Friends on the Farm, as painted by me.

About a year ago, my mom became so ill in Racine that she entered the hospital, then nursing home, and back and forth, beginning her decline and the decline of my dad, whose shreds of strength were taxed by worry, visits, and financial issues. Being the only of my siblings who is retired, I packed up for Racine, and the hospitality of good friends Mike and Ales Marz. Little did I know that I would barely return to my home in Sparta between the end of Nowember 2014 and January 19, 2015. While staying with the Marz family I worked on 4 animal paintings that I am sharing here.

The first was "Struttin' Chicken", 9 x 12 inches, pastel on sanded paper. This chicken lives - or lives the summer before I painted it from a photo - on Highway BC just west of Sparta, squeezing through a hole in the barn door when I came to close. This chicken had attitude.

The next painting was "Betsy's Baby", my friend's goat with whom I was well acquainted by observation and by frequently photographing. The painting is 9 x 12 inches, pastel on sanded paper. I loved this goat, and I loved this painting, and while I painted it I felt connected to my home amd friend in Sparta, a home I missed with a visceral pain, even while feeling proud that I was able to be a help to my parents at this demanding time of ill health. When I later posted this photo on Facebook, I was not surprised that it SOLD! 

My third painting is "Napping Nellie, in the MOOd", 9 x 12 inches, pastel on sanded paper, from a photo of a cow that lived along the Sparta-Elroy Bike Trail, between Sparta and Norwalk. 

In my last week or 2 in Racine, I painted this miniature donkey, from photos taken at the farm on Highway Q where many of these cuties are raised. I named this guy Mike. "Mini-Mike", 8 x 10 inches, pastel on Canson MT board,

So here are the paintings of that era of my life last year. FYI, all are for sale except Betsy's goat, of course. Send me a message if you're interested.

Between the Bluffs 2015 - 2nd & 3rd Paintings

Since BtB was about a month ago, I want to finish up and move to newer work. Here are my finished paintings and some process shots as well. This farm "speaks" to me whenever I drive on Russian Coulee Road, with the house windows appearing to be watching the movement of all who pass by. As for the road, I painted it last year - bigger size, different surface, slightly different season. If you want to compare, look back. I like this version better. It is fresher, and to me speaks of the difference between a plein air painting and one painted from a photo. Can you tell I love this road?

 "The Farm Watches", 9x12 inches, pastel on Uart 320 grit sanded surface.

"Down Russian Coulee Road, Again", 12 x 16 inches, pastel on Richeson sanded surface.

 I didn't paint in the dappled sunlight (above), but the shade under my umbrella (a great investment, BTW) was a a bit too deep for a photo. Here is the under painting and my setup.

 Let me clarify for the photo below: YES, I did my initial drawing and underpainting in the rain in my car. I was feeling frustrated by the dreary afternoon and figured I could get a jump on being ready to paint when the sun came out. I was!

 The next "sunny day" actually varied between sun and deep clouds, I captured the shadows that were present during my sunny last hour or so of painting and I think they were pretty accurate.

Between the Bluffs 2015 - I did it!

We just returned from our annual trip to Baltimore to celebrate granddaughter Annabell's birthday - this year her 4th - so now I can post my  work for BtB. I had a great time painting in the crisp sunny early fall weather of the 3rd week of September. All 3 paintings that I entered in the show were painted on Russian Coulee Road in eastern LaCrosse county, just south of Bangor. I thoroughly enjoyed my painting experiences, especially the cows that came to visit during my first painting day. Here is that sociable cow. Perhaps over the winter I will paint him.

This is the painting I was working on while that cow came to visit.The first is my under-painting, the second nearly complete, and the third is the final painting. Peering over this hill at the farm below was an interesting perspective from which to paint - almost voyeuristic, although the cows and sheep were well aware of my presence.

 

And, yes, all 3 paintings were delivered to Gallery 1311 on time! I will soon post the rest of my work from BtB. 

Between the Bluffs 2015 or How to Avoid the Mistakes of Last Year

I am excited to begin painting in this year's LaCrosse Plein Air event - Between the Bluffs (BtB). I had a great time painting last year. I was challenged to paint some good paintings in a limited time frame of 10 days. I participated in my first "Quick Paint" challenge (3 hours to create a painting, frame it, and submit for judging). But I made one tiny mistake... I submitted my paintings for judging a day late. Like a day after the judging had taken place. Seriously. Oops.

I'm not sure exactly how I failed to meet this deadline. I could tell you what I thought I read in the material for artists, and so on, but the truth is that since retirement I live a life where deadlines are very fluid, if they exist at all. SO -  I am stating here - to all 3 of you who actually read this - that I promise I will get my work in to be judged by the deadline this year!! Yes, I will strive to paint good works - maybe great works. And all the other stuff I have to do. And, I will get them in on time.

