Fence Line

Where else can you walk to the edge of a pasture on a bench of land above the river and see soft clouds, rugged mountains, fluttering leaves on riparian trees, and the smooth surface of slow moving water? Northwest Montana is the place.

Storm Across the Valley

Clouds roll into and out of northwest Montana regularly, but when a storm approaches, the valleys often offer a path between the mountains. Clouds darken the landscape and blur the view across the valley.

Rise and Shine

The mountains and valleys in northwest Montana delay sunrise and expedite sundown. In rare places at certain times of the year, sunrise aligns itself perfectly with a valley, casting long shadows, and heralding the beginning of a new day.

Ladies in Red

Mary Hogan (author) says that red is the color of life. It is passion and rage. It is lifeblood. It is love, roses, and valentines. It is ripe tomatoes, peppers, and strawberries. It is fire and heat. But the red in an autumn forest is all of that and more. It takes your breath away.

Above the Falls

At a gathering on a friend’s property in Montana, near a stream, someone said, “You need to go down the hill and see the falls from the front.” I considered this invitation, but decided that the view above the falls was to my liking. We are accustomed to see the water falling toward us, but the more interesting view, in my opinion, is the water going away from us.

Reflections

Fast moving water has an interesting effect on reflections. These trees on the side of the Flathead River cast clear reflections near the bank where the water moves slowly, but those reflections become a blur near the center of the river where the main flow of water is faster.

Dark Wood

This painting with the counterintuitive name was inspired by seeing the light bark of aspens and birch against thick dark forests in northwest Montana. While the wood of the tree in the foreground is light, the background is a dark wood; that darkness is what makes the light wood stand out.

Napa

We lived in the San Francisco area for several years. During our very first trip to the “wine country,” in early spring, we found ourselves on a hill overlooking fields and vineyards. The scene was dramatic and striking, from the far away hills to the vibrant greens of new leaves.

Sunset Dreams

The setting sun often creates an illuminated landscape that is not what we see during the full light of day. Before we moved to Montana, I had such an experience with the landscape that was to become the view from our front yard. Everything was bathed in sienna. It was an image that stayed with me.

Winter Stream

The snow in a Montana winter can blanket everything. The quiet, the contrast of dark water against a monochromatic landscape, and the partially obscured man-made items are a hallmark of the open spaces we see.

Missouri Bend

The mighty Missouri River crosses many states. Its path is winding and in some places its current is almost invisible. This view from a shadowed hilltop, shows the river as a powerful force, carving the land as it flows south. The sense of the river’s power is heightened by the nearby weak and willowy saplings in fall colors.

Beaten Path

We have all heard the term, “beaten path,” to refer to the route generally taken. We have all been told to “get off of the beaten path” or heard reference to someone or something as ”off of the beaten path.” Either way, this painting shows the beaten path created by wildlife across a hilly field.

Runoff

The spring snowmelt in Montana brings water down into valleys from high mountains. The runoff creates streams and pools of water where dry land is the usual landscape.

First Snow

This barren snow-covered landscape was done in response to our first winter in Montana. Everything changed from the many colors of fall to the monochromatic whites of a snow-covered hillside. The fence is the remaining, meager sign of civilization when nature blankets everything else.

Low Water

On this brilliant, sunny October day, leaves on trees and bushes along the Clark Fork River display bright, vibrant colors, contrasting with their almost tangible blue/black shadows. The summer snow melt is gone; we are at low water.

Rural Route

Traffic in Montana ranges from heavily traveled city streets and highways to sparsely traveled back roads. This dirt road is not even named, so it is simply a rural route. In the mid-day sun, it climbs to the top of a rise and will soon drop into a river valley where the trees closely crowd. No real traffic out here.

Highway 28

Similar to ranches and farms throughout Montana, this home near Hot Springs, Montana appears to be the earliest structure on the landscape. It seems to have been replaced quite some time ago with distant, newer structures. Yet it stands. Maybe no one wants to be responsible for erasing history.

Homestead

Many western states are dotted with abandoned homesteads. We often see them as dead and lifeless, but each one has a story. This depiction of a homestead is based on an abandoned home, on Highway 200 near Perma, Montana. It was significant to someone. I wish I knew who.

