Painting My Way Through Life

A Painting and Yoga Holiday in Normandy, France - August 2012!!!

2012-01-03T21:46:00.009-06:00

Painting & Yoga in Normandy, France August 19-26, 2012

Picture This- the Ideal Painting Holiday

Start the day with yoga to awaken the senses, enjoy fresh baked croissants, baguettes and jam and a bowl of coffee before setting out for the day to explore the Norman countryside. Take time each day to paint what you see, what you feel, what you sense on a painting holiday with artist Marc Hanson.

We'll be touring and traveling the French country side with Chris Coleman who is a very experienced French guide. For the painting part of the trip we are hoping that the participants, experienced or not, will bring along a small scale painting supply bag. Possibly gouache, watercolor or acrylic paints and a small pad or pads of paper to paint on. The painting and the yoga is open to you whether you've never practiced either before or are an old hand at both. Instruction will be limited but as we are both teachers of our respective professions and loves, you can be sure that there will be plenty of helpful advice. If you are new to painting, or to plein air painting, don't worry, I'll be there to help you along the way to learn a new and fascinating way to record your travels. More info on the specific supplies will be available as we get closer to trip time.

Chris Coleman, an experienced yoga instructor and owner of Yoga Hus - Scandia, MN, will instruct yoga classes for people of all abilities both indoors and out (weather permitting). Chris is a seasoned (14 years) tour guide in France with Rick Steves and will guide you through her second home - la Belle France! Chris will teach you key French phrases, offer wine tasting classes, and help you avoid cultural faux pas. We will want to make your painting holiday in France a memorable one! Please join us!

Painting & Yoga Holiday in Normandy, France
A Fully Customized Tour

August 19-26, 2012
Itinerary in detail

Day 1 Sun. Aug 19 PARIS Welcome to Paris!
We will meet at the hotel at 5:00pm for a short orientation meeting over wine and snacks. We will then take a short walking through the neighborhood on our way to dinner together. Overnight in centrally located 3* hotel.

Day 2 Mon. Aug 20 HONFLEUR Monet’s house and gardens at Giverny, Honfleur
Depart Paris on private bus. Visit Giverny, Monet’s home and gardens en route to Honfleur. Painting in the afternoon. Evening yoga practice. Overnight at the Hotel Antares 3* or similar. Approximate 3 hours driving. Chris will offer a wine tasting before dinner.

Day 3 Tue Aug 21 HONFLEUR Explore and paint the countryside
Morning yoga practice. Painting time. Explore the coastal area, including the famous rock formation Etretat, and Le Havre. Overnight at the Hotel Antares 3* or similar.

Day 4 Wed Aug 22 PORT EN BESSIN Explore and paint the countryside
Morning yoga practice. Explore and paint the countryside en route to Port en Bessin. Overnight at the Mercure Omaha Beach 3* or similar

Day 5 Thu Aug 23 PORT EN BESSIN Full day touring and painting the beaches and D-Day sights
Morning yoga practice. Full day D-Day beaches tour with local guide and artist. Time for painting during the tour day. Overnight at the Mercure Omaha Beach 3* or similar

Day 6 Fri Aug 24 CHARTRES Morning tour of Abbey Mont St. Michel. Drive to Chartres
Painting opportunity along the coast. Drive towards Paris to overnight in a charming town en route. Overnight Hotellerie St. Yves or similar.

Day 7 Sat Aug 25 PARIS Visit the cathedral of Chartres. Return to Paris by train.
Last night farewell dinner together followed by painting exposition. Overnight at the Hotel Minerve 3* or similar

Day 8 Sun Aug 26 FLY B Tour over. Bon Voyage!

Small Group Pricing (up to 18 travelers Maximum)

Land Price based on 2 people in shared accommodation
$2650 PP
$550 single room supplement
$100 off price if pay by check or wire transfer
Price based on a small group size of up to 18 travelers. If the group size is limited, the tour cost may be affected.

Included Services
* Special customization and pre-departure services of Adventures Abroad
* Art guidance (not instruction) from professional artist Marc Hanson
* Minimum of five guided outdoor painting sessions
* Minimum of four yoga classes(offered outdoors weather permitting, otherwise indoors)
* Fully escorted by experienced France tour guide and certified yoga instructor Chris Coleman
* 2 nights accommodation Paris Hotel Minerve 3* or similar, bed & breakfast basis
* 2 nights accommodation Honfleur Hotel Antares 3* or similar, bed & breakfast basis
* 2 nights accommodation Port en Bessin Mercure Omaha Beach 3* or similar, bed & breakfast basis
* 1 night accommodation Chartres Hotellerie St. Yves or similar, bed & breakfast basis
* Private bus with air conditioning when traveling outside of Paris, or train
* Local site guides for guided tours as listed: D-Day Beaches Full Day tour with excellent local guide
* All entrance fees to sites, as listed: Giverny Monet’s Home and Gardens, Arromanches Memorial, Caen Memorial, Abbey Mont St. Michel
* Meals as indicated [B=Breakfast, D=Dinner] All breakfasts, 2 dinners
* Services of inbound local ground operators throughout

Not Included
* International flights
* Arrival and departure airport transfers
* Departure taxes (if applicable)
* Tips, gratuities of any kind when not doing group activities or included meals
* Alcoholic beverages and bottled drinks
* Meals not indicated above
* Extra costs for optional excursions or services on own or to be paid direct
* Travel insurance
* Yoga Mat or Painters Box/Pochade - more details to come on these necessary items to bring

ADDED BONUS:

PARIS 3-DAY TOUR EXTENSION: 16-19 August, 2012

Day 1 Thu August 16 Orientation meeting in the evening and welcome to Paris. Dinner together.
Day 2 Fri August 17 Morning yoga practice. Breakfast. Walking tour of Paris. Late afternoon tour of the Louvre museum with a local guide.
Day 3 Sat August 18 Morning yoga practice. Breakfast. Tour of the Musee d’Orsay with a local guide. Winetasting.
Day 4 Sun August 19 Breakfast. Free to explore today before the Normandy portion of the tour to Normandy begins this evening!

$895 per person, Land Price based on 2 people in shared accommodation
$225 single room supplement
$40 discount if pay by check or wire transfer

Included Services
* Special customization and pre-departure services of Adventures Abroad
* Fully escorted by experienced France tour guide and certified yoga instructor Chris Coleman
* Morning yoga classes available with Chris Coleman
* 3 nights accommodation Paris Hotel Minerve 3* or similar, bed & breakfast basis
* Guided tours as listed: tour of Paris including Orsay and Louvre Museum, with English speaking guide.
* All entrance fees to sites, as listed: Orsay Museum, Louvre museum
* Metro/bus tickets
* Meals as indicated [B=Breakfast, D=Dinner] All breakfasts, 1 dinner
* Services of inbound local ground operators throughout

Not Included
* International flights
* Arrival and departure airport transfers (arrival information will be supplied prior to the tour)
* Departure taxes (if applicable)
* Tips, gratuities of any kind when not doing group activities or included meals
* Alcoholic beverages and bottled drinks, meals not indicated above
* Extra costs for optional excursions or services on own or to be paid direct
* Travel insurance
*************************************************************************
Dear Travel Friends,

Please join us for an exploration of Normandy through the eyes of a painter and the senses of a yoga practitioner. Dates of travel will be from the 19-26 August 2012 with the optional 3-day extension in Paris from 16-19 August for $895 per person. If interested in the extension please let me know at booking.

