Happy New Year!

Yes, I know I'm a little late wishing in the new year, but seeing as how it's been four long months since I've blogged, I'm telling myself I'm doing well just to be posting at all! Below is a very abbreviated version of the happenings since my last post, including some news, a brief recap of last year's Weekend With the Masters and a few of my newest paintings...

 Our photos were taken by
the talented Arielle Elise Royer,
who has such a wonderfully artistic eye!

These four months have been quite busy, but they have also been exceedingly wonderful—because, on October 27, I married my love and best friend, Andrea! We met at Pensacola Christian College while both pursuing art degrees. Andrea is a phenomenal artist, and if you're not already familiar with her work, you can visit her website here. We had dated for almost two years before I finally asked the question back in April. I am so grateful that God brought me this wonderful girl and that she said "yes"! We are enjoying settling into our new home near Kansas City, Missouri. Andrea, thank you for the happiest 2½ months of my life. I love you.

Weekend With the Masters 2012
In September, I again had the privilege to be an assistant at the annual Weekend With the Masters, alongside my good friends Jonathan Stasko and Ryan Mellody. The event offers workshops, demos and lectures by some of the top artists in the industry. It's a real treat to see these artists demonstrate and teach. This year, WWM was held in San Diego, and my friends and I arrived a few days early to do some plein air painting of the beautiful landscape. One evening, we drove to a beach in La Jolla to paint the sunset. By the time we found a parking spot, hauled our gear down to the beach and set up, we only had about fifteen minutes before the sun slipped below the horizon! We painted frantically in an attempt to capture the beauty, which was stunning but oh-so-fleeting. It was an exhilarating time with great friends!

La Jolla Sunset
Oil on gessoed panel • 5" x 7" • Sold

Laguna Coast
Oil on gessoed panel • 8" x 10" • Sold

L to R: Me, Jonathan and Ryan at the Rancho Bernardo Inn,
which hosted this years' event

Jeremy Lipking demonstrating

Jeremy Lipking's demo completed

Painter and musician C.W. Mundy

My personal highlight was stumbling across WWM instructor C.W. Mundy playing his banjo outside one night at the resort. In addition to being a master painter, C.W. is also an accomplished musician. Jonathan, Ryan and I pulled up a bench and were treated to a concert. His album, Road Trip, is available through his website here. Andrea bought it for me for Christmas and I've been listening to it constantly ever since! C.W. is one of the most down-to-earth, personable people I've ever met, and we all enjoyed spending time with him.

Daniel Gerhartz has a terrific blog post on his time instructing at this years' WWM, including photos of two stunning head study demos. Be sure to read his post here.

AMO (Artist Mentors Online), a blog radio program, conducted interviews with several of the WWM instructors, including C.W. Mundy, Sherrie McGraw, Jeffrey Watts and more. In these interviews, the instructors discuss some of the same valuable principles they taught in their workshops. They are definitely worth your time, and, best of all, they are totally free! To listen, visit AMO's blog here.

A Very Merry Christmas
While Andrea and I were dating, her family introduced me to the joy, hope and wonder of live Christmas trees (my deprived childhood knew only of stuffy artificial trees). On this, our first Christmas together, Andrea and I instituted the new Clague family tradition of harvesting a live Christmas tree. However, we wanted to be frugal, so we constructed our own small "tree" from pine branches taken from our own yard. After warming up inside with homemade lattes, we added the lights and decorations. We were so pleased with our first little tree, that we were inspired to do alla prima paintings!

Our First Christmas Tree
Oil on linen • 7" x 5" • Not for sale

A Truly White Christmas
Oil on linen • 16" x 8" • Available
To inquire, contact Hudson Fine Art

I finished this piece soon after Christmas 2011, but waited until this Christmas to show it. My inspiration for this painting came after studying this porcelain nativity set of my parents' and wondering how I would paint a still-life of all white objects. A step-by-step demo of this painting will be included in the upcoming issue of the digital magazine Artists On Art, due out later this month. Each issue of Artists On Art is packed with rich, valuable content for artists, making it one the best periodicals for artists on the market. If you're not already familiar with the magazine, I recommend you check it out!

I'm excited to see what 2013 holds in store (like hopefully more frequent blog posts), and I hope you are too. Happy New Year and happy painting to all!