Slim (Steve) Johnson Paints

The art world and the rest of the world.

2012-01-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

I'm not such a pompous self-important ass to think that artists are somehow more important than anyone else. Artists have to learn that what they do other people either appreciate, don't appreciate, don't understand, haven't been educated to understand or just don't care. I've posted five of the demonstration paintings that I do for a store (not going to tell which one) -- they are hanging (or shall I say screwed to the wall?) in the classroom. I will admit that it does bother me a bit that the manager who put them one the wall, sees it as just a marketing tool -- kind of like a poster, I guess -- to just hang up on the wall. If you look closely you will see the screws right through the paintings. There lies the difference -- artists just don't do things like that --- although sometimes they tear apart an unsuccessful painting -- but that's their decision. There you go -- the difference in understanding art between those who make it and those who can't really appreciate what's going into making it. So ----- five paintings I did in acrylic, all 9 X 12 inches. The one on the lower right is the only one that came from the curriculum book I was given. The rest are my own. Not the greatest work I've done, but I only give them about an hour and a half and then I'm done.

Secret Life of the Artist Chapter 6

2012-01-03T18:02:00.000-08:00

Forty years ago I started art school (yes, forty -- freaks me out too!!) I had already been to college and had a BA degree in Linguistics and thought I would be the old guy among a bunch of 18 year olds, but that was not the case. There were quite a few people in their 40s to 60s in the classes. Pictured here is a shot in the oil painting class with me on the right in my old denim shirt form the Navy; my buddy Dan is on the immediate left; next to Dan is a woman -- not sure who that is, and then Bob Clark. I once did a portrait of Bob and gave it to him. I did quite a few portraits that I gave away, even to some of the models. Since I was a bit older, I was going to honest enough with myself that if I didn't think I was good enough to continue semester to semester I would quit art school and just work at the job I had at that time -- doing animation. I was fortunate to find myself improving and doing good work and exceeding any expectations that I had. I went there to be a portrait painter and did very well. One of the few students to take oil painting in both the morning and afternoon sessions, I worked hard and also painted at home after school if I wasn't working. At home is where I did all the copying of the old masters. I had enough credits to graduate after 3 years, but I stayed another half year just because I loved painting there so much. Some years later I looked at the information brochure for the school and was blown away by how much the cost of the tuition had gone up. Considering that, I could never have afforded to go there in the present time and never had the experience.

Portrait demo

2011-12-31T19:49:00.000-08:00

This is an 11" X 14" portrait I did as a demonstration. I just used a picture from a magazine -- it wasn't from life. I did this in about an hour and fifteen minutes and I must say that doing these demos has helped me increase my ability to paint faster. If I was to do this as a commission I would take more time, yet what it has to say as a painting is just enough: not too much noodling around and I pushed the color a bit to make this my own. I've been doing these to build an art class, but the people just don't know what they are missing. So -- I do them for myself. This was done in acrylics -- which, frankly, I hate. But I figure, if you can do this in a medium you don't like it just shows that you can do the job. I've never wanted to be more than a portrait and landscape painter (in oils) so I was happy with the result. I had about a dozen people come up to me while I was doing this and tell me how much they liked it -- one even offered to buy it (I'm not sure how serious that was, but his price wasn't right). Happy New Year, you all!!!

Worst educational degrees......

2011-12-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

Discouraging news, .......although most artists have known this for years. I saw among the "news stories" on the computer the "10 worst educational degrees". Of course "worst" always means worst paying -- money always being the deciding factor as to whether your life amounts to anything or not. So naturally it is up to you to form a philosophy of life. Consult your Bible, Deepak Chopra or the Dalai Lama for a way to look at life (just don't ask me!!!). But don't listen to the list makers who only consult the "bottom line". Sure, very few artists are able to "make a living" from their art, but those who enjoy what art gives them aren't turning in their degree as a lost cause. Art has opened my first job, teaching, giving demonstrations, gallery representation, the respect of some people. It's how I met my wife. No, I wouldn't stand out there and tell other people to go into art, they have to make that step. I'm still disappointed when paintings don't sell or people use me to get what they want (free paintings for their cause). However, without consideration of one's bank account, art is a way of satisfying the work of the hands, the mind and the soul of the human: the skill to produce a work of art, the thought process involved and the satisfaction gained. That might not add up to much in the bank, but it leaves most artists to a life's work among things they enjoy doing and people who respect and value them as people. That said, the little painting I have at the top of the page is a 6" X 6" oil of a winter scene -- totally from my head. I usually have my references to bounce things off of, so this is a little departure. The painting is one of two that I did for The Next Picture Show Gallery

Shows and more shows

2011-12-04T09:33:00.001-08:00

This is not the Secret life of the Artist, this is the public life of the artist. The top picture is me at the "Architecture and More" show at The Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon, Illinois. My friend Linda Loew had three of her photos in this show as well. If you look closely you will see a red dot on the the paper label of the bottom painting -- it sold!!! I did not get a ribbon this time, but to me a sale is as good or better. The painting that sold is an oil and the one above is a pastel (which garnered a nice compliment from one of the other artists.)

The other picture is from the show I had in the Fine Arts building, downtown Chicago. My paintings art, from the left, the first, third and sixth. There were four painters in the group show. Nothing at this show sold, but the compliments were nice. Now, I don't have a show lined up for the next month, but I'm waiting on hearing on a show that I am trying to have in a nearby art center.

Secret life of the artist, Chapter 4

2011-11-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

OK, so you've been reading this blog and you haven't seen "Secret life of the artist, Chapter 1, 2 or 3, so what's going on? I thought I'd give myself a little room for previous entries and start a little later. Besides 4 is a much funnier number than 1. So my thoughts today are about the influence of school, not art school, upon the young artist. I went to public school and while I don't particularly remember any art on the walls of grade school, there was quite a bit in high school. I remember a large oil, probably 30 X 36" under glass (to keep us grubby little kids from touching it. This was a landscape of woods, trees leaves on a cloudy day. I can see it now all these many years later there on the wall of the third floor hallway and how I used to stand by it while I waited for my next class. How often I looked at it and wondered what it would take to do something like that. I never saw anone else but me connecting with an artist and their work -- I don't know who did it, but it sure caught my attention. Another painting was a winter scene of snow piled inches thich on a bridge railing with the sun shining on it. That wa in the science classroom -- and how I looked at it while I should have been paying attention. Oh, I didn't have ADHD, I did my lessons well -- I just saw another life out there for me -- at least I hoped so. Then there was art class and all the disasters I committed there. Well, one couldn't expect a lot from the lame assignments we were given. Some were good, but most were not. It was my first life drawing experience -- and I found out that I could really do it. Then there was the "make a fish out of paper" assignment. What an embarassing mess I created and had to look at it among the others hung from the ceiling. You'll never know how I wanted to take a match to it and watch it burn. I went right into the garbage can when I got it back. Years later when I worked for a college, I was sent back to my old high school to evaluate the appropriateness of the learning environment (or some such nonsense as that). I got to go back and see the school as it is now. There on the third floor hallway, the painting I loved --- it was gone. No more art on the walls. What happened that a kid can't make a connection to the art world in an everyday place without paying some outrageous Museum fee. Maybe that's one reason I was a Waldorf teacher -- I did art for kids for eight years and eventually entered more deeply into the art world. So....enough musing..... the picture I have posted is of me in the background and my buddy Jack with the mustache painting in art school. I only have a couple photos of actual working at the school and i'ts fun to look back.

Fall into Winter

2011-11-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

This is an oil, 12" X 16" that I painted last week. I had taken a trip to my favorite area in Wisconsin and found this along the road. This is somewhere near Cambridge, WI, if I remember correctly. Last week we traveled to Mineral Point, WI. Mineral Point was founded by miners from Cornwall along the southern coast of England. The original houses there are made of stone. We stayed in the "Miners Cabin" built 1835. The town is very arty, but not touristy -- no T-Shirts and junk. This area of Wisconsin was not touched by the glaciers thousands of years ago and there area many hills and the farmers have had to adapt their techniques to the local terrain. The town of Mineral Point has very hilly streets as well. One of my favorite books, which I used when I taught the Farming block in 3rd grade at the Waldorf School, is "The Land Remembers" by Ben Logan who grew up on a farm near this area during the 1930s and 1940s. They were still using horses and steam threshers then, quite different from now. It was a great time and I will have to return.

Pencil drawing

2011-11-13T21:12:00.000-08:00

If this winds up in a frame it will be "Graphite on Paper" rather than "pencil drawing", but that's a subject for another blog entry. I have done this particular subject two times: once is this drawing and I've done it in oil. When you get a good subject and it motivates you to work realize that everything cannot be said in one statement. The real trick in all of this is to retain the feeling of out of doors and not turn this into an architectural rendering. Keep the "painterly" quality. It's easy to overstate things and kill the work of art before you've even finished. This was photgraphed with just a mat thrown over it -- we will see whether it makes a frame. If I don't think it looks painterly it will just be put away.

Success and failure -- or is it the other way around?

2011-11-03T12:47:00.000-07:00

This is a little (6" X 8" -- sorry I'm a little challenged on the Metric system) painting that I did this week near the beach at Lake Michigan near Wilmette, IL. Along with the subject of my title for this post, a painter often has as many successes as failures. I went painting with my 80 year old friend, Isaac. I did one painting and wiped it off the canvas with turps. Next I did a completely bad and boring job on a group of trees in the sand dune. I left that on the canvas but intend to paint over it. I am not going to post that or perhaps you will never visit my blog again. Now long ago in art school, Mr. C, also known as Thomas Cushing, told us (at least I'm going to attribute it to him) that the difference between an amateur and a professional is the amount of garbage in his garbage can. Look back a few postings to the one that shows my palette and you will see in the background a full if not overflowing garbage can. Mr. C., you taught me all I needed to know about art, life and garbage.

Plein air painting at the lagoon

2011-10-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

This morning I went out painting with an old friend. He learned in Lithuania and Russia and has seen original Repins and Serovs and Levitans. We drove to Skokie Lagoon and painted on a windy fall day with the sun going in and out. I was attracted by the warm red, orange and yellow leaves to the right of the oldd tree at the water's edge. The background was done with a lot of layering of one color upon another. This is an 11" by 14" oil.

