Tuesday, April 30, 2019

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.

Friday, April 26, 2019

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.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

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.

Monday, April 22, 2019

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.

Thursday, April 18, 2019

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.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

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.

Friday, April 12, 2019

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.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

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.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

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!

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

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 !

Monday, April 8, 2019

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.

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

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.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

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.