The Little Bouquet

The Little Bouquet 8 x 8 acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas

Flowers, still life , impressionist

Each Saturday the farmers market in our downtown draws a huge crowd. Including us! We have our favorite vendors and enjoy supporting the local and sustainable farmers who share their harvest with us. Many Hmong families sell beautiful, inexpensive flower bouquets along with their vegetables. I generally scope out the best and brightest blooms and bring home a feast for my eyes as well as the soul. As the time passes, the bouquets will get smaller to accommodate the droop that is bound to happen with the passing days. I cut and cull and cherish the blossoms that linger , for they still add beauty and breath to the day.
At auction DailyPaintworks.com
www.bonnieparuch.com

Bayside

Bayside 8 x 8 acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas

Landscape, abstracted realism, waterfront,

This painting is less a landscape than it is a painted idea. I have been interested in the characteristics of acrylic paint. It is similar to pastel painting in that multiple layers of color and texture can be quickly place on the painting surface.  Unlike oil paint,  it drys so quickly that changes can be made within a very short painting process. To approach this painting I randomly placed warm tones on the canvas and before the paint dried - scraped some areas down to the tinted surface. Negative and positive shapes were built on this base with an emphasis on the pointy roof and building shapes that emerged. The reflected colors in the “water” simply arrived and this little harbor study came to be. Sometimes nothing leads to something.
www.bonnieparuch
Dailypaintworks auction

Nature made

Nature Made 10 x 10 acrylic on a gessoed archival board

Impression , abstracted realism , nature, landscape 

I love the idea of taking a form from nature and making it my own. When I first began painting I was learning to see as a painter in the medium of watercolor.  The Artist Barbara Nechis was a an influence as I poured over her book “Watercolor the Creative Experience” . One significant idea that she planted in my mind is benefit of conceptualizing a place, or a significant experience in nature, in one’s mind only. No brushes required until things percolate in the studio.

I think that both boredom, a creative itch and a desire to let a remembered place come forward led to this small painting. When time and motivation are available it becomes easier to take risks and to let things happen.  

There are a few treasured books I pull out when inspiration fails. They are a mixed lot, chosen for the message I gain from the authors verses the style they represent.  They range from impressionists to realists, abstractionists to expressionists, Ashcan  artists to Wyeth . Thanks to all!

The Boat Yard

The Boat Yard acrylic 8 x 8 on a cradled archival board

Architecture, impression, waterfront, Maritime

Some of the old timers I admire painted coastal towns with glee and abandon. I have never been able to get too far from a great expanse of water. My coasts have been on the inland lakes and Great Lakes of the Midwest but I feel an affinity to harbors and dockside environments wherever we travel.
The shapes and colors and the “feel” of old buildings on the water is a subject made for artists who have a need to find originality and grit in the places that inspire them. Over the years authentic waterfronts have been replaced with gentrified shores. One old timer lamented ( in the 1940s ) that if they keep cleaning things up they’ll be nothing for artists to paint! Obviously, that lament is untrue because nature will always provide. It is man’s need to modernize, build up and tear down that we have to keep a watch for. In many ways artists are historians, for what’s here today is often gone tomorrow.
This small painting is available on DailyPaintworks
www.bonnieparuch

Newport Fog

Newport Fog. 8 x 8 acrylic on a cradled gessoed board

It seems that our weather patterns have gotten stuck this September. Here in northeast Wisconsin we are approaching an all time record for rainfall and we have months to go!  The rainy days, foggy days and damp chilly days have given rise to more studio time. Gazing out of my studio window the soft, yet colorful grays led me to this memory of a walk along the trails at Newport State Park. It really isn’t a particular place there but holds the feeling and influence of an early fall snowfall, the lakeshore and the weather.
Frequently, my  goal is to eliminate, to pare down a subject to it’s bare bones.
That is the place where I hope abstraction and realism meet.
You can find this painting on DailyPaintWorks
www.bonnieparuch.com

Red and green onions

Red and Green Onions 8 x8 acrylic on a cradled archival panels

I enjoy cooking almost as much as I enjoy painting. Onions , peppers, garlic, & a multitude of spices are among the many “ colors” that touch our meals. I feel that farmers markets are a scrumptious palette for my eyes and often my brush. This little celebration of onions reflects a sense of home for me. The heart of our home is the kitchen - so welcome in. Pull up a chair. Let’s raise the humblest of vegetables to its’ rightful place. Often we neglect the small things that hold wonder inside.

Summer Day

Summer Day 8x8 acrylic on a cradled archival panel

One brilliant, late summer day I took a group of students out to paint in the quaint town of Grand Marais, MN. We picked a spot near a small white cottage, it was dressed up with picket fences and colorful with a front yard garden. I did a fast pastel demonstration. My  memory and a small study of that  plein air experience influenced this painting.
Late summer is such a sweet time. The bold colors of the summer garden are often at their peak and prime: Sunflowers have a big impact in any garden and seem to be especially suited to the edges of buildings and fences. There they stand like exclamation points saying “ look at me” !
This painting is available at auction on DailyPaintworks, www.bonnieparuch.com

Evening at the Farm

Evening At the Farm 6 x9 pastel on watercolor paper

I recently put together a smaller set of soft pastels to use on a short trip to our cottage up north. The weather had been rainy and cool and my color selections reflected the warm shadows and cool lights of  these gray days.  This little pastel painting is a memory piece. A collection of old farm buildings clustered against the sky served as inspiration. The color harmonies are pure invention. Soft grays and warm saturated shadows can help create a moody painting. “Evening at the farm”  is one of those. These are the pastel sticks I used - I’ll be needing some more yellows, reds and cool blues and purples for the sunny days ahead! By using a watercolor under-painting  I can “stretch the colors to fit the day.