BOOKING INSTRUCTIONS
To book your tour with us, send your passport and personal details (see below) to Christine Coleman ccoleman@privatecustomtours.com and send your deposit of US$500 per traveler. Full payments are due 60 days / 2 months prior to departure. We need the following details from ALL travelers:
i) Full name - as it appears on passport
ii) Nationality of each traveler
iii) Passport number
Place of issue
Date of issue
Date of expiry
iv) Sex of each traveler
v) Date of birth of each traveler
vi) Mailing address and phone number of each traveler
vii) Email address (note all docs are sent out be email to participants, so this is important)
viii) Telephone number

Deposit Payment by Credit Card
If you intend to pay your deposit by credit card – we will need your credit card information (name, number, expiry date, 3 digit security code). NOTE: To protect your security, please do NOT send you credit card details by email. Please call me, Christine Coleman at Tel: 651-433-3893 to give me your credit card details. If sending a check, see the Adventures Abroad address information below.

Full payments
Your full payment is due 60 days / 8 weeks prior to departure – by 19 June 2012. If you are paying by check please ensure your payment is mailed in time to arrive in our office before this deadline. If you are paying by credit card, please call in your final payment by phone – Christine Coleman at Tel: 651-433-3893 (Christine Coleman Email: ccoleman@privatecustomtours.com )

Please make all checks payable to the Adventures Abroad and mail all checks to the following address:
Attention: Christine Coleman
Adventures Abroad
12727 181 St. N.
Marine on St. Croix, MN 55047
Tel: 651-433-3893

International Flights
If you need us to arrange your international flights, please list the names of all travelers, full details of US/CAN departure city, the date of your departure, US/CAN return city and dates - and any other relevant details (class of service, meal requirements, health issues etc.) that are relevant to arranging your flights. If you have arranged your flights yourselves, please send us full details of these flights so we can set up your arrival and departure transfers.

Travel Insurance
You may wish to protect your investment by obtaining personal travel insurance. As insurance is best explained by an insurance expert. You can access an insurance expert by visiting our website where the insurers website and full contact details are listed. The insurance expert will supply all the information you will need - the following link will take you directly to the page on our website that contains all insurance contacts http://www.adventures-abroad.com/rbcins.php We recommend that you purchase insurance on the same day that you place your trip deposit. However you have up to 10 business days to purchase your travel insurance before the pre-existing conditions caveat is applicable. If you purchase your insurance 10 business days or more after making your deposit, no pre-existing medical conditions will be covered. At point of deposit, you can purchase insurance to cover just your airfare and deposit, or purchase insurance to cover yourself for the full land and air cost. Whatever your purchase at the point of deposit can be upgraded at a later date.

We look forward to making travel memories with you!

Chris and Marc

More Fall!

2011-10-16T10:05:00.005-05:00

This week I painted outside at Arcola Mills, a beautiful location on the St Croix River inbetween Marine on St Croix and Stillwater, MN that is open to the public for the month of October. Needless to say the painters are showing up to take advantage of this. I painted Monday by myself but then painted with Tony Hilscher on Tuesday and with Kami Polzin on Wednesday.

The color along the river up here is surprisingly still green. The make up of the tree population, mostly soft maples that survive the seasonal floods, has something to do with it. I'm interested in seeing if they ever do peak out or simply succumb to the season and just drop their leaves.

Yesterday I took out a new pastel rig that I plan to use for field painting to try out. It's just a shelf that I made of 1/4" ply wood that leverages on my tripod legs to hold the pastel box (a Dakota travels size box) and a board that attaches to my quick release plate for the tripod. It worked beautifully so I plan to have the dust sticks out more often now. I'll take some shots of the easel and get it on here soon.

I hope you are all enjoying the Fall... it's been an amazing one here. I'll be heading off to Fredericksburg, TX next week to help celebrate the opening of R.S.Hanna Gallery (and the wine festival of course), and then onto Scottsdale, AZ where I'll be teaching a pastel 'Field to Studio' workshop October 31- November 4 for the Scottsdale Artists' School. By the way, I think that there are probably still openings for that one if you're interested.

'ARCOLA FADING GREENS' oil - 12x12 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
This one has already been posted here but it's part of the past week so...
I like the square format and am going to do more of them. I have a couple of these 12x12's sitting in the studio now and a couple of 24x24's as well. This day I was dealing with the fall season that still looked like August or earlier. The greens were quite gray, a challenge.

'ARCOLA GLARE' oil - 9x12 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
Today Tony Hilscher and I just happened to show up at the same time to paint, so we did. As soon as I walked to the river the blast of light from the rising sun said to me... Paint that! It's a challenge that I hope to conquer some day. Was a beautiful day to paint.

'SLIVER OF LIGHT' oil - 11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
I was lucky to meet Kami here today to paint. We were both talking about the lack of color in the trees, they should have been warmer than they were. There was some cloud cover in the sky on this morning so I thought that I'd back off of my view from the day before and try to capture that overall atmosphere. This is a very simple design, it's all about the sliver of light that broke through onto the surface of the water. I grabbed that right away and am glad I did because before long the entire surface of the river was once again a bright reflection.

'BLUSTERY OCTOBER DAY' pastel - 8x10 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
Yesterday I took out the pastels. I'm going to be teaching a pastel workshop as I mentioned in a couple of weeks so I wanted to test out my new easel rig and get the groove going with the dust sticks. Good thing too... for half an hour I felt like a total newbie to pastel. I've been sloshing around oil paints with goofy brushes so much lately that it took some time to get back into the careful and controlled way of working required with the pastels. Things like not having the color you want, but remembering that I can mix colors on the surface, wipe them down, layer back over again and I may end up with something similar to what I'm looking for. My rig worked beautifully too.

Since Kansas some local Fall!

2011-10-10T15:53:00.004-05:00

Since Kansas I've been in withdrawals but have also been out either painting or photographing our own magnificent fall color. The last couple of years I've been out of the area, San Miguel de Allende and Cape Cod, each fall during the peak of the color. I don't realize what that means until winter sets in and I'm anxious to revisit Fall in the studio and am at a loss because I didn't do my homework in either paint or pics or both! It is here and gone so fast that there's always a little conflict between painting two or three paintings or painting a taste of it and then taking several hundred photos. If I had my wish, I'd never step inside with a paintbrush again... everything would be painted outside on location. But we all know the things that step inbetween wishes and reality when it comes to outdoor painting.

Like this past week... I painted the painting below "Lake View" and it was as perfectly calm and gorgeous as you can imagine a Fall day to be. That was it, that day was the one. Good thing that I painted two paintings that day... that painting and "Oak Grove"... because the following three days came with quite a wind. Gusts up to 45 mph one of those days did a number on all of the leaves that had changed over and they're down now. The beauty is still out there to be savored, but there is something about walking into the maple forest at peak and being enveloped by the veil of golden light that cannot be photographed no matter how hard you try.

Ending this, I'm happy that I was here during the peak this year. I have enough inspiration stored within me and on my flashcard to last most of the winter. I hope that you were all able to make it out into the beautiful fall that seems to be surrounding most of the country this year too.

'Lake View' - oil - 11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
I was lucky to be invited to paint on the property of some friends who live on a lake with a beautiful woodland not far from me. Everything was perfect this day, the light, the wind, and the temps. Not to mention that the Fall leaves were at peak and still all affixed to the branches! What a treat to be able to be outside at times like this it is.

