My Year!

Where do I even begin?  I thought of completely starting over with a new blog. . .  had a brilliant idea for a brilliant new blog name, "Miles Of Canvas"!!!  Well, thought it was brilliant and original until I went online to register, only to find 100's of others using that name for their blogs, websites, company names, etc.  Guess it WAS a good idea, but not so original after all.  

The last post I made was in February of 2014.  I have not dropped off the face of the planet, but have most certainly been busy completely altering life as we knew it one year ago!  Not to take Martin Luther King's line, but I had a dream!  A vision.  A vision for a place on a beautiful and inspiring piece of nature, where I could have my studio, share with my students and fellow painters, and finish raising my children.  To get rid of the rent I've been paying in my past studio, simplify life, and paint, paint, paint in a place that moved and inspired painters from all over!  Non of it makes sense if you are a person of logic, it only makes sense if you are a person who chooses not to function out of fear, believes life is what you make it, and believes that hard work and risk is worth every drop of sweat.  That would be me.  I thought, "what's the worst that could happen? I might not get it . . "  Would be no further than I was without going for it, so I did!  And I did it solely from my art.  

In the past year I have sold my house of 15 years, purchased a 15 acre property in the country with a 150 year old house and a 100 year old hay barn, a 150 year old silo ruins, lots of trees, wetlands, buck thorn, which I have become completely obsessed with removing, trails, bats in the attack (hopefully got rid of them by now) . . . moved out of my downtown Stillwater studio which I had been renting for nearly the past 10 years, converted the 100 year old barn into my new studio and school, and now am doing a major renovation on this sweet little farm house which with might I say, lots of 'character'?  Ha!  Good word for lots wrong with it!  It's okay though, we love it and it is now the place we call home.  You see, the property was meant to be.  It's the only explanation besides faith and the hard work it took to get here.

My plan had been to blog daily about our big adventure of moving the house and studio to the country.  Well, it just didn't go that way!  Every single day has been a challenge of enormous or small, but a challenge just the same.  It's been quite a year and quite the journey, and we survived.

June 1st, I held my first plein air classes on the property.  They went all summer long.  In September, fall semester of classes started in the studio barn.  In October I had my first show in the new 'old' studio barn.  In October I also hosted OPM, The Outdoor Painters of Minnesota paint out.  We had nearly 50 painters here painting the grounds all day!  In February of 2015 winter semester will start up and painters will be here again weekly to study painting.  The dream came to life and life we are living!  

The day we moved.  January 24, 2014, 30 BELOW ZERO PLUS windchill!  You bet!  

Brutal winter. . .

Yup, cold.

Our pretty, cold, road.  Pretty though!  :)

First dinner in the new studio with students, 

 

Winter finally left

Time to get the studio barn functional for classes, but we needed a way to get up there besides the 'death trap stairs' coming up through the floor with a trap door.

Grateful for talented architect Peter Curtis for designing these amazing stairs!

Spring's finds, 150 year old silo ruins.  This is after hours and hours of removing overgrown buck thorn with the help of my kiddo, Nick!  We found tons of old artifacts from the original farm!

A labor of love . . .

 . . . and dirt!

Meanwhile in the studio . . ..

. . . . major transformation is taking place.

New floors, lighting, paint, heating, A/C, OMG.

The scenery across the road is  . . . well, heavenly

 

As if!!  You're kidding me!  Poppies!  What??  

I didn't need to go to Italy all these years, my own backyard.

Yup!  Everywhere I turn.

 Let the painting begin!  Welcome painters, and they came!

Another painter, just studying the wetlands

One of my many demos this summer, happy!

Monday evening printouts, painters, collectors, Friends.  

 .  .  . around the silo

We gather, we inspire, 

around the silo, and the sunflowers begin to grow.

Still life in sun light

 I treasure early morning still lives . . 

The porch is a beautiful place to rest

Late summer, more beautiful early mornings surprises!

My favorite chair, by my favorite Cottonwood, happy.  

 Studio!

Welcome OPM!  We hosted 50 painters to enjoy the land

 

Friend and painter Kim Casebeer came to visit and paint this summer!

 "Beauty" out my studio window.  Pinch me!

Studio classes begin!

Mornings are lovely . . 

School Mascots, Lester and Pinti!

My first solo show in the new studio!  My kiddo Nick, on his phone.  :)  

Welcome and enjoy the show!

Just kicking' up my heals 

The fall was stunning outside the studio window

A smashing success!  

People came, they enjoyed . . . 

they admired . . 