Autumn Rain

Autumn Rain 10 x 10 pastel over watercolor on sanded paper

Pastel, impressionist, rural, nature

My favorite medium has always been soft pastel. It has an expressive quality that suits both my temperament and my interest in honoring a mark on the paper. I use a watercolor underpainting  on an archival sanded paper or board which allows me the freedom to manipulate the pastel in a painterly manner. I recently had carpal tunnel surgery and I am delighted to once again add pastel back to my methods.
This small study was influenced by the rain that has softened my view of the rural landscape that is near our cottage up north. Small homesteads like this one remind me of growing up near pastures and corn fields. It reminds me of the farm my mother grew up on. It reminds me of our time midst the small farms and orchards in Door County too.
Autumn always seems to breath a little easier than summer. It is a time to savor before winter arrives, a time to exhale.

Pink Sunset

Pink Sunset watercolor on 140 lb acid free watercolor paper 6 x9

When I first began to paint, my medium of choice was watercolor. In the early years I had small children and limited space ( and time ) and works on paper that dried quickly fit well into our busy lives. I have continued to use watercolor as an under painting for most of my pastels. Lately, I’ve had an “itch” to work in pure watercolor again. It is definitely a big change from my work in the opaque mediums. I enjoy using watercolors for small studies and sketches. They are immediate, fluid and at times very challenging.
One creative venture always leads me to another. Participating in a variety of mediums often enhances my work in ways I don’t immediately grasp. This little painting is available matted and simply framed. The subject is a memory of a little town above the bay in Door County.
www.BonnieParuch.com
DailyPaintworks.com

A Bridge too Far

A Bridge too Far 6 x 6 acrylic

Pathways, reflections,  and simple patterns of light and dark values have always appealed to me. One theme that has made an appearance since I began painting professionally has been imagery depicting a bridge. For  years I’ve explored the idea of movement from here to there in many semi-abstracted works.
Occasionally, someone will say, “You’ve moved in a new direction”. I often find myself holding back the information that the fundamentals of abstraction have always been with me.
Early in my professional career, I submitted three abstracted paintings ( that included a bridge themed  piece) for a major show at a midwestern gallery. They refused to hang those three along with my more tradition work with the words, “we’ll never sell abstract art.” Guess what’s hanging there now?
That experience was  a serious blow to my confidence and for many years I painted abstracted works just for me. When I began to confront my fear of exposing too much with abstract work, I found that my collectors readily accepted both my representational works and what I have come to call work of abstracted realism.
A Bridge too Far  harkens back to those early days -it marks a journey that is both personal and artistic. Perhaps it says, come, travel with me.

The Copper Dome

The Copper Dome 6x6 acrylic

I treasure our nightly walks. Each and every evening seems to lead us to a new discovery or , at the very least , to a new point of view. The copper dome of the Court  House has lost much of it’s original patina due to an unfortunate restoration. The beautiful green, gold and copper tones of old are now modified to a more simple harmony. As a society, we often seem to see new as better than old. Patina as tarnish, and shabby,  as less than aesthetically pleasing. I once read a quote from an old timer and well known artist of the 1950’s who said , “ ...if they keep fixing things up artists won’t have anything to paint!” . I can relate to that.
Even tho the old dome has been fixed up, it is still a grand structure, full of character as it rises above the court house square.
My muse on this evening’s  walk was the idea of the dome, it’s place in history and in the fabric of the community it serves.

One Night The Moon

One Night the Moon  6x8 acrylic

Trees have taken on a special importance for me this summer. Several weeks ago our cottage up-north in Oconto county was visited by a tornado. Huge old growth trees; oaks,maples, ironwood, birch, beech and pine snapped or toppled like  dominoes in the woods surrounding us. Amazingly, our small house was mostly unscathed. But our propane tank, the drive to the house, the ravine and the forest roads nearby were severely impacted by the fallen trees. It is as if dear friends have died. This is not to say that a tree is like a Human being. It is as if a spirit , the spirit of the woods has been damaged beyond belief. We and our neighbors are in mourning. Like most intense experiences in life, this one has brought dismay and gratitude, hope and fear , and a very real sense of the beauty and fragility of life.
Buying our small bit of woods was a return to my roots. As a child, my safe place was a small park near our house and the Great Lake and forest country Up North where we rented a cabin each summer. We came out of the storm in far better shape than many. The fifty or sixty trees that went down did not take a life or destroy our house. The storm has redefined my feelings about the forest, but it did not take away my joy and awe of it.
Close to one corner of the house nine large trees went down in a tangle of trunks and branches. As we cleared most of the debris, we discovered a little stand of very small pine trees right behind the mess. They were previously hidden from us and now stand ready to reach for the new light that now can reach them. I understand that adversity can make a place even more precious. Once, I thought,  why would someone rebuild in the aftermath of a storm? The answer is clear now, somethings are worth more than they seem.
One Night the Moon is about light in the darkness of night. It is a celebration of trees.

A Window to the Past

A Window to the Past 8 x 8 acrylic on a Raymar panel

Architecture, Building, Impressionist, Historic

We took a trip back in time when we visited an old logging camp in Northeastern Wisconsin. Log buildings and rusting equipment marked by time caught my eye and inspired this painting. I have always been intrigued by windows. This one was especially mysterious and inviting. The roughly hewn logs and random lines presented me with an almost abstract study. The gray tones, warm and cool, in a very close value range made for a challenging composition and color harmony.
One “color” I try to avoid using is black. Right out of the tube it shouts it’s presence and disrupts the true dark tones nature and natural light provides. For that reason I mix my grays and dark tones with deep transparent colors. If I use black it will be just a “ touch” modified by red or green or blue.
Two mixtures that use the color black to an advantage are: white black and cadmium red ( which makes a lovely violet) and white, black and cadmium yellow ( a wonderful forest green  results). The white is just a bit!
Finding and enjoying the beauty of gray tones or  “mouse colors” will give an artist a powerful tool to add a supportive cast of players to lift the brighter tones.