'Oak Grove' - oil - 8x10 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
In the afternoon, following a lot of photographing in Wisconsin in the Interstate Park, I wandered back over into my neighborhood. There is an oak savannah near me that captures my eye every single time that I drive past it. It's on a corner of two intersecting roads that I turn onto every single time I leave town to drive south or west of here. This day the oaks were alive with color and I finally had to stop and try to grab it. I also want to paint this in winter, and will. The problem is that this is a large area of large oaks and some maples and putting that on an 8"x10" canvas hardly begins to make the statement about the impact that this location has on me visually. I hesitate to say how big the canvas for this location should be...

"Arcola Fading Greens" - oil - 12x12 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
We're lucky that one of the nicest pieces of property on the St Croix River is now open to the public for one month. This is not the case normally although many of us from the area have been able to paint it some in the past. The Minnesota State Park System is manning it with rangers and volunteers until October 30th from 9am-5pm. The turn out has been enormous from what they were telling me this morning. It would be incredible if this property became open on a regular basis. It's very special and provides a different view of the river than is available elsewhere. The color is not as advanced down in the river valley as it is along the hillsides. I guess the warmth of the water keeps things slightly delayed, and many of the trees are soft maples and they don't turn to the brilliant golds and reds of their hillside cousins the sugar and red maples. It was still a very nice morning until the sun faded away, and I met some nice folks who were there for the programs that the park provide to the public. I'll be back.

Painting in the Flint Hills of Kansas!

2011-10-07T11:50:00.004-05:00

I was lucky enough to be invited by my friend Kim Casebeer to come and paint the Flint Hills of Kansas with a group of very fine fpainters last week, September 29 - October 2, 2011. Along to paint was Cally Krallman, Phil Starke, John Potoschnick, Susan Lynn, Dick Sneary, Joseph Loganbill, Debra J. Groesser, Judith Mackey, Michael Albrechtson, Kim and yours truly. We stayed at the Flying 'W' Ranch, a working cattle and dude ranch owned and operated by Josh and Gwen Hoy. We had wonderful facilities, bunk houses and Josh is a CIA (Culinary Institute of America) trained chef so the food was amazing and welcomed each morning and evening.

We had the most unbelievably good weather, warm and no wind for the three full days we painted. Not a cloud either... we were wishing that one of those would show up to break up the pure blue sky. The color at this time of the year was rich and full of the warmer side of the palette and a treat to paint. Kansas surprised my notion of what I would find there, that being a notion that it would be flat and agricultural. There's plenty of that, but the Flint Hills contain a huge amount of woodland riparian habitat that is broken by prairie and some agriculture. It's a great combination of textures, vistas, color and elevation change for painting. There is something about the vast open landscape and a near absence of any sounds other than grasshoppers and birds that I love. I really enjoyed myself there and am going to be sure to include it as a painting location again soon.

I painted a total of 8 paintings, wiped one off. The larger piece here "Morning View of the Flint Hills", a 16x24 oil, was painted for 3 mornings for about an hour or slightly longer each session. The shadows on the hills in the distance disappeared fast as the sun rose. Being that they're about the only thing that gave definition to the landscape, I would only paint for a short period of time while they had some form shadow to them. I guess you could say that I would have painted about 11 or 12 paintings in the 3 days if I had been painting smaller each of those mornings. I'm glad that I took on this one though, and it's not that large, but painting something that is new means learning the language of the land in paint. It's an exploration and period of discovery which slows things down a little bit.

One last thing, if you go there be sure that you have good tires with a large number of plys. The non paved roads are covered in broken, crushed flint and guess what flint is really good for? Making knives and arrow or spear points. They will go through even a good new tire, we found that out with one of the painters vehicle. Driving slow on the roads is a help. For the beauty, it's worth the $13.50 that it cost our painter to have it fixed in Cottonwood Falls where the gentleman spends most of the time fixing "rock slices" in tires.

'Flying W Ranch' oil-8x10 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
This was the first painting I did when I arrived on Thursday afternoon. Parked the truck, got out the painting gear, wandered for a few minutes and then painted this one! I love this job.

'Morning View of the Flint Hills' oil-16x24 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
I spent 3+ mornings on this painting, about an hour or so per session, like I mentioned above.

'Flint Hills Autumn' oil-12x12 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
We had unbroken blue skies, which are nice, but for painting it's nice to have some clouds to play with compositionally. In this painting I waited and waited for one to appear, it didn't. Finally a jet flew over at altitude leaving a contrail for me to add to the sky. I probably would have anyway, that or a crow or three. But it's good when they help you out. This was a late morning painting, the landscape becoming quite flat by the time I painted it. I was counting on the design to help hold it together.

'Sunset on the Hills' oil-9x12 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
Josh Hoy loaded us all up in the back of The Plains Drifter, a 1956 grain truck that has had the bed converted to carry guests out into the hills on rides, and we went up to a high point to paint the end of the day. The color was astounding.

'Stock Pond' oil-11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
I painted with Michael Albrechtson and John Potoschnick one afternoon on the Magathon Farm. We found some shade around one of the stock ponds on the farm, complete with stock. As we were painting some of the milk cows decided that they liked John and got very close, a noses' distance from him. All of his "Go away cow!" commands didn't do a bit of good. They wanted to watch his magic.

'Mike's Green Day' oil-5x7 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
This little monochromatic green painting, painted only with terre verte and white, is the result of a rather mischievous idea that I had for us all to do an 'all green' painting one morning. The reason is that Michael Albrechtson when showing us his work the night before was having a fit over his use of 'green', stemming from, according to him, his having been in the studio for a long period of time. We didn't think he was all that overtaken by green in the work, it looked quite good to us. But to help him along we pulled this little prank and that evening 7 of us laid out our green paintings all at once, much to his surprise and dismay! He got a kick out of it, good natured as he is, and we all had a laugh about it.

'Road to Bazaare, KS' oil-14x18 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
I drove back up to the area where we had painted the sundown piece the night before and found this view to the east that was captivating in it's 'largeness'. This was an interesting painting to me. It's painted quite thin, just enough paint on it to grab the fast moving light and it's color. I used a lot of sketchy strokes, laid down fast and untouched. The effect is one that I like and am finding myself using a little bit here and there since.

'Hot and Bright' oil-8x10 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
This was my last painting of the trip. I stayed an extra day to get one more morning's work on the larger piece above and then had lunch with some of the group before they departed. Following that I went to explore another area that sounded intriguing... Sharpe's Creek Road. It was a beautiful place. I took a lot of photos but decided to do this one last painting. It was 'hot and bright' and I was tired and ready to hit the road.

9/25/11 A day painting with friends at Crex Meadow Wildlife Area

2011-09-26T10:35:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was a fine fall day up at Crex Meadow Wildlife Area in Grantsburg, WI. Gray skies, slight wind and the beginnings of Mother Nature's changing of her palette with which she paints our surroundings. The reds, oranges, yellows, warm greens and a variance of other warmer earth colors are all beginning to overtake the summer palette, except that the trees that border the bodies of water where the warmth of the water holds off some of the frost, are still holding onto their August green foliage.

The Painters soaking it all in before the day starts... Critical to seeing paintings.

I've mentioned that I've spent a fair amount of time up there, 30 miles north of me, painting now over the last few years. But this year I have really begun to concentrate on this jewel of a piece of earth. It's a place where a person can hike, bike, hunt, nature watch or paint without the fear of traffic or being told that "You can't paint there". You are free to wander anywhere that you please or dare, free to stop at any point on the many miles of gravel and dirt roads that spider web through the refuge and surrounding wildlife area. This is a real treat to have in the neighborhood and I plan to continue to make very good use of it.

