Sunny then Cloudy then Sunny!!! (Kewaskum)

Through the Wild Honeysuckle
20x16 oil $550 Framed

This Friday evening and Saturday was the first 2012 Plein Air competition in Wisconsin. Held in Beautiful Kewaskum WI we had beautiful weather on Friday and very overcast skies on Saturday for this 2 day event. As is my habit, I got there early. I like to get one or two pieces that I consider "frame-able" in quickly and then take more time to really find something I want to paint. This kind of takes some pressure off for me. I set up on Friday just after four and began to paint the river which was beginning to light up with a strong evening sun. All things were very green which is a challenge for painters! "Evening Walk" was my first effort.

Evening Walk
12x12 oil $350 framed

Then, as I was watching, the sun seemed to light up the willow across the river  from within like a lantern. In a race with time I began to paint it. "Willow" is what resulted done in heavy palette knife and broken color all in less than an hour.

Willow
9x12 oil $250 Framed

I met a friend for dinner and drove the hour home thinking I would sleep in a little in the morning so as to be fresh and perhaps miss the early morning rain that was forecast. And so I arrived in town around 10am and began the "hunt" for the next painting. The light situation was so different than the night before that all of the spots I had scoped out no longer attracted me. I drove for an hour with the internal clock ticking loudly. I needed to turn in my work by 2! Finally around eleven I found this beautiful farm all wrapped in an opalescent sky and peeking through some honeysuckle bushes.I set up as quickly as I could and began painting...fast! "Through the Wild Honeysuckle" was the result. I liked it enough to enter it instead of Evening Walk and guess what??? I won my second award of the season for it!! A judges merit award! 

All these pieces are currently available so let me know if you would like one!