The not so secret life of the artist

2011-10-13T14:28:00.001-07:00

This Friday, October 14th, 2011, I am in a show in the Fine Arts building, 410 South Michigan Avenue in Downtown Chicago. "Common Ground, the Landscape", work inspired by plein air painting has three other artists besides myself. This is my first show in such a large area. I will have 8 paintings on display. Also, I am in a show at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois just west of Chicago, with the art league that I belong to with two of my works. In addition, I am in the "Farms & Barns" show in Dixon, Illinois, about 100 miles west of Chicago (or 50 miles east of Iowa and the Mississippi River). I will also have two works done in pencil at the "Shades of Gray" show at The Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon at the end of this month. Sometimes you toil in obscurity and other times you are out there before the public.

The Secret Life of the Artist, part 7 (a)

2011-10-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

This is just a little addendum to my last posting. ( I am having trouble with my "Publish Post" function on the blog and don't know what to do about it and got cut off. ) The final thoughts were....that I tried to find my way after art school, first by challenges in art school and then later. Heck, if I'd followed my first path I think I would have wound up trying to do Western art -- that illustration type painting that still sells well, I guess, but just has a phony-looking illustration quality --- and been unsuccessful at it. Eventually my path has gone toward a regionalism -- I do a lot of pastoral scenes. I'm a city kid, but I have worked on a farm and I still do a lot of portraits which satisfies the inner need for that that I've enjoyed since art school. Develop an interest in a path of art to follow and hone your painterly skills.

The Secret Life of the Artist, part 7

2011-10-11T16:53:00.000-07:00

Along with the Rembrandt and Rubens paintings I had in the "Influences" show at The Next Picture Show Gallery, I had this painting which is my copy of Frank Tenney Johnson's (no relation) "Somewhere on the Range". I apologize if it's not totally in focus. This is 30" X 36", a large canvas which I did back around 1977 or so. Now, here comes the "Secret Life" connection: Why does one do this copying anyhow? While I was in art school I wanted to make up for years of not doing much art. When I was a kid I would draw, but didn't keep that up. As a result I felt like I was behind and needed to make up for years of neglect. How to learn a lot in a short time. As I said before, Mr. Eugene Hall, my oil painting teacher, told me to copy the masters. I took it to another level. Besides copying Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer and others, I wanted to learn additional techinques that you don't really see in a Vermeer (although you do in Rembrandt). So I started copying FT Johnson for his thick paint and scumbling. I think you can see in the lower right especially, the thick paint scumbled that opens up another dimension on the canvas, kind of a sculptural look. Art school began me on a plan: I worked with the portrait and figure at school. At home I worked on portraits, then figures, multiple figures, figures with animals and finally maany figures and many animals --- see Frederik Remington's "Cavalry Charge on the Southern Plains" which I also copied --- always trying to get more complication and challenge. So now all these many years later I have found my own place: a portrait and Midwest landscape painter, watercolorist, pastellist and pencil artist. My last show, Barns & Farms, at The Next Picture Show Gallery garnered me a 3rd place ribbon and some nice compliments from the judge -- "painting mastery".

The Secret Life of the Artist part 6

2011-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in the last posting, I have three paintings in the "Farms & Barns" show. If you, as a painter, enter a show, know who the judge is. Is your judge a painter or an "Art Major"? It takes a painter to understand what a painter is getting at in their work. Some art history people can paint, but painters have their own knowledge of art history -- and painting. Now, I appreciate art history and educators, but a painter is one who learns to "see" and create in a way that sitting at a desk behind a book doesn't. A painter learns to read, study and process painting by painting, artist by artist. What comes out on a canvas has a whole history of study behind it: looking at artists of every period asking how did they paint this, what colors did they use in this situation or that, what brushwork expressed their thought and seeing, what composition did they use? Anyhow ----- I did receive a ribbon and a check for my painting "Farm at Honey Creek". The judge/painter knew what I was getting at in my work. And, yes, I've been skunked several times when the judge was not a painter -- and I'm not the only one who thought that they had picked amateur work over better work. All that being said, this entry has a picture of my palette that I use at home as a way of saying that this is where it all begins: this is where the artist works with his colors and his brushwork to bring the thoughts and feelings out on the canvas after hours and hours of study and practice.

copies of Rubens and Rembrandt

2011-09-12T14:22:00.000-07:00

The "Influences" show ended at The Next Picture Show Gallery last week. Before I loaded these and two others into my car I took this photo of my Rubens "Two Satyrs" and Rembrandt's "Saskia" as they were hung on the wall. My old oil painting instructor, Eugene Hall, encouraged me to do some copies of the Masters to learn. And learn I did. I've done a good number of copies, but stopped doing that about 25 years ago. Now I just do my own thing of course, but the lessons I learned doing these and learning to really look were all important. By the way....Eugene Hall is the person who tagged me with the nickname "Slim". It comes from a mutual interest in all things Cowboy. Unfortunately these did not sell, so they will go back into the studio, perhaps never to see the light of day again. On to the next show which is another Farms and Barns show at NPS Gallery for the month of September and part of October.

Old Train Station at Berkley Springs, WV

2011-08-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

Train stations.....there are a lot of interesting old ones out there. (Not here...they tear down all the good old ones in the big city.) I remember a lot of really nice ones taking a train trip from Boston through Connecticut and New York on the way to Washington, DC. This particular station I found on a trip to Virginia. My wife and I stopped for the night after a particularly long drive. We used the GPS to find a motel. The GPS sent us back a few miles out of Maryland and into West Virginia to a small town, Berkley Springs. We looked at their antique stores and had dinner. Getting up the next morning and on the road, this was the scene I saw about 7 AM -- the light cutting across the scene at a low angle. I goofed up the picture I shot of the movie theater in the town "The Star" or I'd have drawn that too. This is graphite -- 6B pencil -- on paper. If I remember right, I did a watercolor of this scene but didn't like it. I've done several scenes in oil or watercolor, even pastel and done them again in another medium. Try it -- you'll like it. I will be trying to get this into a show called "Shades of Gray" coming up in November.

Down time

2011-08-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is a pencil drawing (or am I supposed to say "graphite" to sound more professional) I did in a small art class I teach while the others are busy. It's done with a 6B, my favorite. Sometimes I like to go back and not have to deal with color and surface texture and just draw. This is a scene from along the road in Wisconsin on Highway 12 near Cambridge (east of Madison). I've done a large painting of this marsh and these are just a stand of trees near the road just a few feet from the water's edge.

Gas Depot

2011-08-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is a little watercolor study (that looks a lot better in person) that I did the day after the Superdawg picture. The gas station sits across the street from the woods at the edge of the city. I spent less than an hour on it and sat in the car as I worked.

Superdawg

2011-08-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is a small plein air watercolor I did this morning. The place is Superdawg, and has been at Milwaukee Avenue and Devon for many years. The two hot dogs are the main feature, although they do have service that will bring your hot dogs to the car. There may be other places you prefer to get hot dogs, but this one has the edge in architecture. I spent about 30 minutes or less on this -- although I did not check the clock. The scene was lit from behind by the morning sun. On another tack....I have four paintings in the "Influences" show at The Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon, Illinois. There was (disappointingly) a small turnout. The four paintings I did in the late 1970s and literally had to blow the dust off of them. I've never had any of them in a show before and it was good to see them hanging on a wall -- gave the gallery a museum-like look of the old masters. I will try to remember to take pictures later -- I fogot to bring the camera to the show. I am getting ready for two upcoming shows -- so matting and framing and creating some new work too.

The Secret Life of the Artist part 5

2011-08-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

This is the final version of Farm at Honey Creek. Honey Creek is along route 20 in Walworth county Wisconsin. The picture is maybe a little out of focus, but that's maybe OK -- I don't want my online art thief stalker having my artwork at their disposal. The secret life....it has to do with the last two months. My wife and I have had to deal with difficult family things just like everybody else. It has meant dealing with things you don't want to, not getting enough sleep and not being able to work while all this is going on, but it has to get done. I did have four of my paintings accepted into a show at the Next Picture Show Gallery. The show is called "Influences" -- like which painters influenced your development as an artist. My paintings are my copies of work by Rubens, Rembrandt, Thomas Moran and Frenk Tenney Johnson. Here's the other part of the Secret Life of the Artist.....my choices reflect my growing interest in being able to do portraits, multiple figures in a painting, landscape and landscape with a figure and animal. As a painter you have to look ahead to what kind of things you can come up with to challenge yourself to go beyond your current level of skill. Those were huge challenges for me then as now. The Influences show opens tomorrow, August 5th, with the traditional wine and cheese reception. I will be making the two hour drive to meet people and answer questions. So....there's a little...or quite a lot about the secret life of the artist.

final version of Wyoming Sundown

2011-07-18T16:21:00.001-07:00

This is my final version of a painting that has been in the works for over a year. There were quite a few changes since I did the last posting. Simpler was better. I redid the haystack in the foreground taking out all the little stringy brushstrokes I had put in. I also did a glaze of blue over the mountains on the right and through the middle to bring them down a bit without losing the color too much. Glazing....now there's something I learned from studying Rembrandt. Speaking of Rembrandt....I just had four of my paintings chosen for an upcoming show at The Next Picture Show gallery in Dixon, Illinois. The show is called "Influences" and will feature four of my copies (forgeries, if you will). Well I am giving full credit to Rembrandt, Rubens, Thomas Moran and Frank Tenney Johnson --- they are the real masters. Anyhow, I am having three frames made at quite an expense, so I am hoping to sell at least one of the paintings. When I was an art student my instructor, Eugene Hall, told me to go do some copies. He was right, it helped me learn color and develop skills. E. Hall was a really great guy and probably would have like Wyoming Sundown...he was a westerner.

A couple more watercolors

2011-07-09T05:53:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time in art school, heavily under the influence of Southwest Art and magazines of that ilk, I thought I would become a Western painter. To some extent I did that for a while when I was in an Oklahoma gallery. Anyhow, I happened to come across a book of Edward Curtis' photographs of American Indians. The one painting is actually of Edward Curtis, the other is from one of his Indian photos. These were black and white photos which I painted and added the color. I guess I'm guilty, like Ted Turner of colorizing black and white photos and films.

Recent watercolors

2011-06-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

I usually start my watercolors with no drawing, preferring instead to evolve the painting by throwing down value washes. The giraffe was done this way. The portrait was done from a book I have on Russian artists. Painting can be like sculpture -- working with the paint and brushwork to shape the object you are working with.

