Fall Art Tour

I am very excited to be a part of the fall art tour for 2011. I will be hosting the event on our family farm on Schneider Road. Being a part of the tour has been a long term goal of mine as it is a very well respected and attended event. The thing that I like most about the tour is the professionalism of everyone involved as well being welcomed into a community of the area's best artists.

This year's brochure looks great, and the website will be up soon

Being a part of the tour has also lead my work to be represented by the Cornerstone Gallery which is the Baraboo headquarters for the tour. I have a collection of paintings down there now and am getting ready to stock more there as well as the Blue Heron in Reedsburg.

More about the tour, from last years website:

The third full weekend each October, some of Wisconsin's best-known artisans open their studios, allowing visitors a unique, behind-the-scenes view into how their work is created. Known as the Fall Art Tour, each year it draws visitors from all over the country to artists' studios tucked away in the scenic hills in and around Wisconsin's art communities of Baraboo, Spring Green, Dodgeville, and Mineral Point. During the three-day tour, artists will be in their studios, demonstrating and selling their work.

Many of these studios are open only for this event, providing a unique opportunity to meet the artists and purchase their work. So join us on a drive through the autumn countryside during this once-a-year event that includes a rare glimpse into the restored breweries, one-room schoolhouses, and historic storefronts where some of Wisconsin's best-known artists work.

Finally, a painting.

Fish Pond Valley, March. 18x24" oil on canvas.

Late Winter

Spring is finally here... well it is pretty close! The daffodils are up in my front lawn and there are even some buds on the trees. I cannot wait to get out there to paint the flowering trees that should be in bloom in a couple of weeks. This winter, I was painting in the studio quite a bit, and it was my first year doing so. When I look at these landscape pieces, which were painted outdoors, I see more deliberate attention to edges which must have happened because of the studio sessions. Another thing I have been working towards is designing the paintings by stating the major masses and not changing the tone too much when working into each area. While it is a fundamental idea, one I have been turned onto it for some time, it always takes a whole lot of painting to actually work it into the pieces. For me at least. I enjoy the luxary of being able to look at the subject for an extended period of time in the studio, but when it comes down to it, my first love will always be grasping the essentials and working alla prima. I guess painting in Wisconsin is perfect, half of the year is great outdoors and the studio is inviting for the colder months. It wouldn't be any fun if we had it all figured out! Hazy Farm. 16x20" oil on canvas.

The Grainery. 11x14" oil on linen

The Yellow House, not Vincent's. 8x10" oil on canvas.

On the "DL". 11x14" oil on linen.

House shadows. 8x10" oil on canvas.

Please leave a comment, and I have some big news coming in a post later this week.

Painting in the Studio

My wife and I bought our house in 2007, before I started painting. There is an outbuilding in the backyard that is about 12'x20' with a little woodburning stove. This year I have been taking advantage of some indoor painting time back there, especially when it is below 15 degrees. I'm enjoying painting things that are different for me.

Studio Window 11"x15"

Windowlit Conch Shell 9"x12"

Cloudy day conch shell 11"x14"

Thanks for stopping by, and please leave a comment.

The first of winter

This has been a great winter. Plenty of snow sunshine and skiing. My schedule has opened up, because the semester is over, and instead of just school painting and work I can reintroduce some of my other favorite activities.

In the winter it is hard to paint in the country, because one cannot pull their car onto the shoulder and work. We had a very warm and rainy day that melted much of our snow, which lead to being able to work.


oil on canvas 16 x 20 inches.

This is just down the street from my house, the parking lot for the Farmers Station. I was really interested in the shaded foreground playing against the sunlit house. Of course this did not last long and haze moved in changing the effect. I'm watching the weather for a morning that is guaranteed to be sunny (is there such a thing?) and would like to return with a larger canvas.

oil on canvas 11 x 14 inches.

Thanks for stopping in, and stay warm out there!

Downtown - LK Design Studio.

Happy holidays everyone. This is a painting of my favorite storefronts downtown, LK Design Studio on a sunny and cold afternoon.