Late Season Squall

Driving home to Montana from Albuquerque, the landscape of northern New Mexico was striking. Nearing a small town, the bare, hot mountains in the distance struck an amazing contrast to the wet lowlands and moisture-laden clouds of a late season squall.

Backwater

It is often the rushing water of a river that catches the eye, but the backwater of rives and streams has a beauty of its own. In this slow moving water, life flourishes, reflections are clear, and there is a peacefulness that faster moving water does not have. Backwater is its own microenvironment.

Farm Road

Even in the heart of winter, the work on a farm or ranch must continue. In Montana, it is often said that the outbuildings are larger than the homes. That is easy to understand when you consider the type of equipment needed to carry hay to the cows in distant fields or to haul things to market.

Whisper

The west fork of the Combest Creek runs through pasture and into a lightly wooded area before it crosses under a county road and flows into the Clark Fork River. It forms what local residents call “the ponds,” which are a series of small water features. In early morning light, the whole area is pink and quiet, like the whisper of the day before the sun shouts.

Blizzard

Winter weather in northwest Montana can be brutal. In a matter of minutes, the softly falling snow that invites us outdoors to play, can be replaced with a virtual “white out.” This small house on the edge of an open field, is almost obliterated from sight by an unexpected blizzard. No one wants to be outside in this.

Old Mill

Probably every landscape artist has painted an old mill, and I had no intention of painting one! But when looking through some old photographs, I came across this old mill scene. I think I took the photo somewhere in Tennessee. Anyway I could not resist painting it.

Exhibitionists

These trees along River Road West in Plains Montana, are in their brightest fall colors. Other nearby trees have not made this transition yet. If those nearby trees had thoughts, they would think these red trees are overdoing things a bit, being flashy, becoming exhibitionists. In truth, those red trees are just ahead of the game.

Beyond Limits

Mountains and hills line the highways and country roads in northwest Montana. This fence, like many others, running along the top of a ridge, with nothing visible beyond, looks like a boundary, a limit between what we can see and the unknown. It makes the us wonder what is beyond those limits.

Colefield

Birch trees grow in many Montana pastures and fields. They seem to gather in families. This group of trees outside of Plains was striking because of the backdrop: an open field, purple mountains, and dark bushes. The sun highlights their bark and casts shadows at their feet.

From Here to There

This stylized autumn scene was inspired by a group of shade-casting trees dividing two sunlit fields. The patterns made by light and leaves showed strong vertical and horizontal lines, so the brushstrokes are all vertical or horizontal. The path is how the animals travel from here to there.

Shadows

Early evening sunlight in Montana’s late fall is intense. These tall trees between an open field and a dirt road are in perfect position to cast singular shadows. The warmth of the sun on the field belies the coming of cool weather, but the shadow on the nearby hillside forecasts the coming change in temperature.

Autumn Dress

In a field near Dixon, Montana stands a thick, squat tree. In the spring and summer it is barely detectable against all of the green around it. In the winter its skeletal form draws little attention. But in the autumn this tree puts on her best and brightest; she steals the show for a few weeks.

Dancing in there Wind

Early Fall is a beautiful time of year in Montana. The trees begin to change into their amazing colors, but they are not quite vibrant yet. But there is much to see as rather bland trees are transformed into a chorus of movement and color as their leaves dance in the wind.

Tributary

The Lower Clark Fork River has one name, but it moves water contributed by other rivers and many streams, some named – some not. This side channel of the main river funnels water from a series of streams into the main channel of the river, giving it more water and more of the essence of the landscape that contains it.

Earth

The earth in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River had both an intimacy and a vastness. The intimacy comes from seeing small parts of a scene; the vastness from seeing the overall expansiveness of cliffs, ledges, mountains, and valleys. This composite painting shows the high cliffs of Trinity Mountain, the rock ledges near Granite Cabin, and the valleys that are the hallmark of the area.

