January 2020

Plein air work:

January Orchard, 10 x 10" plein air oil on linen/birch. Sold

January 6: Painting in the orchard. Apples that were too green for harvest froze on the trees and had turned from yellow-green to a rusty red, giving a blush of color to the tangled branches.

January 20, 2020, 10 x 8" plein air oil on linen/birch.

January 20: In the midst of a very cloudy stretch of winter, a rare day of blue sky and sunshine, and no wind. I liked how the light shone on this hickory tree along a fence line. There were few tracks in the snow, but just before I began to paint, the dogs spotted a rabbit and the chase was on. The rabbit got away, and the scene had changed.

January 28, 2020, 5 x 7" plein air oil on linen/birch.

January 28: A small study on the edge of a cornfield on another cloudy evening. There was just a hint of color at the horizon to indicate the sun was setting, and the dry leaves on the corn stalks rustled in the wind.

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From mid-January to mid-February I had a solo exhibition at Saint Mary's University in Winona, Minnesota.

I showed forty paintings, mostly oils plus a small collection of watercolors, which spanned the seasons and meandered through my beloved fields and woodlands.

 I also had a couple of opportunities to speak with groups of students, while painting these small demonstration pieces. 

Demo #1, 6 x 8" oil on linen/birch.

Demo #2, 6 x 8" oil on linen/birch. Sold

Some pictures from the exhibit:

A painting from last spring, when the fields were beginning to green up and the sky foretold a spring shower. 

An April Sky, 2019, 24 x 30" oil on linen/birch.

This piece, of two distinctive bluffs along Highway 61 in Minnesota, was done over several days on location, plus more work back indoors, as I tried to catch the late light as it hit the peaks of the bluffs. The air was cool, and the leaves of the trees were only beginning to unfurl along the highway. I painted to the sounds of the spring peepers' persistent song and an occasional passing vehicle.

King's and Queen's Bluffs, 2019, 24 x 30" oil on linen/birch.

"An Early Snowfall" was worked up from a small 5 x 7" plein air piece done in early November, when a blanket of snow fell over the still green fields and leaf-clad trees of the woods. A beautiful combination of warm evening light and cold snow underfoot.

An Early Snowfall, 2019, 24 x 30" oil on linen/birch.

Done en plein air over several evenings, as I tried to capture in paint the moments just at dusk when the north sky briefly held on to the colors of sunset before fading to the grey-blue of twilight.

December Dusk, 2019, 8 x 10" plein air oil on linen/birch. Sold

This one was done in one of my favorite places in the woods. The steep hillsides were covered in snow, with the afternoon sunlight slanting through the trees and the blue shadows on a neighboring bluff visible through the branches.

Slanting Sunlight, 2019, 10 x 10" plein air oil on linen/birch. Sold

This painting was done in late October, in the pasture, the oak trees nearly at their peak for color, and the grass still green.

The Pin Oak by the Pasture, 2019, 10 x 7" plein air oil on linen/birch. Sold

Autumn in the woods:

Towards the Valley, 2019, 24 x 24" oil on linen/birch.

Gold in the Back Pasture, 2019, 24 x 24" oil on linen/birch.

A Walk Through November, 2019, 18 x 14" oil on linen/birch.

"Stille Nacht" began as a sketch one night in December as I walked home in the dusk, the afterglow of sunset lingering, and the moon rising. I knew I wanted to paint this, and did a small watercolor study as soon as I could, and then began the oil.

Stille Nacht, 2019, 18 x 24" oil on linen/birch.

The watercolor corner.

North Wind, 2020, watercolor. Sold

Edge of the Meadow, Sunset; 2020, watercolor. Sold

Home.

Home, 2020, 18 x 24" oil on linen/birch.

Another studio piece worked up from a plein air field painting, as September eased into October.

Peace.

Peace, 2019, 18 x 36" oil on linen/birch.

Wishing you peace through this time, and always.

Solo Show - Photos

 Some photos of my show that's currently hanging in the Depot Gallery in Red Wing, Minnesota. It's up through May 11, 2015 - stop by and see it if you're in the area!

Clouds and trees, plein air and studio paintings.

Portrait of the Home Place, Patchwork Fields, and Overlook.

Autumn represented by "Poplars at Dusk", "Northeast Bluffside in November", and "A Favorite Haunt".

Barn Bluff, Farm in the Fog, and Maple Leaves.

Puerto Rico corner!

Pristine and Goldenrod, Sundown, and Firewood after the Storm.

Portraits.

In the gift gallery hangs "Anvil Cloud at Sunset" and a selection of greeting cards.

All images copyright 2015 Hannah C. Heyer.

The Day the Cows went to Town

The Day the Cows Went to Town, 12 x 16", oil on linen/hardboard

Author John Gould wrote: “Heifers at large have a mind of their own – which is the same as no mind at all. No man can look at a cow and tell when she will run, where she will run, or how far she will go.” 

It was supposed to be a simple thing: driving a few heifers across the road. I stood in this field, waiting for them to be driven my way, and soaked in the view of beautiful winter sunshine, blue shadows, and red outbuildings. Soon the chase was on, the pasture snow was torn up with footprints of man and beast, and the heifers never did make it across the road- although they did run ON it for a while, making it nearly a mile to the nearest little town.

I went back another day with my sketchbook and did some scribbling of the scene, which later became this painting.