Wyoming Sundown -- in progress

2011-06-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

This painting is up on the easel -- Wyoming Sundown, an oil on canvas. Should I say it's been up, down, up and down numerous times on the easel. It's only a partial shot of a larger painting and I shot the photo in terrible light. Anyhow I've been working on this intermittently confronting one problem after another. While working on it I've had to repaint several major areas, glaze over part of the mountain to get it to go back in space. I was really taken with this scene, but the painting has given me so many problems that I just can't tell whether or not I like it. The light rakes across the scene at a low angle only touching certain things. I really like what I did with the sky, mountain, foreground rocks along the road and the low grasses. It's the hay bales and ground that bother me. Maybe too much work on the closest hay bale -- it's overworked. This is why it's been set aside numerous times. This is from my excursion out west to Cody, Wyoming a couple years ago, an unforgettable trip made even more unfogettable by the difficulties of this painting.

Plein air in Wildwood

2011-06-14T06:32:00.000-07:00

This is an 8" X 10" oil done a couple weeks ago. The day was bright and sunny and maybe my background got a little too light. The interesting part of the story is that I painted near this spot over 30 years ago when I was still in art school. The assignment was to do a landscape outdoors. I had only done a few of them and didn't know that 18" X 24" was rather large for outdoor painting, at least for a beginner. (That's nothing if your name is Joachin Sorolla or Aldro T. Hibbard.) The painting turned out good, very brushy and I wound up selling it almost immediately at the gallery that represented me at that time, after I finished art school. This was in Bartlesville, Oklahoma at Talisman Gallery that used to sell Richard Schmid. In the mean time, Jody Kirberger, the owner of Talisman has now retired, but not before selling one of my pastels before shutting the doors. Now I am on the Xanadu Gallery list of Studio artists and an artist member of The Next Picture Show Gallery.

Ambush portrait and other recent watercolors

2011-06-05T10:51:00.000-07:00

These were done in the last two weeks. First is the ambush portrait of Michelle (dark hair), the others were done from photographs. They are all in the 7" X 10" range.

Questions artists get

2011-05-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

Once in a while you get the question -- "What's the best painting you've ever done?" Usually from a non-painter, but once in a while from a beginner, you get this question. Always before I just never had an answer (or a dumb answer) except to say something like.. "The next one." Yeah, right -- how clever that retort is. You do a painting -- it's one among many -- and it's either successful or not; of better or lesser quality than other random paintings you've done. After I finished this painting I actually did feel it's the best one I've ever done. Really! I never had this much success painting water or for that matter getting the brushwork just the way I wanted. So, for now, this is the best painting I've ever done. I was really unhappy that the experience of doing it was over because I looked forward to working on it each day. Every once in a while you reach farther ahead in the context of your work. I remember being a first year student in art school and doing a painting far above the quality of the rest of my work -- a harbinger of things to come. So with this just finished, a 20" X 30" oil on canvas called "Farm at Honey Creek", this is the best work I've ever done up until now. There's always tomorrow.
By the way...... following up on my "Claim Jumpers and Carpetbaggers" story, this photo is only a detail of my painting. Sorry. I plan to enter it into some shows, especially the Barns & Farms show at the Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon, Illinois. So come out and give it a look.

The Ambush Portrait

2011-05-20T07:07:00.000-07:00

This is a portrait of April from a watercolor class I take. It's on Arches 140 pound cold press 7 X 10" paper. I did this while she was working on her own painting unaware that I was doing her portrait. The secret to this is to remain calm while your "model" is turning their head this way and that and never remaining still. Otherwise it's just the same as doing any model -- looking for shape, value and color. I did another of these last week however I gave it away and don't have a photo. I managed to take this one home to photograph before I gave it to April. Like my old painting teacher Eugene Hall used to say, "The best ones are the ones you give away."

Claim jumpers and carpetbaggers

2011-05-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I read a lot of history, but these are two terms I've known since I was about 8 years old. They both have to do with people who come in and try to take over what's yours. Since I have this blog I check to see where the traffic comes from. Looking recently at the "Stats" I found out that a certain search engine thinks it can just take over my -- and your -- pictures and post them. It leads over to my blog, but did they ever ask my permission? A couple times I have posted a detail of my paintings and I guess I will just have to do that in the future. I'm old fashioned and I just believe that what's mine is mine and doesn't belong to anyone else. You can read from my last post that I made nothing from a poster that's made thousands of dollars. I agreed to that, but I am a little unhappy about the rest. I just read an article about "exposure" and sales. "Exposure" doesn't put a dime in your pocket. Blogger beware.

The Waldorf Curriculum poster revisited

2011-05-09T14:15:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while it happens -- it may be two or three years, but eventually someone somehow finds me and asks where they can get copies of the Curriculum poster that I did many years ago. I posted this and some of my chalk drawings that I did for the students as their lesson several years ago on this blog. (See my older entries, May, 2007) When I was in teacher training for the Waldorf School we were given an assignment to express the Curriculum in an artistic way --- what kind of artistic way was up to us. My son's dear teacher Ron Richardson gave that assignment to us. I thought about it and decided to do something that would be fun. I chose to have it resemble a board game, like Monopoly or Chutes and Ladders or Sorry. Done on an illustration board about 18 X 24 inches, I spent a good long time on it, including archetypal images from the curriculum and a few inside jokes along the way. Ron saw it and wanted me to give it to the school and have posters made. About 1500 posters were made. I never made a dime from it and it hangs in Waldorf schools and homes across the nation. As far as I can recall, I think I did this in 1995 or before. Anyhow, 16 years later I still get inquiries about it. Someone called up my signature of "Steve Johnson Construction Co." on the front as a Google search. I had intended to use that as a name for a career in illustration that never took off. At one time the teacher training powers that be asked me about teaching a class on blackboard drawing but their classes got smaller and it wasn't feasible. I did this with colored pencil and did many, many chalk drawings for the students' lessons which led me on to do pastels ---- so I guess that is my reward.

detail from "Farm at Honey Creek"

2011-05-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is a detail that I took a few days ago, which has since been changed a bit. I liked this section -- about 5 X 7 inches as pictured here -- from a 20" X 30" oil painting which is now complete. Why? -- I liked the quality of the brushwork. I like doing layers of texture of grass upon grass or tree against the sky. I've had this up on the easel for several weeks, I think. I don't tend to remember dates and times exactly. But what I did have is something to look forward to, to contemplate while I was and when I was not working on it. Now that I have finished it I am rather bothered by that. Since I really liked working on it, it was something I looked forward to each day. I don't have my next idea waiting, so that's another reason I miss working on it. I'm sure everyone has some let down when a project is finished -- at least the ones they enjoyed. I've done plenty of things I wanted to run screaming out the door after they were done. This is another one of my Wisconsin farm paintings from a study along highway 20 in Honey Creek. Man, I love that area. This is waiting for the next Barns & Farms exhibition at a gallery near me.

Farm near Rochester, Wisconsin

2011-04-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

If this looks familiar, it should. I did a pastel of this same farm and posted it last year, June 2010. That was in a show called "Farms and Barns". I did this while teaching a small painting class. When I am not doing something for the class I have time to sit and work on something. Usually I don't like to repeat a painting I've already done, but I thought I'd like to do some pencil work. I intend to submit this to the next Farms and Barns show. Part of the motivation behind this comes from looking at the work of Clyde Aspevig, specifically his foregrounds. He seems to do a lot of detail work there and I thought I'd like to see what doing that would involve. Having done a lot of plein air painting I usually just finish off a foreground with a few thick brushstrokes and some indications of sticks or grasses. Here I went in and noodled out some of the plant life at the side of the road and spent a lot longer on it than I am used to. I liked the results --- thanks, Clyde. Next up is "Waterworks" a show of watercolor paintings, a group show with other people who take classes with Ed Hinkley. I am doing the show even though I am the oddball -- I paint quite realistically; portraits and landscapes. I don't do the show every year ---- reason, I just haven't sold well there, so I will just have to have my wine and cheese and see what happens. Show is at August House Gallery in Chicago on Roscoe 2 streets west of Damen, beginning May 1st, 1 to 5 pm.

Secret Life of the Artist, part 4

2011-04-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

Here is an image of my wood turning work. Part of my official/unofficial "Secret Life of the Artist" series, I know there are plenty of artists out there who do all kinds of things besides oil, watercolor and pastel and are quite good at them. Out of my training in the Navy and in art school, I felt that there just isn't anything out there that I can't do well or learn to do well. In the Navy I worked with tools setting up aircraft parts racks, shot a pistol quite well and did a lot of out of the ordinary non-art things. If you're an oil painter and you do that better than anything why should that ever be a limitation on doing anything else well? Anyhow, I was in Brasstown, North Carolina -- possum country -- last week with my wife, a quilter. I took a week long class on wood turning. The picture you see has two bowls turned from cherry wood and a tool with a handle turned from red oak. They were some of the projects I did over that week. I was never really trained much in the industrial arts --- apologies to Mr. Joe Polka who tried to teach us 7th and 8th graders at Garvy Elementary School how to do a few things with tools. Man, that poor guy -- never did I see a more nervous teacher than he was. Imagine trusting 12 and 13 year old boys with tools and grinding machines and saws. He was a chain smoker and a guy who never smiled. I can see why. Instead of doing art this year at the John C. Campbell Folk School, I thought I'd try something different. It was hard to do, but I gave wood turning a try and I did some nice work. That's the point of my little series: artists have the ability to handle quite a large range of skills, even in unexpected areas. We all have all kinds of things we do to make money or hobby type things we do and do well that are outside the focus of our main theme of art. Have faith in yourself and give it your best shot.

Portrait in watercolor

2011-04-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

This is an 8" X 10" portrait on cold press Arches paper in watercolor. Done about a year ago I no longer remember where I found the reference. I will be doing the Waterworks show this year in Chicago at August House Gallery. I have two framed and 6 unframed watercolors in the show. When I work in oil, I am not particularly fussy about the surface. I often just work on a canvas panel for my plein air work, but in the studio I stretch my own canvas or linen and gesso the surface with some texture. However, when it comes to watercolor paper, hot press is too smooth for me and rough is nice, but cold press just right; kind of like the story of the three bears.