Sky

The sky in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was ever-changing. It moved mysteriously from clear, brilliant blue expanses, to puffy clouds, to thunderheads, to mist and fog. The mountains and valleys in the Granite Cabin area create a microclimate that is often difficult to predict. This composite painting incorporates the innocent cumulus clouds that floated over the river valley almost daily and the mist and fog that brought the sky to the earth.

Wind

The wind in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River was from upstream each morning; in the evening it changed and came from downstream. You could hear the wind pushing through the conifers (pine, hemlock, spruce, fir, larch, and cedar), but you could “see” the wind in the hardwoods (aspen and cottonwoods). This composite painting incorporates a single Cottonwood on a ledge near Granite Cabin, the conifers on hillsides all along the river valley, and hardwoods that dotted the riverbanks.

Water

The water in the Great Bear Wilderness along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River came from everywhere: small streams, large creeks, and of course the river itself. Two days and nights of rain caused the streams, creeks, and the river to rise from their late summer levels. This composite painting incorporates Twenty-Five Mile Creek as it flows from mountains high above the river, the steep dirt banks that many creeks carve, and the rocks (large and small) that have been rounded over time by the constant force of water and are visible in many locations.

In the Weeds

That saying, “We're in the money now,” has been given a new twist when Spring is heavy with rain in Montana. We’re not “in the money” – We’re in the weeds! All of that moisture brings forth weeds that seem to have been dormant for years!

A Stream Runs Through It

Everyone in Montana knows “A River Runs Through It.” For many, a river does run through or near their land. More likely, however, a stream is their connection to moving water. This scene is in the Clark Fork River Valley and the stream is a reminder that the mighty river draws its mightiness from many tributaries.

Across the River

Like so many communities in Northwest Montana, a river separates neighbor from neighbor, farms from towns, and fields from mountains. The river is only a small interruption to the connection felt among those of us who live here.

Overshadowed

The cliffs and mountains of the Northwest are mighty – towering above river valleys and fields. We are distracted with living, worrying, and being busy with often mundane day-to-day responsibilities. If we stop to look at those awe-inspiring cliffs and mountains, they overshadow us into insignificance.

Still Standing

This lovely Black Locust tree is still standing after more than a century. It quietly overlooks a river valley. It could give us such a rich glimpse into history if it could talk. But it is silent and we can only imagine what it has seen – first kisses, children growing, and life changing all around it.

Waiting

Montana has innumerable old barns scattered along highways and across fields. Lives have changed since the old structures were in operation – new buildings have replaced them, livelihoods have changes, and so on. But they still stand – waiting for rebirth, reuse, and revival.

Trees at Two Medicine

Driving home from Canada, we went through Two Medicine, near Browning, MT. The scenery was beautiful. When we reached Two Medicine, the landscape seemed to come alive with slim-trunked, pale-barked, gnarled trees. There were so many of them, so close together, they were like a gathering of kindred souls.

Up to My Knees

When the river rises and does not recede on schedule, many unlikely places are underwater and stay that way for an extended time. These aspen trees find themselves up to their knees in water, a most unexpected situation.

September

The Meadow

Northwest Montana is a land of mountains and meadows, birch and aspen trees, and big sky and abundant water. This little meadow incorporates all of that with an intimacy and closeness that belies the vastness of this land.

Back Road

Sanders County was once home to a busy logging industry. The old logging roads are now used to traverse Forest Service land. In autumn, we drive these dusty roads to see the amazing yellows and golds of trees getting ready for winter.

Upstream

Our home sits on a side channel of the lower Clark Fork River in northwest Montana. This is the view upstream. As I see this vista everyday, I am reminded that we live in one of the most beautiful places in the country.

Secret Hollow

Young children who have access to “the woods” often find a place that they claim to be theirs. It may be called a “fort” a ”hideout” or a “secret place.” Whatever they call it, it holds special meaning and to them may be “enchanted.” It sets the children apart from others and gives them special status when they are there.

Enchanted Forest

As a young child, I imagined that behind the house my grandparents occupied was an enchanted forest. Whether it was “lightening bugs” or luminous fairies or something else, I believed those trees had a glow that was magic. That thought still intrigues me to this day.