12"x16"

October Field

Here is something I worked on over the weekend. My reference was a (subjectively) not so good plein air piece painted in October. I thought there was something working with the composition and with the afternoon color (well, trust me this pic is BAD!).
Working from reference material is very new to me and I'm very pleased to have something to lead me with color choices. It's so helpful to have the colors layed down so that you have some idea of what is going on. Another challenge is brushwork, but it alsways seems good to stick to the big masses and break it down from there. When I was going crazy with the impastos, for instance last autumn, it was much more difficult to work in this way.

20"x24" (better color photo coming soon)

Pics from the Bird

Here are pictures of some of my work hanging right now at the Blue Heron in Reedsburg.


Here is a last minute piece, it's the view from the art room at Boo-U looking south.


24x30's


Everybody loved the cows!


A fragment of a forrest interior next to the Queen Anne's lace piece.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by over the weekend! These pieces will be up through Christmas.

Have you HERD?

I will be hanging new work at the Blue Heron the day after Thanksgiving.
These past weeks have been event filled, feeling things out, finalizing what will go up and ordering frames. This autumn I have been working a bit differently by taking pieces done in the open to the studio, and these works reflect that. I am very excited to finish up the framing so that I can get back to working outdoors every day. The transition from late Fall to Winter is beautiful.
Please stop by to see the work and say hello on Sunday November 28th from noon until 2pm.

New Work at the Blue Heron - Coming Soon

Thanksgiving is coming soon. I will have some new pieces up in the Blue Heron during the weekend after Thanksgiving, and I will be in the store to talk about the new work on Sunday November 28th from Noon until 2pm.

Here is a piece painted just before the wind took the sugar maple leaves.


12"x16".

My Neighborhood

I think I live in the best neighborhood in Reedsburg. My neighbors are great. Last weekend Jenny and I were attempting to rake our leaves and the Coopers came out and lent us a rake, their big tarp to pile the leaves on and even their mulcher. Jenny raked the leaves as much as she could, and then I'd come around with the mower and clean it up, sort of like brushing oil primer onto a canvas. Then, we had a big outdoor block party on Haloween, Willard Gant fried up some fish and we also had plenty of other good food (think 5 pies!).
This autumn, I was set up around Vine st. whenever I could. It's a good feeling, and really a dream to paint.

14"x14"


12"x9"


"There has never been a greater need for peaceful enjoyment, for a chance to refresh ones soul and spirit. Our age is in desperate need of faith in man and evidence that life is worth living"
-Henry Hensche

The Autumn Painting Struggle

Autumn is a special time.
So special that I have felt the need to push further, to try new things.
While I have not posted any work lately, the struggle part of experimenting being felt, I have been painting every day. In late September I drove from Reedsburg to Baraboo through North Freedom. This ride was so intense and filled with the different moods and feelings of autumn that I decided it would be of more value to paint several pieces in a day instead of one. The goal of doing this would be that it would be possible to use these as reference material for some studio work.
Now, reflecting on this idea, I don't know if it worked, but it seems that it has been of value to growth. Part of the growth being simply in the act of pushing and trying for something else, if we always know what we are doing the results are not a step forward.
I painted in several ways. Sometimes, trying for accurate color up front as in these pieces, time being the reason for attempting accuracy at the start.

8"x6"

12"x16"
At other times, the building up of masses was more important, often starting with a warm massing and painting cooler on top to attempt color vibration.

12"x16"

16"x12"

Another consideration of these paintings is that several of the pieces are small. While it may have saved a bit of time, there were several instances where a larger canvas could have helped. I enjoy the gesture of a larger canvas as well as the way you can divide the masses more easily.

"The quality of the blue used, it's refinement reveals the stage of development of the artist making it. He begins with flat masses and modifies it as he makes comparisons and adjustments with the other masses of color, recording his light scheme. The big masses are most important, and those he improves as much as he is able before making variations within an area"
- Henry Hensche

Well, the color is mostly gone now, Jenny and I have some raking to do. I hope to post more soon.

Kyle

September pieces.

Here are a couple of recent pieces that show the diversity in weather that September provides. This really is the nicest time of year, temperatures in the 60's and your pick of cloudy days to really see the colors, or sun to paint the sparkle.
A crummy day.

24"x30" oil on canvas.

A sunny day.
This is Chris Gargan, finishing a piece that is going to be in his show for the Wisconsin Arts Board, opening next month.

6"x8"