Familiar ground -- Fire's Creek

2011-04-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is another view of the bridge at Fire's creek in North Carolina --- well, there's two that I know about. I did an oil from near this spot, this is a pastel, 7" X 11". Usually I don't do a painting over and over, but the area around there is so rich with material for a painting that I find new things all the time. I live in the city, but don't relish painting it. Maybe if I came here from Brasstown, NC, I would be fascinated at all the things there are to paint here. I suppose, like a painter friend of mine said, it's romanticising the nature aspect of the wilderness by hauling your painting gear up into the woods or mountains or an old farm site. That being the case....I was taken by the incoming sunlight and colors of the scene, the sparkle on the water and the trees at the right. And to answer your question.....the "white" areas are not snow, but mud. The low incoming light glanced off the wet mud and rocks and made it look white. I hope I threw in enough other warm and cool off-white colors (that's "colour" to all the UK readers) to define that a little better. I worked on this during down time teaching at my art class on Tuesday night.

Winter plein air

2011-03-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

This is a little 8" X 10" sketch I did about a month ago while there was still snow on the ground. The air temperature was about 45 degrees and I did not feel the cold at all. I painted about one hour and simplified the huge number of trees. As you can see there was a cross country skiier that had gone through before me. I located this spot the previous day while walking my two dogs through here. In the meantime, I did a portrait painting for the Elk Grove Art League in an hour and a half. The painting went well (sorry, I did not take a picture) and I had plenty of time to talk about painting to the twenty five or so members.

Bridge at Fire's Creek, NC

2011-03-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

When you find a really nice spot to paint, often you can turn your easel 180 degrees and turn around and find another subject. This is just up the creek to the west of the waterfall at Fire's Creek that I painted two years ago. While I did that one en plein air, this one is a studio painting I did this winter while it was too cold to go out. I am old enough to say that it's too cold for me!!!! Anyhow the motivation for this one was to convey the textures of branch upon branch wave upon wave in a nice clean painterly style. I have three of my works now on exhibit at the Regional show in Dixon, Illinois at the Next Picture Show Gallery. In the meantime I am doing several art classes each week -- teaching them, that is. I will be headed out for North Carolina soon for more painting although I will be taking a wood turning class or possibly a wood carving class, whichever has space ----- (didn't know I did that, huh?).

Secret life of the artist, part 3

2011-02-23T11:03:00.000-08:00

I did a pastel of this scene about two years ago from a picture I took in Walworth County, Wisconsin. If I remember right, it's along route 20 west of Waterford. The "secret life" thing has to do with the fact that I have been doing demonstrations for a store (which shall remain nameless) looking to open some painting classes. Since I am still struggling with the acrylics a bit, maybe this is a little amateurish. I decided to use my own source material. This is a 9'' X 12" canvas board that I did in a little less than two hours, excepting set-up, take down and time to chat with the customers. The other remarkable thing is that it's done with acrylics. It's challenging to paint with them since the palette of colors you get from the paint company isn't very good. For the most part, since I thought I would never work with acrylics again (and never do illustration again), I gave my acrylics away to a neighbor. Here I am these many years later using them again. Acrylics dry too fast and just don't have what I like about oils, workability -- is that a word? Keep painting you all --- and, lesson learned --- never say "never".

Bog Marsh, Rochester, Wisconsin

2011-02-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is the completed (I hope) version of the painting that I did this fall. I posted two detailed parts of it a couple months ago. This is oil on canvas; 36 X 48 inches. The canvas was a free one, a gift from a friend. I've entered it in a show: don't know yet if it's been accepted. If it has I will have to get it framed. I had a hard time with the background trees: the red and sienna hues kept wanting to come forward, so they had to be tamed. The rest was a lot of grunt work. Since it's the largest I have ever worked, it just took a lot of time and paint to complete. I don't have anything else to post right now: it's been cold and snowy here, I've been busy with work that actually pays (unlike art) and when the economy is bad and nothing is selling I feel less motivation to paint. I like painting whether I sell or not, but things have been slow and making money at this does have its place.

Mystery painting

2010-11-10T14:03:00.000-08:00

As I was gathering things in my bag to go painting, checking for turps, towels, etc. I found this little study in between two blank canvas boards. I know I did this last June in north Carolina. Apparently it was dry enough then for me to put it away in the bag, but it was forgotten until now. It's an 8 X 10" oil of a riverbank with the dark foreground-light background scenario. As long as there aren't insects and too many tourists, I could paint here anytime, all the time. Things are very slow right now. There haven't been shows I have been interested in entering. I will continue to look.

Bridge construction

2010-09-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

This is a little 6" X 8" oil of a bridge reconstruction. It was done on a very hot day in Brasstown, North Carolina, but I stood in the shade of some trees and did a quick simple sketch. It was hot for me, but how was it for the workers?

Creek at Brasstown, NC

2010-09-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is a little 8" X 10" oil sketch done while I was at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. I was out among the bugs on a hot, humid day, but determined to see this through. I did not spend more than 45 minutes on this one, mostly resolved to get the reflection and light on the water. Now, a couple months later, the temperatures here where I live are a lot cooler as we transition toward fall -- no more complaining about the heat! Just to the left by a few hundred yards, is the Citgo gas station and store called Clay's Corners, purveyors of Possum water and cold drinks. Clay also hosts local bluegrass musicians, pretty much all day and night long on the weekend.

Rapids

2010-08-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

While I was in North Carolina I drove north in the Nantahala National Forest, north of Andrews, NC. There's a lot of river rafting going on there. I pulled off at a turnout and loaded my gear to walk down to the river -- not a problem because there's a nice safe staircase there. I set up next to the river as the rafters went by. I painted this in about an hour with the objective of making short directional brushwork. There was an interesting phenomenon happening while I painted. From time to time a mist would rise up from the water -- very hot moist air above very cold water. So right over on the left where my darkest dark is, it would occasionally be blurred by this mist. I could have and maybe should have worked a little longer on this one, but I felt like I said what had to be said and packed up. This is oil on canvas, 8" X 10".

Fire's Creek/North Carolina

2010-08-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

This is another little plein air painting, 8" X 10", oil on canvas. I usually wear cowboy boots while I paint outdoors. I had to climb down a 20 foot incline at about a 45 degree angle in those high heels. Cowboy boots saved me for all the hours I stood to paint (I was one of the few who oil painted morning and afternoon at art school) while I was in art school so I'm not about to stop wearing them, but they are not that easy to scale an incline like that. I was able to set up amid the mosquitoes (I carry an insect repellent with me) and carry on amid the kids with their inner tubes floating by and people walking their dogs. Anyhow, it was a great day to be out -- in the 80s and humid but cool by the river. This one took about an hour and a half. Fun fun fun no matter what.

Magnolias at Fire's Creek in North Carolina

2010-07-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

My wife is a quilter and loves her class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. She's made a good number of friends among the other students. I only have one person from a previous class that knows me -- one of the blacksmiths from the class I took two years ago. However, I could not find a class for myself that week (the blacksmithing class offered was too hard for me), but not to worry -- a painter is never lost. During the day I either painted on the campus of JCC or traveled to nearby Fire's Creek to do some plein air painting. Just about five miles from the Georgia border along a winding road through the woods, Fire's Creek is great for kids to do some tubing in the creek or fly fishermen to catch fish -- and me -- to do some painting. This painting is an 8" X 10" oil which just worked out well from the get go. I had a couple people walk by and look while I painted. I set up inches from the creek across from this scene. With a little preliminary wash and a few well drawn lines I was in this world for the next 90 minutes. I'm not sure what I will do with this one yet. For now I have three works at The Next Picture Show Gallery in Dixon, Illinois at the annual "Farms & Barns" show. UPDATE: I've now "finished" the painting from the last posting. I am giving it the stare -- to see whether or not I am pleased with it. If I am I will post the finished version.

Two months and counting

2010-06-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

These are two images from the same painting. I've been working on this one for quite a while. The canvas is 36" X 48" which is a lot larger than I'm used to working. I was passing this scene last fall on a dark and drizzly day in southern Wisconsin along a road I often travel -- route 12 south out of Cambridge, Wisconsin -- great bakery there!! This is a bog marsh -- how I learned that I don't remember, but as I passed it at 55 mph I thought immediately that it looked really great and might make a nice painting. Even though I was in a hurry to get home, I hit the brakes, turned around and took in the scene from several angles. The top image is the bottom right of my canvas and the second one is the top left. Why would I work this large????? Well, number one -- the canvas was free. After that come other reasons, like, I wanted to explore doing something I don't enjoy -- noodling out grasses. I'm not making it photographic -- I'm going after a painterly style in doing them. The major size focal point tree is in the center left, which I haven't anywhere near finished. Another reason -- looking at some of Clyde Aspevig's work, which I really liked. So from here I am just going to work on coherence -- making the look of the foreground and background agree. Since it's a studio painting I'll be working on making it look like it was done outdoors -- not easy.

Farm near Rochester, WI

2010-06-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Somehow or another fall and winter have become my favorite time of year. I don't enjoy painting in the heat of summer, so the cool of fall and the gray colors appeal to me. I travel around in the late fall looking for this very type of thing even though I find it challenging to paint. Believe me, all those fine limbs and grasses are enough to try anyone's patience to the limit. This is a detail of a pastel which I knocked off while teaching a class. While the student paints and I offer assistance, I have time to work on one of these. I wonder if the state of Wisconsin is aware that I am their unofficial artist/historian of farm life in their state? My grandfather started a farm in Oregon in 1912, but was not able to make a go of it (a short but sad story). I never had the good fortune to grow up and live on a farm or ranch, but I did grow up watching all the Western movies and TV shows back in the 1950s and 1960s. Earlier this year I was juried in as a member of the Oil Painters of America and recently I sent in an application to become a member and enter the show of the American Plains Artists. Here's two instances where my western and farm paintings have led me into membership in groups that otherwise I might not have been involved in. I have to be careful or I will belong to more groups than I can afford.

