A Certain Old Maple

 What a beautiful day to get to go out and paint. No mittens needed!

At the high points of the fields I could walk across icy mud and stubble, it smelled of spring, but as I headed downhill the snow was still deep enough in places to walk right over one of the fences, and fall through up past my knees when I least expected it. I discovered that one of my boots has a leak.

 I chose to paint this beautiful, tumbling down, old maple tree. My siblings and cousins and I used to spend a lot of time in and around this tree, climbing, reading, eating candy, making up stupid songs, roasting hotdogs over a fire underneath, dodging cow pies as we jumped out of it. Good times.

Deep snow and a dry place to sit.

The pups think painting is terribly boring.

Finished. 10x8" oil on linen.

^_^

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.

Quick Painting in the Cold

On Wednesday, I finally got to paint my first plein air painting of this winter. It's been about 2 months since I've been out painting, and though I felt a little rusty and clumsy, and before long, freezing, it felt good to be out again. This winter has been so cold, a "normal" day felt like spring. But I wore the wrong mittens  (warm, but akin to oven mitts and I can't hold a paintbrush in them) and it really was too cold for bare hands!
 I loved the long blue shadows, and the colors of the bluffs as the sun got low in the sky. I hope for some warmer days and more painting time soon.

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.

:)

A Neighboring Barn

I don't think November days can be any nicer than today. It was so lovely and mild (no cumbersome mittens to stick my brushes through) and I'm happy I was able to get out and paint. This great old barn always catches the light so beautifully. I always see it when I'm driving past, and have been meaning to paint it for a long time.

Wolter's Barn, 9x12 oil on linen

Finished up just before sunset.

Fall Colors

 It has been a beautiful autumn, and I'm working on a few studio paintings that I hope to complete soon, while it's all still fresh in my mind! As always, fall is passing by too quickly, but I've been able to get out painting a few times and here are a couple of recent plein air paintings:

Met up with some of my favorite artists on October 27th, and did some painting in Red Wing, Minnesota. This is a view of the iconic Barn Bluff as seen from Colvill Park. Such a gorgeous day to be out!

Overlooking the Mississippi and I-90, done on a blustery November 3rd afternoon. Had to bring out the winter gear for this one!

 

And this morning I woke up to snow. :)