Don Sahli, Oil Painter

I don't have a picture of any new oil painting to show, but that's not going to keep me from showing you photos I took at the Vail Fine Art Gallery last week of works by an exciting thick oil painter, Don Sahli.

Autumn Glory by Don Sahli, oil 54" x 54", amateur photo by Jack Ekstrom, with apologies to the artist.
I hope it's ok to use my photo, which truly does not do justice to his painting. His paintings must be seen up close, they're absorbing presentations of vibrant colors, with extremely thick oils that are more alive than any I've seen. In one of the two Vail Fine Art Galleries, Alex, working in the gallery, showed us one of Sahli's large paintings under 6 controlled spotlights with variable luminosity, and the oranges, especially one extremely thick stroke that resembled tree foliage, had by far the most glow, when it was too dark to see the other colors.

Here's Judy with Richard Munoz between two of Sahli's paintings. We were all very taken by Sahli, whose works were on display with many astonishing oil landscapes by 20th century Russian impressionists. Don Sahli is known as the last apprentice to Russian master Sergei Bongart.

Here's Christine Tilson looking at Sahli's Autumn Glory, next to two other Sahli paintings including the triptych Elisabeth's Cathedral, 45" x 58", which is three deep oil panels with no frames. Those especially appeal to me in their presentation.

Plein Air Painting

Sahli lives near Denver, and paints plein air all over Colorado. Since I'm looking for new mountain scenes to paint, I'm especially drawn to his paintings. I must have mentioned to Rick how I started a number of my large oils outdoors in the plein air, which I thought were my best paintings, and I'd like to learn how to start them better than I started those. I never used a French plein air easel, I just hauled my large canvases in my truck or Judy's van, and the resultant outdoor experiences were like katzenjammer cartoons with the wind and furious thunderstorms.
While we were looking at Sahli's paintings, Rick found Sahli's website on his iphone and emailed it to me. When I got home Rick had learned that not only did Sahli live near Denver, but that he was offering painting classes through the Denver Art Students League. And Rick offered to give me a gift of Sahli's next class, which I very gratefully accepted.
So my news this post is that I'm enrolled in a class by Don Sahli: Late Fall Plein Air Painting, Nov. 3-4-5. I've already bought a new French easle, an Italian version of a full-sized Julian, and I've set it up in my basement and am gleefully dismantling my old oil table, to replace it with my easel which I can take anywhere!
I'll keep you more informed about my class.
Next Post: I've finally got photos of my Aug. 13 artshow.