Brett Weaver Studio - Blog

Quote from John Adams

2009-07-06T16:31:00-06:00

“I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study
mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and
philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture,
navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children
a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary,
tapestry and porcelain.” - John Adams

Humidity

2009-07-01T16:04:05-06:00

I just got back from painting near my house this morning and I ask myself, am I still in Tennessee? Obviously I’m not, because of the incredible Rocky Mountains and all, but we all need something to complain about… The pollen from the cottonwoods blowing through the air looks like it’s snowing and I’m just barely going through the motions, half awake, when the phone rings and a friend from Tennessee tells me that the humidity is low and it’s perfect weather for painting. Then I’m reminded that It’s rained constantly here for the past month… Didn’t I come here to escape this?...Maybe I brought the weather with me?..... but then I’m reminded of how amazing it was when I drove up to Mayflower Gulch near Leadville the other day, and who know’s, todays painting may even turn out OK.

Adirondacks in August

2009-07-01T04:51:00-06:00

I am getting fired up about planning a trip back to the Adirondacks to paint in upstate New York in August. Something about it takes me back in time much like parts of Maine I’ve been going to for the last few years. I see things happen that I may have only remembered bits and pieces of in the back of my mind from when I was a child, that maybe even then were lingeringing on from another time. I like to imagine it hasn’t change much since even say the 1940’s, but I guess times change everywhere you go, maybe just at different paces, which sometimes we may not ever take the time to stop and appreciate or even notice. As an artist I have been fortunate enough to be absorbed into some aspect of most of the places I’ve visited and many I continue to go back to year after year. More often than not, if I am out painting somewhere, I may not even be aware of what drew me there until someone local approaches me and tells me 100 years of history of what happened there (or just says ‘get off of my land’, which rarely ever happens and also may give me some idea of what’s happening there). But to get to the point and relate this rambling to the Adirondacks, what really impressed me last year was when I first arrived and stopped in the small town market of the town where I was staying. They had all the essentials you needed to survive because there wasn’t a major grocery store for miles or any sign of an evil mega-mart (whose name shall not be named) and they didn’t have 40 varieties of toothpaste, laundry detergent, etc that we have no idea in what way one benefits us more than the other. Any information you needed someone there could offer the answer, once you told them your purpose there, which then resulted in the addition of their knowledge of what was going on. It was sort of like it was the hub of the community, you might say where all the worlds problems were solved on a daily basis. But what really impressed me was when I went to pay for my groceries and the nice lady at the register asked the man paying in front of me if it would ‘credit’. As I expected him to pull out his credit card, I was amazed as the lady opened up the credit book and just added an amount to what he owed by his name. I had not seen this happen since I was a little kid hanging out in my grandpas country store in the late ‘70s, and even then I would have to guess that there was a lot of credit that he never got back. But I guess the moral of this story (if there has to be one) is that I realized ‘there are still people you can trust’ and ‘New York doesn’t necessarily mean New York City (which, by the way, I think is pretty cool, too)’,

Painting Video

2009-07-01T02:42:00-06:00

While I was on my trip to Tennessee and Alabama last month Chris Willis, a good friend of mine from Chattanooga, produced this really cool time-lapsed film of me while I was painting. Chris really knows what he’s doing. I am totally excited about it and hope you’ll check it out. What really excited me about the film was how it stresses the preparation for the painting, which then allows you to paint the painting with great intensity. Hope you enjoy....And hopefully sometime in the near future I will spend some more time and planning to develop a more extended instructional painting video. This time all I did was show up and paint and have fun.

Mayflower Gulch

2009-06-30T19:02:00-06:00

Yesterday I met up with some friends in the mountains and painted at Mayflower Gulch near Leadville, CO. It was a beautiful day. Here are some photos.

Vignettes!!

2009-06-23T23:07:01-06:00

I just arrived back in Denver late last night after a busy and exciting trip to Alabama last week. The Painting Workshop and ‘Vignettes’ Show were both a huge success and I just want to thank every one who was a part of both events for all your hard work and participation. The week was both very intense and enjoyable, resulting in such a rewarding experience. Thanks!!

George Inness Quote

2009-05-31T20:56:00-06:00

“We are all the subjects of impressions, and some of us seek to convey the impressions to others. In the art of communicating impressions lies the power of generalizing without losing the logical connection of parts to the whole which satisfies the mind.” - George Inness

Painting in Gore Range

2009-05-31T19:43:01-06:00

I recently traveled (Last week) over to the Gore Range Just north of Silverthorne, Colorado and was totally amazed and inspired by the rugged mountains. It was almost overwhelming, but I did manage to do a few studies that are not finished yet, but look for those and some larger paintings to come in the near future. Below is a photo I took along the way just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Break from painting

2009-05-25T20:35:00-06:00

On Memorial Day weekend I took a break from painting to climb my first 14er in Colorado (Mt. Antero, close to Buena Vista). I couldn’t hardly get out of bed this morning, but had an amazing time and saw many inspiring things I should paint. Here are a few photos of the climb.

Painting at Red Rocks

2009-05-25T20:19:01-06:00

I’ve had a great time painting at Red Rocks Park the past few weeks. It’s only about ten minutes from where I live and it seems like there is a cool painting of the rocks everywhere you turn just waiting to be painted. I should have my latest Red Rocks painting featured on the main page later today.