sandstone Patterns" won 3rd Place Award and was sold during the Silent Auction for $ 335. It was a 9" x 12" pastel done on Wallis paper and was a blast to do as I hurried to capture the retreating shadows. Here is a thumbnail. Click to view the larger image. See also my Recent Events Page which I've updated to include the five new works I did this week. The oil painting I entered in the competition did not win an award but represents my most bold oil to date with lots of color and the use of complimentary color underpainting, which interestingly I did on all 5 paintings this week. It represents a new approach which gives me more confidence.

"Escalante Sandstone Patterns" pastel "Escalante Canyons Shadows" oil

Here are the other three paintings

"Looking Into the Circle Cliffs From Boulder Mountain" pastel

"Under the Circle Cliffs" pastel (This also SOLD)

"Boulder Canyon Shadows" oil

September 17 - The Bernalillo County Water authority calendar for 2010 will use these THREE images:

One of my pastels was accepted into the Pastel Society of New Mexico 18th Annual National Pastel Painting Exhibition during November 2009 in Albuquerque. It is titled "Sunset at the Watchman in Zion National Park" and is shown as a thumbnail below left. In addition, there will by a concurrent show of Small Works by PSNM Members and one of my small pastels "Rio Grande Gorge Shadows (6" x 8") was accepted and a thumbnail is shown to the right below. The Opening reception is Friday, November 6 fro 5pm - 8 pm at the Hispanic Arts Center at EXPO NM.

Finally, I am off to Escalante at the end of this week for the week-long Escalante Canyons Art Festival. Wish me good weather and inspired painting! I'll report back on September 29th. Bien Viaje!

August 24 -Here is another 9" x 12" pastel from a scene in southern Utah near Boulder

Ponderosa Pines and Sandstone Bluffs near Boulder Utah pastel by Jeff Potter AVAILABLE

August 20 - I've been asked to provide an image for the Water Utility Authority 2010 Calendar. It should be an image of water I reckon! More details to come.

My apologies - I haven't signed on lately as I have been busy getting the final publicity and arrangements ready for the Rio Grande Art Association ENCANTADA! Juried Oil & Acrylic Painting Exhibition set to open September 4th in Albuquerque. I entered 3 oils and one was accepted.

July 27 - I was invited to provide the image for New Mexico Tech Office of Advancement 2009 Holiday greeting card

Here is the probable image that will be used:

On other news, here are a few new small ( 6" x 9" ) pastels I have done:

July 17, 2009 - This is more like a bi-weekly journal rather than a weekly. I have been busy doing small oils and pastels and also another experimental bas relief in my abstraction collaboration.

Here is the 12" x 24" textural surface bas relief or whatever you want to call it. It was based on photos I took while in Zion NP where I saw striking textural differences between grasses and lichen-covered volcanic rocks. There are grasses embedded into Plaster of Paris and color applied using either printing ink, oil paint and pastel painted with turpenoid

Grass & Lichen interactions bas relief by Jeff Potter

Here is an 11" x 14" oil painting done from photos of a hog backed ridge in the Galisteo basin south of Santa Fe

Galisteo Basin Summer Midday oil painting by Jeff Potter AVAILABLE

June 23, 2009 - The live painting at the Chatter Ensemble concert went really well - including picture perfect weather and energetic musical performances by a host of musicians and performers. Here is a photo that my wife Debby took during the concert and my painting of a scene looking east from the Open Space Visitors center along the Rio Grande bosque:

I worked for about three hours on an 18" x 24" oil painting shown in progress here then the final painting, which, by the way sold at auction for $ 600. Forty percent of the sale went to benefit the Chatter Ensemble.

Here is the final painting........click on the thumbnail to view a bigger image

May 18, 2009 - Next event is the RGAA ART SHOW AND PAINTOUT at Coronado State Monument in Bernalillo.

Here is the painting I did at the event.

May 5, 2009 -The Opening Reception of Destination: Abstraction was well attended at ArtHaus 66 Gallery.

- New pastels in the studio - Santa Rita Mountain Nocturne 6" x 8"

White Mesa Patterns - 6" x 8" pastel

April 30, 2009

Opening May 1st - Destination Abstraction Show at ArtHaus66 Gallery!

On Friday, May 1st, please make plans to come to the Opening Reception for the Destination Abstraction show at the ArtHaus 66 gallery. This show will highlight the last two years of collaboration I have had with 6 other Albuquerque area artists as we took on Abstract Art. The group includes Fred Yost, Betsy Greenlee, Jaci Fisher, Leila Hall, Elaine Scott, Rod Groves and Jeff Potter.

April 16, 2009. I have just returned from a 5 day trip to St. George, Utah (in the SW corner of the state) to exhibit my pastels and oils at the annual Arts Festival there. It was my first trip to that region of the Beehive State and I came away impressed with the diversity of scenery and pride of the locals for their growing city, which is about 90,000 in population. I enjoyed the Festival - a nice location in a park in the historic district but sales were slow and it rained one of the days of the show. On the way home I spent a day in Zion National Park taking photos for future art and I also spent 3 hours on a pastel painting en plein air of towering vistas on the west façade This is a photo of the pastel after 1 hour where I had done a Turpenoid wash.

1 hour pastel + Turpenoid scrubbing wash

After another 2 hours this is where I stopped for now.

(update June 11, 2009) Here is the finished work - I really tied to ramp up the color and exaggerate the blue in the shadows.

March 30, 2009 - I am now working on more pastels from red rock country in preparation for another show in St. George Utah on April 8th & 9th.

BIG NEWS this week is the Opening Reception for the MasterWorks of New Mexico Show. For details, CLICK HERE Hope to see you at the reception! I have one large oil painting

and four miniature paintings in the show (3 pastel and one linoleum block print. Here are pictures of the miniature pastels I submitted:

Rio Puerco Valley Buttes Natural Bridges Nat'l Monument Cabezon View

March 26, 2009 - On my drive home home to New Mexico I stopped near Portal AZ to do a small plein air oil painting of the Chiricahua Mountains.

Here is a photo of the view and the 11" x 14" oil after working for 3 hours.

March 25, 2009 - I am back from Tucson and I enjoyed the 4th Avenue Spring Festival. Despite some hassle due to my booth violating the fire lane, I managed to comply with the help of Kurt at the Festival. A gallery opening soon in East Tucson expressed interest in representing me so details to follow soon. I probably will apply for the Winter Festival too. Here are a few photos from my trip.

Pictured at left is the 4th Avenue Trolley. It runs from the University of Arizona campus into the 4th Avenue business district, just NE of downtown Tucson.