Yesterday I contacted a several other painter friends in the area and 5 of us ended up making the trip up and spent the day painting. Mary Pettis, MaryAnn Cleary, Joni Jurek, Tony Hilscher and yours truly, all spent the entire day at our easels in front of the daunting but beautiful surroundings that Mother Nature offered up for our painting pleasure. We started the day with layers of long underwear, sweaters, coats and more but ended up shedding a lot of that by the end of he day. The ending was perfect, calm winds and balmy temps. This is one reason why we put up with the gnats and skeeters, wind, cold and other deterrents, to experience a day like we had outside from beginning to the end of the light... priceless!

'COLD SKIES' 9x12 Oil ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
Crex is primarily a sedge marsh, flat vistas without much more to break the distant horizon other than the slight rise in the ground elevation or a distant line of trees that make up the upland habitats that surround parts of the area. It's the kind of a place where you're tempted to just paint skies all day long. That's fine, but I find myself investigating the little nooks at the edges of the marshes, the islands that have scrubby growth on them, the expanses of sedge and other aquatic vegetation that all go towards interesting compositional elements for my work and what I'm trying to say in the paintings.

'A SLICE OF SUN' 8x10 Oil ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
Yeah it was chilly... and any sun that came out was welcome from both my physical and artistic sides. After painting the first one above I stayed right where I was and tried to grab this little happening across the pond. It didn't last long, a few minutes is all, but I tried to hold onto what I had seen and use the now overcast scene in front of me as the structural guide and my memory as the artistic guide. From here we took off for the north end of the park and the bathroom/picnic area for lunch.

'NORTH END FALL' 10x8 Oil ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
On our way to my next suggested location, we were driving through one of the upland habitats that was just beautiful with a mix of birch, maples, oaks and all of the assorted vegetation, well on it's way towards peak color. I couldn't help it, I had to stop. I should mention that the others all had limited or no experience up here. I've driven 95% of the roads with the park map and marked painting locations on it. I'm pretty familiar with what the lay of the land is now. So I assumed the 'tour guide' status and felt responsible for putting us in nice painting locations. When we drove through this area we were on the way to another open water spot that I thought would be good, a Ducks Unlimited project that is just beautifully designed for the benefit of the waterfowl's use. Oh... it was also the opening day for the Wisconsin Waterfowl Season. I knew that spot would be good at the end of the day, so we all agreed to stop in this little upland spot and paint.

'END OF A SEPTEMBER DAY' 12x16 Oil ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
Of course you can't count on the weather to do anything that you expected it to do. It didn't, it was a lot more overcast all day long than we thought it would be according to the official weather sources we checked. But...we had sun at the end and were excited by what that late light was doing to the landscape. So we get to the spot, the D.U project marsh and it is lit up so nice that there are 5 drooling painters all biting at the bit to go at it. No sooner did we set up than the overcast closed in and cut off most all of the sunlight. Every once in awhile there would be a slash of light off in the distance on the sedges that spread out for hundreds of acres in front of us. Being seasoned painters we knew that we'd just have to make the best of it and went to work. I grabbed ahold of the darkened foreground in cooler light against that sliver of sun off in the distance and did my best to try to capture that sensation that I had when it happened.

So it was a good day with 4 paintings being painted. Came home hungry and tired and slept like a baby. A good day.

July, August, September...

2011-09-22T12:48:00.015-05:00

I really can't believe that my last post was early July! But then again it's been a crazy busy summer full of traveling to paint and teach. I have a pile of work to post here so rather than get into much detail about the last few months I'd rather show some of the images from the summer and talk about the recent past with them a little bit.

First of all... We, Sargent and I, have a new housemate. Her name is Frida. We rescued her at about 12 weeks. She's an adorable little sweetheart of a kitten. Even Sarge is beginning to see it that way.

I'M VERY HAPPY TO ANNOUNCE THAT I HAVE JOINED A NEW GALLERY IN TEXAS... R.S.Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX

I was forunate to have been awarded the Bronze Medal Award at the Oil Painters Of America's (OPA) 19th Annual National Juried Exhibition in Idaho for the painting "Right Or Left?"...

"Right or Left?" 24x30 oil
Available at R.S.Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX

All of these paintings are available, unless marked 'NFS' or at specific galleries and are linked to the galleries that they're hanging in.

Here we go... The first four are just random field studies that I've painted this summer.

'CORNER LIGHT' 8x10 Oil 2011©Marc R. Hanson
Available at R.S.Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX
I discovered that I had a tube of Gamblin's 'Chromatic Black' in my paint bin. So I took it out to see if it would be of interest to me when mixing some of the deep summer greens. It works very well for that, it's in my paint box as a 'occasionally used' color now. I used it extensively as my 'blue' when mixing the greens in this painting. There's a lot of scraping and palette knife work here too, a tool that I find myself using more and more now.

'TREE ISLAND' 8X10 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson
This little study was just painted this past week along the river below me in the Interstate Park, Minnesota side. I was looking at a very bright backlit scene that silhouetted the tree shape nicely. That was the starting point conceptually for this one. The silvery light and strong darks attracted me too.

'TEXAS!' 11X14 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson NFS
This is the first and only painting that I did in Texas during a trip there in July. Now that I am joining the R.S.Hanna Gallery in Fredericksburg, Tx I hope to be there painting a lot more. There is something about that landscape that is very, very attractive to me. It reminds me a lot of the northern California Sierra Foothills near Loomis where I went to high school and where my mother and brother and his family still live. It's the dry grasses and large oaks spread across rolling hills that do it for me I guess. It was hotter than blazes there, 109º F!!! Of course they've experienced terrible fires there this month, totally devastating. But it's finally beginning to rain from what my friends there are saying... Hallelujah!!!

'THAT'S MY BOAT!' 8x10 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson
Available at Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA.
In June I went out to Cape Cod to paint with friends Shannon Runquist, Paul Schulenburg, Elizabeth Pollie, Frank Gardner, Jerome Green, Sara Jane Doberstein and Peter Kalill. There was an exhibit held at Addison Art Gallery sponsored by the Cape Cod Museum of Art celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the Cape Cod National Seashore by President John F. Kennedy. We painted all over the National Seashore area and in the harbors. This was a small boat at the harbor in Wellfleet, Ma.

THE NEXT GROUP OF PAINTINGS ARE ALL DEMOS OR PAINTED DURING MY SUMMER MENTORSHIPS AND WORKSHOPS...

'ST CROIX SWIRLS' 11X14 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson
Available at R.S.Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX

'PEONIES' 8X10 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'TAYLOR'S ROCKS' 12X16 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'GARAGE GARDEN' 11X14 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

THE NEXT GROUP OF PAINTINGS ARE PIECES THAT I PAINTED IN JULY AT THE DOOR COUNTY PLEIN AIR FESTIVAL IN WISCONSIN...