Prairie Skyscrapers

Prairie Skyscrapers 8  x 8 oil on a Raymar panel

Impressionist, semi-abstraction, abstract, landscape

Where does inspiration come from? What is an artist’s point of view? How does reality play with invention? I’m not sure that I can answer each of these questions. I can share a small part of my own process toward the creation of a painted idea.
There are times when I snap photographs to remind me of a moment, a shape, or a detail that I feel might escape my memory. I rarely use photographic references to paint the photo.
I have a long history of traveling the backroads in Northeast Wisconsin. Often, I find myself  studying the old and worn structures that have a story to tell me. Growing  up in the Midwest I have always felt that it’s agricultural heritage is close at hand. Often, the tallest and most prominent architectural elements  of a community were found in it’s taverns, barns, church steeples and grain elevators. They rose like prairie “skyscrapers” across the plains and throughout the state.
The structures below caught my eye one winter day. We had been driving around the small towns of  Algoma and Kewaunee , out hunting for images and ideas.
This past week I pulled up this photograph and I let my imagination and emotions guide me to the finished painting you see here. The road to art from idea is often a bumpy one. It is a process of trial and error that always creates both discomfort and excitement.
I find that if I can let go of what I see and strive to paint what is true for me, then I have a painting that has something to say.

Blossom Time

Blossom Time 8 x 8 oil on a Raymar panel

Wisconsin,rural,landscape,architecture, impressionist

Whenever I see the exuberant blossoms of late spring I am reminded of my grandmother Adeline. The Great Depression and subsequent illnesses took an immeasurable toll from my mothers family. They lost a beautiful farm and lifestyle in rural Ozaukee county, Wisconsin. My grandparents were forced to move to the city and my grandfather traded farming for a job in a factory. Their home became a rented upper flat. I don’t believe they ever  fully recovered from that loss.
When I was  a child I  could walk to their apartment from my grade school and I often stopped in for the cookies my grandmother always kept for company.
During these visits she would take me downstairs to her garden, the strip of soil surrounding the building, and show me her flowers. Sweet William, Bleeding Hearts, Peonies and Lilacs were punctuated by the flowers from  bulbs she added each year.
It is a poignant memory, as sweet and fragrant as the blossoms she nurtured. Fragrance is a powerful trigger for memories. Recently, the scent of lilacs took me back to that small strip of land so carefully tended. And, to the farmstead that inspired a labor of longing and love.

Geraniums

Geraniums 8x 8 acrylic on a Raymar panel

This painting began with a desire to capture a feeling of summertime. I wanted to share the joy of planting and of  watching the fruits of that labor grow. The glorious color of these flowers following a long gray and rainy spell inspired me to head outside with my gear. I also felt a sense of urgency and perhaps impatience as I  recovered from hand surgery. Some of that energy found it’s way into this painting.  When I paint outside my goal is to be direct and  uncontrived.  It can be a difficult judgement call. How do I know when to stop adjusting and adding to a painting?  The truth is that often a moment will  come when a painting feels just right. One of my guiding principles ( if I am truly paying attention ) is to listen to my intuitive “voice” the one that says enough, done. Confidence can be shaken by moments like these when the purest form of expression might be judged unfinished. Often my best work is about less, rather than more.

Beech Leaves

Beech Leaves 8 x 10 acrylic (fluid acrylic markers ) on a toned panel

Every once in a while I feel like a kid with my first set of crayons. It usually happens when I discover a new art medium or a new way of expression. Recently, I noticed a friend posting lovely paintings done in acrylic markers. I immediately sensed that this could be a great tool for sketching, doodling, accenting and illustration. This week I picked up a small set and played around with them. Play is a word that gets knocked around. It suggests being childish and perhaps immature. Instead of celebrating the beginner and the child within us there is a pressure to look a certain established way. It sometimes seems that a one way only sign is posted for mid career artists and other professionals who want to explore different pathways.
I think that’s a shame. Exploration is a hallmark of creativity. It’s an intimidating  one too. When I share a work that I feel is experimental, and outside of my wheel house, I feel vulnerable.
Risk taking is a part of creating and so is failure. We tend to embrace the success of others and in this age of selfies and photoshopped lives the difficulties and discoveries that lead to success are stripped away.
Some of my best work has come from opening myself to something new. Introspection, intuition, and a new way of seeing can come from taking risks.
This little painting was fun, challenging and helped me rethink my relationship to line. It felt like writing a poem with paint. The idea for this piece came from  observing the new greens of early summer. I know that this common color hides a riot beneath, waiting for fall.

Harmony in Silver and gold

Harmony in Silver and Gold 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas

Landscape, impressionist, waterfall

Last summer we took a trip to Marquette, Michigan and on our way we took a few side trips to explore the many waterfalls that create exciting views along the Wisconsin and Michigan border. Like many of my studio paintings this one began with loose washes of color and value to suggest the movement of the falling water. It is essentially a painting of the atmosphere of a gray day. My goal was to present the feeling of being surrounded by the mist of the falls. The sound of the falling water made such a strong impression on me that I used the memory of those sounds to develop this painting to the accompaniment of bold classical music.
I often turn to poetry, to inspiring writing, to music, to artwork I admire  and to being in nature to work through my own creative efforts. Sometimes I will create a picture of a word, such as waterfall, by seeking memories of  the smell, sight and sounds of a moment that has captured my attention.
A painting process is filled with many, many decisions.  Most of these are facilitated by striving to present an edited point of view. Our art tools are color, value, composition, edges, dominance, rhythm...something, one of these elements often has to rise to the forefront to create a picture of a word.
Painting courtesy of FineLine Designs Gallery oF Ephraim, Wisconsin.

