It's been a busy day, and the painting I've been playing with here isn't working, so here is a photo of me working on this painting Saturday morning with some help from our pug, Bunny...
Monday, August 31, 2020
Sunday, August 30, 2020
August 30, Water To The Sky
We had such a great weekend! Socially distant dinner with friends, a lovely Sidewalk- Art Sale yesterday, and fire last night with neighbors, and lunch with mom today!
Our Art Sale was SO much fun, and Duane sold so many of his crazy wood sculptures, it was wonderful! We are so grateful for all the friends and neighbors who came by to take our art work back to their houses and out of ours! And it was just so beautiful to have so many conversations with people too. I miss the weekend long art fairs where I would get into great conversations and make new friends and feel my brain expand with new thoughts. This was close!
And the weather couldn't have been more beautiful! What a day! Of course, I forgot to take any photos, but don't worry! We'll have another one the end of September, if we can!
I finished this diptych yesterday morning before our sale and am really excited about it~ I'm having so much fun with the water- this is another view of the rocks off Artist's Point in Grand Marais.
8x24 times 2- acrylic on canvas
$385 each, or $700 for both
Thursday, August 27, 2020
8/27 Sky Seeks Water
I meant to post this yesterday but things got away from me! I think I like it even better than yesterday's painting...
That color of water is so elusive and amazing, and satisfying when you finally figure it out!
6x6 acrylic on wood
$75
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
8/25 Water Seeks Sky
This is a 6x6 painted from those wonderful photos Duane took up in Grand Marais back in July~ I am not done with them yet!
I love the water colors, and the contrast between the two, the sky and the water- both so blue! It feels like a summer blue too, doesn't it?
MMMmmmmmmmm~
6x6 acrylic on wood
$75
Sunday, August 23, 2020
8/23 Elizabeth's Garden
Sometimes a little painting works out beautifully. I was sitting in Elizabeth's backyard garden, admiring her flowers and watching squirrels and rabbits dance through the undergrowth, and I painted this little chair. The sun kept moving across the back, changing the shadows. I'm pretty happy with it!
6x6 acrylic on wood
$75
Saturday, August 22, 2020
8/22 Keller Lake Plein Air Expedition
Yesterday I met with a wonderful pair of women who requested a Plein Air Painting lesson. I wanted us to be in a park that had some kind of water interest, and I'd been looking at nearby parks with lakes and found Keller park in Maplewood, just south of Highway 36 on Highway 61, and it was perfect! The lake is a lovely long one, and we were able to park ourselves just under the cottonwood trees on the small island and paint the view across the lake. Lots of lilypads and reeds, and even a few flowers. I highly recommend it!
We spent a couple hours there, and though I tried to limit my talking to allow for more painting time, I still yapped for about 45 minutes! I'm hoping I was able to impart some knowledge and ideas to my companions.
This is the larger painting I began as a demo. I did add a bit more refinement at home. Often, a painting done outside will need a bit of touching up once back inside. Light can vary and some spots may need to be brightened up, and other small details that weren't obviously lacking outside may pop up once under a roof.
12x16 acrylic on wood
$385
Thursday, August 20, 2020
8/20 Lake Pokegama Sunset
Here is one I painted last week as I sat on the dock, watching Duane and Max fishing... it is amazing how calming it is, to just sit by a large body of water. Something about it pulls your breath into a deeper rhythm that slows your brain and your heart, and fills you with something bigger than yourself so that those trivial concerns that keep you awake at 2am are settled down into the tall grass of peace.
And the mosquitos weren't even that bad!
This is another small one, for a small, sweet, calming space!
6x6 acrylic on wood
$55
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
8/18 Bone Tree at Dodge
The tree was casting such great reflections into the pond-
This one is a small one~
And I'm making it a Special Price!
6x6 acrylic on wood
$55
Monday, August 17, 2020
8/17 Reed and Reflections
Here's another one from my expedition to the Dodge Nature Center a week or two ago~ I really love painting water! Trying to see it and not let my brain tell me what I'm seeing is the key... tricking the brain is quite the skill. That's what artists do all the time!
