Just Before The Opening 'night' . . . .

Last night was the opening of our 2nd annual holiday show in Marine on The St Croix, my home town where I grew up. Now, do understand that Marine on The St Croix's 'downtown' area is a total of 2 blocks long. . . Marine is a charming little Valley village nestled along the bluffs of the St Croix River (MN, in case you are not aware) Just 10 miles north of Stillwater, where I now live with my 2 children and have my studio and school. The reason I share this is because there was something really sentimental for me to have a large body of my work here so close to home, it's been a while since I've seen all my work in one place like this and most of the pieces for this show have been painted along this this Valley. With all the shows we painters do that require us to ship our paintings out (many shows of which we don't even physically attend because of the inconvenience of distance) this was a real treat. You know that night after an opening and you can't sleep because your buzzing from adrenalin, well, it's 9:30 am and I'm clutching my coffee . . . :) from lack of zzzz's last night but reflecting the evening with gratitude and grateful I am spending my life as a painter.

The show continues this weekend through Sunday noon till 5:00 daily. Hope to see you there!

Fresh From the Easel

"Current Of The 'Croix"

20x30 oil on linen

I just finished this painting in my studio and will be going to my show Dec. 4th in Marine on The St Croix, home. If you've followed my work, you've probably noticed I have a profound love for this river I've grown up near and am constantly curious to paint and try to understand. As I paint the river, I become more and more amazed at it's energy and power - yet peaceful and calming manner. This particular view is from a dear friends house nestled up in the bluffs and pines, this is literally her back yard! Just incredible! I used a small study I did a year ago to work from for this piece. I've painted this view in the past but until this piece, have not yet painted in the one last Great White Pine that does in fact still stand on the WI side of the river, so it's kinda fun to see it there standing so proud above the tree tops. I often times imagine what this valley was like when the White Pines were untouched . . .I'm sure it was an incredible sight!

"Spoon Lake"

16x20 oil on canvas

A sweet little connection of lakes 15 miles from my home is where I painted this charming little pond this October. I used my field study (8x10) to paint this studio piece. It's astounding how much information you can get not only in your painting but in your head from working from life. I had forgotten to take a photo when I was out this day so completely relied on my study to paint this piece. I was too busy visiting my new little friends who were spending the day catching supper for their families. :) 3 young boys hung out with me for a few hours while they pulled in one fish after another. It made me happy to see them doing JUST what kids should be doing on a day like that, enjoying being a kid!

Holiday Exhibition December 2-5, 2010

"Boom Site Winter Light"

16x20 oil on panel

2nd Annual Holiday Exhibition

December 2 - 5 , 2010

Opening Reception: Thursday December 2, 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: Marine On The St Croix MN

101 Judd St Marine on St Croix MN 55047

Please join us for a show of paintings by

Kami Polzin and Tom Maakestad

Crimson Dahlias

"Crimson Dahlias"

14x11 oil on linen panel

This painting is a demo I did for my 2 day color temp workshop a couple of weeks ago. I'm just finally getting around to posting it! The dahlias painted here are from my yard since we've had a very warm fall, plants are lasting longer than usual, a treat for us here in Minnesota!

I used quite a bit of palette knife work in the beginning of this painting and ended up using the brush by the end breaking in subtle temperature notes.

Summer Memories. . .from the studio

This week in the studio.

I teach 2 studio classes every Monday. The paintings below are pieces I did as demos for my classes Monday. The top piece I did from an image I took with my son Nick this summer when we were taking a ride on the 4 wheeler, he insisted that "you should paint this Mom". He was right, I should, so I did! Fond memories of moments like this and painting them keeps them very alive. The bottom piece is a piece similar to one I did at the Door County plein Air invitational this summer. The piece I did in the field sold, I always wanted to explore this painting a little further so I used the memory and did it again. A pretty special moment painting in the rain! I'm thinking of doing that one on a large scale. . . we'll see! :)

"A Late Summer Moment"

11x14 oil on linen

"Standing In Queen Anne's Lace"

11x14 oil on linen

Last Light On The Dam

"Last Light On The Dam"

12x16 oil on linen

Once again, the beaver dam where I grew up has been another source of inspiration for me and here is the result of that inspiration. I do have to say the shadows are a bit cooler and more filled with air than you see here, I'm having photographing issues but am sure I'll figure it out eventually. . . . hoping. . . anyway, I'm sure you can get the gist of it!

This pond is so thick with lily pads and all the other beautifully colored gunk that grows upon the top, especially by the end of the summer, I love all that thick stuff to paint. It's almost like you could walk across the water, it's so dense, I'm assuming that wouldn't work well though. . . .

I used a photo reference for this piece, although I don't do that too often. Since I've painted it enough from life I could simply use the photo as a source of inspiration. The foreground took me a bit to figure out since that part of the photo was virtually no help, it was thick with pads so my goal was to portray that with out over painting them so the eye would pass over them and trail up to the light. Just a few actually lilies were popping out but were positively glowing from the light, really a lovely thing to see. :)

I'm having a show in December with Tom Makestaad in Marine on The St Croix so I plan to have this painting there.

A Walk Along The River

"A Walk Along The River"

24x30 oil on linen panel

I was recently commissioned to do this painting of the St Croix at the boat launch on the WI side of the Interstate Park, a place I have painted frequently in the past in all seasons. On this painting I used my field study that I painted a few years back. I've had many opportunities to sell this particular piece but there are some paintings that are much more valuable to keep. I've ended up using this study for many larger versions of this place, each painting always ends up having a life of it's own.

In the beginning stage of each making a painting, I think it's crucial to have first a good concept and second a good composition of strong shapes that support the idea or concept.

Here I show my 'wash' of my composition using transparent oxide red and mineral spirits, there might be a little ultra marine adding in the cast shadows along the shore. . . . . .

. . .developing my darks a bit more. . .

at this point in the painting I like to start working in large masses

There gets to be a point that once you get a mass massed in, you really need to work into another mass connected to the one you were working on for relativeness. I do not ever finish an area entirely until I have the shapes at least massed in since they are all relative, especially when you are working on subtlety. In my masses I'm always thinking of developing the form of the shapes.

Time to get the sky started. I usually start with a cooler pool of color like in the image above and then mix a pool of warmer color to break in on top of the cool. It helps to create vibration in an area.

My study is to the right. I 'use' my studies for information, I don't copy them. I wanted the large piece to be softer and warmer than the study was.

Cast shadows are starting to appear on the shore line. I usually spend quite a bit of time working on the design of these. I always think of the fact that shadows tell the tale of form.

One of my favorite parts of painting the banks of the St Croix is the sweep of the shore line and the warm rich color of the sand when it's sun lit. Here I started getting that in along with the water. The St Croix has a unique color due to the Tamarack roots up north affecting the color of the water. It's warm and rich colored like root beer. I don't ever use any white in these areas as it would cool the color too much. I use yellow to lighten it if I need and try and stick with transparent colors such as transparent oxide, ultra marine, and aliz and thin it with mineral spirits.

here comes the wind sheer and sky reflections

at this stage the little subtle exceptions come in.

Note the color of the finish piece and this last one are a bit off. I'm working on color with my new computer, it's actually somewhere in between the two but you get the idea. . .:)