Chicken Feed

Chicken Feed, 11x14 oil on an archival panel

Landscape, figurative, barn, chickens, rural

For many years I had the great pleasure of teaching week-long art retreats at the Clearing Folk School  in northern Door County. There, the cedar scented bluff and the quaint log cabins held a promise for each and every student and instructor. One day I began a plein air painting demonstration of one of the small cabins. It turned out to be more of a talk than a painting session as I was peppered with question after question. I never finished the painting. It lingered in my studio for a long time and occasionally I’d make an attempt to finish it without much success. So, it and I sat and waited. Other paintings came and went. One day the overwhelming desire to paint the structure as I remembered it disappeared and I could paint the scene as I wanted it to be.
The little cabin became a pioneer homestead. The story-teller in me was finally at play with a sense of rural life and of course chicken’s. I’ve often heard and felt that painting “what you know” is a powerful creative tool. Imagining and embellishing “what you know” is also a means to share a feeling or emotion with a viewer. We had the great experience of living in the country for a time. There, we learned to garden, to raise chickens and sheep and to be a part of a rural community. Bits and pieces of all of that are a part of this painting.

Remember the Rain

Remember the Rain  20 x 24 oil on canvas framed

Impressionist, cityscape, larger paintings

I’m often asked “Where  is this place?”. It happens when studio or gallery visitors view a landscape or cityscape. I can see the question in a wrinkled brow and in an inquisitive eye. To my discredit, I am sometimes loathed to tell them.
More often than not my paintings are intended to convey a sense of place or an atmosphere that is quite personal. For me, the initial spark that inspires a painting creates an evolution that I am not fully in control of. A certain white hot painting zen can take over and suddenly the street, the lakefront, the land begins to reflect other times and other places that belong to a lifetime of experiences.
If I tell a collector that, it’s New York, Chicago or Ephraim, what does it matter other than to cloud the image in their minds eye?
Remember The Rain is about just that. The place is of no consequence. The details can get in the way of  things in a painted idea. Do you remember a rainy day?
Courtesy of FineLine Designs Gallery , Ephraim.

Kewaunee Welcome 2

Kewaunee Welcome  20 x 24 oil on canvas

Landscape, architecture, impressionist, larger paintings

For many, many years I made the trek between a home near Sister Bay and West Bend, Wisconsin. The weekly visits were a part of my life because my mom was in a nursing home and I both missed her and worried about her. Some of those rides were very difficult. My chosen route was to avoid the heavy traffic on the interstate highway as much as possible. I took the scenic, slower journey home. I found that the small lakeshore communities gave me a respite from stress and refreshed my spirits.
On my way north , Two Rivers, Kewaunee and Algoma welcomed me home well before I hit Sturgeon Bay. The laundry hanging in front of this old brick home in Kewaunee seemed to wave at me each time I passed by. It never failed to bring me a smile.
 Yesterday, a collector visited my studio in De Pere and immediately recognized the location and character of this subject. Everyone who has made the lakeshore shortcut has a quirky attachment to “the house with the laundry”.  One might even worry a bit if it wasn’t hanging  there.
I hope I’ve conveyed the sense of place that I feel when I drive past this home. It always makes me wonder. It seems,  that is what we all need, a little mystery, a little humor, a little acceptance and yes, wonder.

Springtime in the Green-house

Springtime  in the Green-house 8 x  8 acrylic on a cradled panel

Figurative, flowers, floral, impressionist

This is my first painting back at the easel after my recent hand surgery. It was a bit of a bumpy start, my husband had to twist open my paint tubes, but pure pleasure to begin again.
This time of year I get incredibly impatient to get out in the garden and to plant. I know, I know it’s too early here in northeast Wisconsin. So instead, we head to garden centers to get a quick floral and veggie “fix” and to plot and weave together the plans for our still imaginary beds.
Seed catalogues, bare rooted selections, the newest, brightest and best new hybrids, native plants ...the selections dance through my head.
This little painting is the result of a trip to a new (to me ) garden center “up North” in Lakewood. Marilyn of Marylin’s was a delightful guide through her many green houses where people were busy transplanting the little sprouts to larger pots while a riot of annuals called out their colors. The tones of this piece suggest the cool greens of the interior green houses, letting the complementary pinks and reds shout out. Color dominance does play a role in designing a subject. To keep the figures from dominating the composition , the vibrant reds were needed to be the fist stop in a visual walk about the painting.

Fractured Forms

Fractured  Forms  24  x 20 acrylic on canvas Framed

Abstract, Abstracted Realism, Larger Paintings

Abstract forms have always been the foundation or even the underpainting for my work. This painting began with a process of introspection. I spent some quiet time reflecting on the landscape around me. The soft Curves of a shore, hints of structures against a blue sky and calligraphic personal marks came to be in a dance between the canvas and me.
Many, many times a painting session begins with fully conscious decisions and then a mysterious thing happens. The painting begins to take on a life of it’s own. My approach to an abstract painting relies heavily on many years of landscape painting. I can’t seem to escape my roots as I expand my branches of expression. Abstracted realism is a description I use to identify this genre of my work.
The feeling I have about experimenting with painting techniques is the same as my feeling about travel , you never know what is around the bend, but you keep driving.