Solo Show

I'm having a show!

I've been working so hard these last months getting ready. Lots of painting, figuring out new framing sources, more painting, varnishing, framing, turning screws, twisting wire, late nights.
 On Monday I delivered my work to the Depot Gallery in Red Wing, MN, and they took it from there. The show is now hung and open to the public. Some paintings have already found news homes!
 Here are a few new pieces that are in the show:

Sprouting Grass Moon, 18 x 24", oil on linen/birch

Crib and Kitchen, 20 x 16", oil on linen/birch

Poplars at Dusk, 18 x 24", oil on linen/birch

Two off the Easel

 A couple of recent paintings:

Wind Across the Fields, 16 x 20" oil on linen/birch panel.

 Love the feeling of the wind blowing across the fields as the weather moves in from the west. A few birds take flight.

 

Anvil Cloud at Sunset, 18 x 14" oil on linen/hardboard panel.

 Crazy skies again. I saw a cloud like this one night and did some quick sketching. The sun has just disappeared, but still illuminates this towering cloud, and the lights of farms across the valley begin to show.

 

These two paintings are hanging out at the local library for awhile.

It's been a cold and snowy month, and my painting has mostly been indoors. But I have a lot to work on- a bunch of new pieces started, and a sketchbook full of potential ones.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Snow Clouds

Snow Clouds and Birches, 16 x 20" oil on linen/birch panel.

Another one drying on the easel.

 I find snow so challenging: the way it drifts, catches the light, and casts shadows, and how it can look so different depending on the light, weather, and time of day. It can be dull or dazzling. Hard and soft. I'll keep trying to get it right! 

Currently drying on my easel:

November's Last Hurrah, 16 x 20" oil on mounted linen

Walking toward home one day last fall, as the sun set, I looked across the road and knew I wanted to try to make a painting based on that moment.
The fields and pasture stretched into the distance in the fading light, with the last thin crop of hay cut and lying in narrow rows, and the trees already bare of their autumn foliage.

Blue Shadows

16 x 20" oil on mounted linen

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, it's cold. Very cold. It's mostly been too cold to even think of painting outdoors so far this winter. But I've been plugging away at some new studio paintings, including this one.

If you can claim a place just by loving it, this place is taken. I pulled out my artistic license and got rid of the real-estate signs that line the road into this former orchard, with its amazing view overlooking a wide, marshy section of the Mississippi, surrounded by bluffs. Though I rarely use photographs for my paintings, I did stop and take a reference shot one day driving past this place. (See: Weather, too cold to paint outdoors.) The shadows that day were almost impossibly blue, which my camera didn't capture, and I wanted to paint this before the memory faded.

Two New Paintings

Two new studio paintings hot off the easel:

Contour Fields, 16 x 20" oil on linen

I never tire of watching the seasons change, and this one celebrates the beautiful contours of a hill farm, the transition into autumn, and long late-afternoon shadows.

Full September Moon, 18 x 14" oil on linen

A full moon just clear of the tree tops as it ascends in the early evening.

:)

Time to Make Hay

Time to Make Hay, 14 x 18" oil on linen

I love seeing a good herd of hay bales out in a field. ;-) 

Billowing clouds above, warm sunshine, the fragrance of cut hay. 

The actual painting of this went pretty quickly, and was a lot of fun. Prior to painting I did a fairly detailed pencil sketch, followed by a watercolour study. 

I sometimes rope my farmer dad into being my technical advisor. Being out in all weather, and farming all his life, he's got a good eye for skies, and can sometimes give a good dose of reality to my rural landscapes. In this painting I ended up adding more bales than I had originally drawn because it apparently looked like a pretty sparse harvest!

Neglected Paintings

One of my goals this summer is to FINISH paintings. I have many more I want to begin, but have been holding off a little, as I try to get some of my old neglected works back onto the easel.

This one's a bit different from my usual subject. I had a few beautiful maple leaves that I brought in for my Grandma to see in the autumn, when she was no longer able to get outside. They dried and curled, their color faded but remained. I loved to see how they caught the light on their fine points and contours, and the shadows they cast.

Maple Leaves, 12x16" oil on linen

This one is closely based on the summer kitchen here on the farm. A beautiful dilapidated old building from the late 1800s. There's a hole in the roof and the floor is incredibly warped, but I love it. It was a fun place to poke around as kids, climbing carefully around the old cream separator, finding old stamps and interesting glass jars and bottles. Behind the door were stored all our shovels, rakes, and hoes, and in the bucket just inside the door was kept the small digging tools my grandpa made and painted in his signature blaze orange. On the east side grow those old fashioned, scraggly but jubilant flowers known only as "showers of gold".

Summer Kitchen, 24x18" oil on linen - work in progress

This one may be one of the longest abandoned. I think I've had this for a couple of years at least- one of those paintings started enthusiastically, which was then muddied and it's original plan forgotten. On a walk this spring, watching a somewhat stormy sky in the distance and trying to sketch in dull graphite the vibrant and changing clouds, I thought of it again and decided to drag it out and paint it over.

12 x 16" work in progress

There are a lot more in line to be worked on, but it feels great to move a few over to the completed category, and I hope to get the time to get a lot more done.

Just now I'm gearing up for this year's Plein Air Festival. Looking forward to getting out and painting like mad in and around Red Wing, Minnesota!

:)