'COOL MORNING' 9X12 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'FLAMING LACE' 11X14 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'MOONLIGHT BAY CULVERT' 11x14 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'MORNING BRIGHT' 11X14 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'WISCONSIN BARNS' 12X16 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

7
'WHITE SOX' 9X12 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

THE FINAL GROUP OF PAINTINGS ARE OF A SELECTION OF FIELD STUDIES PAINTED OF A SUBJECT THAT HAS BECOME NEAR AND DEAR TO ME THIS YEAR. THE LOCATION IS A 30,000 ACRE WILDLIFE REFUGE MADE UP OF SEDGE MARSH, UPLAND AND PRAIRIE HABITAT IN NW WISCONSIN NEAR GRANTSBURG... AND IS CALLED 'CREX MEADOW'. THIS EXPANSE OF LAND IS A HAVEN FOR CRITTERS AS VARIED AS WOLVES AND SANDHILL CRANES TO BLACK BEARS AND TRUMPETER SWANS. EAGLES, OSPREYS, ASSORTED OTHER WATERFOWL AND FUR BEARING ANIMALS ABOUND. THEY'RE ALL THERE BECAUSE OF THE SPECTACULAR NATURE OF THE ENVIRONMENT THAT HAS BEEN PROTECTED WITHIN THIS ECOSYSTEM OF CREX MEADOWS. I HOPE TO CONTINUE TO DO STUDIES, PHOTOGRAPH AND PAINT LARGER PAINTINGS ON LOCATION WHENEVER I CAN. EXCEPT FOR THE LAST TWO PAINTINGS BELOW, THESE ARE ALL FIELD STUDIES PAINTED ON LOCATION.

'OVERHANGING DARKS' 12X16 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'LILY'S' 8X16 Pastel 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'SEPTEMBER REFLECTIONS' 9X12 Oil 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'REISINGER LAKE I' 3.5X4 Gouache 2011© Marc R. Hanson NFS

'REISINGER LAKE II' 3.5X4 Gouache 2011© Marc R. Hanson NFS

'UPPER PHANTOM FLOWAGE I' 3.5X4 Gouache 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'UPPER PHANTOM FLOWAGE II' 3.5X4 Gouache 2011© Marc R. Hanson

I had a hard time photographing these two larger studio pieces... But you get the idea.

'BEYOND SHADOWS' 24X24 Oil - Studio - 2011© Marc R. Hanson

'TOWARDS THE END' 24X24 Oil - Studio - 2011© Marc R. Hanson

Scottsdale Artists School Pastel Workshop 10/31-11/4, 2011

2011-07-05T14:27:00.003-05:00

I'll be teaching a Pastel Only workshop at the Scottsdale Artists School this fall...

MARC R. HANSON...
WORKING WITH SOFT PASTEL IN THE FIELD AND STUDIO
Location: Scottsdale Location
Oct 31-Nov 4, 2011

(480) 990- 1422
http://www.scottsdaleartschool.org

Considering the different challenges that using soft pastels in the field versus in the studio presents the artist, this class is designed to give the students a chance to explore both situations under my guidance. Over the course of the five day class the students will spend approximately half of the time in the field, and the other half in the studio. In the field we will focus on shorter term studies and the issues of pastel working en plein air, along with all of those principles involved in all picture making. Students should expect to complete at least four to six plein air pieces during the outdoor segment of the class. Back in the studio we will work from either those studies, or from our own reference materials to produce one or two larger studio pieces.

Lectures about materials and technique, the elements of painting, including an AV media presentation, will reinforce the material discussed and taught during the week. I will also demonstrate a couple of different methods that I use to begin pastels in the field and studio, and will carry out at least one large studio demonstration, start to finish. Some experience with using pastels outdoors is recommended; otherwise the class is open to new and veteran pastel painters.www.marchansonart.com

'Lake Elmo Respite' 6-2-2011

2011-06-02T19:02:00.004-05:00

'Lake Elmo Respite' - oil - 11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

Some days are just what you need, and today was one of those. Skies overcast, a little leaden, but with the promise in the air for a period of 'dry' and a little bit of warmth poking through every so often.

Since returning from Africa, it's been tough for me to get out and paint the intensity of the greens that greeted me on my return. They're starting to moderate a little bit now and are turning the trees into those nice summertime masses that are wonderful to paint. I went out today to paint with a good painting friend and as we were making our way to the location we talked about how important it is, to each of us, to go out to search for the 'mood' that Mother Nature is presenting for the day rather than to go out to paint a 'place' or a 'thing'. That's a good attitude to have at times like this when the color is almost painfully intense and so overwhelmingly monochromatic. A myriad of different greens, but all still green.

Mood in the landscape is not a tangible quality, not the trees, grass, water and sky. Mood is how the landscape affects you emotionally, it is what you feel from of your senses... sight, sound, smell, touch (weather), taste and hear. Your impression of the sum of all of those things, and Anything else that is affecting you while out there is what is interesting to paint to me.

ps... I could never stand and paint effectively while wearing an iPod device and earbuds.

Cape Town, South Africa 4/29 - 5/17, 2011

2011-05-19T04:57:00.017-05:00

I’ve just returned from my first journey to the African continent, Cape Town, South Africa to be specific. A couple of months ago a friend of mine, Kim Myerson who is a painter and a native of Cape Town, suggested that I might want to come there to see the landscape and to do some painting. Kim is back to her native country and city after training in Florence, Italy at Angel Academy and Cecil Studios and is taking on and teaching students the methods of academic drawing and painting that she learned at those academies. Her suggestion also included the idea of coming to Cape Town to do a landscape painting workshop for the many painters who are living there without a lot of instruction in the type of painting that I do available.

Having a couple of weeks or so in between my other teaching and show obligations, I decided that the 8000 mile trip to Africa would be just what I needed. So on April 29th I climbed on board a Delta A-330 for the first 9 hour leg of a 21 hour flight that would take me to Amsterdam where the second leg of 12 hours would eventually set me down in what I quickly discovered is one of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet. My 16 days to explore seemed endless at the time.

Africa has always held a huge amount of mystery for me, from the books I’ve read, the movies I’ve seen including so many documentaries about it’s wild side, to artists like Bob Kuhn and Wilhelm Kuhnert who continuously inspired and made me jealous with their adventures to Africa, and who have shown it’s magnificence in their work.

But… until the morning of May 1, 2011 when I looked out the back door and onto Table Mountain and Lion’s Head, two prominent mountain formations in the heart of Cape Town that I could see from the balcony, I had no idea what I was in for in this land far away from my own state of Minnesota, USA.

I came to Cape Town armed with pounds of painting supplies, ready to paint like crazy. After a day of jet lag rest, I did paint a piece from the balcony of Kim’s studio while she was teaching students for the morning. From that point on, the painting was rare. Every day we would head out to see sections of Cape Town from the more developed beach areas near the city and the harbor, to the inland vistas of vineyards bordered by huge mountain ranges and valleys , to the quaint little towns with the Dutch/African architecture shops and galleries, and also to many of the wilder places like Table Mountain National Park (formerly Cape Peninsula Park) where I saw Cape Mountain Zebra, Cape Ostrich, Eland, Bontebok, and many other animals and birds. Everywhere we drove there was a drama to the land and in the skies that was breathtakingly beautiful and magnetic. The joke quickly became that we might want to write a book about “How to load your painting gear and not use it!”

What was really happening however, was the realization that there was so much to see that spending time setting up and painting on this trip, meant that I would miss out on the full palette of visual treats that this country had in store. I resigned myself to be comfortable with that and to explore as much of it as Kim and my time would allow me to. I am grateful for that and would have been more disappointed if I had come home on May 17th with a bunch paintings but not the 1200 or so photos reminding me of the variety and spectacular drama of the locations that we did see. Now I know what and where I’ll be painting when I return.

The amazing thing about this area of South Africa is the incredible variety in the type of landscape to see and to paint. Within an hour or two you can be on the Atlantic Coast side or on the Indian Ocean Coast. Both of these environments affect the land and the climate in different ways and make the landscape one of a constantly changing arrangement of sky and terra firma. The dramatic, quickly elevating slopes of the mountain ranges surrounding Cape Town, direct the temperature and air currents directly into the path of the ocean moisture laden winds; that mix provides the ingredients for skies that are in constant flux, changing by the hour. As a landscape painter this is like a gold mine. The visual feast that this combination cooks up is irresistible, it’s eye candy of the sweetest kind.

