Plein air

Last weekend there was a wonderful plein air event in Richmond, Indiana put on by the Richmond Museum. After sign-in and getting maps, my good friend and painting buddy, Barb and I headed out to find just the right spot to paint. I was, of course, hoping to find a place in the shade. It was going to be a hot one. Unfortunately the map was a bit hard to follow and we wound up driving around most of the morning. By lunch time we ran into a great park with a little fresh water stream running through and a pond at one end.

This was it.... lots of trees for shade, bathrooms nearby and nice subject matter. With no time to spare we ate lunch, visited with friends we hadn't seen in a while and then finally went to painting.

I came away with a little 6x8 piece that needs some tweaking. It's a bit light with not much contrasting darks. Overall, I was pleased considering the time we had.

At 4:00 it was back to the museum for a display of the paintings that had been completed that day. Wow! What a great diverse group of paintings. Quite a few of  Indiana's best painters were there. Now that we have a good layout of the area, I'm anxious to return next year.

Time to chow down on some delicious food stuffs. I haven't had a real hot dog for a while. With all the fixings, it was a tasty bite.

Here is a little newspaper blurb about the event with pictures that were taken:
http://www.outdoorpainter.com/featured-events/indiana-ohio-groups-paint-together.html


That's all for now folks.......

Art Show

I entered 3 pieces of art for the Ventures In Creativity show here in Fort Wayne that the Art Guild sponsors each year. 2 were accepted. Yippee. It's always fun as an artist to have your art accepted. However, it doesn't always turn out that way. It was only a few weeks ago, over in Ohio, that I had none out of 3.


By the way, if you want to see the rest of the show, it's at the Allen County Public Library downtown.      
        http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/


Anyway here are the ones that made the grade.
This is the front of the Swinney House in west central Fort Wayne. 16 x 20

Here we have a painting from a photo that my daughter-in-law took when she was in Paris this spring. I just loved the simplicity of it.  9 x 12

And this is the one that didn't make it. They are the wind turbines that are just going up as we cross the border into Ohio. I called it "Giants".  9 x 12 

See ya real soon........

Plein air

Painting with some friends in the Leo/Grabill area.

6 x 8 oil

Unfortunately the weather was too cold earlier and now it's in the 90's.

What's a plein air painter to do? Shut up and suffer I guess!!

Maybe I'll just go paint....later.

Get Away

Hubby and I took a little trip to northern Michigan. Visited friends in Traverse City and then spent a couple of days around Petoskey. I didn't get time to paint, just did a couple of sketches.

Took some pictures though... maybe one of them will wind up in paint?


I always like the Boardman River in Traverse.

And of course the south shore. Not many boats out yet.

This is the porch outside our lodging at Boyne Mountain. Notice the fireplace is facing the inside as well as the outside. Nice! Too cold to even enjoy.

.....more pics

Took myself a hike and found this neat river.

The river flows right out into the Bay

I was sketching when this fella decided to watch.

I haven't seen this many Trillium since living in upstate New York. Found this article interesting.

"Picking a trillium seriously injures the plant by preventing the leaf-like bracts from producing food for the next year. A plant takes many years to recover. For this reason in Michigan^[1], Minnesota^[2] and New York^[3] it is illegal to pick and/or transplant trilliums from public lands without a permit from the State."

And some people get around in one of these modernized golf carts.

Guess that's a wrap....

Bye ya!

Painting Thoughts

I ran across this statement from another blog I follow. It struck a chord so I thought I'd share it.

"Painting is tougher than the accurate drilling of root canals. Painter wannabees need all the help they can get. Composition, colour mixing, and the professional touch, to name just a few, can be troublesome minefields. The better mentors give options. Choose your mentors carefully. In my experience, some of the best love it so much they do it for a song. In some cases you might have to bring your own lunch."     Robert Genn

Speaking of mentors (the kind that do it for a song), I have been fortunate over the last couple of years to find such a person. Too bad the class is 140 miles away and I have to get up at 5am to get there in time. It was great while it lasted but circumstances have changed and I can no longer take advantage of it. I miss those weekly inspirational times and the wonderful people I met. However, I am glad I had the opportunity as long as I did.

Who was that you say?  Why Ron Mack of course! The same one that was in the Painting Indiana books.
I love his work! It just sings with light especially when viewed in person. If you ever get a chance to see his paintings at IHA or Hoosier Salon...... go for it. In fact we have lots of great artists in Indiana. This summer the Allen County Public Library is having Jerry Smith in for a 3 day workshop. I will be attending and am very excited to be a part.  http://www.jsmithstudio.com/ Check him out for yourself.

This is from a picture my daughter-in-law took while she was in Paris.  I liked the simplicity and color of the white cup and saucer.
It just reminded me of sitting at the cafe in the fresh morning air.

Maybe I'll throw it in a show?










That's all for now.....

         come back soon...

Workshops

I attended a workshop while in New Harmony given by Todd Williams. I met Todd last year while my friend and I were at the Plein Air Paintout.  We felt then that we would love to take a class from him. Patiently we waited the whole year. He is an excellent knife painter which was something I have wanted to add to my painting techniques. We were not disappointed. His demos were most instructional and his use of tissues and weird brushes to add final touches were breath taking to behold. LOL! Besides he is just a really great guy.

C.W. Mundy was also teaching a workshop. He is a well know Indiana painter whose work I also admire. It was fun to see him in action and to hear his commentary during a video presentation. Also a really nice guy.

OK... so you want to see some of the things I painted?  Remember now it was a time of practice so things aren't finished or parts are very rough. But I did use a palette knife and feel much more confident with it.

It rained  this day so
we painted from photos.

This is one of my
favorite places
in Brookville, IN

As you can see,
a palette knife
creates lots of
texture.

This is a brick fence with a wrought iron gate which I didn't put in. The Red Bud trees were almost gone.

An early start on the
front of a house.

A start on the corner of
a house.... don't think
this will work. Angles
are off.

The Wabash river floods
this time of year.
Again another start.

Bye for now.......

This and That

Guess I've procrastinated long enough. My painting juices are beginning to run again.

Maybe it's due to the workshop I've just attended or maybe it was the week spent in southern Indiana where the weather was full blown Spring. It was almost hard to come back to the cold wet dreary days in the north.

It's great to be around so many people with the same passion as myself. I suppose it would get old after a while but for a short season it's invigorating.

I started a painting some time ago and it's been staring me in the face on my easel for some time now saying... "finish me". So this week I buckled down to the task and finished it.

As I drove by the Swinney House in Fort Wayne late one afternoon and saw the light on the front of the house, it struck me that I would love to capture it in paint.

Well, here is the 

final result.

Be back soon.....