Dolomite Rocks

 We’ll be heading to Door County in a few weeks to deliver more paintings to the galleries up there. You know that I love painting rocks, and the ones in western Door Co. facing the onslaught of the weather and waves of Lake Michigan are incredibly unique. Known as the Niagara Escarpment, this ancient dolomite/limestone rock ridge stretches from Wisconsin and Upper Michigan and on to Niagara Falls.

This week’s painting, Dolomite Ridge, 9” x 11” features the rock formations unique to the Cave Point Park region in Door County and speaks of the tenacity of the trees and vegetation supported by these formidable rocks.

Watercolor: Let’s Paint a Lighthouse!

This summer seems to be whooshing by! The grandkid’s sport schedules have ended and our AZ grandson already started back to school. I’m always caught off guard by how fast this season moves – especially when it’s beautiful days like today. The humidity is down and there is a soft breeze blowing across the yard. The flowers are blooming, the gardens growing, and baby birds are flocking to the feeders like crazy and it’s all lovely! We had lunch on the deck and maybe will have lemonade there later this evening – before the mosquitos come to eat us up! Paul is ramping up for the school year with a myriad of crisis situations in his charter schools, and I spent the day painting for the upcoming Watercolor Class, slated for Thursday, August 11, at Studio 210-Arts in Hand Gallery in Spooner, WI.

This week's painting is a study we’ll use in that class. Crisp Point Light, 8” x 10” on 300 lb. watercolor paper, features one of my favorite subjects – lighthouses.  So looking forward to “Let’s Paint a Lighthouse!” For more info, see the website at artsinhand.com.

Lilties and Water

This time of year, my watercolors all seem to include glimpses of water. It’s a favorite place to be in the heat of summer! Whether I’m enjoying life at a lake or just filling birdbaths around our yard, it’s a joy to see the variety of wildlife who also benefit from the clear waters of this area – orioles coming in to feed babies at the grape jelly, wrens churring territorial warnings, loons calling from the lake and the errant doe who comes every night to drink all the water in our big birdbath! When painting water, I love the many effects possible with watercolors – yes, always preserving the white spaces of the paper, but then letting the colors blend to form lively currents or to reflect the deeper shades below the surface. 

I just delivered three of my Liltie Series watercolors to Arts in Hand Gallery in Spooner, WI: Sunset Shadows; Pure Bliss; and Forest Stream. I call these 4" x 6" "lilties" because that's the Irish word for brief tunes, and I think of these smaller paintings as brief "watercolor songs." 

Goats in the Studio!

There is something so endearing about baby goats – all that energy, carefree attitude and amazing antics – make them totally lovable! Every Spring I go through a desire to have goats, sheep and llamas roaming our property – and while Paul is perfectly willing to go out and pick up baby animals from nearby farms, he is also quick to remind me, “You know we have ½ an acre and it’s a long winter of chores!” And so I come to my senses and live vicariously through videos of farmyards in spring and painting them on my easel.

This week’s painting is Butterscotch, a 4” x 6” Liltie Series watercolor painting, featuring one of those rare resting moments for kid goats!

Moo-ving On

This seems to be the message of the week. Our son and his sweet family are on their way to their new home in Arizona. The move comes with a lot of angst – the rest of their families are here in Minnesota and Wisconsin – but they have considered this decision with so much thoughtfulness that it seems to be the perfect place for them right now. And it’s good to remember that life is dynamic and always changing. So with the confidence of a young family on the go, this move seems to offer them incredible possibilities.

And I’m feeling a bit of “moving on” today – not about physically moving, but about a renewed energy in my spirit. Since early Spring, it’s been a season of meeting deadlines and painting for several upcoming exhibits. Now, there is a natural pause in the schedule and a wonderful time to reflect and consider “what’s next?” We had such a grand time in the new space of Studio 210-Arts In Hand Gallery this past weekend for the Watercolors: East and West Exhibit. It is 22 steps from the sidewalk on Walnut Street to the bright, airy studio space – so we got our exercise toting art bins and supplies up and down those steps! My co-artist, Gail Threinen is a talented Chinese Brush Painter, and it became a weekend of learning (for me, too!) and a wonderful opportunity to visit with all who came to support the arts in Spooner! It is a joy to be part of a dedicated community of volunteers, management team and board members who are committed to making the Arts In Hand Gallery-Spooner a destination for art and creative learning.

This week’s painting,  Bessie, is a Liltie Series 4” x 6” watercolor painting featuring one of the wonderfully friendly cows roaming the Irish countryside. 

 

Home to Camp

This is the final week before a special exhibit this weekend, July 8-10, 2022, at the Studio 210-Arts In Hand Gallery in Spooner, WI. With the theme, "Watercolors: East and West" the show features the Gail Threinen (Chinese Brush Painting) and me (Landscape Watercolors), and the doors open on Friday from 4-7 p.m.; and continue through Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Hope to see you up in Spooner this weekend! 

This week's painting, Home to Camp, an 8” x 11” watercolor on 300 lb. paper, captures an idyllic scene on a northern lake. Photo credit (with variations) and thank you to North Shore Photographer, Don Davison.

At the Lake

It’s our 9^th summer of living “on the lake” – actually we’re across the street from the lake and have always thought that was a blessing. We get a lovely view of the water with a space of the lakeshore for the pontoon, but also have space for my much-loved gardens and room for the two dogs and two cats to explore the woods around us. And it also offers a bit of barrier between us and the barrage of fireworks that typically assail lake communities this time of year. We did have a fabulous Saturday – wonderful weather and time on the boat – with three of our sweet families, sharing meals, catching up, enjoying the pontoon and very cold lake water, and saying goodbye. Our son and daughter-in-law and their two kidsies are relocating to their new home in Arizona and we’re going to miss them terribly. Because this was a four-day holiday, we then spent Sunday and Monday mostly sequestered in the house with the TV on and fans blowing to keep our two elderly dogs, Maddie and Kirby, from freaking out with the fireworks. I’m not against an organized fireworks display, but this year, there was four full days of chaotic noise. However, now it’s Wednesday, the birds have returned to the yard, and we’re enjoying the quiet rhythm of long summer days.

This week features a couple of paintings. I’m so happy that a favorite watercolor, Desert Glow, is moving to its new home in Arizona. It was a fun one to paint of two special grandchildren and their beloved dog, Mack, in a beautiful desert evening.