Heading Upstream

Heading Upstream mixed media on 140 lb cold pressed paper 8 x 8

Water-media, mixed media abstracted realism, doodle

Sometimes I feel like a wild river salmon, heading upstream. Sometimes I feel like a small goldfish navigating a current in a small pond. Sometimes, the currents seem to push me forward and sometimes back. My goal is to keep swimming.
 The stuff of life happens, both good and bad and the effects of dealing with constant change can create opportunities or roadblocks on our journey.
Occasionally I like to set aside any extraneous goal or expectation and just play with my art supplies. If I can get myself to float a bit, to be still, to stop swimming so vigorously, I am often surprised to find that something is revealed to me. The power of doing nothing is that it can unlock creativity. Boredom can be profoundly rewarded.
When I was a kid I never missed a program called “The Romper Room”. A message I still recall from that program  is the admonition to be a “do-be” be not a “don’t-be”. I think a lot of my generation took that to heart. The trouble with that message is that it suggested success was only possible if we pleased others, said yes, and perhaps put aside a quieter nature.
Heading Upstream was created in moments of not doing. The imagery that happened surprised me and in a small way inspired me to swim in a different direction.

The Sunspire

The Sun Spire  20 x 20 acrylic on canvas

The Sun Spire  landscape, waterfront, impressionism

The inspiration for this painting was a brief glimpse of the brilliant orange spire of reflected light created by the sun setting over the Fox River.
For years the Fox river has been abused by human activity. In the 1990's the river was declared a super fund site, so heavily polluted that it has been undergoing  dredging treatment for the past 16 years. Slowly, slowly the river is recovering. Yet, at the same time that the water quality is improving, every walk down the river walk pathway reveals another condominium development, another cleared shoreline and more human intrusion. I find myself grieving for what once was.
Historically ,this was a fertile and vibrant natural waterway. The Voyageurs found fish, wild rice in the bay of Green Bay, thousands of migratory birds and countless fur bearing animals. Now, as in many urban areas, the river is also home to coal piles, cement plants and industrial and agricultural runoff.
 We struggle to keep  our wild spaces.  We try to "fix" our  grave mistakes. What we need to do is  to stop and consider that undeveloped natural spaces are of more importance than another cluster of densely populated homes along the river's banks.
When we walk along the fox river we may startle red-wings and a family of mallards out of the brush. We may see eagles fishing the warm and turbulent waters below the De Pere dam. We often see  families catching and keeping large numbers of catfish. During the walleye run in spring, the river is packed with fisherman who catch and release the spawning fish. Our river a tremendous resource. One that needs a fresh eye to find it's beauty and a fresh approach to save her.

After the Night always comes the Dawn

After the Night Always comes the Dawn acrylic on canvas 30x40

Morning Comes as Sure as the Night   Cityscape, abstracted realism, abstraction,

This large acrylic painting is one of the first large paintings I did last year following major surgery to replace both of my knees. I was getting used to many life changes. We had moved to a small condominium in downtown Green Bay and the new “me” was taking some effort to recover.
I turned to acrylic paints and began to experiment. I let the painting process and my own inner vision direct me. Much of the artwork I produced in those months was abstract in nature. Looking back, I see how this painting in particular was about moving on. I  created  a work that was subconsciously about now and then. The theme of the bridges just happened. Unplanned strokes led me to memories of past achievements and to new goals.
It is truly remarkable how these moments at my easel gave me both motivation and perhaps more clarity in viewing my life. I’ve always hoped that my work would appear open to the viewer, with that openness allowing a personal interpretation or story to emerge.
I hope that still happens with this one.

Where the Red Tree Grows

Where the Red Tree Grows  water-media, on 140 pound cold pressed paper

Where The Red Tree Grows  water-media on cold pressed 140 lb paper

I began my art career as a watercolorist. As my work developed I changed course and spent most of my art time working in oil and pastel. However, whenever I need a little freshness “fix” I return to sketching and experimenting in water-media. This small painting is such an experiment. The natural flow of water based paints can produce subtle washes and surprising edges and tones as the paint moves on it’s own and in guided pathways.
“Where the Red Tree Grows” is a place that exists only in my imagination and on this paper. Much like the ephemerals of the forest in springtime, it is a captured moment that would be difficult for me  to repeat.
I think water-media if applied wet -in -wet is a tight rope act. The artist and the medium working together and against each other to fulfill a tenuous idea.
With a bit of hand surgery scheduled for tomorrow I anticipate that my creative efforts may return to watercolors for a while. The ease of application and clean up and the feeling of childlike pleasure it gives me will help me recover.  Life happens. Despite the artificial depictions of life as we see it shared on social media, we all become a bit more vulnerable as we age. Dealing with change (which is constant for everyone)  can be mitigated by pursuing those parts of life that give us joy. Carpe Diem.

Autumn Reflected

Autumn Reflected   8 x 8 acrylic on an archival Raymar panel

Landscape, water, lakeshore, abstract realism, abstract, impressionist

When I was a child I spent countless hours exploring the small pond near my house and the shoreline of Big Sand Lake in northern Wisconsin. A favorite pastime was to lie on pier or shoreline embankment and peer into the still and clear water. It seemed that I could see everything in those moments. The sky, the trees, and even myself were reflected back to me. The water seemed magical because with one swift push of my hand I could break the mirror like surface to find the crayfish and beautiful stones that lay just beyond my reach.
That little girl found a tremendous sense of peace and freedom in those moments. Perhaps the broken colors and brief impressions are still with me, deep inside.

Kinnickinnic Boat Yard

Kinnickinnic Boat Yard. Acrylic on a cradled panel

Seascape, boats, waterfront,

I love to paint scenes that lie behind the hustle and bustle of most city life. The Kinnickinnic River flows through the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It has a history of being a nitty gritty area, full of heavy industry, small homes and the commerce provided by the River itself.
 We used to shop for art supplies at a funky shop called Trade Winds very close to this spot. In general, the buildings there showed their years and gentrification hadn’t touched this part of the city.
Years ago I snapped a photo and yesterday I found it in my box of inspiration and I  decided to paint a memory. In reality the old buildings pictured in my photograph were beige, white, grey and were remarkably dull.  The photo greatly diminished what I had experienced and felt watching the activity of that riverfront.
I believe the job of the artist is to define the story they tell on their own terms. These simple shapes and colors are of my choice to celebrate a day near the river.

