Paint-Outs

I recently went to Rensselaer, Indiana for a one day plein-air painting day. My friend and I went especially to paint at her grandmother's house. My friend had spent much time there and was anxious to paint it and maybe get inside to look around.

We decided to go over the day before and stayed at this beautiful Bed and Breakfast.

Of course pictures of the inside were in order.

Living room....

Music room.... I got to play a little tune.

Dining room.... breakfast was served and we were the only guests.

Now here is an idea for my daughter-in-law.....

I think she has one of these trunks.

On to the painting part.... got side tracked a bit.

This is the little house that we were concentrating on.

Actually, the light was much better the night before

 when it was on the other side of the house.

But we were here now so...... go for it.

And this is the little painting as a result -6"x8"...

minus the bushes that were hiding the porch.

And that was the end of our little excursion.

By the way.... we did get to go in and look around.

It now belongs to a law firm.

Bye now......

Museums

A trip to the Richmond Art Museum.
http://www.richmondartmuseum.org/exhibits

Painting Indiana:  En Plein View

August 22 - October 10, 2010

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Painting Indiana Project, RAM will exhibit new works by Robert Eberle, Ronald Mack, Don Russell and Dan Woodson.  Join us as we rediscover the beauty of the Hoosier landscape from the brushes of four of the guys from the original group of artists who painted all 92 counties of the Indiana countryside. 

I went to the opening reception.

That is Shaun Dingwerth on the far right.

He is the Director of the museum.

I'm such a kid when it comes to autographs.

Thanks Don.

OK... this is my favorite painting.

Ron Mack's of course.

And this is in the permanent collection.

It is painted by David Slonim. Another Indiana Artist!

Look at what a simple, everyday subject he used.

Then look at how he uses sunlight and shadow to make it a wow!

Love his work. He also illustrates and writes children's books.

http://www.davidslonim.com/

The next stop on our trip home was a bridge in Portland, In.

Artists have to have lots of reference pictures you know.

I'm always looking for good subjects to paint.

 

On the way back home we visited

the Ceylon Covered Bridge

two miles northeast of Geneva, IN.

Then on to see the new clock tower in Berne, In.

This view is from the street.

Around the back...

the glockenspiel comes on for about 10 minutes every hour.

It was shady when I took this picture. 

 

Bye now......

Museums

One of the fun things to do as an artist is to visit art museums.

It gives me inspiration as well as ideas.

I love to look at other Indiana painter's work. 

The best place to do that is at the yearly "Hoosier Salon Exhibition".

http://www.hoosiersalon.org/annualexhibits.html

This year's winner...

Best of Show - "Out of the Mist " by David Tutwile

This is Ron Mack.

He is one of the painters from the "Painting Indiana"

book that was published about 10 years ago.

His painting is at the bottom.

This is his also.

It's a painting of his two friends.

I love the work this artist does.

His use of light and color jumps off the canvas.

These are a couple of paintings done by people from our own city. (the "Fort")

Photographs just don't do them justice.

You have to view them in person to really appreciate them,

especially the brush work!

It was a great day, with great friends.

Bye now....

Vacation

Took a little trip to Traverse City. 

We have friends that live there in the summer.

So...... we get to go out fishing in the bay.

It was twilight when I took this picture.

We troll for salmon and as you can see

we are all set waiting for a strike.

I had thought maybe I'd get some painting in but not this trip.

Thought we might bring some salmon back too.... but not this trip.

This would be my idea of a dream boat.

As you can see, the water is very calm....rather unusual.

In fact the water was calm all the time we were there

which made the swimming delicious.

That would be all for now.

Bye.

Paintings

I've been painting outside a little bit.

Still hot and humid!

This one is from Ceder Creek Park near St. Joe.

It's actually the house across the street.

This one is from the West side of Headwaters.

Don't think I've ever tried a willow before.

By the way, those are geese walking around.

This one is just off Coliseum Blvd. behind Triangle Park.

It could use some work.

That's it for now!!

Bye.

Catch up

Lots of time has passed. It's been hot and busy.
Let me see....
I guess I need to bring you up to date on the Alaska painting.
It hasn't gone as well as I had hoped.

This is from about a week ago.

This is what it looks like currently. 

 I think I need to let it sit for a while.

In the meantime.... I went to Wawasee for a Plein-air paintout.

That's a technical painting term for being outside in the heat and painting.

And in case anyone is watching, you are suppose to be having a great time. Ha!

It wasn't all that bad and we got to connect with friends from around the state and have good things to eat. There are some perks to this whole painting thing.

I didn't do anything to put in the museum but it was more "learning".

Here's one. That's a boat parked in front of the cottage.

Just thought I'd help.

And this is a sketch of the boys standing on a dock nearby.

I told you... I don't do figures but... this is a start?

I think the boat next to them was sinking and they were watching.

Kind of funny.

To get on with my story.....

The next week was a full 5 day workshop.

Like from 9 in the morning until 6 in the afternoon.

It was the hottest week I can recall.

We watched demos, painting our little hearts out 

and then bore up under critiques.

"It was the best of times and it was the worst of times."

I actually wiped off the first 3 days of my paintings. 

I never wanted to see them again.

However, I did learn A LOT!

Now all I have to do is put it into practice. 

In fact, I guess most things we do in life, 

if we want to improve, we have to practice.

Well here is an attempt at the back of a house.

It was a nice little scene and I liked the barrel.

Maybe I should have painted just the barrel?

And...

This is a piece from Fox Island. 

I traded with another painter so all I have is this picture.

I think that pretty much brings you up to date 

except for the books I have been leafing back through again.

 

These are some of my favorite standbys.

Some not very instructional but inspirational.

Seems each time I go through them I find another little nugget 

that I can incorporate into my artwork.

That would be the end of my story to date but I am surely looking forward to adding to it.

Each new day brings new adventure and surprises await for those patiently watching and looking.

Bye!

Paintings

I worked on the Alaskan Mountain picture. I find that clouds are rather illusive. They looked pretty easy but when I really got into them, well let's just say they were more complicated than I first thought. My instructor said they needed to be contoured and shaped, not just all white.

So I've been studying clouds lately. They really do have different colors in them. And oh that gray/blue stuff. It's all over the place. Well here's the first attempt. I may do some tweaking though.

You see this one has water in it too. 

Yep, I do love the water no matter where it is.

But we'll get to that later.

Have a blessed day,

Bye