Spring - Hansa Yellow is Back

I was recently vacationing with my wife in the Bahamas. On the return flight, my camera got smashed, along with 4 paintings out of 10 or so getting smeared pretty bad.
Here is one from this spring that I grabbed a pic of when I had the chance.


Another Hawthorne quote
The whole thing hasn't the surprise of truth. Don't reason - by reason I mean don't say that I must have a cool light over this, for it gets a light from the sky. It's a sad commentary that nothing is so startling as truth to human beings - in a canvas too. Be a vital painter or they will take you to be academic.

Hey Love

In Like a Lamb...

And hopefully not, "out like a lion."
March has been a great month, several days of above freezing temperatures.

16"x20". The farmers have one hell of a mess right now. Lots of mud.


18"x24" Richland county farm. When I began painting this, the ground was spongy, by the end I was in a swimming pool.


6"x8" Clouds, I'll take 'em!

Things out of doors are very much of a silhouette-silhouettes and patterns are always vital whatever the conditions of light so long as we can see at all. On a gray day the light has a way of being a rim around things. You see the masses of light and dark and sometimes forget the tree as a whole spot in its relation to other things- after all, we must see the large spot of the tree against the sky. - Charles Hawthorne.

Baraboo

There are many opportunities for enjoyable painting sessions in Baraboo, Wisconsin. This certain scene is one of my favorites. The stacking of buildings creates an interesting layout, one that culminates with the silhouette of St. Joes church against the sky.
Golden hour, on my 29th birthday.

9"x12"

A few days later, mid morning.

9"x12" picture a bit crooked.

The next evening, from a different view.

9"x12"

It has been a long interval since my last post. I have been doing a lot of painting and observing, trying to grow while being in the middle of a demanding semester. Any time that I get to unload the french easel from the trunk feels great, a needed release. At the same time, and this is something that many can respect, is that growth does not mean finished ideas. Often times it is just the opposite, fragments that may lead in the future. At any rate, the life of an artist is a good one!

"Those things are too beautiful for use. The subject may be very beautiful, but it will only be beautiful with a veneer of the thing I was talking about-that is, it will be purely literary painting. The reason is that you have thought about it in that way-that it was a landscape. You painted it because it was beautiful, but you did not have a sense of how beautiful those shadows were, coming against the sky. True you have made the house of the correct and conventional shape, but it couldn't possibly have meant anything to you; you did not specially settle yourself to paint that scene with the conviction that it was beautiful, that it was a beautiful subject. That was yellow sunlight, these widows would be purple-true, these windows of yours are the accepted shape, but see how in Sargent's water colors you have a conviction of shadow before you notice his purple. I want you to see things from the realization that your drawing does not need to be a house. The view that you mst take is that this is a piece of God's outdoors, that this is shadow and this is light. You ought to tremble before it, and not sit down like a magician and try to make windows" - Charles Hawthorne.

Still Life

I've been working in my friend Jim's studio a day or so every week in addition to painting outdoors. The past couple sessions we have been working by window light only, observing subtle effects. It is challenging to finish one of these in one session, just like a landscape, the light is fleeting.

I have a few more pieces that I'd like to share, but the pictures don't do them justice. I will try to get better pics soon. A lot of my time has been spent doing calculus homework, I'm figuring 3 hours every day, in addition to my other classes.

"Don't let your schooling get in the way of your education" - Mark Twain.
If only it was that simple!

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. I love that people are still making good soul music.

Frozen Fog

Frozen fog giving way to sunlight.

11x14 oil on canvas.

A Weeks Worth

Hello,
















-Wade photo


Set up in the shadow of a round bale.

2010

More winter paintings!

Just outside Lloyd Wisconsin. I've been painting in Richland county lately.

18"x24" oil on canvas.

Here is a white barn that is pretty high on a hill. When the sun goes down, it gets all of the final evening light. I'd like to give this one another try.

11"x14" oil on canvas.


The Chazen Museum, in Madison, is full of surprises. They have a nice nice collection of 19th century art, including a Twachtman painting titled "Misty Landscape".

Bay and Twachtman.

Snow on the Slamwalls/urban art.




Maybe So, Maybe No?

New Boots - AM Radio

Winter is the best. It is a relaxed time of year. Time seems to open up a bit and allow one to as they please, rather than running around aimlessly.
I had plans to paint directly after my last final, but it was snowing. I decided to take cover and set up looking out of my garage to paint this tree.

9x12 oil on canvas.

Often times, a clear sky will dominate the day, only to give way to cloudy haze in the last hour of light. These make for some dramatic winter sky's...

11x14 oil on canvas.

...but sometimes, the sky's remain open, allowing golden light to dance on the subject.

11x14 oil on canvas.


9x12 oil on canvas.


I have new boots (thanks mom!) and they have opened up a new world of warm feet. When I painted this larger canvas, I was actually sweating. I spotted this view on the way to Jenny's grandparents house on Christmas, and made a note to return on a sunny day.

18x24 oil on canvas.

Snowshoein' and Paintin' - High Rock

I was up early on Saturday to meet Elliot in the Dells, for a sunrise snowshoe outing. Ever since I have known Elliot, he has been telling me about his views on the Wisconsin River, and how great they are in the winter.

Here he is, shoein' into the magically lit forest.


Eliot throwing a branch overboard, and then waiting to hear the crash 10 seconds or so later.


Paintin' Highrock.



14"x11" oil on canvas.
Thanks for takin' me out there, Elliot! I had a good time (as soon as I could feel my feet again)


Here is a view, painted a half block from my house in the passenger seat of my car. This was done on Tuesday, the day of the big blizzard. I was driving home from the grocery store, and saw the -overcast but warm- sky peeking through the branches and pulled over.

6"x8" oil on canvas.

There have been a few others since the snow, more to come soon.

Bonus, a Todd Rundgren Video:

The End of Autumn.

This is the view off of Hwy S. One needs to wear blaze orange when painting the day after Thanksgiving.

16"x18" oil on canvas.

The last Autumn Sun. A hazy Saturday a.m. A neighbor boy was surprised at how much blue I used in the barn color. "It's RED when you get up close to it," he remarked.

18"x24" oil on canvas.

Early November, lunchbreak.

8"x10" oil on canvas.

Early December.

9"x12" oil on canvas.

Here is a scene of the snow clouds roll in during sunset, the last possible chance to create a autumn painting.

9"x10.5"

Do You Remember Summer?

All this snow makes one want to revisit works created this summer.

Morning, Cows grazing. I was up early quite a bit in the late summer, chasing the intense light effect.

16"x20"

Evening, Cows grazing. Just the facts, thrown on quickly. I was experimenting with some new pigments during this one. So many of our Wisconsin landscapes looks like this, pastoral scenes with abstract patches of long grasses.

11"x14"