Cedarburg: Wow Scary Start!!!

Totally pumped about getting up early and heading off to the Port Washington day for the Cedarburg event I decided to load my car the night before. As I lifted my Art Cart to put it in something in my back well, snapped! OUCH! I really didn't know how bad I hurt it till the next morning when I could hardly move. Ice all night and a handful of Ibuprofen barely touched it. I considered not going but...no...that was not going to happen. I confess...I shed a few tears on the way. It hurt to breath and I was scared.

So I decided to paint small, unload my things one light armful at a time and paint only where I could be close to the car. Here is the result:

Fishing Buddies
6x6 oil

I did it but I was totaled. I went to lunch with some good friends. Then I took a nap in my car...do I just go home or try to paint another one? I decided to try to paint again. I had been itching to paint at the Port Washington Inn, a great B+B that I had stayed at before and I knew they had a great garden! I grabbed some more Ibuprofen and decided to try again. Here: is attempt #2:

Port Washington Inn: Roses
9x12 oil

I have to pick between the two for an entry for this portion of the competition. When I was done I high tailed it back home to an awaiting ice pack and some dinner. An easy, hopefully early night was on the menu!

I woke this morning feeling still a little twitchy but somewhat human again...I am SO thankful!!! I set off to Cedarburg again hoping for the best and trying not to put too much pressure on myself. I drove around some looking for the scene that screamed "paint me" to me. Then I decided to walk around this charming historic downtown area...talk to some friends...get some coffee. That's when I found the Schroeder House. Built in 1856 it is a real beauty. I set up and decided to do a small study first:

Schroeder House
8x10 oil

I struggled some with the architecture...not my strong suit. But I loved the baskets of begonias so I got out a larger panel and focused on those!

Swingers
16x20 oil

Again it wore me out. I had lunch, nap...and painted again...but I'm not ready to share that one with you yet...talk to you tomorrow!!

Getting ready for Cedarburg: What does it take??

Tomorrow the largest and to me the most exciting open plein air competition in Wisconsin begins and I am frantically getting ready to participate!!! Not only is there some big prize money on the line but there will be so many of my artists friends coming from all over the state and even the country! Oh JOY...Not only do I get to do what I love the most but I get to do it with some of the best folks on the planet and there is potential that I might knock off a "Good one" and win a prize!  I have learned that anything can happen when painting on location and so I have developed a sort of "boy scout" (be prepared) approach to my preparations.

"Rainy Day Blue" by Wendie Thompson
Last years First Place Winner: Rivers Edge
10x8 oil Available

OK...so I am a list maker and I started this list quite a while ago. I found that what works best for me is to start the plein air season by limiting my canvas sizes to a rectangle, a square and an oblong. That way I can purchase frames in different colors in those three sizes ahead of time (gold, silver and dark). Because once you are out in the field you need, especially in quick paint, to turn your work in framed...only you don't know what it will look like yet. I have seen great pieces of art go unnoticed because of poor framing.

Here is my list:

Easel

Palette

Brushes

Palette knives

Paint tubes (I hate to run out of a favorite color when painting so I bring extra)

Paper towels

Turp jar and extra Gamsol

Medium (I have been using Walnut oil)

Umbrella ( I have two: a Shade Buddy which sticks in the ground and one that attaches to my easel)

Canvas panels: For an 8 day paint event like Cedarburg I will bring about 30

Trash bags

Bug spray: I have been using those great Off clip ons!

Sunscreen

Hat!!

Fold-able raincoat

Two small tarps in case I need some extra rain protection

Clamps

Apron and a warmer paint shirt and I keep an old lightweight sweater in the bottom of my cart

Gallon size freezer zip lock bags...Every thing goes in these as organizers esp. liquids!!!

Frames as needed

Camera and batteries

Wet painting carriers

Water: I keep a case in the back of my car

Coffee: I love Starbucks Double shots!!!

My ARtComber cart...I love this thing!!

Lawn chair

I'm probably forgetting something but all of this goes in my car. Most of it fits in my ArtComber Cart that has great big wheels. One thing I can tell you...it goes in neat but somewhere between when I leave the house and when I get back it is all over the car! :) Heaven help me!

"Selfless Abandon" by Wendie Thompson
12x16 oil
2011 Cedarburg Entry

Painting Beloit and Evansville

117 Main
12x12 oil on panel
(Evansville WI)

So much painting this week!! On the 31st of May the Beloit Plein Air Competition began with work being turned in on Thursday June 7th. I painted 2 days as it is an hour and a half drive for me! This year we were allowed to paint on the whole Beloit College campus. What a beautiful place! I was drawn to the corner of the Campus called the "Poetry Garden" over and over again. Then one evening the dam on the Rock River grabbed my attention. Here are my results!

"Entrance to the Past"
20x16 oil on panel
(Beloit College, Beloit)

SOLD
"Silent Verse"
20x16 oil on panel
(Beloit College, Beloit)

"Taming the Wild"
12x9 oil on panel
(Beloit)

I painted a studio piece of my friend Carolyn walking through the Peonies in Green Lake:

"Carolyn in the Poenies"
20x10 oil on panel
(Studio) 

Then I spent a morning painting with my friend Marcia in her amazing flower garden:

"Marcia's Roses"
9x12 oil on panel
(Milwaukee)

And an afternoon painting with my friend Gail near my home in Ashppun: 

"Farm on Davidson
12x12 oil on panel
(Ashippun)

And finally I painted in the most delightful small town called Evansville WI... Magical!!! (See first photo...117 Main)

All works are available!!!!