Finished work - "Sunset In The Bighorns"

2010-05-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

I finished this painting recently after a lot of looking and thinking. This is a scene you will see headed east out of the Bighorn mountains just outside Buffalo, Wyoming with the sun setting on your left. I have come through the Bighorns this way twice in recent years and they've been the source of a couple of works. This painting was done in oil, 24" X 36". I should have said it's like a scene you will see.... because I have moved trees, added things to the foreground and edited the road. There's nothing worse than painting something as it is and then upon seeing it, the real thing looks fake. I worked on several other paintings while I was working on this one due to the tedious nature of working on such a large canvas. Also, I seem to want to jump around a bit after working on one thing for so long. You know the famous question...."How long did that take you to do?"...that people want to know. Since I don't punch a clock, I can't answer that one, but I worked on it over a period of about three months. I hope to get this into a show and I just sent off an image of it today.

Now here's another thought: when I first entered shows I had to come up with slides of my work (remember those?). I entered a few show a couple years ago and found out I'd have to wait a week or ten days to get my slides processed. I used to get them in a day or so. They made me feel like a geezer. Since then I've learned to used the digital camera and the computer to produce a CD with my work on it. This latest show was electronic submission only. My wife had to help me with it. I guess I'm a geezer.

Cincinnati #2

2010-04-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

These are shots of the train station in Cincinnati -- an Art Deco masterpiece. Inside are the huge tile murals. Not being familiar with the place, I didn't realize it was a mosaic until I came closer. Being a painter, it's a bit of a mystery to me how you would go about doing something on this massive a scale, but it is awesome. The whole setting is something to admire -- the approach to the building, the great style of the building and the inside. It's a real tribute to an era gone by, but still functions as the train station and another museum.

Cincinnati in the winter

2010-03-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

I traveled with my wife to Cincinnati in early February. We stayed a few days thanks to Gwen, a friend from classes at the John C. Campbell folk school in North Carolina. Gwen drove us around the downtown area, to the historic art deco train station, took us for Cincinncati chili and fed us well. The women are quilters so I brought along my paint and took a drive early one morning to a park several miles outside the city. I painted this in about an hour. You are looking east toward Cincinnati in the distance, that plume of white smoke at the horizon. It was in the low 20s that morning and the wind was howling, so there was no way I was going to stand out in that kind of cold to paint (I'm hardy, but not foolhardy). So, inside the car on the passenger side I painted. In the meantime, the ladies were at work on a cooperative quilt for a charitable cause. After finishing up and cleaning the palette, I set the GPS to help me get to the Cincinnati Art Museum. This place is a real treasure. They have Frank Duveneck paintings, some really famous John Singer Sargents and several of the famous painters of New Mexico and the West; Couse, Farny and Sharp. I had to go there twice on that trip. Not forgetting a beautiful portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn, the Scots portrait painter -- or the Indian motorcycle from 1947.
The painting pictured is a 6 X 8 inch (I assume that you knew it wasn't 6 by 8 feet painted outside at 20 degrees in below zero wind chill) on canvas board. It was kind of nice doing a "plein air" painting inside the car without the bugs and the sun beating down or contending with the wind.

Restoration for the Jack of all trades

2010-03-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

When you are an artist you get asked to do all kind of "art" related things. I've been asked to do logos for someone's business (I don't do that). I've drawn children for the cover of a school phone directory. I hate doing illustration, although I've done them (after giving the art director exactly what they asked for, they tell you it isn't exactly what they asked for) -- animation too -- as a result I can hardly watch an animated film anymore.
One assignment I don't mind doing is restoration.
I was recently asked to clean a painting. It was a snow scene done in the 1950's and covered with yellowed varnish. I went out and bought a picture cleaner which I thought would do the job. I won't mention any brand names, but I know you've heard of them if you paint. Well, the cleaner did little more than clean grime off the surface --- although it did leave a lovely pine scent in the air. I tried it several times to no further avail. I brought out my denatured alcohol and it took the old varnish off. Why I didn't start with it, I don't know. The painting was clear of the yellowed layer of varnish. I let it dry and then applied a light coat of damar varnish. The client, a friend, paid me more than I asked, thank you very much.
I've restored a genre painting from a century ago; taking off flaked paint and repainting in the style of the brushwork that was there to begin with. After taking closeup pictures, I was able to overcome nervousness about tackling the job. That's what the Jack of all trades does -- overcome apprehension and barge ahead, sometimes foolishly.
A brief apology to those of you following this blog. I became a bit tired of doing it. I have been painting quite a bit, won an award of excellence in a group exhibit, sold one at a Holiday show. Since I don't crank out a painting a day, sometimes even one a week I don't always have things to post. I am working on a 36" X 48" canvas and you just don't do those every day, unless you paint abstracts. Anyhow....my bad, and I'll try to post more often.

A thought about galleries

2009-10-05T10:58:00.000-07:00

Again, no picture this time, but I am working on a large (24" X 36") landscape. Ever since I left art school I have had a gallery affiliation with a small gallery. I sold there sometimes, but never enough to really make any kind of living. In the meantime I have worked at a number of jobs on the outskirts of art. Being a Waldorf teacher allowed me to work every day in art while I did a chalk drawing/painting on the blackboard for my faithful students to copy. Now that that is in the past I have been cranking out more art and wanting to sell. As one artist put it..."I never intended to be the major collector of my own work." (What a great comment. Sorry I can't recall the artist who said it.) In the meantime, that gallery owner has decided to retire and close the gallery. Just before it closed, I sold my last painting there. I've sent out the disc of my art and the usual bio and statement, etc. to a number of galleries that carry work similar to my own, avoiding those that are far afield from what I do. As you may know, it's very hard to get into a gallery. I took a workshop with Ralph Oberg last summer, who said that we need them more than they need us. After looking around on the computer I somehow began getting emails about doing something online from a certain gallery and its marketing agressive owner. I got together about ten of my works and tried that gallery and was accepted. I haven't sold anything yet, but this is the best thing that's happened for my art in a long, long time. It's absolutely murder to get those rejection letters and know that you can paint circles around most of the artists represented by the gallery you are looking in to. Nobody said this was fair. It pays to know someone, but when you don't, you have to have confidence in what your work says about you. We didn't spend all those dollars for training and endless hours in front of the easel to be stranded by the economy, the luck of the draw, lack of exposure or rejection letters. A dear friend who is a writer sent a manuscript to over 100 book publishers before she found the right one. Persistence and a positive attitude count heavily. This is a tough business, but so are they all! Think positive and don't give up easily on yourself. Prepare for when the right moment comes.

Twilight Zone

2009-07-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no picture this time. My computer is down for the last several weeks with a dead hard drive, so I am unable to carry on with several of my computer based activities. I did my watercolor portrait painting workshop with six students and an excellent model. Two of my paintings were accepted to the Farms & Barns show in Dixon, Illinois. I drove them there last week. One oil and one watercolor done plein air for a month long show. The day I drove to Dixon, I also drove to Griffith, Indiana to see my old instructor from art school who was in an art in the park exhibit. Not having seen him for about 35 years -- hey, we both looked remarkably unchanged. We sat and talked for almost two hours. I can honestly say that I never had a bad day in his class. I maybe got frustrated with myself from time to time, but in an atmosphere of real learning experiences I was at my best. Luckily I have my son's computer to add a page here, but for now I'm in the computer twilight zone.

Portrait workshop

2009-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, June 27th, I will give a portrait workshop in watercolor at Ed Hinkley's studio in Chicago. There will be a live model and I'm looking forward to it. Click on Ed's site listed at the right.

Fire's Creek, North Carolina

2009-03-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just last week my wife and I drove to the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. I had taken a blacksmithing course two years ago and a painting course last year. This year I decided to just go plein air painting instead of taking a class since the area haas so many nice features -- mountains, creeks and wooded landscapes. While my wife was quilting with her class, I headed out to Fire's Creek, near Hayesville, North Carolina not far from the school. On the road to the parking area I noticed the "Bear Sanctuary" sign -- which I had not anticipated. However, there were no bears around to disturb me while I painted, only the sound of the waterfall and of rushing water. At the location was a waterfall and a bridge over the creek. These are both 6" X 8" oil paintings done on two days in about an hour and a half.

The portrait

2009-03-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

A long time ago I realized that I had an affinity for doing portraits. Pretty early on in art school I was able to get a good likeness in charcoal. Does it take a certain empathy with the human being, maybe not. I don't think John Singer Sargent was a real lover of many of his subjects. For me, it helps. I remember doing a double portrait, husband and wife. He was a jolly soul and easy to paint; the wife was a lot harder -- 40 miles of bad road. I had to think to myself, well, she's somebody's mother and grandmother -- so look at it like that and forget how crabby she looks. It worked and I sold it!! This particular watercolor shown above is done from a black and white photo taken at the turn of the century --- the 1800s to the 1900s --- of a flower seller in London. It's done on a 10 X 14" sheet of Canson watercolor paper.

Setting bricks on the Yellow Brick Road

2009-03-01T16:29:00.001-08:00

Once upon a time -- that would be art school -- I had a teacher we called Mr. C. He taught Fundamentals which was my first class of the day -- drawing, painting, perspective, color theory. Mr. C was good natured, fun and loved his work and wanted us to love our work. By and by he taught us not only to get a job done, but to put professionalism into our efforts. I don't know if he liked me especially more than others, but he made it seem like that. We all probably felt that way. I can't remember him ever scolding anyone except maybe for having too good a time talking in class. I enjoyed having my work critiqued month by month as it gave us time to talk about the work and other things as well. We had grown up in similar areas. Anyhow, after all these years (I will admit it was over 30 years ago) you never forget people like that (helping you laying out those bricks on the Yellow Brick Road of art) and how they helped you to get where you are and how thankful you are that they were there for you. Mr. C left the school some years after I was gone and went on to do other art related things and at the age of 70 or so is still active doing demonstrations and painting and entering shows. A week or so ago I googled his name and found an e-mail address. I wrote and he wrote back. Like someone said; we only are able to see what we do because we stand on the shoulders of those who helped us before. He helped give me a lifetime of enjoyment working in and appreciating art. I think he's proud of me -- I know I am of him.

The painting pictured above is a 10 X 14" watercolor portrait.

The Secret Life of the Artist part 2

2009-02-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here again, it's been a couple weeks since I have posted. I have been working only in watercolor and haven't had much time for that because of that other part of my life -- the one that actually earns some money. I had a watercolor in the annual Illinois Watercolor Society show in January and February, but as yet it hasn't sold. I have been doing portraits lately. I realized that portrait painting is something I enjoy above all other aspects of painting. The one on the left is from a painting by the American painter, Frank Duveneck. The other is from a black and white Edward Hopper photo when he was young. They are both done on 10 X 14" watercolors blocks. I can tell you that I prefer d'Arches over another brand I won't mention. The last oil painting I did is still waiting to be finished; an outdoor scene of black angus cattle I encountered when I was on the farm. They kind of followed me around the fence sort of like my dogs do hoping I have something for them. I will post that when I finish.

