Faces & Figures Watercolor

Last week, I attended a Faces & Figures workshop in Springfield, Missouri. Led by Watercolor Artist Alicia Farris, the class was inspiring! Even though I brought the wrong size paper – I painted on full sheets while most of the rest of the class used quarter sheets – it was a liberating experience of playing with transparent colors and using BIG brushes! Working from a photograph, Alicia taught us a new technique involving laying on the paint in layers, primarily with cool colors in shadows and warmer colors in light. Here are the two paintings I finished during the class – both “Beachcombers” and “Nana” are 22” x 30” on 300 lb. Hot Press watercolor paper.

As I move forward in my painting, my goal is to enhance my style with these new skills and techniques. This week’s painting, “Mountain Meadow, 8” x 12” on 300 lb. Cold Press watercolor paper, features some of my favorite characters – two of those wildly independent Donegal ewes guarding their young.

Returning Home: Rural Landscapes

"Returning Home: Rural Landscapes" is a new art exhibit happening soon at the Farm Table Foundation Gallery in Amery, WI. This collaborative exhibit, featuring the impressionistic photography of Tin Cat Studio (just across Fox Creek from our house) and my watercolor paintings, will run from June 14 through August 6, 2019, and opens with the Artists’ Reception on Friday evening, June 14, from 5:30-8 p.m. Plan to stop in that evening if you’re in the area!

Through a focus on community, conservation, craft and culture, the Farm Table Foundation is dedicated to the mission of growing local food culture through education, research, and training. In choosing the title for this exhibit, all of us – Mike Schut, Senior Director of Programs and Community Partnerships at the Farm Table; Randy and Lisa Lee of Tin Cat Studio; and myself of Wild River Art – brainstormed together to define the blending of our artwork as an alignment with the mission of the Foundation. “Returning Home: Rural Landscapes” strives to evoke the emotions within each us for that special place we call home. While home is surely different for all of us, the term may strongly identify a specific place, or it may be a time of remembered beginnings, or it may simply recall a sense of refuge and a deep calming of spirit. It’s an honor for me to be part of this thoughtfully planned and inspirational exhibit.

This week’s painting, “Still Standing” 7” x 12” watercolor painting, celebrates the tremendous workmanship of the builders of these historic barns. Even in century-old and older barns, the integrity, framework and foundation of most of these structures are still strong and true. In driving across our beautiful rural spaces, I’m grateful for the many farm families who are taking the time and making the investment to preserve these iconic structures. See more paintings on my website at www.wildriverarts.com

Unpredictable May!

The last two weeks have been a roller coaster of weather changes! We spent four days in Colorado – attending a family graduation at the Colorado School of Mines in beautiful Golden, CO – and the weather shifted from 30 degrees on the day we arrived and an overnight snow of 8” on the mountaintop at Breckenridge to 80 degrees in Golden on the day we left! And this weekend, back home in Wisconsin, we moved from 80 degrees two days ago to rain, snow and freezing temps today. It’s a challenge to decide if we need the windows open or the heat turned on!

I’m looking forward to an upcoming exhibit! The Farm Table Foundation Gallery in Amery, WI, announces “Returning Home: Rural Landscapes” which will run from June 14 through August 6. The exhibit will feature my watercolor paintings and the artwork of Lisa and Randy Lee of Tin Cat Studio. An Artists Reception will be held at the Farm Table Gallery on Friday, June 14, from 6-8 p.m. See more at Farm Table Foundation.  

This week’s painting, Lone Sentinel, 8” x 13” watercolor painting, will be one of the paintings featured in this exhibit. The scene reflects a forgotten barn on rural hillside along the edge of a quiet stream.

Celebrating May and Art Tour!

It’s a rainy May Day, but after living through three major droughts in North Dakota, I've come to relish rainy days! And as I type this, I'm looking over our half-done garden project in the backyard. For the past week, we’ve been working on building a new garden - a place for me to transplant all the expanding perennial plants and grow tomatoes! Our soil has been classified as “dead” by area lawn pros, so over the past five years we've brought in lots and lots of dirt, manure and peat. It seems to be an annual challenge, but signs of earthworms and thriving plants give me hope! So even in this half-finished stage with the fruit trees mulched, my Dad’s garden bench in place under the big apple tree and of course, waiting on more dirt, it looks lovely. 

And Paul learned early in our relationship that it’s a dangerous thing to leave me - especially this time of year - unsupervised in garden centers! 😊 Our living room has five large windows on the east side, and over the past week or two, I’ve been accumulating plants. Four favorite roses, Larkspur, 2 new Clematis (pronounced clem'-a-tis in Downton Abbey land!) and Blue Queen Meadow Sage sit in pots ready to go out as soon as the weather warms up. 

And it’s a busy time of painting! The Earth Arts Spring Tour is May 3-5 at the Lamar Community Center in St. Croix, Falls. So in addition to the “greenhouse” plants in the living room, there are bins of paintings and booth set-up stuff lined up and ready to go! Download the Art Tour Brochure and Map here. 

This week’s painting, Sit a Spell! 11” x 15” on 300 lb. watercolor paper, seems to invite the visitor to have a seat, relax and take in the beauty of a light-filled day.

Spring, really?

If you never lived in the North Country, you can’t really appreciate how we celebrate warm Spring days. Only by living here can you understand how fragile and fleeting are the days of sunshine, warm breezes and the promise of new life. This week, we had three wonderful 55- to 75-degree days – and with Paul’s willing spirit and muscle, we raced outside each day to begin work on a new garden space. But now it’s the weekend and the forecast is for a high of 32 degrees with possible snow accumulation! It’s enough to trigger sinus infections in the strongest of souls! In spite of temperamental weather, though, I continue to gather new plants (there are four roses growing in pots in front of the living room windows) and faithfully bring in at night and set out in the morning the many pots of violets and pansies from the outside decks.

This week’s painting is an ode to summer! Beyond the Dock, 9” x 13” on 300 lb. watercolor paper, reminds us of peaceful, warm days and taking in the beauty just beyond the edge of the dock.

Shadows and Light

It’s that strange time of the year – between winter and false spring and winter and real spring! Last week, our yard was drying up nicely and we even celebrated by setting up the picnic table and chairs on the deck! This week, we are back in the crush of winter with 8 inches of snow/snirt (really dirty looking snow) and cold temperature again. The birds have been in “feeding frenzy” mode at the feeders for the past few days and even the recently arrived Robins are resorting to eating sunflower seeds in lieu of worms!

It seemed a good time for a study in light and shadows. This week’s painting, Evening Shadows, 8” x 12” watercolor, captures the silhouette of a sailboat moored off the shore of a darkening landscape.

Celebrating the river!

I haven’t painted for a couple of weeks, so it’s fun to get back to the easel. The first version of this seemed to be too "bright," so I added more shading to enhance the depth of colors. This new version of the painting, River Watch, 11” x 15” watercolor, seems to better capture the late afternoon light on the river.