Paintings 38, 39, 41 42, 43

 

Day 50

Paintings 31-37

Day 34

It is Sunday again. Super Bowl Sunday. I don't really get into football, but since I live in Wisconsin, the Packers are really big here. Most of my friends love football. They think I am a little bit weird that I don't. So I will just do some painting. Lots more fun.

I am posting paintings 21-30 today. Love to hear your thoughts and or suggestions.

Day 27

Numbers 17-20

It is Sunday, day 27. 

I like the radishes the best. I have painted them before and had a successful painting. I am still finding my way with background, getting shadows right, and not getting too tight. 

As of today, I am one painting behind, but will catch up today. Now that I am getting into a rhythm, I will attempt to post on Sundays the previous week's paintings.  

Day 21

Today is Day 21. I still have a painting to do today and it is late in the day. I have been keeping up with my painting, but it has not been easy. I am finding that I am falling into a bit of a formula for painting the objects. I will post  tomorrow, with a bit of a different look. 

This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  The following are 9-16. 

Day 12

8/365

5/365

The idea of painting everyday is getting under my skin in a good way. I have been keeping up, so I will share a few, # 6 and #8. I have been painting on a dark ground which really helps create a dramatic image. I need to prime another group of boards and I was thinking of doing them in white to shake it up a bit or maybe a warm orange. I am liking the look of the dark background and the illuminated objects sitting on the table plane. I have been reading a few of my  books about painting in the style of the Old Masters. 


Thinking today. What would the work look like if I knew that no one would see it vs what would it look like if it was totally experimental?  Knowing that these pieces will be on display at our gallery in one year puts more pressure on the finished product. I want them to be well executed and thoughtful.

Stay tuned....

Day 8

It is day 8 and I am already behind by one painting, but hopefully will catch up today. I listened to the latest This American Life Podcast about a young man who decided to make a new start and become a Peace Pilgrim. He decided to give up everything and depend on the kindness of strangers. His idea was based on the life of Mildred Norman Ryder, who walked a pilgrimage of her own for almost 30 years. She said she would "remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food." In the podcast Daryl Watson speaks about his own pilgrimage that lasted 3 days before he called family and friends. He was on a search to find his purpose in life. 

I am wondering today, how it is possible to make a change in your daily life that becomes a habit. What does it mean to commit to something that you don't even know if you can sustain for a whole year? 

3/365

These are some questions that I hope to find answers to as this journey begins.

Day 5

Today was day 5 of my painting a day project. I worked all day at our gallery and didn't get to my painting until 8 pm. Not good. I am better earlier in the day. Tomorrow will be more of the same, back at the gallery.

Here are my first two choices of food to create a painting about...

This might make you hungry!

1/365

2/365

365

2013! Working toward a year long project of a painting a day.

Mini Business Cards

I am a total nerd when it comes to my business cards. I love moo.com where you can have as many images as you want to upload. Okay, they might have a maximum, but there is something satisfying about seeing little snippets of paintings that I have made all in one place. The cards are perfect for trading, giving to clients, or just dropping off at my gallery. I uploaded 50 paintings to their website and just received them in the mail today. It is like opening a birthday gift to myself, which is tomorrow by the way.

Q Gallery Opening Reception

A fun evening was held at the Q Gallery, as the artists opened their holiday exhibit.
 

Gallery Opening

The Q Gallery Artist's Cooperative opened our holiday show. Tons of new work from our little band of artists. It was a fun night! Since we live in a small town, we pretty much know everyone who attends...our groupies you might say. 


It was a lovely event, and the gallery looks so festive. Lots of hours hammering, climbing ladders, arranging, more hammering, and more climbing. It is worth it when the result is so festive. This panoramic was made on an iPhone by one of our photographers, John Hartman. I like the ghost of the woman at the left moving through the gallery. 


If you are in Stevens Point,Wisconsin, stop in to 1108 Main Street to see for yourself. I know, a shameless advertisement, but hey...it is the holiday season.

Sunset Kayak

My friend Vivian bought this little painting. We have a group of women who like to kayak around our state in rivers and lakes. This inspiration came from a sunset paddle that we did one afternoon in late August. The water was so beautiful, and we all felt that this was a little jewel of an evening with Fall coming and then Winter. If you aren't familiar with Sigurd Olson,
he was was an American author and environmentalist who wrote many books to advocate for the protection of wilderness, including Reflections from the North Country, my favorite.

"Beauty never stands alone, is so fragile it can be destroyed by a sound or a foreign thought. It may be infinitesimally small or encompass the universe itself."

Sigurd Olson

Ice Age Summer

After a recent trip to the American Player's Theatre in Spring Green, Wisconsin, I painted this small section on the Ice Age Trail near Devil's Lake. It was a hot humid day, and the wild flowers were everywhere. We saw butterflies galore and hiked into the hot humid landscape.
What could be better following a play in a beautiful outdoor setting, than being in this beautiful place scoured out by the glaciers so many millions of years ago.

Tea for Four

I have not posted anything for a while. Here are four experimental pieces. A bit of a new way of working for me. I like the sketchy quality and unfinished look to these. Hopefully this will get me working again. It has been a while since I made a painting in or outside of my studio. Summer is usually the time to start some serious plein air, but it has been so hot and sticky here in Wisconsin. No excuses, but it is time to start working in earnest. I miss it!  I will be sailing up in Door County next week, so stay tuned for some new work.

Plein Air Exhibit

 

Wisconsin Plein Air Exhibition...Bergstrom~Mahler 

in Neenah Wisconsin. 

July 9-September 18. 

Opening reception is July 8 from 5-8pm.

Three Tomatoes

I recently painted some still lifes with fruits and vegetables. Two of them are part of a local show called Visions XIII. The opening was last night and several friends came to see the show. The problem was they all gave me such a hard time about my titles. Yes, I realize they are pretty lame. Is it certainly something I can work on to improve? Absolutely!  Instead of Three Tomatoes they suggested Pre-Salsa. I don't know what do you think?

This is the painting that goes with the following poem. It is part of the Verse and Vision project held recently at the Q Artist's Gallery in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The poet, Jim Pollock is a talented poet who helped organize the event. Over 300 poems were submitted; 61 were accepted into the show.  Local artists read the poems and were inspired to make art. For me, I loved the image of a river, as it flows through all the seasons.

 If You Are a River

If you are a river,
you most likely spend your summers
meandering through quaint villages
and cuddling up to canyon walls.

Come winter,
you probably freeze your skin
and entertain dark and murky thoughts
beneath your cold exterior.

Until spring,
when you burst forth, invading fields,
tearing up those little villages,
carving up those canyon walls.

Unfortunately by fall,
you end up as
mere stain in the ocean’s current,
mere silt on the ocean’s floor.

At such time, river,
it is worthwhile to remember
that now you know what every river knows,
and you have gone where every river goes.

By Jim Pollock
copyrighted and printed with permission of the poet

If You Are A River

High Water

My friend Carol and I have been outside painting the last few days at a nearby county park. The water levels in and around here are so high, a bit scary really. The water is just rushing by, black and churning. None of the cool rocks that we had seen in the fall are even visible yet...all under water.  I set up on top of the dam for this view.  I liked the shadows on the building and the lovely grays in the trees. Soon buds will be popping out and it will be all green again. It has been a long winter in Wisconsin.