What the trip did do was show me a place that I will be back to in short time. Sometimes as painters there is a life changing experience that alters what our work is all about. I think that this trip to the southern end of Africa, it’s people, it’s culture and it’s beauty is one of those for me. I don’t know what it all means to me as a person or artist yet, but I know that it has great meaning for my future.

The best way for me to share my experience is visually. I painted only about 6 pieces but as you can see I found the inspiration in Cape Town that fueled my Art Spirit and will for a long time to come. In the end, I needed 16 months more than the 16 days I had.

Here are the paintings from the trip... I carried pre-cut pieces of linen rolled onto a stiff cardboard tube to prevent damage. They had a border drawn out on them to my preferred sizes which I used as a guide when taping them down onto a piece of Gatorboard with 1" masking tape. I also used W&N's Drying Linseed Oil to be sure that they were dry enough to roll back up and fly home with. They did dry but I added a precautionary piece of Wax Paper inbetween each one for insurance against damage. It worked beautifully. Now they'll be mounted onto prepared gator foam or hardboard with an archival glue. These are staying with me until I've had a chance to use them as possible reference for some larger paintings in the studio.

'Scarborough Surf And Fog' - oil - 8x10 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

'Oliphantsberg' - oil - 11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

'Vineyard Near Ceres' - oil - 11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

'Atlantic Haze' - oil - 11x14 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

'Osealia'

2011-04-25T11:33:00.003-05:00

'Osealia' - oil - 20x24 - ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

Yes... This one is closely related to John E Millais' painting of the character 'Ophelia' in Shakespeare's play. But in this case, it's the seal world and 'Osealia' that I've chosen to paint. The painting is going to and the show celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Cape Cod National Seashore's establishment by then President Kennedy. This is a Grey Seal, at one time hunted heavily, even with a bounty on it's head due to it's like of the same fish that we like, but is now doing quite well. Especially along the Cape Cod shoreline, in large part due to this Act and the CC National Seashore. Watching these large animals, 10-12 feet, playing in the water, gliding on their backs and always with those large lonesome eyes starring back at you, made me think that this one on it's back was nearly just like 'Ophelia' in Millais' painting. I had some fun with it.

Here's Millais' Ophelia...

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T18:10:00.001-05:00

'Easter Day 2011' - oil on linen - 8x10 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson
We had a beautiful day for Easter. I hope that you all did too.

Cape Cod National Seashore Show - Fort Hill

2011-04-18T18:00:00.003-05:00

'Fort Hill' - oil - 16x20 © 2011 Marc R. Hanson
Fort Hill is part of the National Park System's 'Cape Cod National Seashore' and is located in Eastham, MA.

This is a painting that is going to be submitted to a show being held at Addison Gallery in Orleans, MA in July.

"Inspired by the Cape Cod National Seashore
"A man may stand there and put all America behind him."
— Henry David Thoreau

The great Outer Beach described by Thoreau in the 1800s has been protected since 1961, when President Kennedy signed legislation establishing the Cape Cod National Seashore, 44,600 acres covering forty miles of pristine sandy beach, marshes, ponds, and forests dotted with lighthouses and wild cranberry bogs.

This juried show celebrates the 50th Anniversary of one of our nation's jewels, the magnificence of the natural Cape Cod."

April 12, 2011 "Peepers and Cranes"

2011-04-12T13:54:00.004-05:00

"Peepers and Cranes" - Oil - 11x14 © 2011 Marc R. Hanson
Finally around long enough to head outside and paint. I've been on the road for about the last 3 weeks, first to Charleston, SC for Wet Paint, back to unpack and then pack, then off to Scottsdale, AZ to teach a five day workshop at the Scottsdale Artists School. I'm heading back out now for some afternoon painting but will get a blog post together soon with some images from Charleston and Scottsdale.
The frogs and birds are all out celebrating... so am I. Happy Spring!!!

'Right or Left' Accepted into the OPA 20th Anniversary National Exhibition!

2011-03-17T09:09:00.002-05:00

'Right or Left' - 24x30 ©2011 Marc R. Hanson

DEVIN GALLERIES in Coeur de'Alene, Idaho is hosting this years' Oil Painters of America National Exhibition. This is the 20th Anniversary for the OPA National Exhibition honoring representational/traditional oil painting and painters. I'm proud to be in the exhibit and to be a signature member of this organization.

It's nearly Spring!

2011-03-16T10:43:00.004-05:00

'Two Toms' - oil on linen - 11x14 ©2010 Marc R. Hanson
I painted this exactly one year ago, March 16, 2010. It was warmer then and a lot less snow.

Sometimes I really do wonder where the minutes escape to. I went into my, this, blog last night and it made that obvious to me. It's been quite a some time since my last post! The last painting I posted, the last painting I finished, was February 23rd!

Wow...

Well as all of you artists out there know, having the 'Artist is your life' badge entails SO much more than just standing in front of your easel. I won't go into it all, we all know what I'm talking about. But when I look back at a time like this and realize that it's been nearly 3 weeks since I finished a painting, it makes me wonder where it all went.

I have done several other starts, studies and started a 30x40. I had the pleasure of having my youngest son come to stay with me for a few days in early March. He was interested in learning about value and how it is related to color. Both of my sons have artistic ability, but it's showing up as an interest later, they're in their mid-20's. We set up a simple still life, I did a demo and then Erik painted this, his very first value study. I'm very, very proud of what he did. It's obvious to me that he has the eye and hand and could develop this into a lifelong pursuit with no end to it.

As Erik was ending the weekend with me and on his way home, I realized that I was the victim of a nasty cold virus. It took me out of commission for 9 days.

So there you go... just when I thought I was loosing track of time and wasting it... there is an explanation! I'm glad I tracked it down.

Enjoy the beginning of Spring.

Some good advice on building more blog appeal!

2011-02-24T17:23:00.003-06:00

I just read a spectacular post from Lori McNee's 'Fine Art Tips' blog about how to give your blog post more artistic sex appeal. Her blog article is very good, full of wonderful tips and ideas. When I get the time I'm going to implement as much of what she suggests to do as possible.

Until then... I thought I'd start with this, an incredibly talented artist... the late Marvin Gaye! :)

February 23, 2011 - 'Right or Left?'

2011-02-23T13:59:00.002-06:00

An unexpected need for a new painting for a deadline came up on Monday. The deadline is tonight at 11:59pm. I made it. This was a very quickly painted painting. One of the things about taking your time is that you have the opportunity to sit back and look at the painting to be sure that you haven't made any big goofs. I don't have that luxury with this one, so I am hoping that my choices were right because there's no time left to wiggle things around. This has been quite the adrenaline rush for a couple of days. Happy to be over it.

'Right or Left?' - oil - 24x30 © Marc R. Hanson '11

February 17, 2011 - Foggy Day!

2011-02-17T18:10:00.002-06:00

Today was a study in controlling close values. We are going through a big thaw right now and there is a huge amount of moisture in the air. Temps were up into the high 40's at least. Nice to be out.