The Secret Life of the Artist

2009-01-14T06:34:00.001-08:00

It has been over a month since I posted so I thought I would include a picture of some of the things I've been doing lately, art related and not. The landscape is a 15" X 30" oil of hay bales in a field in Cody, Wyoming at sunrise. I spent a long time on it mostly trying not to be too tight. The second image has nothing to do with painting. I sometimes repair old pocket watches to make money. I buy old broken watches in hopes of getting them running and selling them. I hoped to make a career of painting, so while I have painted, taught painting and worked an an illustrator and animator there are always other things that painters do that are totally unrelated to art. Two of my closest friends from art school have put in 15 to 30 years at jobs that have nothing to do with art. One works at a supermarket (something he has done since he was a teenager) in the frozen food and dairy section. He has tremendous talent and great idealism and is represented by a third rate gallery (the same one that I have some of my work in!!!). So he will probably put in another year or so and then perhaps be able to retire to what he loves doing, full time painting. I would venture to say that most of the people he works with know nothing about his talent as a painter. Another friend whose work I have always admired (he was a year ahead of me in art school and was an inspiration for me when I began) traveled to Europe, painted in France in the countryside and has done large beautiful landscapes -- and has been a delivery service truck driver for about 15 years. I went painting with him last summer and now that he's not regularly painting, he just feels resigned that his skills have eroded and is a truck driver more than a painter. I know there are many among you that have the same experience, yourself or friends. How many people work at their craft of art and never tell anyone they work with about it? My buddy was talking with a long time painter who said "Just because you do this on a part time basis, it doesn't make you any less an artist". It's an interesting subject.

Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

2008-11-20T06:41:00.000-08:00

These are two of the oil sketches I did while I was in a small state park in NC. Both are 6 X 8" and because of the winds there they are loaded with sand. Wherever you set up to paint the wind is blowing the sand about. This is why the Wright brothers chose this area for flying, so I am told.

Outer Banks, North Carolina

2008-10-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

Last week I drove over a thousand miles from here, the Midwest, to the east coast -- the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the town of Duck, just north of Kitty Hawk. The temperature was about 15 to 20 degrees warmer, the price of gas about 50 to 60 cents cheaper and the Southern accent just delightful. In between was some good road food and some bad road food -- and lots of road kill, but that's another story. My wife had taken a walk along the beach and told me to watch out for the waves, so by the time I set up away from the range of the waves inshore, I thought I was safe. I had a block-in going when all of a sudden I was knee deep in the ocean and my paint box was quickly floating away. I ran -- that is, RAN!!! after my paint box and bag with extra canvases. I managed to catch up with them to save them (filled with water by now), but lost about $40 to $50 dollars worth of paint. I lost a tube of Cadmium Red, White, Cobalt Blue, Alizarin, Ultramarine and Cadmium Yellow. I watched as they sank into the sand and after that I have no idea where they went as wave after wave hit the shore. I just hope The Nature Conservancy wasn't watching. I worked on the sketch I had going for a while, but since I was rather bummed out, I packed up and left. I didn't touch the oils until the next afternoon. I've posted a picture of the spot I was working, the evil sea and a pencil drawing I did of one of the shore birds while sitting on the beach in the post-trauma afternoon. There's a lesson to be learned there somewhere. The sea is a powerful thing -- it drove me inside -- I am re-reading Moby Dick.

St. Giles, Oxford, England

2008-10-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

It was a warm, sunny day down the street from the famous Eagle and Child pub on St. Giles. (Wow, what a great start for a story.) Nonetheless, it was a warm sunny day when we came a cross this beautiful scene in Oxford ---- sunlight, shadows, a tree in wonderful autumn color. This is an 11 X 14 oil on linen. This one was finished rather quickly and the food at the Eagle and Child was quite good as I recall.

Another show, another hawk

2008-10-05T15:36:00.001-07:00

Sorry to have another picture of myself, but there it is. I drove through a rainstorm which had several streets closed on the way to McCord Gallery in Palos Park, IL to drop off my pastel for a show called "Landscape Real And Imagined." Mine is "real" although I have done abstract imagined landscapes before. My friend Ric had a painting in the show also -- "Imagined" -- (his is a chair made of thorns in a landscape). My pastel was done earlier this year of the last snowfall of the year back in March when I rushed out of the house before it could melt. We have had a hawk, or two, in my neighborhood for the last several years. A friend identified this as a Cooper's Hawk. It's perched on my fence near a window. I had to slip my camera lens through the blinds and, lest I disturb the hawk, take the picture before he went on his merry hunting way. He's nailed a few morning doves in my backyard. I now have paintings in two shows --- a first for me and I will be looking for other places to show in the future. I am working furiously up there in the studio on more than one painting. One on canvas, the other on linen: both landscapes. Ever since I returned from the workshop in Wyoming I have really had the desire to paint.

Farms & Barns show

2008-09-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Last week the Farms & Barns show opened at The Next Picture Show gallery in Dixon, Illinois along the Rock river. Dixon is about 100 miles to the west of Chicago and takes about two hours to get there which would explain the bewildered expression on my face. Not to be confused with the Barns & Farms show in Kewaunee, Wisconsin, which I've done the last two years, the Farms & Barns show is a nice one too. My two paintings are the pastel on top and an oil below. I received a 3rd place award for that 12 X 24 oil of a farm after harvest in southern Wisconsin. In the meantime, I have been very busy painting, although I must confess --- I haven't been outside. Here I intend to be a plein air painter and there I am, upstairs in the studio painting inside. It's an embarrasing confession to make.

Studies from Cody, Wyoming

2008-09-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

These are two more small studies (8 X10).

Studies from Cody, WY

2008-09-05T11:49:00.001-07:00

I guess it's possible to do good work without really coming up with an image you want to put in a frame. Following instructions, I did my block in (or as the painters out west like to say, "mass it in") and went after the color. These are both 6" X 8" studies on canvas board. The mountain scene is very high key with a lot of subtle color, but I remember really liking doing that one. I thought they were good for gathering information: the colors were accurate and the values stay where they are supposed to. I have a large painting in mind that will use what I have here, but that will be a while before it gets posted.

Wildfires at Yellowstone/Ralph Oberg Workshop

2008-08-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Shortly after posting last time I departed for Cody, Wyoming to take a workshop with Ralph Oberg (in the blue shirt)and John Potter (back view with red headband). You can check both of their websites to see their work. The emphasis was on design, massing in the values and getting the color right. I felt I did well -- posts of the paintings to come. I didn't come away with anything for the frame, but good studies. While I was there the wildfires at yellowstone, about 30 miles away, were clouding the sky with smoke. You can see the orange tint to the sky in some of the photos and the aftermath of the scorched earth in a couple others. We painted at a location about 5 miles away from the fires, but it was clear that day. I passed the burned earth and a camp for firefighters.

Plein Air with an old friend

2008-08-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I drove to see Dan, an old friend from art school, who had some time off work. We drove to a location where he was working on a large (like 30" X 36" canvas -- something way too big for me to do outside) painting of a church in a churchyard. More specifically, a church with attached graveyard. I set myself up looking north while he was pointed south. We were both in the shade and luckily so because it was very hot that day. I did this 8" X 10" in about an hour and left out the headstones. The other picture (pencil on paper) is of my friend Dan that I did about 30 years ago. Both of us are well preserved.

Barns & Farms show, Kewuanee, Wisconsin

2008-07-24T05:44:00.000-07:00

The last two years I was fortunate enough to have two paintings chosen for the Barns & Farms nationally juried show in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. Each year I've sold one and then had to return to pick up the other painting. When I left home it was 92 degrees; along the lake in Wisconsin it was 68 degrees. I love driving in farm country and I stopped to paint by this harbor where the Kewaunee river meets Lake Michigan. (Not all that pleased with what I did this time, so I'm not posting that dog.) About 25 miles south of Kewaunee is the town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin along Lake Michigan. There's an old pickup truck parked at a gas station. It's a Chevy short box, either a 1939 or 1940. Despite the high price of gas and the long drive (3 1/2 hours), the scenery and old cars along the way make the journey worthwhile.

Sunset photo and two PAs from The Fields Project

2008-07-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Now it's been a couple weeks since I did The Fields Project. The people there and the artists as well were all very nice and went out of their way to help us out. I can't as yet say whether I will return there next year since I have enough trouble figuring out my life day to day. The two PAs are both 8" X 10"s and were done in an hour to an hour and a half. The sunset photo was one of many beautiful ones. Oregon, Illinois is about an hour west of Chicago. Once you are there, you feel a million miles away from Chicago -- which can be a good thing!

Wm. R. Leigh and Joseph Raphael

2008-07-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

These are a couple watercolor works I did for practice. The first is Wm. R. Leigh the painter who trained in Germany and then painted in the American West (done about 9 X 12 inches). The other is Joseph Raphael, another artist, but not the California Impressionist (done about 5 X 7 inches).

The Fields Project, Oregon, Illinois

2008-06-23T04:41:00.001-07:00

I've spent the last eight days in Oregon, Illinois as part of The Fields Project. It's been organized for about ten years. For me it was an opportunity to do some plein air painting out on the local farmland. You spend a week at the home of a local farmer (at no cost!!!) I had an excellent time, met and developed friendships with several of the people and farmers there and swallowed an untold number of insects while painting -- they seem to fly right into your open mouth unmercifully. When I look around for my soon to be painting, I don't care whether it's in the sun or shade, so I wound up in the sun a little too much. By Thursday I was doing watercolors sitting down. Hey, I'm just a city kid and not used to standing in the hot sun for hours and hours. The 2009 Fields Project in already being planned (see their website). On the easel (or pochade box), are two of my 8 X 10s. This is a nice opportunity to get together with other plein air painters as well.

