Light and Shadows II

Last night I attended a lecture/demo by Lynn Maderich at the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery. I'll be joining the Stillwater Gallery as a member in August 2019, and this was a great opportunity to meet members of the community and learn new techniques in art. Lynn is a graduate of the Atelier School of Art and an accomplished painter and teacher. She talked about the Atelier method of realism drawing and demonstrated her incredible talent in making her horses come alive through the effective use of shapes, edges and shadows in her paintings. The focus of all paintings is FINDING THE LIGHT and her demonstration on how to bring more light into our paintings was so insightful.

This week’s painting, Fox Light, 6” x 12” watercolor painting, explores that wonderful intense light that often occurs just before sunset – highlighting the contours of the landscape and casting dark shadows on the evening sky.

Sunsets and Irish potatoes

Summer is here, the pontoon is on the lake, and gardens are finally beginning to flourish! Even though I lived on a potato-growing farm for many years, I've never known how to grow potatoes in a family garden. For the first time this year, I have a garden big enough to grow potatoes! And after diligently reading the directions that came with the bag of Red Norland seed, we now have 75 plants growing in our backyard. It's such fun and made more special because 30+ years ago, I remember that we helped Dr. Robert Johanneson, noted Plant Pathology researcher at NDSU who developed the Red Norland potato. As we rented his family land, we tested them on his family potato fields near Edinburg, ND. So glad to see that they have continued as a favorite plant for growers!

And as a tribute to generations of potato growers, I’m back to painting Irish landscapes this week! Galway Bay, 9” x 13” watercolor, captures the reflections of beautiful sunset on a placid sea along the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland.  

Play Ball!

With summer’s arrival, it’s time for packing our lawn chairs in the truck and heading out to watch grandchildren play ball! It’s such fun and the perfect way to spend a couple of hours outdoors. And we may be a bit biased, but we are totally amazed at how much they improve from season to season.

This week’s painting is a portrait study on the full-sheet paper. Put me in, coach!, 19” x 22” on 300 lb. Hot Press watercolor paper, celebrates the famous John Fogarty song recalling moments of anticipation waiting to get in the game and perhaps getting to play . . . Centerfield!

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.