Years ago, I was invited to a week-long painting salon with renowned landscape painter Scott L. Christensen in his Craftsman studio in Idaho. Don Howard, the other contestant, was an Oregon-born painter who stood tall and lean.
At the time, I was a busy police chief, and painting landscapes allowed me to escape the pressure, politics, and anxiety of my job.
Scott, whose paintings I adore, was a workshop instructor I had previously attended. Scott asked if I’d want to travel back to Idaho for a private salon with another artist after a challenging course. He assured me, “It will be a week of intense study, conversation, and painting.”
I eagerly took the opportunity.
Early in the spring of 2009, when the Idaho countryside was covered in snow and the crisp air took your breath away, the painting salon was held.
The 10,000 square foot Craftsman-style studio, which had an exhibition space and above living quarters, was then a part of Scott’s house. Scott’s magnificent oil paintings were all over the walls.
Lectures, demonstrations by Scott, painting exercises, a detailed examination of the work of other artists, and in-depth conversations about composition, values, color, design, totalism, and other topics filled our salon days. Fine meals and relaxed chat were part of the nights.
The mystical aspect, however, took place outside.
We would travel by car or trek to breathtaking sites where we would set up our easels while watching the clouds pass by and the snow-dusted Cottonwood trees sway in the wind.
Sometimes Scott would give us a quick painting demonstration to get us motivated, and then we’d go off on our own to paint. I positioned myself close to the river’s bank and started painting a distant copse of trees.