The Fields Project, upcoming

2008-05-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

In about two weeks I will be driving to Oregon, Illinois to take part in The Fields Project. Oregon along the Rock River has been an artist community for about a century. I had to submit four images of my work and was accepted earlier this Spring. There are several types of artists participating in the week's work. Some are painters, some sculptors and some do those crop circles or field sculptures -- (I went to art school, but I think they are either aliens or perhaps studied with them during one of those abductions aboard a spacecraft -- I will let you know when I get there). I will be taking pictures and hopefully taking some of the paintings I hope to complete. I will be doing some plein air oils, maybe watercolors too. I will be staying with a family that takes care of horses, so that will be just right for me. All of the common lectures seem to take place during the time when the light is best for painting so I expect to be playing hookey from school so I can go paint. Regarding the posts: the pastels are both about 8 X 11" and the watercolor is a 5 X 7". I had a little time left in the class I was taking so I surreptitiously painted one of my fellow students, Michelle. She's a new member of the class and has been bringing casserole dishes full of pasta or a pizza to class. I've got to watch myself -- I don't want to give up the nickname Slim.

Waterworks show and small watercolor

2008-05-15T06:08:00.000-07:00

I am currently in a watercolor show called Waterworks at August House Gallery in Chicago. It's a 3 weekend show at the gallery operated by Marya Veeck, the daughter of baseball's Bill Veeck (former owner of the Chicago White Sox). The deal is: you put two framed paintings for the walls and 6 matted works to go in bins. Fortunately I have sold my two framed pieces, so at the moment it's a success. I have the framed piece pictured in the window on the easel. (It's a scene from the moors of Scotland with sheep blocking the road --- I was diving on the Isle of Skye and that's what the sheep do there, they get in your way.) Once you get away from the cities, Scotland is a fantastic place to drive. Next month (June) I am scheduled to participate in The Fields Project in Oregon, Illinois. There has been an art colony there for the last hundred years along the Rock River. Other than staying for a week with a farm family and doing plein air painting on the farm and surrounding area for a week, I don't know what to expect. I will be taking photos and hopefully doing some decent work which I will post.

First of May

2008-05-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

The Art Institute of Chicago has the Homer and Hopper show now. Both are really great shows for an artist to see -- why?, you ask: they show their work early on when they were still learning their craft. It was always important for me when I was a student to know that others were working long hours at the craft and still learning. This weekend I help install a watercolor show called "Waterworks" which I did last year. I will be there twice -- it's fun talking to the other artists in the show, to the people and to watch the gallery rats -- the people who come out to all the show openings to drink wine, eat cheese and crackers and never spend a dime. You have to have a sense of humor when you are an artist. Patience too!! The top painting is an oil, 9" X 12", of Chapel Street in Stratford Upon Avon. I don't know what was there in Shakespeare's time, but I bought something in the bakery on the left side of the street. The other two, the portraits, are small watercolors, like 10" X 14" and 8" X 10".

Is this a Mulligan or deja vu?

2008-04-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

The last posting I did was this snowfall scene from North Carolina done in oil. Since then I did another in pastel. I was pleased with both so I won't call this a Mulligan. For those that don't golf, a Mulligan is a second shot taken after you've blown the first. Since my skill at baseball did not translate well to my golf game I've shot a few Mulligans. My drive off the tee can actually go almost anywhere to tell you the truth. My iron shots on the fairway are deadly -- the only good part of my game. Once I'm on the green it can be quite a while before I make it to the cup. This is why I had to give that up. Art can be frustrating, but not as bad as golf. I've been on the course at hole number 11 wishing I could just pack it in, but I can't leave my buddy behind. That's the great thing about painting; you work alone most of the time and you come and go as you please. I've yet to have my palette cup remind me of the 18th hole at the golf course -- not a lot of fond memories there; but I digress...... I worked quite a while on this pastel and got tired of it -- close value. I knew it would take me about three hours to finally finish it and darned if it didn't. Somehow when I got into the fine points of drawing I got a second wind. I've included a couple small portraits I did at the watercolor class. They're fun and I like doing them.

Close value -- Snowfall: Brasstown, North Carolina

2008-04-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is a large (for me) landscape, 22" X 28" - oil on canvas, of a scene in the hills of North Carolina. I was there painting for a week and while I was there it snowed, which I gather from the natives is rare. The snow only lasted a day or two and then melted. I was trying a slightly different approach, which is simply to paint thicker than I usually do. The paint stays wet and workable at least a day or two. Actually this one is still wet a week later. I got it on my fingers putting it up to take this picture. I remember what the canvas felt like before and after: it's a lot heavier now. My last post had pictures of the snow in my home area -- that's all gone as well as the temperatures are in the 50s and 60s. This was fun to paint, but challenging as well -- keeping the backgound back. The background hills are very close values with plenty of colors and subtle warms and cools.

Winter's almost over

2008-03-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

I was painting indoors on this day last week (I think it was Thursday) in the studio and took these two pictures of the beautiful snowfall. I was working away and finally took time for a break. It was quite dark that day. You can see the snow falling if you look closely. I went out the next day when the sun was shining for more really nice pictures as well at a forest preserve a few miles away.

Snowfall, Brasstown, North Carolina

2008-03-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

This is a small (5 X 7") pastel done for a friend. While I was in North Carolina in late February there was a rare snowfall. Being from the Midwest, I had just left dirty snow and treacherous ice behind, so I was not all that excited. The locals however were enchanted. I must admit that it was indeed rather enchanting to see these beautiful mountains and trees with a sparkling clean snowcover. So I forgot about the past and felt inspired by the present and gave it all a new eye. I have found that these pastels don't look as good on the computer as they look in person. Recently I have sent some images to a gallery and others to enter some shows and I find myself unimpressed by the look of my pastels. Enlarged, they look all scratchy. I don't have that with my oils. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and I will show you the originals. What I like about doing these landscapes in pastel and in oil is the textures of background over the sky and foreground trees over the rest and trying to get the color intensity right. That's why we paint.

New and old

2008-03-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Flipping through some things in my studio, I found my old folder of life drawings and decided to look through them. I've been doing a bit of figure and portrait painting lately and enjoyed looking at this charcoal of one of the models, Nancy, who actually went on to be in a movie -- Jackson County Jail and a few other B movies. The little farm painting is a small pastel, about 5 X 7". Nancy had a short career in the movies and a short careeer as a model. As you can see, the old barn in the pastel has had a very long career.

Pastels and Oils

2008-03-10T18:12:00.000-07:00

I've loaded 6 images -- two each of the same subject; one in oil and the other in pastel. While I was taking a painting class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina I painted three paintings of subjects I had done previously in pastel. All of the pastels are about 6 X 9 inches. The Scene of the river in Cody, Wyoming I painted 18 X 24. The red barn and white house painting was done 12 X 24 and the house in the woods I painted 11 X 14; both subjects of southern Wisconsin. As I look at them, I see the differences, the different motivation and the different aspects of each that appealed to me in different ways. It was just interesting doing them in oil, how the media and how the size difference affects how you work. I have one rather blurry picture (the Cody, WY pastel) to apologize for -- I'm using a different camera and I'm still suffering the effects of the computer crash that has taken away my favorite picture software.

Russell Square, London

2008-03-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is a pastel (about 8" X 10") on sanded paper of Russell Square in London. It's a short walk from the tube stop and across the street from the British Museum. Just east is a great bookshop. The red color you see in the center is a tea shop. To the north is an Indian restaurant. Obviously, an incredible place. You will see children at play here, people rushing about their daily work and tourists like me stopping for a cup of tea. This was in November, so the trees had lost their leaves yet there were things still in flower. I have just returned from North Carolina where I took a painting course at the John C. Campbell Folk School. It was quite a drive (12 hours), some of it through winding mountain highways, but very nice.

Twilight - Stratford Upon Avon

2008-02-15T19:54:00.000-08:00

It was an all day rain when we visited the home of William Shakespeare in Stratford Upon Avon. After lunch at a pub and a look about the streets of Stratford which had a number of interesting shops, we took the tour of Shakespeare's home and grounds. We walked about a mile to the other side of the town to see his burial place in the church. We arrived at 5 pm, unfortunately just after closing. It was quite dark around the grounds of the church; ducks floating on the Avon river in the darkness behind the church. Leaving the grounds and just turning back down the street was this scene with lights on the building shining on the rainy street. There was a remarkable interplay of warms and cools to the delight of the artist. Speaking of cool -- it was a bit too cool and wet and I was very happy to board the train; I remember having to wait about half an hour for it. It was November after all and England is cool and rainy. This piece is about 7 X 10 inches, a pastel on Wallis sanded paper. (Feel free to leave a comment --- I only just put in comment moderation because of a spammer. Friends welcome!!)

The Beefeater

2008-02-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

Taking the Tower Of London tour, our guide was this army man who was dressed as a Beefeater. He was very funny, knowledgeable and looked the part. The pastel is approximately an 8" X 10", done on Wallis sanded paper. I was there in November, which is a great time to go; not crowded and the weather is nice and cool which makes those hot cups of tea that much more enjoyable.

Back again after computer crash

2008-02-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

We have had a problem with the computer so I haven't posted in several weeks. Thanks to my wife who has the patience to persevere through these computer problems we are on again. After 4+ hours talking with the computer gurus in India she was able to get this computer going again. This is way too difficult for me: I'm still trying to master pencil and paper. In addition, I slipped on snow covered ice, landed on my back and was not feeling well for a week. (Remember the Three Stooges joke? "I've had a weak back." "How long?" "Oh, about a week back.") I did that about 6 in the morning walking my two dogs. It wasn't their fault this time; usually they pull me along in their enthusiasm or tangle me in their leashes and I'm lucky to stay on my feet. Despite all that, I have had productive time in the studio doing new work, matting, framing, etc. I took an older pastel which I had done on regular pastel paper and reworked it, which served to show me how much better Wallis sanded paper is. I've made a few jokes in the past about sanded paper, but by my reckoning, it is really the best. The painting shown here is a small (about 5" X 7") pastel from southern Wisconsin.

Sundown -- Worland, Wyoming

2008-01-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is a pastel, 7"X10", done on Wallis sanded pastel paper. (It's archival paper --- my question is -- is it archival sand?) I was on my 1,300 mile trip home from the workshop I attended in Cody, WY when I had to stop the car and take in this beautiful sky and color over the mountains. This is my second attempt at this. I did one that did not really capture what I wanted, so I bit the bullet and did another and like this one better. No, I am not going to post the other one.

