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. . .:)

Glitter Lit

"Glitter Lit"

11x14 oil on linen panel

The St Croix October, 2010 painted from William OBrien State Park, just north of Stillwater and Marine during the flood. The water is unusually high, especially for this time of year. The water in front of the tree is actually the parking lot, the water behind the tree is the river, two totally separate waters in the same painting. This back lit situation with two separate bodies of water - moving water, calm water, high glare from the sun and reflection from the tree was an interesting challenge to paint.

The Planes of Pears

"Pears"

6x8 oil on linen

In my classes we have been using the pear to study plane changes and develop a clear understanding of form. This is a little piece I did for my classes last week. I love painting pears!

Things Change . . . .

"Washington County Farmland"

11x14 oil on linen panel

This is a piece I did in the field about a month ago, painted near the Nason Hill piece I posted earlier. Washington County is where I grew up, my family farmed and my kids and I still live. This scene is what we used to see much more of when I was younger but things change, as do our surrounding landscape. As the barns fall, most people replace them with something new or just simply completely let them go because of the great expense it costs to repair and restore these old structures.

This barn is an original that still stands nestled into the land as if it were a part of the land that holds it, and only a slight sway back, unlike many of the others still holding on.

So, this painting is to remember the beauty of the old and never ending change ahead!

Outdoor Painters Of Minnesota

I am honored to be teaching a workshop for OPM this October the 23rd. OPM is an group for outdoor painters to get together and paint monthly around our state. This workshop I will be teaching is being sponsored by OPM and members are able to sign up for FREE through the OPM website. To see details click on the image above and it will enlarge it.

Thanks OPM, I'm really looking forward to being the first to teach this workshop! Hope to see some of you there, happy painting!

True Colors

"Mr Murphy's Dahlias"

20x16 oil on linen

I got a new mac! I've been spending the week trying to figure out how to use my new computer and having just a bit of 'getting used to' editing photos. (LOVE the mac by the way!) I need to get Photoshop, this picture is not great but you get the idea and I thought I'd better get it posted before I get too far behind. . . .

The story behind this painting is about to begin! My 10th grade english teacher Mr Murphy now retired and seemingly pretty happy about that, grows the most lovely dahlias. I've been seeing Mr Murphy at the local farmers market every Saturday for years, but since the flowers don't last long and I wanted to do a somewhat larger piece of the flowers I knew I'd need a full weekend planned out to do this painting. Finally last Saturday was the day! Now, to add to the story, my Grandma and aunts and I have been religiously planting and digging up our red dahlias that go all the way back to my great Grandma in South Dakota for as long as I can remember now, and I couldn't imagine not including my Great Grandma's too! As lovely and Mr Murphys are, ours are special to me for so many reasons and they seem to have a mind of their own in the funky way they like to grow. This is the reason for the 'character like' one on the left reaching out and saying hello.

Compositionally speaking I was thinking of how I could possibly make such an idea work. Not to assume that it does, feels like a bit of a risk but I like it! With all this hot red in a painting I knew I would need something to balance and cool this piece a bit, hence the blue cloth on the table. Red and blue is a nice color scheme. I think of the sweep of red traveling through the painting as a large s shape and I placed the 2 little pedals on the table to lay the surface flat and also to help carry the eye around again. Lots of red for this painter but that's what they're all about, their True Colors!