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.
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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