Farmhouse

2007-12-24T08:45:00.000-08:00

This is another pastel, 5" X 7", of a farmhouse along Highway 20 in southern Wisconsin. The road wends its way through East Troy, Waterford, Honey Creek and farms along the way. There are many of this style house along the road -- old farmhouses. They look great no matter what season you drive by. In the more than 20 years I have passed through here I can spot one house or farm after another that I have done in an oil painting or pastel. Some of the houses I did many years ago are now obscured by the growth of trees and would no longer look as good as a subject. When I was an art student (although one is always an art student, I guess) I did the portrait and figure every day. After that I still did a good number of portraits and basically had to learn landscape on my own. At some point you wonder, how did I fall into doing this? What makes one artist do a majority of still life and I wind up doing this series of farmhouses and farms? It's Christmas and I'm no psychology major; I'll think about that later. Have a merry Christmas.

Farm house, Walworth County, Wisconsin

2007-11-24T10:00:00.000-08:00

When I was taking a class in Cody, WY last summer, one of the painters, Sarah, asked if anyone worked in pastel. Since I had done a few, she told me about Wallis sanded pastel paper which I had never heard of. I ordered some not knowing what to expect. I've done enough woodworking and woodcarving to know sand paper when I see it. This is archival sanded paper, but very nice stuff. It probably takes more off (sands off) your pastel stick than ordinary paper, but it has a very substantial surface to it. The pastel shown is a 9 X 12" work of a farm along the road in Walworth County, WI where I have found many of the farm houses and scenes I've done in the past.

Pastel

2007-11-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

This is a 13 X 17" pastel. There's a small farm west of Waterford, Wisconsin that is open to tours and children's groups that these horses call home. I grew up in the city always wishing I had grown up on a farm or ranch -- although I may have watched too many episodes of Roy Rogers and Lassie to appreciate all the hard work I was missing out on. My son is now too old to get the charge out of it that he did visiting Green Meadow Farm when he was 5, but I never get too old.

Three PAs

2007-11-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

The plein air work here is really fun now. The trees are changing color and the leaves are falling which leaves a warm color over portions of the ground. The tree paintings are 6 X 8s and the Wyoming painting from my plein air workshop is an 8 X 10. This is the view looking west from the back of Open Box M which hosted the workshop -- and the makers of pochade boxes.

Plein air and a watercolor

2007-10-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

The watercolor was something to do with only a little while left in classtime -- a portrait of John Muir. The plein air is an 8 X 10 done this week on a very cold day. It was windy and I was standing in the shade to avoid having the sun on my palette and painting. About an hour into it I was having to stand in the sun to get warm. The layers of clouds were really fun to paint and they just kept coming. I'm looking forward to painting as the leaves fall and then the snow begins falling as long as I remember to dress warmly enough.

Watercolors

2007-10-23T10:55:00.001-07:00

I know it's a little odd for an oil painter (and an outdoor painter at that) to be posting watercolors, but I have an evening class in watercolor and I work from photos when I'm not doing a still life. I consider it practice and it helps. I recently sent out two packages of slides to upcoming shows and hope to get a couple paintings accepted. One is in Texas and the other in Illinois. Meanwhile, I will be going outside to paint over the next several days.

Plein air in October

2007-10-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

These are the first two landscape paintings since my return from the Cody, Wyoming workshop. The top one is a 5 X 7 and the other an 8 X 10. I took a little over an hour with each one. I can say that I had a lot more confidence with my work than I had before. I'm working with a limited palette - Frank Serrano's - and finding it easier.

Plein air and Pete

2007-10-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

The two landscapes were done in Cody, Wyoming. One is an 8 X 10" and the other is 7 X 13". I did the 7 X 13 on an 11 X 14 canvas and cut it down. I wanted to do a more panoramic view than the squarer shape permitted. The 8 X 10 was done on the last morning of the workshop and was still wet when I loaded it into the car. I got turned around at night driving back home through Buffalo, Wyoming and had to make a sharp left u-turn which made my easel slide over the surface of the wet painting leaving a couple grooves through the paint surface. Unfortunately I don't have one of those wet painting boxes which I once considered an extravagance, but obviously have a useful purpose. Once home. I tried to match the colors and brushwork. The last painting is a watercolor which I did of another artist, Pete, in the watercolor class. I worked on several paintings from photos that night, but now that I've been working outside I think I am spoiled forever. Painting outside is such a great experience.

More from Cody, WY

2007-09-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

The photo was taken of the Open Box M location -- Coletta's home. The painting of the haystacks was right across the road. The river painting was about a mile from there -- both 8 X 10s. There is all kind of nice scenery (fantastic scenery, I should say) to paint around Cody (why do I live here in the Midwest?). More than a week has gone by and I still have not gotten back to painting -- oils that is. I did go to my watercolor class, but that was rather uneventful as I just did not like what I did. I came home and got right to work again -- book indexing and a host of other things to catch up on while I was gone. I still have the dust from Cody on my unwashed car. Maybe I'll leave it there until I get painting again. People (non-artists) always ask how it was being there at a workshop and of course it's always hard to answer that. So much is taken in subliminally and may not show up in the few paintings one does at the workshop. I did about two per day, hardly enough to process everything. Anyway, I'm feeling awfully guilty not taking the easel out, but next week should be my opportunity to get the easel outside and painting again. It's not always as cranking out so many widgets per hour. Painting is a fun and funny occupation -- always a great time.

Plein air workshop in Cody, Wyoming

2007-09-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I drove 1300 miles west to Cody, Wyoming for the weeklong plein air workshop with Frank Serrano (pictured). As I drove through South Dakota at night an odd sound, there were so many bugs hitting my windshield and the hood of my car it sounded like rain. The ride through the Big Horn mountains just south and east of Cody was a little scary: the clouds were low and it was like driving through fog with the temperature 20 degrees colder than the surrounding area. I arrived at Open Box M, which hosted the event (makers of pochade boxes) early on Monday and met Frank there. He's articulate and knowledgeable on plein air painting and a very nice guy. Our first location is pictured and Frank began a demonstration at about 9 o'clock with a temperature of 39 degrees and very windy. His hand was cold and the pochade box was shaking, but he turned out a nice painting and then we began. The temperature rose and the rest of the week was a lot nicer. I painted with eight other people who had a great time. It's always great to meet other artists who are enthusiastic about their work. Open Box M provides the lunch --- a great lunch, definately worth the price of the workshop. Coletta also provides baked goods and coffee at 8 am. I will post a few other paintings from the workshop later. As I drove home and got turned around trying to find the correct highway entrance, I did a sharp left turn and my paint box scraped across a wet painting (a painting that Frank looked at and said: "That's your best one so far."-- so I have a correction to do. A great experience for me -- give Open Box M a look -- they are done for this year and will have another couple months of workshops next year. At one point on the last day I was standing on a narrow bridge painting a river scene before me and was so excited about being out there painting as the river ran below me I thought I was hyperventilating -- I had an excellent time in Cody.

Wisconsin sunflowers

2007-09-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

This time of year the sunflowers are harvested in Wisconsin. It's just an incredible sight traveling down a road and coming upon a field of these flowers. I'm told that most of the harvest is used for feed to birds rather than humans. I've heard that most of the corn that's grown goes to animal consumption and not human also. I've included one of the shots I took of a Kewaunee, Wisconsin farm and two of my pastels -- both 5" X 7"s. These two were both done fast -- in a couple hours and not fussed over.

Next week I am headed for Cody, Wyoming. I will be driving there for a plein air painting workshop with Frank Serrano (you can check out his work on one of my links), a California artist. About a year ago I was looking at another artist's blog and came across Frank Serrano's work. I liked his work and saw he had a workshop in Cody and that started a whole thing for me -- about being there a long time ago. I was in Cody the summer after I left art school, painting in the mountains with a buddy from art school. I left town with $200.00 and came back with about $3.00. We did all this without a cell phone or a credit card. Looking back on it, I must have been nuts. Anyway, it all worked out. I painted in Jackson, Wyoming mostly and only traveled through Cody. After all this time I am going back looking forward to painting there and meeting Frank Serrano. I will post photos when I return -- and hopefully some paintings. I'll be stretching some linen this week. This will be fun.

Pastels

2007-08-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

I have never worked in pastels, although I once was a Waldorf teacher and did chalkboard drawings for the children's main lesson every day so I guess that's pretty good training. One of the art suppliers that I use had a sale on a box of pastels, so I bought them a couple months ago. The first one I did was the stream (a 5" X 7") which is from the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. The farmhouse (an 8" X 10") is from somewhere in southern Wisconsin. I had just spent a lot of time on an oil painting which I just plain don't like very much, so I thought I'd give something else a try.

Followup to Barns & Farms show

2007-08-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

The Barns & Farms show ended on August 5th. I sold one of the paintings and just picked up the other today. I went to the opening of the show last July 7th. The barn photo is of the Barnsite Studio and Gallery. The other two photos were taken after the opening show -- about 8 PM when the sun had set. Today the field on the right of the road is full of sunflowers. Oddly enough, as I looked at the show I found someone that I had not seen since art school -- dare I say, 30 years ago! That was fun; being in the show was fun; selling a painting for more than I ever had before was even more fun. Today, August 6th, I drove to Kewaunee, met with the gallery owner, put the painting in the car and then headed north to Algoma where I gassed up and then drove around, taking a few pictures of the harbor and eventually pulling over to find a place to paint. I took my little portable watercolor rig to the shore of Lake Michigan and painted a 8 X 10 watercolor. I had to navigate a rocky path to the shore and would have had a hard time with my French easel. I was happy with my little painting and then drove south back home. I really love those barns and farms in Wisconsin, so the four hour drive was a nice trip. I will be trying for that show again next year.

Barns & Farms

2007-07-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

I sent out slides of three paintings a couple months ago and had two of them accepted to a national juried show called "Barns and Farms". The show is in Kewaunee, Wisconsin and about a four hour drive for me. I dropped them off there and darned if the place wasn't a barn building which houses a gallery and a school of art. The show begins this Saturday, the 7th of July, and ends in early August. The large farmhouse painting is a 30" X 40" oil on canvas and the cattle at the shore painting (14" X 18") was a from a place I stayed in Scotland on the Isle of Skye in Lower Breakish. So if Clint Eastwood ever asks me "Do you feel lucky, punk?", I'd have to say "Yeah" and then duck.