Time for a beer, it's been quite a year!

A corner at the show

Back at it!! 18x24 Sumac Class Demonstration

The last couple months have been very interesting to say the least!  My kids, Paige and Nick and I moved.  Six months ago was the start of a long process of selling our house of 15 years and buying a new one (OLD one, 140 years old one!) where we now live out in the country (just 6 miles from the home we left) and I will have my studio along with 15 very paintable acres.  Exciting times, but challenging for sure!  And Painting, this is the longest stretch I have gone without painting since I was pregnant with my now 13 year old son.  It was about 6 weeks of no painting, ugh!  Classes started back up a few weeks ago in full swing, and thanks to one of my students who took these pictures of my block in demo I can share them with you.  This painting was a 2 hour demo done from a study and my photo using my Mac.  The demo was on blocking in large shapes of color to create harmony in your landscape.  All I can say is it's good to be 'Back At It!!'  :)  

Studio Show, Dec. 12, 2013

~Holiday Studio Show and Open House~ Please join me Thursday December 12, for this very special evening of art and cheer in my studio! ~ Where:  St Croix River School of Painting 242 North Main Street Stillwater, MN 55082 When:  Reception and Spirits - Thurday December 12, 5:00-9:00PM Artist Talk by 'Me' and Short Poetry Reading by friend Chuck Bransford at 6:30pm. Chuck and Wife Diane traveled to Tuscany with me last year where he wrote a piece of poetry on my painting "Tuscan Broom Brush".  He will be sharing that piece on this special evening! Extended Studio Hours:  Friday December 13, 11:00-5:00 and Saturday December 14, 11:00-5:00 "Evening Song" 18x24 "August Bee-Balm" 12x12 I look forward to sharing my latest works and adventures with you!  Hope to see you soon.  Until then, I wish you and your family a safe, warm and Happy Thanksgiving!  So much to be grateful for!  -Kami

Scarlet Sumac

"Scarlet Sumac"

11x14 oil on linen

This is a piece I painted from my front yard.  The colors this year are intense, love it!  

My Bear Story!!

Summer has come and gone, and fall has certainly arrived full of color this year!  The St Croix Valley truly is an incredible place to live and paint.  I have many favorites where I frequently visit and haul my paints to 'the spot' where I attempt to capture the fleeting colors of the moment.  I love that I never quite know what is going to happen, or what I will end up with after a trip out painting.  Plein Air painting is so full of discovering, strategizing, observing, experiencing, revealing, translating, the list goes on and on . . . . however, along with all that, can certainly come with a healthy dose of frustrations and challenges along the way.  With that said, any day out painting is a good day!  

I'm sure if you were to get together with any group of serious 'plein air' painters you'd hear some pretty incredible stories of their crazy experiences out painting, and if you gave some of them a beer in a pub after a long day out painting the stories would probably grow.  The 20 degree winter day out painting suddenly may turn into now 50 mile an hour winds, not snow but ice, pelting the side of their face, fingers so frozen they are like popsicles stuck to their hands, now 20 below temps, but "I stuck it out for the sake of the painting" kind of stories . . . . .you get the picture!  I often hear from people how 'lucky' I am to be a painter, and how 'relaxing' it must be . . . . ha!  :)  I don't believe it has anything to do with luck and I'll tell you, it's far from relaxing, but I do love it and wouldn't trade this life for anything else!  

Now for MY recent plein air 'story'!! 

One of my 'favorites' in the Valley is William OB. State Park, (above).  The day I shot this picture was a good day, I went out with a few of my painter friends, we met at the coffee shop in Marine and headed up to our location, then hiked into the park (about a 1/3 - 1/2 mile hike with gear up hill each way!;)  It was cool and a little rainy which provided a nice blanket of rich color in the sky, and the land was saturated in color from the wetness, and soft light which allows the eye to see color so completely without great contrast of harsh sunlit areas.  Loved it!  What more could a painter ask for I say!

