imagekind.com

Morning Shadows, my Lake Michigan shore painting from last year, is now available as a print. Imagekind.com is an online art gallery where you can order fine art prints of artwork from artists around the world. I supplied them with a high-resolution digital image of the painting and they print on paper or canvas the size you chose (for paper quality, I'd recommend Somerset Velvet or higher). You can order just a print or they will mat and frame it for you. I plan on offering additional images soon. If you search my name at Imagekind, it will take take you to my gallery.

Peachy

I haven't had a chance to post any paintings lately because I have been busy with both design and illustration projects. One of the assignments I'm working on now is illustrations of fruit for the packaging of individual serving fruit cups. It can be both satisfying and frustrating working really tight for an illustration versus the more impressionistic painting I like to do. Here are samples of both. One peach just for fun and one for the package.

A path in the dune

I completed this painting about a month ago and it's now being shown in an exhibit Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago is having. The theme of the show is "Through suffering to hope." I was thinking metaphorically of a path to healing. I worked from photos taken last year when I visited P.J. Hoffmaster state park in Michigan.
Oil, 20" x 16"

Apple time

It seems like it's been a long wait, but new crop apples are finally in the stores. I think the last time I painted apples was about 30 years ago in college. So as long as I was buying them to eat, I thought I take a stab at them again.













Oil, 10" x 8"

West side morning

I just found time to finish up this one I started on Oahu last month. I did it standing out on some rocks in Ko Olina looking North first thing in the morning. I had just gotten started when a squall blew through. I found shelter under some trees for a few minutes then the sun was back and a rainbow appeared over the ocean. A little slice of heaven for me.
Oil, 10" x 14"

Oahu

My family and I just returned from our end of summer trip to Oahu.
We stayed on the West side at Ko Olina plus a few nights on Waikiki Beach. I had time for a few little paintings. These two are from the
Ko Olina area. I did a couple of other studies and along with lots of photos, hope to do some studio painting over the cold winter months at home.












Quiet Lagoon
Oil on panel, 10" x 8"


















Late afternoon light
Oil on panel, 8" x 10"

River Street Gallery

I'm happy to announce that I am now being represented by River Street Gallery in Manistee, Michigan.

A historic, port city, Manistee is located where the Manistee River meets Lake Michigan. I've spent time in the Manistee, Onekama part of West Michigan every summer for the last 40 years. As a camper and later, on staff at a camp on Portage Lake, the area is an important part of my life. It seems an appropriate place for my first gallery representation. Over the past few years, many of my plein air pieces were painted in the area and I look forward to painting many more.
















Hazy afternoon, Lake Michigan
Oil, 8" x 10"

Backyard day lilies

I love the common, orange day lily. In Chicago you see them growing in alleys. In Michigan they grow along country roads. These are the last from our backyard. No new buds, the stems are turning brown, a sad sign that summer is waning.













Oil, 10" x 8"

Two from Michigan

My favorite summer place to paint, I'm hoping for multiple trips to Michigan this year. Here are two paintings from the first week of July when I was there.










From Portage Point, at the channel between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan, this is looking North.
Approaching dusk, oil, 8" x 16"













Hay bales in the morning, oil, 8" x 12"

Cedarburg Plein Air

I'm just back from Wisconsin where I participated in the Cedarburg Plein Air event. More than 120 artists painted during the week-long event in and around Cedarburg, an historic mill town dating from the mid-eighteen hundreds. Here are two of my paintings.


Just North of town is Wisconsin's last remaining covered bridge on Cedar creek. Oil, 11" x 14"


In one of the city parks I found this willow next to a pond. Oil, 8" x 10"

Lake Forest Paint-out

Last week the Plein Air Painters of Chicago joined the Deerpath Art League for a paint-out in Lake Forest. They had five locations chosen including Market Square in the downtown area where the Saturday Farmer's market was taking place. I painted the train station for the morning, a painting that still needs work. Then I went to the Middlefork Savanna Forest Preserve to the West of town. It's a beautiful, open preserve of grass, wetlands and forest.


Middlefork Savanna, oil, 10" x 8"

Mangos

I've always loved the colors of mangos. From red to green to yellow. And they're from the tropics, which is something else I love.
Oil on canvas panel, 6" x 8"

At the beach... again

Raymar Artist Supply makes a good quality canvas panel that I have been using. They also have an on-going art competition for paintings done on their panels. I submitted this painting I did of my son and it was chosen as a finalist for March. Each month a judge selects twelve paintings from those submitted that month as finalists. At the end of the year the top twelve for the year will be chosen for awards and a printed calendar. See the finalists here at Raymar along with the judge's critque.

Hibiscus

In keeping with my plan to get as much practice as I can with small sketches, I had a chance to do a couple while on Spring Break in Florida. Warm weather and tropical locations are my best inspiration. Oil, 8" x 6"

Small paintings

Kevin Macpherson is one of today's best know plein air painters. He's also a highly sought after instructor and author. I had the chance to meet him on my recent trip where he was the Special Guest of the Maui Plein AIr Invitational and along with Jean Stearn, director of the Irvine Museum, gave a lecture on plein air and his "Pond" series paintings. Over the course of five years he did one painting for everyday of the year of the pond next to his house.

In his books he recommends doing one hundred small quick paintings for practice, working daily for an hour and numbering them to track progress. I'm committing to trying this and just bought one hundred small canvas panels.

Here's a start. Though I admit I spent too much time one this, more like two hours instead of one. The challenge is working fast and knowing when to quit.

This is a view of the West Maui mountains done from photos I took while there. Oil, 8" x 10"

Puamana

This was done in a couple hours one morning at little Puamana Park looking North toward Lahaina. I'd like to re-do this as a larger studio painting. Oil, 9" x 12"

A cottage in paradise

I started a couple of paintings last week on Maui that I didn't have time to finish there. Yesterday I took a few hours to finish this one. This cottage is just South of Lahaina with a spectacular view West to Lanai. In the distance is the island of Molokai. Oil, 12" x 14"

Canoe

In Lahaina there is a small historical park just South of the harbor. They have replicas of some large, ocean-going Polynesian outrigger canoes and this small one on the beach. The group of plein air painters gathered here a couple of days ago and had a model posed with the canoe. I took picture of her to work up something at home, then I came back yesterday and did this painting. Oil, 16" x 10"

Live from Maui

I'm back on Maui attending the "Maui Plein Air Painters Invitational." I wasn't "invited," but came to watch, be inspired and paint every day. Everywhere you look here there's something just waiting to be painted. I went to Baldwin Beach on the North shore to do this one. Oil, 16" x 10"

Big Island Palms

One of my favorite artists to look to for inspiration is Hawaii painter Darrell Hill. His impressionistic landscapes are colorful and exciting. This scene is one he's painted several times. Working from a photo of the same location, I did this in my studio for practice.

Sarah

A drawing I did a couple of years ago.