I painted 5 or 6 decent paintings last year and I submitted the following three a day after judging.

All 3 are 9x12 inches, pastel on sanded Uart surface, 600 grit. From top to bottom, they are: "Fishing for Happiness", "Floating Abodes", and "Rusty Bridge to the Fest". It will be a challenge to paint subjects that I love as much, but I will cross that bridge tomorrow. For now, my goal is simple - get the darn paintings - whatever they are - in on time!!

Painting at Wegner Grotto with Monroe County History Museum

Two weeks ago, on Saturday, August 22, Monroe County History Museum hosted “Art Outdoors” to explore the fascinating environment of Wegner Grotto County Park and create art.  Participants painted plein air style postcard-size works of the sculptures from the Grotto.  This is the second year of this event. 

I was pleased and honored to win the first place prize in the professional adult artist catefory with this little postcard of the Bremen ocean liner mosaic, in pastel.

I feel so proud!  Here is a photo taken while I was painting. It was a great day.

Last year, I struggled over whether to consider myself amateur or professional. I chose professional. I based this on several things, but mostly these: 1) While painting there I saw all these parents bringing their kids to paint then saying "ah, what the heck - I suppose I could give it a try" and 2) I keep pushing myself to take my art endeavor more seriously... and calling myself professional, though somewhat symbolic, sure seemed to support that effort. So last year, I won 2nd place and was surprised and encouraged. This year I knew which box to check.

Painting From Camp

There are a million reasons why I haven't blogged for over a year, but forget those and here I am. What has most revived my creative spirit and helped me paint plein air again is the cute little camper that Mary and I parked in a seasonal site. It is at Leon Valley Campground, just 7 miles from our house, which might sound crazy until you visit there and find it to be a peaceful retreat in the woods. It was our intention when we bought this second-hand gem to take it travelling until Mary found that pulling it down the highway was a terrifying experience! So there it sits, close to home where we use it often. Here are 2 of the paintings I did while there.

This is "Redneck Summer Home", 9 x 12 inches, pastel on sanded surface. This was painted before the awning and support posts were ripped off in a crazy windy thunder storm late July.

This "Camp Road Canopy", 9 x 12 inches, pastel on sanded surface. I love this road.

Prior to painting at the campground I was sort of stuck, and had not painted outdoors since last September while I was in Racine helping out while my mom was sick. Maybe tomorrow I will post something from that time... or a new painting! Thanks for visiting with me - and my art. While you are visiting, please sign up to get email update notifications!

Around the Bend

This is the road I imagine when I sing “over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go….”! or the Beatles “the long and winding road”.  The reference photo for this painting was taken on in late September 2013 after a rain. The light was amazing. I hope this painting at least partially portrays the wonder I felt looking down that road, inhaling the clean air, filled with gratitude for living in a location filled with so much simple beauty. I invite comments!

“Around the Bend”, 20x16in, pastel on Canson board

Planning my 2014 Pastel Classes

OK, so I have not posted a blog entry forever… I was busy making art, teaching pastel classes, and living life. I am now planning my next round of classes, so I have been thinking about what worked and what did not in my last classes. Below is my demo from the first day of class last session with 3 beginning students. None of the 3 students were very satisfied with their paintings.


In the past, I had students paint a single piece of fruit and they were dissatisfied at doing a simple, boring composition. I am not sure if simple of slightly more complex is more successful, but I think back to my first class and my composition was very similar to this one.


I was SOOO excited and proud of that thing, and it hangs today in our kitchen to remind me where I started. The date, October 7, 2002, reminds me of when I started. It is my hope that students new to pastel will make for themselves something that will be part of their personal art history, like my first painting is for me. Any thoughts on first pastel class compositions? what do others do for 6 or 8 week classes?

Reflections on a Mississippi Sunset

One night a few weeks ago I sat on a pier in LaCrosse and watched light dance on the river in great multicolor flashes as the sun set. I took photos during the process and came home wanting to paint the nearly abstract water close-ups of those reflections…. this is the result. The photo colors aren’t quite right – I may try to photograph again in different lighting. I nearly finished it a few days after I watched the sunset, then let it sit until yesterday, when I quickly did a few adjustments and called it done.

“Reflections on a Mississippi Sunset”, pastel on Canson board, 16x20 in.

More Barns

I painted these in the last 2 weeks, but just photographed them today. I have another exciting painting in process – I should finish it tonight or tomorrow. The other pastel-related activity for me has been to purchase a new studio box and stock it. After much comparison, I bought the largest Heilman box, and kept it divided the way it came with 8 sections. I have SOOOOO loved the baby box I bought from Heilman last spring for my trip to the IAPS convention in June, that I knew I would be satisfied with another. I’ll post photos of it all filled up – just looking at it makes me happy.