Blustery Day at Toft Point

Blustery Day at Toft Point 24x30 oil on canvas

Landscape, lakeshore, Door County, Lake Michigan, impressionist

It took me a long time to find Toft Point. I was  curious about an area of old growth cedar forest that I had read about in a nature guide. The folks at the Ridges Sanctuary in Baileys Harbor pointed me in the right direction down Ridges road and I missed the sign. At the time,  the small directional sign would occasionally disappear due to a privacy seeking, protective local.
One day I went on a painting expedition and again, I found myself at the end of the Point, not at the Toft Point. As I set up to paint, an elderly woman approached me and asked what I was doing?  Eyeing my paper towels and easel and paints she admonished me to leave the place it as I found it! Thinking that this was my opportunity to find the elusive site, I asked her where the old growth trees and trails were? She shrugged and went on her way.
Dismayed, I painted, packed up and went to my car to find a note tucked near my window. There, were the exact directions to Toft Point and these words: “ Missy, I watched you. Thanks for packing up your gear and trash. Enjoy the trails.”
After this invitation to share a special and sensitive spot, My family and I returned many times each year to walk next to the waters edge, to relish the old cedars and the remarkable remnants of  the Toft family’s life.
I understand the woman’s desire to protect and shelter this special place. But if more people would take the time to be in a forest, I think we would have a better world.
The natural world heals, astounds and reminds me how small I am in both time and place. The dark rocks and sometimes wild waves will be here long after I am gone. When the ways of humanity seem overwhelmingly selfish and chaotic, peace, harmony, and wildness prevails within moments on a trail where ancient gnarled cedars and tall pines speak in the wind.

Winter Tree

Winter Tree 9x12 oil on an archival gessoed canvas board

Landscape, tree, forest, impressionist, mood, atmospheric

This time of year, before the forest giants are adorned with their cloak of green, the true personality of each tree stands out. It is possible to paint a portrait of a tree in these quiet days before the riot of summer conceals their branches. I painted this piece as a sort of a hymn, a natural meditation on the wonder of nature and the fragility of nature.
The “arms” of this tree seemed to both reach out and to lift up, tenuous against the sky. Subtle warm grays are the dominant color harmony with just a bit of yellow orange to highlight the blue shadows on the trunk of this tree. Artistic choices always comes into play when painting a deceptively simple subject such as this. Is my goal to paint the tree or what the tree means to me?
That is up to the viewer to decide.

Red Booms!

Red Blooms!  9 x 12 Oil Pastel on Acid Free 140 lb gessoed watercolor Paper  ( matted to 11 x 14 )

Flowers, interior, window, red, impressionist

The light provided by a window is cool and welcoming. I am often intrigued by the qualities of interior spaces, particularly by the deep tones and saturated colors found there. Oil pastels have a unique and buttery application. Holding these sticks of artist pigment remind me of days spent coloring at our kitchen table. This Easter the “bunny” gave our grandson his own small collection of crayons for toddlers. When you give a child a stick of color they almost immediately engage in the scribbles and lines they make on the paper.  I think somewhere deep inside we have an innate drive to create, to make our mark.
Whenever I see puddles of color on my palette, or sticks of pigment, I go to that childlike place of wonder and joy in the act and art of being. Watching my grandson play with color reminded me to cherish my opportunity to create with abandon.

Safe Harbor

Safe Harbor 8 x 8 Acrylic on a gessoed panel

Seascape, impressionist, ocean, waterfront, light

Whenever I approach my canvas I have to make a decision, what is my subject? Like most things in life a paintings’ subject can have many facets. It’s up to me to choose the elements that take priority. It would be easy to assume that my subject here is the boats resting at anchor for the night. But, my main idea was to portray the fleeting quality of the last light in the sky as the sun set over the water.
The “big idea” of a painting is always the driving force in making the decisions that lead to the final destination of the artwork. I know that the most important question I can ask as I approach a subject is “why?” - what is it that gets me interested?  How I share that idea comes later.
Conveying my emotional response or a mood is one of the challenges I often embrace. I hope you enjoy this peaceful  harbor.

Morning at the Cafe

Morning at The Cafe 8 x 8 acrylic on a cradled archival panel

Impressionist, figurative, interior, cafe

Every so often a brief moment in time can be captured by a photograph. Cafes are great spots to watch people interact and to enjoy observing the way interior light can highlight simple shapes and flattened forms. The trick to creating a successful painting from a photograph is to avoid using the camera as a crutch. Unlike our eye which can really only focus on one area of importance in a situation, the camera sees all in tight focus. Finding the “story” that the photograph may convey and then refining that story by eliminating extraneous details is the challenge for the artist whose creative muse is not found in photographic realism but in Impressionism.
I am an editor of reality when I paint. Everything in my original photograph took second and third place to the light which held the two diners in relief. Placing  dark against light, and light against dark values can create a rhythmic pattern to follow to a “final destination” in a painting. That’s one of many techniques that an artist may use  to direct the viewers journey in and around a work of art.

The Bridge to Spring

The Bridge to Spring 8 x 8 acrylic on an archival cradled panel

Impressionist, landscape, waterfront, nature, pond, springtime

One of our favorite local natural areas to hike is the Barkhausen Nature Preserve located in Saumico, an area adjacent to Green Bay. The preserve consists of upland forest, lake shore and wetlands. We’ve been waiting for the trails to dry out from our heavy winter snow loads and rain. In the meantime, I’ve become impatient waiting for this spring season to arrive! Yesterday we had fair sky’s and fair winds and it seemed to be the day April turned the corner toward Easter. We listened to redwings trilling their warning call in the long grasses near the water. Robins sang for love and the sun warmed the air. For the first time in a long time , the deep and rich scent of the earth brought with it a sense of promise, of green things to come!
While we hiked I snapped a few photographs and back at home I took the thoughts and sights of the day into my studio.
Nature has a way of bringing life into focus. The changing seasons provide us with bridges to cross from here to there and opportunities to linger in the present moments. The spring calls of the blackbirds may be saying , the time to rejoice is now.