Next up CEDARBURG!!!!

Green lake 2012...Another Award!!! Wow!

Sherry's Poppies and Peonies
12x12 oil
$400 framed

Forecast upper 90's got me leaving the house early for my 1 1/2 trip up to Green lake today for their 2nd Plein Air day! So my friend Carolyn Larkin meet me at 7am and off we went! I painted there last year but we had rain most of the day so of course all looked very different! We arrived around 9, checked in and then drove around hunting just the right spot!! We hoped to find something that would free us from a very green landscape. We found it!! But no one answered the door to give us permission to paint. What to do???? We drove into town, got a bite to eat etc...then back and when we got there the car was gone. So we set up and started painting hoping not to offend!

Garden on Hwy T, Green Lake, WI

I decided to do a quick 15 minute study of color, composition and value to work out the issues before I painted a larger piece...Here is my 8x8 study:

Study Poppies and Peonies
8x8 oil $125 (No Frame)

Right after that I set up to do the same scene 12x12...it was already getting really hot outside and I didn't know how long I would last! I laid in block of color very fast till the whole panel was covered.  Then I got out my trusty palette knife and worked out the rest! "Sherry's Poppies and Peonies" is the result.  Guess what... I got a People's Choice award!!!  That makes 3 awards for the season...I'm a happy camper!!

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!

2012 New Harmony: First Brush of Spring!!! (I got an award!!!)

Wow...I am soooo far behind on my own blog. Over the next week or so I will attempt to catch up!

In Mid-April for the 7th year I attended the Indiana Plein Air Painters Association's Spring event titled First Brush of Spring held in New Harmony Indiana. This year was an AMAZING experience!!!  As is our habit we arrived the Friday before to spend some family time with my husbands family who live in the area. We found my mother-in-law, who I love, doing quite poorly and I wondered if I would be able to participate in the event at all. It was a "one day at a time" proposition but as it turned out I was able to participate! I am thanking God for her recovery!

Almost a year ago I had signed up to take a four day workshop that I has wanted to take for years with master artist C.w.Mundy!! In my opinion you can learn painting via workshops with renowned artists who are graciously willing to share what they know. C.w. is an impressionist which probably fits my style more that anything else and so I was excited to learn from him.

C.w. Mundy

On the first day of the workshop we were indoors for a full, and I mean FULL, day of lecture where he walked us through his "7 Foundational Truths of Painting"...Drawing, Squinting, Design, Value, Color, Edges, and Paint Manipulation. I had light bulbs going off everywhere!

Day two-four we set up in the most beautiful place!! New Harmony has a peony farm...acres of peonies! With the early spring for the fist time when I was there they were blooming!!! Magic! C.w. did a small demo in the morning and then in the afternoon we painted. The assignment was to take a 20x16 surface and divide it into 4 8x10 sections. Then we had 15 minutes to do a value study in one of the sections of the same view that C.w. had just demoed. Then he critiqued each and every one of ours (I think over 20 of us). Then we did a second and again critique. In the morning we did two more so that we had four value studies one one surface.

Four 8x10 value studies by Wendie Thompson

We broke for lunch and when we came back we were to do a 16x20 painting of the same scene...we had one hour...timed...not kidding!! Then critiqued again each and every one! These were very valuable lessens for me!!

Beyond the Peonies 20x16 by Wendie Thompson

The forth day was Thursday which is when the competition began so I got up very early and got my canvases stamped and got out to the peony field and started painting. I had about an hour and a half before class began to paint.

Miss Jane's Peonies 12x9 by Wendie Thompson

When class began C.w did another demo. Because it was also a competition day we had the option to paint or listen/watch...he did not comment on our work this day at all! I watched and listened to him in his process as he thought through everything before he applied paint to his panel...amazing!

I was sitting with a bed of Iris' between him and I which were somewhat distracting in their sheer beauty...so at lunch I painted them:

From Glory to Glory 10x20 by Wendie Thompson

After lunch C.w. talked to us about  his personal story (He is a deeply Christian man who seeks the Lord's will in everything he does.) and then the business of art. I gained many helpful insights and was greatly encouraged in both my art and in my personal walk with God!

BONUS!!! I won an Artists Merit award for Miss Jane's Peonies!!!

Sorry this was so long but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm sure it will take me most of the year to fully integrate everything I learned...let the journey begin!!!

Faces, faces and more faces!

I have always been fascinated by faces. The smallest shift of muscle under skin revealing completely differing attitude or emotion...often a fleeting fluid shift. A communique from within...then gone. Faces are providing an endless source of education for me both as an artist and as a communicator...I love them! All are framed. Contact me for availability!

Dance of the Open Hand
9x12 oil
$325 framed

Feather in her Hat
12x12 oil
$425 framed

Red
12x12 oil
$425 oil

Red Shawl
12x12 oil
$425 framed

Whatcha Lookin At?
12x12 oil
$425 framed

It's Been a Good Day
12x12 oil
$425 framed Currently at the Schauer Center for the Arts, Hartford WI

The Wizard
12x12 oil
$425 framed