Barn on the Hill, 9x12 inches, pastel on uArt600grit

Barn around the Bend, 9x13, pastel on Pastelmat

Another Bridge, Another Painting

Sparta has the coolest bridges for walking and biking. This one is over the LaCrosse River in the Park at the corner of highways 16 and 21, with the giant bicyclist, “Ben Bikin”.

Bike Bridge over the LaCrosse River, 9x12 in., pastel on uArt 600 grit

I did a sketch and took photos when I did this painting, done en plein air (in the outdoors) just a bit upriver of the bridge – Rushing Water on the LaCrosse River, 9x12, etc… 

There are 2 covered bridges in the network, and 2 like this with plans for more. I have like how they looked since each was built, but I never realized how heavily traveled they are until I painted plein air in the partk this summer. Kids and adults, on foot or bikes as well as strollers, abound in the parks and on the bridges. Kids stop to toss rocks, families wade in the water underneath them, people fish nearby. The waterways that flow through Sparta – the LaCrosse River and Beaver Creek – bring sparkle and music to our little city.

Rework, kinda like Reruns…

Since the July challenge ended I have reworked several of the one-day paintings. I also played with some handmade pastels, but that’s another blog…  Anyway, a major lesson for me confirms what I suspected: while I am capable of creating a complete and decent painting in a single day, my work benefits from thoughtful scrutiny which usually results in rework, ranging from major to minor. Here are the 4 paintings I reworked – “befores”, then “afters”.

Barn in the Valley

There is quite a difference in photo exposure, but the new (after, right) photo is also more accurate. Changes were made mainly to the bare tree behind the barn.

Round Barn and Shed in Autumn

Clarified shadows, redid sky color and texture, other minor changes. The color is a bit off in both, but more in the “before” which was taken in artificial yellow light.

Almost Home

Softened and corrected shadows, added highlights.

Farm in the Valley

On this painting, I deepened and corrected shadows, made the sky less uniform, pushed the background by cooling the colors, added warmer tones to the foreground.

I am pretty happy with all 4 of these now. What do you think?

July 31st, 2013 – Last Challenge Painting!

… but of course that doesn’t mean I am done painting!

This is not quite finished, and the photo is funky, but this is as done as it is going to be today… since it is now actually tomorrow. I really need to go to bed. But first I proclaim that I am quite proud of myself for completing 31 paintings in 31 days, many of them quite good.

“Farm in the Valley”, 16 by 20 inches on Canson board.

Here is the underpainting for this piece:

Goodnight and sweet dreams. Tomorrow is another day.

Day 30, Paintings 29 and 30! Yippee!!

I am so happy that I was able to finish 2 paintings today. I did the drawing and underpainting for “Almost Home” last night so I would be able to complete both. I painted “Rushing Water on the LaCrosse River” plein air this afternoon at one of our city parks, with a bit of finishing work at home tonight. As I look at both photos I can see areas that still need work- including correcting some shadows and angles – but for tonight let’s call them finished, okay?

“Almost Home”, 8x10 on Canson paper.

“Rushing Water on the LaCrosse River”, 9x12 in., pastel on uArt 600 grit

Day 29, Painting 28… just 2 days left!

Daylily in Coral, 9x12 in., pastel on pastelmat

I have never liked florals I have painted more than those I painted this month for the challenge, especially the 3 daylilies, the water lily and the sunflowers. Looking at a flower outdoors as a beautiful shape reflecting sunlight has changed how I approach the painting. I have grown artistically during July, and I hope to share some of that growth in words in the weeks to come. For now, the images speak for themselves!

Day 28, Painting 27. Yup, I am still painting daily!

Dark Red Daylily, 9x12 in on pastelmat

Day 27, Painting 26… just 4 days, 5 paintings to go!

“Barn with a Corn Crib”, 9x12 in, pastel on Wallis

Day 26, Painting 25

“Bearly Relaxing”, 9x12 in., pastel on colorfix

Day 25 and this is Painting 24

“Waterlily on the Mississippi”, 10x13 in., pastel on colorfix surface

This time of year, or a bit earlier, waterlilies crowd the backwaters of the Mississippi. In masses they are a majestic site, singularly they are exquisite.

Day 24, Painting 23

“Bridge Over Beaver Creek”, 10x13 inches on Wallis sanded paper

I spent the last hour or more screwing around with my computer before I could download this photo, crop and rename it, and get it posted. Painting this was so relaxing with the gurgle of the creek and the wind in the trees, that I didn’t really let myself see how ugly the willow (yes, that is supposed to be a willow!) had become. I apologize to the willow and I realize this means I will have to paint this again. Soon.