The Northwoods Dream

The Northwoods Dream, 8 x 8 Acrylic on a cradled archival panel

Landscape,impressionist,color, trees, nature, dream

I originally titled this painting a Northwoods Doodle because that is the mind set I had when it was created. I started and finished the painting at our kitchen counter at the cottage up north.  It is a painting that just “happened” in moments of reflection.
For the first time in our lives we have a home in a forest. I always considered us “Sky people”. The home and studio we built in Door County was on prairie, not a tree to be had when we first started to rehab the land. The wide vista and endless Sky of our land there was a constant in our lives for 12 years. Now, how different it is to escape the city for the forest.
When I look back to my childhood it was the little city park and small woodland near my house that was my place of refuge and magical play. Since childhood, a forest has been a healing place, a place to restore and reenergize.
I don’t think one can own a forest. It owns us. In quiet moments and midst raucous bird calls and in its dark and mysterious places , the forest is a place to dream.

The Calico Barn

The Calico Barn  8 x 8 acrylic on a cradled panel

Landscape, impressionist, barn, rural, farm

Every time we head up north we pass a calico barn. The siding has been patched and repaired many times and the old building wears it’s owners history like a much loved  quilt. There was a time when I avoided painting barns. Someone once said to me that to succeed in Door County ( where I display my work) an artist needed to paint the three B’s : barns, birches, and boats. So depicting the ubiquitous Wisconsin barn seemed passé. These days, a drive in rural Wisconsin will make it very clear to the observer that our landmark barns are becoming an “endangered species”. The old barns are falling down.
I now fully appreciate the craftsmanship and community effort that these wonderful structures suggest. Our rustic and rural history lives in the beams and planks of a barn.
My hope is to see the barns preserved. As the family farm is replaced by huge corporate animal production facilities, I see not progress but destruction of family traditions and a way of life.

Spring Thaw

Spring Thaw 8 x 8 acrylic on a cradled archival panel

Landscape, weather, fog, impressionist

Last weekend we drove to a small town in northern Wisconsin from our cottage near Lakewood. Our route took us through the Nicolette National forest which is remarkable for it’s natural beauty, and watershed. The snow pack was deep and solid north of highway 64 and despite the calendar announcing springtime, the land still remembered winter. During the drive a patch of snow and the lifting fog created by the collision of warm air and cold ground caught my attention. The next morning I painted my impression and memory of the atmospheric conditions of that day. Rich color is often the hallmark of a subtle and gray day. Reaching for that idea became the motivation for this quiet painting. Today we are receiving notice once again that a “winter storm” is heading our way. Such is April in Wisconsin!

Onions!

Onions! 8x8 acrylic on a cradled panel

Stilllife, vegetables, garden, kitchen, home, impressionist

Sometimes it is the ordinary, humble parts of a day that take on a mantle of beauty and delight. I was searching for inspiration the other day. It wasn’t coming easily. So, I took a break from being a painter and became a cook. I love to cook. My daughter-in-law recently commented that I have a cookbook obsession ( she meant it in a good way ) and she is right. I am hard pressed to pass a bookstore or book aisle in a resale shop without coming home with a new book of tasteful inspiration.
While I pondered and chopped and seasoned a batch of Minestrone soup , my sprouted onions  directed me to this little onion portrait.
I am so impressed with the savory onion. It can be spicy or subtle, sweet or pungent. It finds its way into most of my favorite recipes. It plays well with others. So, my ode to onions is a reminder that beauty does lie in the heart and eye of the beholder. Bon Appetite !

Chinatown Rain

Chinatown Rain 6x6 acrylic on a gessoed panel

 Cityscape, rain, figurative, urbanlaife, landscape

It rained for several days that we recently spent at our cottage up north in northern Wisconsin.  Despite having many goals for fixing up our cottage I wanted to continue my practice of daily
( almost daily ) painting.  The moist, gray and quiet days brought the forest around us into soft focus. And as I allowed myself to reflect and rest , memories of an atmospheric day we once spent in a Chinatown  neighborhood came to me.  In my minds eye I found an image of crowded streets almost dissolving into the diffused light of an evening rain.
The shapes in this painting are intended to be as fleeting as the rain. I am more concerned about sharing an impression and a feel for a place than I am about precise city details. I think that each painting has to have it’s own rhythm and voice, to tell a story and to trigger a memory for you too.

The Farmers Market

The Farmers Market 8x8 acrylic on an archival cradled panel

Cityscape, farmers, flowers, market, impressionist, figures

We recently signed up for two raised beds at a community garden close to downtown Green Bay. These community gardens are supported by the UWExtension.  It was obvious during the sign up that  enthusiasm for gardening, springtime and hopes for the coming season were running high. Our local farmers market is a rite of summer and early fall. During the market, the streets are packed with pedestrians and vendors. It is a colorful and vibrant event that I am looking forward to. When I go to The market I shop with my eyes and camera as well as leaving with bags of produce and bouquets of flowers.
I am always struck by the diversity of the products and by the diversity of the farmers.
Green Bay has a large, vibrant Hmong community and their skill at marketing and farming is always on display in their stalls. For some of these farmers flowers, the gorgeous flowers, are their specialty.
This little daily painting a tip of my hat to the market and it’s producers. It’s also my anticipation for summer blooming with hope.

