Farm house, Walworth County, Wisconsin

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. 
   

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.