A tribute to Rubens and Nue and an oil from Scotland

The landscape is a 14 X 18 inch scene from the Isle of Skye in Scotland, in a small town called Lower Breakish. My family stayed in a bed and breakfast and had this beautiful scene just down the road. Seals sunned themselves on the little island in the distance and you could walk out quite far when the tide receded. Quite muddy as you can imagine. The other painting is 26 X 30 inches (sorry, Nue I don't know my centimeters) oil on canvas, a copy of "Two Satyrs" by Rubens. For those of you who follow Stefan Nuetzel's blog, you will notice the same painting in the background of his picture. I did this one a long time ago, but I remember it being one of those times when I just could not miss... every brush stroke and every color seemed to be the right one. I find a lot of inspiration from reading Nue's blog and reading his comments -- and his comments to other people's blogs ... Stefan is friendly, appreciative, encouraging and an excellent painter.

Plein air landscape and a self portrait

The self portrait was done a long time ago -- I'm more grizzled looking at present. The landscape was done in Door County, Wisconsin. The rock wall was made with all the rocks taken out of a field no longer used for cultivation. It reminds me of hearing the plow blades whacking into those rocks as the farmers prepare their fields in the spring. Trees grow through the rocks and there are more trees in the distance. The painting was done in about an hour. The light was changing, so I had to stop.

Upcoming show -- Waterworks

These three watercolors are going into a show in May, running through the end of May. I used black and white references for all three of these paintings. The John Sloan portrait comes from a photo in his book "Gist Of Art" -- a very worthwhile read. The other two come from photos of railroad workers and scenes from the 1940s. I am working in watercolor in my evening class trying to loosen up a little. The show is in Chicago in a gallery in Roscoe Village.

Two paintings -- one oil, one watercolor -- getting ready for two different shows. The watercolor show is in May and slides are due in May for the show I am trying to get the oil painting in. About slides --- now try to get your slides done in less than two weeks!!!! With digital cameras, slides are nearly obsolete. Digital takes much better pictures, but some shows still want your slides. I'm still not all that well versed in computer technology, but even I can see when some things are out of date.