It is also fun to paint outside where the public can happen by- when I was there, summer camp groups (wearing masks and socially distancing themselves) would wander past, and the kids would say helpful things like, "Wow! You're really good!"
Never hurts to hear a positive comment~
9x12 acrylic on wood
Usually $216 but this one is $175!
Sunday, August 16, 2020
8/16 More Plein Air paintings...
This morning we got up early-ish and went to Lake Nokomis. Duane and Max fished and I painted for about 45 minutes. They had no luck really but it was lovely to be together.
This is the painting I kept~
I liked the light through the trees, and the movement of the trunks and branches over the water.
Hope you're having a lovely Sunday afternoon!
8x8 acrylic on wood
$130
Saturday, August 15, 2020
8/15 Bridge Over the Creek
This is another Plein Air painting- there's a spot down by Minnehaha creek where it passes below Nokomis street, not far from Lake Hiawatha, and I like to sit there and paint.
Maybe I'll go again tomorrow morning!
Anyone wanna join me?
10x10 acrylic on wood
$200
Thursday, August 13, 2020
8/13 Rushes at Dodge Nature Center
I've been spending some mornings painting outside, and I painted this one a week or so ago with the North Star Watercolor Society people at Dodge Farm, in West St Paul. I had been there last summer for a great Picnic Operetta experience from Mixed Precipitation, and I highly recommend them when we are able to enjoy public events again!
Anyway, I hadn't realized there was this lovely little pond with boardwalks/floating walks/docks to lead you through the water and the rushes, and I went down and parked myself and painted a few great little views. This is one of them.
I was interested in depicting the reflections of the green reeds, and how the water was green and brown and varied colors...
So fun!
9x14 acrylic on wood
$250
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
8/12 From Our Cabin Window
If this had been a normal summer (I'm sure we're all saying such phrases to ourselves if not aloud, then in our hearts) we would have spent the last week and a half at Camp Mishawaka, Duane and me as craft teachers, and Max as a camper, for the first time. We've never been here, and Max has never been to an away camp, and it seemed like such a fantastic opportunity so we jumped on the offer. And then Covid.
We were very sad, but I am sure that the campers and counselors who count on this experience every summer as a big part of their lives were devastated.
Luckily for us, we were able to pop up for a day or two to familiarize ourselves with the layout of camp and check out the crafts cabins (so FUN!) and even throw a pot or two in the ceramics area with Cheryl (thanks Cheryl!) and we went fishing and swimming and saw an OTTER that swam right past Max and me as we played with a frog (it probably was more interested in the frog) and Max caught his biggest fish to date from the dock. It was a largemouth bass!
This is the view from our dining table. We are extremely grateful.
6x12 acrylic on wood
$150
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
August 11, Shades of Blue
Wow, it was a fantastic weekend with our Pop-Up Art Show and people dropping by to see the 30 Dogs in person~ it was so fun, Duane and I are going to do it again on Saturday August 29th from 11 to 3! Mark you calendars! Duane has been making some wacky wood bird wall hangings for indoors or outdoors and they'll be up for sale too~
This is another Lake Superior view from the photos Duane took a couple weeks ago. We are at another Lake right now, so there may be more and different water views~ stay tuned!
8x8 acrylic on wood
$145
FREE SHIPPING!
Saturday, August 8, 2020
August 8th, That Fresh Water!
Okay, maybe its a dopey name, but I like it! And I'm still really thrilled with these photos Duane took two weeks ago up on the rocks of Artist Point in Grand Marais~ there's a couple more I'm working on today, after my POP-UP ART EXHIBITION!
Come by today between 10 and noon and we'll have the tent up with the 30 Dogs hanging in it for your viewing pleasure! 3841 26th Ave S, Mpls MN 55406!
