Paintings From Summer 2020

Here are some of my new paintings from July. Corbin has these images posted on my online store, thanks for checking these out, and be sure to leave a comment. Enjoy!

-Kyle

P.S. I have updated the 2020 workshops tab, with a class that I will teach on painting the light key hosted by the Peninsula School of Art in Door County. Please click here for more info.

Amish Oat Shocks, Sunset Light 12x16" oil on panel Link to Online Store

After I painted the oat shocks in the afternoon, the late evening light transformed the field and distant hills into a tapestry of light and color. During painting sessions like these, where the sun is setting rapidly, I observe, mix, and paint as quickly as possible, and the result is a very active painting.

Amish Oat Shocks - Afternoon Light 12x16" Link to Online Store

I noticed these oat shocks one morning when I was driving home from painting in Richland County. These shocks are on HWY G. I have painted this field with the barn and the rolling hills in the background a couple of times before and when I saw the shocks in the field I knew that I would paint here again.

Dodgeville Golden Hour 8x10" oil on panel Link To Online Store

This is a farm, outside of Dodgeville, that I painted in the late evening, just when the last bit of light was falling onto the landscape. When I was going to college at UW-Platteville, I used to drive past this scene of a barn, hills and trees every night on the way home. It always drew my attention, and I decided to paint it on my way home from the Mineral Point plein air festival - Paint the Point. I didn't enter this piece into the plein air show, because we could only enter two pieces, but I think that I captured somethign of the late evening on that day. Sometime, I will go back to this location, and paint a larger piece, but for now, I will remember the location by this little painting.

July Farm 8x10" oil on panel Link to Online Store

This is a farm outside of North Freedom on HWY PF. A classmate of mine farms out in this neighborhood, and there is a nice selection of fields of crops and farm buildings out in this area. I painted this over a couple of evenings, focusing on the golden light transforming the colors of the barn and hills as well as the dark shadows creeping onto the soybeans. Summer has such a special quality of light, the humidity creates dirty purples and pinks in the sky at this time of evening, and I was happy to be painting it.

Midsummer Evening 6x8" oil on panel Link To Online Store - Sold

I love these summer evenings, where the sun breaks through the clouds, creating contrasts of yellows and violet clouds. I am happy to live in the country because I have a great view of the sky from my driveway. If I see a sky that I like, I don't have to go far to paint it.

Steve and Nicole's farm 16x20" - Link To Online Store - Sold

I participated in the Mineral Point -Paint the Point - plein air festival in August. With so many events cancelling this summer, it was nice to have an event to participate in. On the first day of the event, I painted 4 painting, and this was the first one. I was drawn to the light on the barn, and the fence created a nice element to the painting as well. I received the artists' choice award in the show, and it was nice to be recognized by my fellow painters.

Mineral Point International - 8x10" oil on panel Link to Online Store - Sold

This was another painting that I created in the Mineral Point - Paint the Point - plein air festival. This was the second painting that I did on the first day, after the barn shown above, and after I got back from skateboarding at the Platteville skatepark. I wasn't planning to paint this tractor, but when I say it sitting there, with the angle that it was parked at, and with the light illuminating it, I couldn't resist. My energy was up, because I had just finished skateboarding, and I was listening to jazz as I painted. This was a quick and spontaneous painting session, and those type of sessions often lead to my best paintings.

Morning Light HWY 136 8x10" oil on panel Link to Online Store

The morning haze acts veils the local colors of the distant hills in this piece. The palette of colors that I use works well to depict morning light and the high key colors that are present at that time of day.

Morning Light on Ableman Road 12x16" oil on panel Link to Online Store

I have painted this farm a handful of times, but this was the first time that I painted there in the morning. There was a peaceful calm present as I worked on this piece, and I was conscious of gradating the colors in the shadows and the trees.

Morning Light on Schneider Road 12x16" oil on panel Link to Online Store

I was walking my dog when I noticed the pleasant morning light falling onto the barn and pasture of wildflowers one morning, and decided do set up and paint it. I found a nice shadow to work under, and I enjoyed the cool July morning.

North Freedom Barn 12x16" oil on panel Link to Online Store

I was attracted to the Queen Annes Lace in front of this barn. I painted it from in front of the North Freedom elementary school, where I sometimes teach at. While I was painting, I visited with some family members who live across the street. There is just something about those July mornings.

Terrytown Golden Hour 12x16" oil on panel Link to Online Store

The late summer sun sets behind the bluffs and the combination of brilliant light and humidity creates a wonderful play of color. A long shadow is cast over the field of flowers in the foreground, and the roof of the barn shimmers in the light. 

Terrytown Twilight 6x8" oil on panel

This was painted immediately after the piece above, just as the last pieces of sunlight make their way through the summer haze and fall onto the barn. This is my favorite time of day.