'February Fog' - oil on linen - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '11

'Backyard Fog' - oil on linen - 9x16 © Marc R. Hanson '11

February 11, 2011 - 'Shadow Bank'

2011-02-11T16:56:00.003-06:00

'Shadow Bank' - oil 6x6 © Marc R. Hanson '11
This is another little 6x6 for entry into the California show at Randy Higbee Gallery. Painted this one from some winter river reference. Just a little tangle of scrubby trees and a bank that caught my eye for it's color. Thanks.

February 10, 2011 - 'Work Light'

2011-02-10T09:12:00.002-06:00

'Work Light' - 6x6 Oil - © Marc R. Hanson '11
Another little square oil from the studio yesterday.

February 9, 2011... Some studio work!

2011-02-09T11:57:00.003-06:00

These are some little 6"x6" paintings that I'm doing to enter into a show called '6" Squared' that is being put on by the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA in March. They're good to do for a few reasons, one if they get into the show, that will be good, but also because I find them to be a good way to experiment with ideas, color, paint application and all of the other 'art' tools I have. If one works you learn something to use in the future, if one doesn't you usually learn even more. Thanks for looking.

'Awakening' 6x6 oil

'Hot Spot' 6x6 oil

February 5, 2011 A winter painting day.

2011-02-06T09:19:00.005-06:00

With the temps up around +30ºF... it was the day to get outside and paint. I wish it were that temp with sun, but at this time of year warm usually means overcast and moisture. The morning was stunning with everything covered in a frost from the fog that formed the night before. I was really pumped to paint that.

Leaving my tripod home and not realizing it until I'd driven 20 miles to paint, and then back home to get it, cut down on my paint time. When I finally retrieved the tripod instead of making that same drive back, I wandered just outside of town and found my subject, one that I've painted in the past in different seasons. It's a neat little fenceline mixed with growth of all kinds for variety.

The first painting is a 12x24 and the second painting is a 14x18. Both of these took a little extra time, hence cold toes. I didn't wear the Arctic rated boots because it wasn't that cold out. But it was cold enough to make a warm up before heading out for number two and a stop at Olive's in Marine for a glass of wine and a pizza following the second one, just the medicine needed.

"Frostline" - oil on primed panel - 12x24 © Marc R. Hanson '11
I used a horizontal format on this one because of the subject and theme of the painting, it required it. I also painted this on an acrylic primed MDF panel because I wanted the paint to have a more opaque look and this kind of panel is best for that end result. I wanted it opaque because the color was so close in value, all in the upper range of the value scale, and as I saw it... very opaque. There was very little transparency to the light and the subject. When I see this happen, I use the materials in my arsenal to bring about that concept/effect as efficiently as possible. I had great fun painting this one.

"Rivulets" - oil on linen panel - 14x18 - © Marc R. Hanson '11
For the afternoon painting I wanted some water in the painting that wasn't frozen, like a stream with the snow banks along it to paint. I didn't find that, but while driving around down near Square Lake in between Stillwater and Marine on St. Croix, I found this low lying marshy area that had a plethora of little runs of water, ice and hummocks of snow along with the willows and grasses in the background and a few errant cattails hanging around. Seemed complicated, but it was so nice that I decided to go to work on it. By now the frost was gone and the light was about as flat as it could be, almost no indication of shadow anywhere. It was as pure a white on the snow as you'll see in the winter. However, when I began to analyze that, I could see that although the white of the snow was a 'colorless' gray of a very light value, it was not white! To mix it I added just a touch of blue, red and yellow to bring the spectrum to the light gray mixture in the snow. The darks were Very dark against that very light value creating a wonderful effect to paint. This one took awhile and by the time I was done it was time to head down the hill to Olive's for wood fired pizza in Marine... and a glass of Pinot Noir!!!

A brief encounter....

2011-01-31T18:31:00.004-06:00

... with painting outside! I haven't been outside to paint in I don't know how long??!! When I'm not out there frequently, it upsets the balance. This is not much, just an hour yesterday and an hour today in the car during a snowstorm... but it's something.

'Flurries 1/30' -oil on linen panel - 9x12 © Marc R. Hanson '11
With about an hour to kill before a meeting in the afternoon, I drove down to Scandia, MN and parked on the widest spot along the road I could find and feels safe in. There wasn't much out in front of me, but we had constant light flurries falling and that was of interest in how it was muting the color and softening the edges of the forms. That's what I put down before packing up and heading off to the meeting.

'Snow Storm 1/31' - pastel on paper - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '11
Earlier today I ran into a friend and artist, Tom Maakestad in Marine on St Croix, MN, and went up to his studio to visit. He pulled out some pastels he's doing as studies for paintings, when he goes cross country skiing. They were gorgeous life studies and it inspired me to try it out also. However, we're having a snow storm so instead of throwing the pastels in a backpack, I threw them into the car and went out to Little Lake, primarily because there is a parking lot there at the boat launch where I thought I'd be safe from slipping and sliding cars and snowplows. It was interesting to work on sketch pad paper and I am going to do more of this. I'm so used to using the sanded pastel papers and really enjoyed the smooth application that this paper gave me.

I had a run in with a car today on the icy roads. I was behind a black sedan that suddenly went into a 540º spin right in front of me. I was barely able to stop and avoid him. Managing to do that, he was now in the opposite lane facing the other direction. Thank goodness there was no oncoming traffic or it would have been a very nasty situation. As it was, he was stunned but okay and got the car going and drove off.

Happy to be home. :)

JUNE MENTORSHIP DATES ADDED... JUNE 20-24, 2011

2011-01-22T12:19:00.005-06:00

BECAUSE OF THE VERY FAST RESPONSE TO THE AUGUST 'MENTORED EXPERIENCE', IT IS FULL. I HAVE ADDED A SECOND SESSION... THE DATES ARE JUNE 20-24, 2011.

The information in the .pdf is the same except for the dates...

Everything else stays the same... Only the dates have changed to... June 20, 21, 22, 23 & 24, 2011.

Payment dates for the June 'Mentorship Experience' are...

Deposit of $150.00 due ASAP after being accepted into the mentorship via my Acceptance Email only. The deposit is what confirms your spot.

Deadline for the deposit is APRIL 20, 2011.

Balance of $600.00 due May 20, 2011.

Please visit my Website and read the attached .pdf file for a complete description and instructions for applying to the 'Mentored Experience'.

2011 - The 5th Annual Taylors Falls Landscape Workshop

For four years I have been teaching students out of my studio/home here in beautiful and historic Taylors Falls, MN each August. It’s become a tradition, at least for me, to have students come here from all over North America to study landscape painting from life with me. I have enjoyed meeting new friends and painters, seeing the look on the faces of the ‘old pros’ when they discover something new they didn’t know, or the joy of ‘beginners’ when they finish their very ‘first’ painting! These are the results that keep me wanting to teach painters year in and year out.

However, I have a number of students who’ve been in multiple classes who have requested a more ‘advanced’ learning experience. One where we leave the Value Studies and Color Comps (as mandatory exercises) behind, where we dive into the world of painting all day, supplies, materials, technique, business, theory, history, framing, and many of the other topics involved in taking your art a step further along your path to becoming a more complete painter. I agree with them.

So I’m announcing, under the umbrella of the 5th Annual Taylors Falls Workshop…

The 1st Annual Taylors Falls ‘Mentored Experience’! JUNE DATES ADDED!

"Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development;mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)" (Bozeman, Feeney, 2007).