And I'm also going to have a smaller set up with some of my recent paintings that haven't really been seen yet, just in case anyone coming by has a need of some art on their walls. We've been thinking about having another Pop-up Art Weekend soon, maybe at the end of August, because Duane's been making some new wooden wall indoor/outdoor sculptures of his crazy birds and I think people are going to need those too...
6x12 acrylic on wood
$150
Dang I love those colors!
Friday, August 7, 2020
August 7th, Ollie!
Here is yet another amazing dog! This one is a birthday present, commissioned by a dear friend for her daughter, and it was apparently a hit!
YAY!
And DO please come by tomorrow for our POP-UP Art Show! 30 Dogs in 30 Days!!!
Maybe I'll have some other small paintings out too, in case you need some small art...
12x12 acrylic on wood
sold
Thursday, August 6, 2020
August 6th! 30 Dogs in 30 Days Virtual Party TONIGHT!
I have been arranging the dogs in our kitchen/dining room all morning and I think they are ready! Please join me tonight for my first ever Virtual Art Opening for 30 Dogs in 30 Days 2020!
I have a Zoom Meeting ready for you, just join me from 6:30-8pm and I'll be talking about my 30 in 30 projects and my painting processes, and then I'll go through each painting from 1 to 30 and I'll talk a little bit about each one. There will be time at the end for questions and comments, and I REALLY don't mind if you pipe up and ask them as we're going too!
I MISS all my usual art fairs and exhibitions, and I MISS talking to you all!!
PLEASE join in! Bring your own favorite beverage and snacks and I'll do my best to entertain you!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85896146718
Meeting ID: 858 9614 6718
Passcode: 485053
sneak preview!!
Wednesday, August 5, 2020
August 5th, Croftville Roadside Creek, May
More water explorations... it's just so interesting to me right now. How do you show in paint what your eye sees? And how does your eye make sense of the colors and images it perceives? How much of what we see is what our brain is telling us?
6x12 acrylic on wood
$150
Wahoo!
Tuesday, August 4, 2020
August 4th, July on the Rocks
This is from another of Duane's photos from last week- have I mentioned how much we all love hanging out on Artist's Point in Grand Marais? Maybe once or twice... like here, and here, and here, and even here from ten years ago! If you haven't ever been there, I suggest you go, and any time of year it is beautiful and surprising. In the winter, it is a bit more treacherous, with ice forming on the rocks making it much more slippery. But if you have good balance and grippy boots, it is still worth exploring!
This one is a bit more of a nearly "normal" painting... not as expressionistic, I mean!
6x12 acrylic on wood
$150
Monday, August 3, 2020
August 3, Breezy Day on the Rocks
Duane and Max went up to Grand Marais last week for a quick visit so that Max could see his friend Maddy at least once this summer. Usually we spend two weeks solid and then a couple other sprinkles of days up there each summer and Max and Maddy have done the Summer Solstice Pageant together for the past three years, so it was nice they were able to get up there. They slept in the back of the van. Such a guy thing. Not what I would've wanted to do, myself, but I was able to also have them deliver some fresh art to Yellow Bird Gallery in Grand Marais, since I'd just gotten a check from them so I knew some stuff had sold! That's always nice...
So Duane took photos for me, and this is from one of them, looking from Artists' point towards the lighthouse. I love the color of the water, and trying to determine that color!
6x12 acrylic on wood
$150
Sunday, August 2, 2020
August 2, Rocky
Of course, there are always a few extra dogs to paint! This one is from a fundraising auction at my school and I need to get it to it's owners now- those fluffy ones can be a bit tricky. I continue to love that challenge of attempting to translate what I see in front of me into paint. It is that creative act that engages me in this life. I am so lucky!
I hope that you have some activity or creative endeavor that makes you excited to get up in the morning!
And now that I'm done with this year's 30 Dogs in 30 Days project, there is always that little bit of a let-down, that return to normalcy (whatever that is this year...), that ending, and so comes the "what's next?" part. What am I going to move on to now?
I think more Plein Art Painting for now...
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