Stable horses

Another plein air event participant and I found a nearby stable to visit for possible painting time. I ended up doing three there. I did this sketch in a little under an hour. The horses moved of course. But I quickly roughed in the pose and then with multiple horses nearby, I could look around and find another in a similar position for reference. I'll post the others later.

Oil, 7" x 10"

Another pond view

At the same spot as the "Best seats" painting I couldn't resist trying my hand at these. Now I need to work on a studio version of this pond.

Lily pads, oil, 12" x 16"

Evening farm

A small study, late afternoon start, out in a field looking west. Kept expecting to see deer pass by, but I guess I wasn't there quite long enough. As Kevin Macpherson always emphasizes, doing lots of these little ones is great practice.

Oil, 6" x 8"

Cedarburg Plein Air

I had a great three days in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, at their 11th annual plein air event. It continues this week, but I needed to get home so I did two days of painting in the area designated around town and then Saturday, participated in the "quick paint."

This was my fourth year so I know the area pretty well. I have driven a lot of the local streets and county roads there looking for painting locations that did something for me. I was happy that they expanded the map this year so I explored the new area first. When I saw this little wetland from the car I knew I'd found my spot. I looked at a few angles and then approached the landowner for permission. She told me they had created the pond six years ago from what was farmland. It looked so natural like it'd been there forever. When she saw what I had chosen to paint, she said "we call that our 'best seat in the house.'" A good title I thought.


Best seat in the house, oil, 12" x 16" SOLD

Colors in the sand

I finished-up this last one from my trip to Michigan. I took a little too long while there and lost the light. Without over analyzing it, I love all the different colors you can see in sand. Especially the blue reflected from the sky. Oil, 11" x 14"

Off tomorrow to paint in the Cedarburg Plein Air event. Historic little town in the picturesque countryside of Wisconsin. Lots of subject possibilities.

Two from up north

Had mixed weather on my trip a couple of weeks ago. Got three paintings going, mostly finished, but had to stop for one reason or another so I've just gotten around to some touch-up in the studio. This first one was after the rain let up, on a wet, foggy day. I wish I'd had time to do something larger by the shore to take advantage of the atmosphere. But with the day waning, I was happy with this spot I found up in the hills above Portage Lake. For those who've been there, that's the Portage Point Inn faintly showing in the center across the lake.

Pines above the lake, oil, 8" x 10"

This one was done with a little better weather at Lake Michigan.

Afternoon shore, oil, 6" x 8"