Plein Air 7-30-11

8x10, oil. Plein air 7-30-11. From this afternoon. I'm not sure why I went with this scene today as it's rather blah, mid-day lighting. The field was full of Queen Anne's Lace which I liked because it helped add depth to the rather flat lighting. The sun for the most part was straight up but slightly to the left and behind me.

Door County, WI Plein Air Festival

This weekend (Thursday-Sunday) I took my family to Door County, WI for a big plein air event. It was actually a week long adventure for the featured artists there.


8x6, oil. Plein air 7-21-11. First night Door County, WI.

12x10, oil. Plein air 7-22-11. Peninsula State Park.

8x6, oil. Plein air 7-22-11, right before dusk.

8x10, oil. Plein air 7-23-11 (Door County, WI). My rock study at the dock-side quick paint competition. 2 hours start to finish and frame. A very humbling, exciting, and intense time. I rarely run into people while painting.....during this, hundreds walked by and dozens stopped to chat. Got through it and enjoyed the experience. Once in the zone it's difficult not to just paint. I felt star-struck meeting a lot of artists I look up to and it was exciting to see all their great work.

Plein Air 7-18-11

8x6, oil. Plein air 7-18-11. Gray, wet morning but super hot and humid.

Plein Air 7-11-11

12x10, oil. Plein air 7-11-11. This one was done from 8 to 8:40 pm tonight during which lighting changed dramatically. It was a race against the clock.

Plein Air 7-4-11

6x8, oil. Plein air 7-4-11. Early morning at the river with a nice fog lifting. Happy 4th!!

Plein Air 7-1-11

8x10, oil. Plein air 7-1-11. Study of a Silver Maple at the river's edge this morning.

Plein Air 6-28-11

10x8, oil. Plein air 6-28-11. This one was done at the Fox River this morning.

Yatsubusa Elm Bonsai

This is my most recently acquired tree. I'm really excited about this little fat elm.

New American Hornbeam Bonsai

Here is a collected American Hornbeam that I recently acquired this spring.

Barberry literati bonsai update

Here's some spring growth on my barberry literati. Slowly putting on the growth after a lot of root-work from early spring. Link below will take you to that early spring post prior to foliage:
http://bodyrender.blogspot.com/2011/04/barberry-literati-bonsai.html

Barberry bonsai #2 update

Here is some spring growth on one of my larger barberries. Hopefully by next year I can reduce the height by about 1/3. Here's a link to the early spring work I did on it: http://bodyrender.blogspot.com/2011/04/large-barberry-bonsai.html

Plein Air 6-17-11

6x8, oil. Plein air 6-17-11. Fox River this morning at 5:30 am near County Roads F and W.

Sketchbook 6-8-11

I tried sketching my (almost 4 year old) daughter. I tried a number of times as seen here. She looks older in the sketch but wow, is it difficult to get someone that age to sit still for more than a few seconds.

Sketchbook 6-7-11

Figure Drawing 6-7-11

Quick figure from tonight's figure drawing session.

Plein Air 6-7-11

6x8, oil. Plein air 6-7-11. Super hot and muggy early this morning. It felt like August in June.

Sketchbook 6-6-11

Sketchbook 6-5-11

Plein Air 6-5-11

8x6, oil. Plein air 6-5-11. From this morning. I spent awhile on a painting this morning that ended up getting scraped and then began a different view of a different scene. I didn't want to come back with nothing after getting up early on a Sunday.

Sketchbook 6-4-11