Forrest and Interior

16x16"




16x16"


Here are a couple of pieces from around my farm. Painting inside the forest is a pretty good challenge. The light can move quickly and change the pattern of light and dark dramatically during a painting session. I like trying to capture this fleeting quality.
The interior is my dad's tool bench, in a shed at the farm. We haven't gotten around to cleaning it up, I sort of like leaving it that way, just how he left it. There are some leaves growing inside that came through a gap between the wall and the window. It seems as if the entire space is covered in a film of grease. Anyone who has seen my studio can see where I got my sense of organization from.

Second Half of October

16x20"

Autumn played some tricks this year. We had a frost in September that turned many trees brown. It seemed as if the colors were going to be subdued this year, compared to last years explosion of chroma. In the second half of October, the reds and yellows popped and I'm glad they did. This is a street in my neighborhood from a week ago. It was a overcast and rainy day, but the sun came out for two hours and I immediately set up my easel, stopping as the sun went away. I think I made the right decision.

Thats a wrap on the Fall Art Tour 2011

The Fall Art Tour has passed. I'm exhausted. The space that I exhibited in was a renovated chicken coop on our family farm. I'm thankful for everyone who helped, especially my mom, my wife, my aunt and sister in law who were all very involved in making the tour a success. There were over 80 paintings hung, and many less came home. Here's to a good tour, I can't wait until next year. Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Art Tour, This Weekend

 Sumac and wild grapes 4x6"

Calf Grazing 5x7"


The Fall Art Tour is finally here! This third weekend in October is always a blast and this is my first year of being a part of the fun. We have renovated our old chicken house, on the farm, into a studio. This was a huge task, and I really have my mother to thank for it. We cleaned it, removed the ceiling to open the space and whitewashed the walls. Finally, we added a chandelier. It is a well lit and clean space, and I'll have just under 80 paintings displayed for the tour. For something new, I've posted a couple of 4 color reduction prints that I'll also have available for the tour. They are both based on paintings that will be on the tour as well. Please browse the website for the tour at www.fallarttour.com for more information.

Taliesin Group Show at the Artisan Gallery

12x12" oil on linen


8x16" oil on canvas

John Ribble, Chris Gargan and I have a group show this Friday, September 16th at the Artisan Gallery in Paoli. John and Chris happen to be the subjects of the above paintings, which were both painted this summer at Taliesin and will be a part of the show.

Industrial

12x16" oil on canvas



12x16" oil on canvas

Reedsburg Independent

I have had the pleasure to work with Jeff  and Mary Seering on several projects throughout the years. In high school, Jeff would come to the art room and we would work together to create political comics for the paper. I also got the chance to work alongside Jeff, at the paper, during 2003 and 2004 as a graphic designer. One of my farvorite projects from that period was creating the characature of him for his editorial section in the paper, which still runs. Jeff is an important asset to our community, real Reedsburg man and he has always supported whatever ideas I come up with.
When he pulled up to take this photo of me painting, by the mill pond in LaValle, I wished I had a larger canvas and a haircut. Thanks for everything, Jeff!

From Summer

6x8" oil on linen




22x28" oil on canvas




12x16 oil on panel

Summer is Over - Have a Nice Day.

Have a nice day - 12x16" oil on canvas

I had a good run at summer this year, but it's coming to an end.
The summer felt like one of those endless, sunsoaked summers, like when you were a kid. This was the first summer that I took the dive into "just painting" and I owe very much to everyone who made it possible, especially my wife Jenny who believed in me enough to make it happen.

School starts today at the UW, and I'm also lucky that my schedule is going to allow me to paint everyday during the autumn. I'm fired up for the change of season and new scenery.

My Taliesin Summer part 3

11x24"
16x16"

Painting with Chris Gargan is very motivaitonal. He has much energy for paintning and he often completes large canvases in one go. The best thing about Chris, is that he forces you to think. During our painting time at Taliesin, we were constantly trying to restate what the experience meant to us, not only dealing with the facts of the place but how do we feel about it. The project of working at Taliesin was meant to be a leisurly time, for artists to do their thing and to come together at the end with some paintings. Because of Chris, wanting to make more of this time, we did make more of this time. We groped for answers and tried to experiment. One idea that sticks out in my mind is that Chris often enjoyed the fogginess of the first painting of the day, trying for the answers. He liked the exploration process and thought that after becoming warmed up, we would loose some of that. There were times where I was very enthused to be painting and times where I wanted to throw the canvas and never come back.

The first piece above was painted on Chris's birthday. This view of the midway farm marked the point in the summer where I started to pick up steam with the project. It was a hot and milky morning. During these hot days, the paint loosens up quite a bit, and when this happens I'm tempted to use some thicker strokes of color. It was the first piece that I tried out some transparent green gold, which gave the shadows some luminous qualities while still painting with thick impastos.

My Taliesin Summer part 2.

16x20"

12x12"

10x20"

Chris Gargan and I painted through some dramatic weather during our time at Taliesin. Chris stored an 10'x10' ezup tent in our studio and it enabled us to paint in both the rain and sun. The round bales piece was painted in the second half of July, we had only one morning with these bales before they were taken from the field. When we pulled up, the light was moving quickly so I tried to observe the colors of the shadowed area before they moved.

The second piece was painted on a hot and muggy afternoon, outside of the tea circle. We couldn't set the tent up at this spot, and I got nailed pretty hard with the mid afternoon light. The paint was really loose this day due to the heat and sun.

The tent saved us on the third piece shown above, and allowed us to paint under some pretty hard rains that hit at the end of the session.

Door County Plein Air

The Door County plein air festival is one of the largest events for painters in the country, and is only a few hours from my home. This was my first year participating and I had a really good time overall at the event. Dan Corey came out from Maine and we stayed at a pretty unbelievable place, the By the Bay in Fish Creek. The digs were right across the street from where the paintout happened, so there were no worries of trying to get there and park etc.

The weather on the morning of the event was pretty dramatic. There was a sliver of yellow sky below some looming storm clouds. I thought it might rain. Some artists were mixing colors on their palettes or sketching on their canvas before the horn went off to open the event, but I don't know if it helped them because the sun came out about a half hour into the paintout.

I had painted around the area the day before, and the water was much calmer. One onlooker who saw my painting from the first day, and the piece pictured above said that I dropped the ball in the contest, she liked the smooth and sunny water better than the choppy stuff that I captured in the contest. Well, opinions aside, the water was pretty choppy, and dark, that morning and I'm not out there to paint postcards.

Overall a good event. I think that for Dan and I to go out there and give our best efforts added some variety to the mix of what went on display that evening. I can't wait for next year!