 Chompin' at the bit to get out and do another study of this same place before the colors changed too drastically, I headed out at 7:00 AM a few days later, arrived on location around 7:30 AM.  I had told my friend Diane that I would be heading out there to paint if she wanted to join me.  I got out of my car and stepped into the crisp, cool, fall air.  I saw my breath for the first time this year.  I stood and listened before grabbing my gear from the back of the truck and heard lots of animal activity in the woods that morning and thought "sure . . . this would be the morning I'd see a bear".  You see, it's been nearly 15 plus years that my Dad has been telling me I need to start carrying Bear Spray (don't worry, it causes no harm to the bear).  I blow him off every time and tell him, I'm good, the wild life love me, they think I'm like Snow White out there, 'We Hang Out!".  Deer lay by me and graze, and the turkeys come visit to see what I'm up to!  It's true, they do!  So, I hike up the hill, get set up, squeeze out my paints, put up a fresh new canvas, envision the possible potential for this painting that does not yet exist, feeling completely exhilarated still watching my breath as now the sun is brazing the damp foggy valley, looking miles out into the distance with my back is to the wooded tree line just 2o feet from where I stand, when my peace is suddenly jolted by an incredibly abrupt sound of what must be a very large tree branch forcefully cracked just behind me.  In my 20 years painting out in Nature this is the first time I've ever heard this sound.  I clap and make some noise, now breathing heavily and heart beating out of my chest.  I hear nothing but complete silence.  I calmly place my keys in one hand and phone in the other (remember I'm about 1/2 mile away from my vehicle) I don't see anything yet but I know it's a bear.  What else could possibly make that sound?  In an instant I make the decision to leave my equipment, to not go deeper in the park, but to walk back out to the road on the path that goes back towards where the sound came from.  I speed dial my Dad while heading out (who I know is 50 miles away and could do nothing but to know where I am just in case. . . ).  As I'm telling him my location I look up to my right and a 100 year old oak tree is moving like I never knew an oak tree could move, and I see the bear in the tree shaking the tree branches letting me know he's not happy I woke him up!  I am now hyperventilating as he's only 2o feet from me in a tree and I'm on the phone with my Dad who I'm telling him repeatedly in a panic "I have a bear in my sight, I have a bear in my sight . . . .and close, in a tree!!"  My Dad asks me over and over "is he still up there??  Are you past him yet??"  Finally I am past him and my Dad says "Well, get out of there FAST!"  Great idea Dad!  Good thinking!!

 The bear did not come down to greet me, thankfully!  I safely reach my car and he says, "NOW are you going to go buy some Bear Spray?!"  And I did, TWO cans!!  I love bears and I think they are amazing creatures but I don't care if I ever see one that close again in my entire life!  Sounds much more fun than it actually is!  Yes, such a relaxing life!!  :)  Did I go back again?  Of course I did!     

Now to get my equipment.  Diane and her sweet husband Doug showed up minutes later, and I tell them we can't go back in yet, "there's the largest bear in the entire United States waiting to eat us in a tree!!"  Brave Doug feels confident and leads the way back in the park, the bear is gone, we get my equipment, I even did a quick study and survived another day painting!!  Like I always say, "it's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it!"   Embellised?  Well . . . it may not be a documented fact that he was the largest living bear in the USA but as far as I remember he WAS!  

Inspiration On The Island!

I just returned home from a week long trip on Madeline Island WI where I taught a 5 day Plein air workshop, painted, and brought my two teenage kids (13 and 14 ages)  and each a friend to create some warm summer memories!  Seems kinda crazy when I see it in writing, :)  but it was all good!  Actually, much better than 'good', it was inspiring!  Madeline Island School Of Art provides the perfect palette of hospitality for painters to completely engross themselves in inspiration and productivity.  

My students capturing the shapes and colors of the lagoon from Town Park early in the week

The ferry docks looking towards the 'mainland'

On my way out at 4:45 AM, yup that's right!  We did a 'sunrise' painting one day

My two biggest critics, my son Nick eating his ice cream cone and his friend Brandan 

My view hiking into the sunrise. . . I spotted an early bird photographer hard at work already!  Wonder if she knew she herself was 'art' :)

 . . . and the sun comes up

 . . . .the half of my class that decided to show up to experience this incredible morning

6:00 AM, painting number 2 of the day!  no joke!

 . . . me working to capture early morning light before our 7:00 breakfast. . . . 

   .  . . next day . . .painters working in the afternoon light, I just love painters!

down at the beach standing in the shade catching the colors of high key light

is that Monet??  :)  oh, no it's his look alike!  :)  

evenings were filled with family and friends enjoying the flavors of the island, life is good!

not only water and beach scenes but also lovely meadows and prairies right from the MISA school grounds

my 'crew' all cleaned up and ready for a much earned lasagna dinner in the barn

Me and my girls!  Paige and her friend Olivia watched me paint my evening demo for my class, ice cream was the  next stop!

Thanks to my awesome students for working hard and being a constant inspiration on my journey as a painter!  

my Wednesday evening demo from the ferry docks looking in, sold.