Radical Radishes

Radical Radishes 8x8 acrylic on a cradled panel

Still-life, vegetables,foodie , garden, summer, impressionist

There are times when inspiration is as close as the refrigerator. Yesterday, I felt the desire to paint one of my daily paintings and the “muse” seemed to be absent. Supper time was approaching and as the fixings for a big salad appeared on the counter so did the muse. The white and red radishes were looking perky and they spent more time in my studio than in the salad bowl. It is sometimes very easy to over-fuss with a painting.I set a goal for myself with this still life study; to give movement and life to my humble subjects. Acrylic paints can take on many paint qualities. You can apply them in flat planes or shapes, they can be vivid or subdued and, as the mediums and paints have been improved and modified, they can also be luscious in their application. Painterly paint applications of thick and thin paint are possible  with acrylic paints. It’s the brushwork that matters not the paints.

The Delicatessen

 The Delicatessen 8x8 acrylic on a cradled archival panel

I found a photograph of an old Milwaukee deli in my box of  “inspirations”. When I looked at the photograph I could almost smell the pastrami, cheeses and earthy spices that filled the market. When I was growing up we had corner markets in almost every larger neighborhood. The market owners were colorful, hard working characters who often lived above their shops. A trip to the corner market was a trip to the home country of  an immigrant family. Bratwurst, summer sausage, kraut, ring bologna, head cheese, farmers cheese...these were the items one such merchant sold, Chappie was an institution in his shop.

 In other communities the goods might be Italian, or Jewish, Middle Eastern or Soul food , they were  always a reflection of the community they served.

We are a melting pot here in America. I treasure the unique heritage and gifts that each part of that “pot” brings to our collective culture. Food, unites us and educates us. Briney pickles, sour cabbage, hot pastrami and sharp cheese in a deli sandwich is more than a good bite to eat, it’s a taste of the American immigrant experience. It’s a delicious trip around our world. 

Mending the Nets

Mending the Nets 8x8 Acrylic on a cradled archival panel

Waterfront, seascape, fishing, harbor, landscape, impressionist

For as long as I can recall, I’ve had a love affair with the small  harbor towns along the Great Lakes. Untouched and ungentrified waterfront communities are getting harder and harder to find. Over the years fishing ports such as Port Washington, Gills Rock, Baileys Harbor, Grand Marais, and many more have succumbed to real estate “improvements”. If  I’m not painting my impression of a straight landscape I tend to seek nitty gritty and behind the scene places that are authentic to the history of a community.
I’ve had the privilege of teaching several  plein air painting workshops in the quirky, touristy harbor town of Grand Marais, Minnesota. You get a feeling for the place as you drive into town and along the way see moose crossing signs! Behind the local fish shop, right on the man drag leading into  town there still is  a somewhat ramshackle fishing dock.   This is my impression of that spot. I often use the reality of a scene to tap into the feeling of the place as it might have been years ago. The essence of a place is sometimes best summed up by it’s past.

Sante Fe Suns

Sante Fe Suns, 8x8 acrylic on a cradled archival panel

Sunflowers, Southwest, landscape, flowers , historic, adobe

The grasses here are brown and our trees are bare with the slightest touch of red ( predicting the budding of springtime).  Often  the sky is the peculiar color of a March river - gray. So, this is the time of year when I get hungry for color, particularly the warm notes of summer.
Yesterday I picked over some of the photographs I keep in a shoe box. They are a motley group. I’ve used them for many workshops that are waylaid to the art studio when the weather does not cooperate during a plein air workshop. The photos aren’t particularly stunning either. But they do each hold a memory of a place or time that is etched in my mind.
This painting is a portrait of a tangled plot of sunflowers and hollyhocks that I photographed on a trip to Sante Fe. It was a behind the scene kind of spot away from the tourist traps and the overly “done’ areas along Canyon Road.  My recollection is of a brilliant day,  a warm patch of  sunshine and of a spectacular meal at a towny diner. All of this was triggered by a snap shot.

Egg Cetera!

Egg Cetera! 8x8 acrylic on an archival panel

Eggs, still life Impressionism, rural life

I have been an oil painter for most of my career. I love the mediums’ translucency and malleability. However, the linseed oil component of many oil paints and the solvents and traditional oil mediums have become irritants triggering some problems for me. So, I’ve been on a mission to find alternatives. Acylic  paints have most of the qualities I’ve been looking for. I appreciate the nontoxic mediums, the easy water clean up and the opportunities that acrylics provide in terms of layering and quick drying times. There is a “ but” though , painted hard and soft edges and transparency have been difficult characteristics of oil paint to translate to acrylics.
I’ve been experimenting with absorbent and resistant grounds, many acrylic mediums and  quite a few different manufacturers paints. This small painting has the painterly qualities that I enjoy.  For me , It is always the why of a painting that surpasses the how. So, I am learning to appreciate acrylic paints for what they are; exciting, frustrating at times, graphic, and often sensitive.
The subject of this daily painting came in a quiet moment,when I was thinking about Easter and the new grandchild that we will be welcoming this summer. It’s a celebration and a tribute to life.

The Music of Spring

The Music of Spring

Landscape, Impressionist, winter , snow, water,

We recently spent a few days “north of Highway 64” at our small up north cottage. The amount of snow remaining was a huge surprise. The spring melt brought the sound of running, dripping and splashing water everywhere. When we drove into town for supplies we explored the countryside in the state forest.  I admired the small openings in the woods where ephemeral streams gurgled and flowed midst the slushy banks of snow. I took a photo and stored the image in my minds eye for another day.
Whenever I work from a photograph as a reference for a painting I use it for basic shapes and values. Then, when my subject is loosely blocked in, I put the photo away. The photograph is nothing more than a starting point, it’s the idea that matters. Here’s to Spring!