Place: Taylors Falls, MN
Dates: JUNE 20 - 24, 2011
Time: Early to Late for 5 days ( Paint 9am-4pm; Break; Dinner; Evening Critique/Talk 7pm-?pm… Approximate times.)
Cost: $750.00
Deposit (non refundable): $150.00*
Class Size: Limited to 12 students max, Oil painters or Pastel painters.
Prerequisite: Previous class with Marc or acceptance based on a portfolio review.
How to Apply: Send me an email, NO MONEY YET, with your contact information, website, blog... or up to 3 sample images of your work if you don’t have a web presence.

FULL!!!

2011-01-20T12:05:00.005-06:00

'August Color' painted in Taylors Falls, August of 2011

THE AUGUST MENTORED EXPERIENCE IS FULL.

PLEASE READ FIRST... DO NOT SEND MONEY WITHOUT MY 'ACCEPTANCE EMAIL'. IT WILL BE RETURNED.... THANK YOU.

Please visit my Website and read the attached .pdf file for a complete description and instructions for applying to the 'Mentored Experience'.

2011 - The 5th Annual Taylors Falls Landscape Workshop

For four years I have been teaching students out of my studio/home here in beautiful and historic Taylors Falls, MN each August. It’s become a tradition, at least for me, to have students come here from all over North America to study landscape painting from life with me. I have enjoyed meeting new friends and painters, seeing the look on the faces of the ‘old pros’ when they discover something new they didn’t know, or the joy of ‘beginners’ when they finish their very ‘first’ painting! These are the results that keep me wanting to teach painters year in and year out.

However, I have a number of students who’ve been in multiple classes who have requested a more ‘advanced’ learning experience. One where we leave the Value Studies and Color Comps (as mandatory exercises) behind, where we dive into the world of painting all day, supplies, materials, technique, business, theory, history, framing, and many of the other topics involved in taking your art a step further along your path to becoming a more complete painter. I agree with them.

So I’m announcing, under the umbrella of the 5th Annual Taylors Falls Workshop…

The 1st Annual Taylors Falls ‘Mentored Experience’!

"Mentoring is a process for the informal transmission of knowledge, and the psychosocial support perceived by the recipient as relevant to work, career, or professional development;mentoring entails informal communication, usually face-to-face and during a sustained period of time, between a person who is perceived to have greater relevant knowledge, wisdom, or experience (the mentor) and a person who is perceived to have less (the protégé)" (Bozeman, Feeney, 2007).

Place: Taylors Falls, MN
Dates: August 8 - 12, 2011
Time: Early to Late for 5 days ( Paint 9am-4pm; Break; Dinner; Evening Critique/Talk 7pm-?pm… Approximate times.)
Cost: $750.00
Deposit (non refundable): $150.00*
Class Size: Limited to 12 students max, Oil painters or Pastel painters.
Prerequisite: Previous class with Marc or acceptance based on a portfolio review.
How to Apply: Send me an email, NO MONEY YET, with your contact information, website, blog... or up to 3 sample images of your work if you don’t have a web presence.

Zumbrota, MN 2 Day Workshop May 21 & 22, 2011!

2011-01-19T13:04:00.002-06:00

'Winter Solstice-Essex Park' oil on linen, 10x12

2 Day Landscape Painting Workshop
$269.00
Location: Crossings At Carnegie - Zumbrota, MN
Workshop Dates: 5/21/2011 - 5/22/2011
Contact Person: Marie - phone-507-732-7616

The workshop will include two days of demonstrations, lecture and instruction about how I paint in the landscape 'en plein air'. Each day will include a demo, group discussion about painting technique, materials and philosophy, and easel time for students along with easel critique. I like to concentrate on the basic elements of painting and will include an exercise or two to reinforce some of the basics that we all need to brush up on from time to time. There will be at least one black&white exercise, and the chance to paint a couple of full color studies as well. At the end of the two days there will be time for a discussion about your work and for questions as a group.

The workshop is open to oil and pastel painters of any level.

Scottsdale Artists School Workshop 4/4 - 4/8.

2011-01-18T11:37:00.000-06:00

SCOTTSDALE ARTISTS SCHOOL
Marc Hanson Workshop April 4-8, 2011

If anyone is interested in traveling to Scottsdale, AZ in April, April 4 -8 to be exact, I will be teaching a workshop for the Scottsdale Artists School. It's a real honor to be asked to teach at a school with the reputation that this one has built over the years of it's existence. The facility is outstanding, as are the staff and of course... the weather!

The workshop will be a 'Field to Studio' based class. We'll spend about two days in the field making preparatory studies and taking photos, and then take all of that information back into the studio,for three days, to design and work up larger paintings. During the week I will demonstrate my entire process for using the studies from Nature to create a more complex, considered and larger painting in the studio. I encourage you to bring along a laptop and camera to view any reference sources to use in addition to your field studies. The link to the school below will take you to a page of workshop information. You can scroll down to see the description and registration information for my class. I'd love to work with you there if you think it's something that would be of interest.

The Romantic Landscape - Greenwich House Gallery - Cincinnati, OH - 2/11/11 - 3/4/11

2011-01-14T05:11:00.004-06:00

I've been invited to be part of a show at the Greenwich House Gallery in Cincinnati, OH (513-871-8787), called 'The Romantic Landscape', opening February 11 and continuing to show through March 4, 2011.

The premise is to show landscape paintings of a softer more 'romantic' or poetic nature. This opportunity arose just recently without much time to prepare. But I decided that I really like the idea and the lady who contacted me, Jennifer King, has a history of being involved in very good projects... so I'm going for it.

This is the first of 3 or 4 pieces that I will be painting to include as my contribution to the show. As I complete the others they'll be posted here too. Thank you for looking in.

'February Moon Set' - oil - 16x20 © Marc R. Hanson '11

My new addition the show...

'North of Town' - pastel on Wallis - 16x20 © Marc R. Hanson '11

January 11, 2011 Painting a memory of morning.

2011-01-11T18:46:00.002-06:00

I wrote this quote exactly one week ago, right after getting home from a yoga practice. The morning was stunning. I decided then to paint it from memory as best I could. This is the result.

"Watching four trumpeter swans flying through and into the smokey, rose tinted peach color of a -6ºF morning.Lifting across the lofted fields of fresh snow, warmed by the potential of the sunrise.All given while on the way home at 7am from mind, body and spiritual rejuvenation; what a beautiful morning!"

'January 4, 2011 at 7a.m.' - oil on board - 16x24 © Marc R. Hanson '11

Detail...

December 31, 2010 Happy New Year

2010-12-31T12:02:00.003-06:00

Happy New Year! This painting is most likely my last for the year. I am posting it, but it still needs time to age and in the aging sometimes things are seen or discovered that need to be thought about, maybe changed. Because it's the end of the year, however, I decided to go ahead and post this now as it...

'Sunny Bottoms' - oil - 30x36 © Marc R. Hanson '10
I see a theme developing in my titles... maybe that will be the first thing I change on this one? Then again, it's a painting, painted from a painting, that was painted in May. Enough 'p's for now.

This time of the spring is an electric time in the woods. The foliage is young, 'spring tender' pale green, and creates a staccato array of light catching and reflecting planes that meet the eye with an almost dizzying effect. The small twigs and branches of the trees and under-story all reflect a brighter light than at other times of the year. Spring is their time to shine! I love to paint this from life and in the studio its an exercise in sharp, brilliant little strokes and touches played against the softer diffused depth of the woods. The subject for this is from inside the heavier woods looking out into a low bottom area, meanings a slightly wet patch of woods, where the trees stay smaller because of the moisture.

Here's the study that this one was painted from. Obviously my head is full of the memory of this time of year because there isn't this much information in the study. But the spirit of the study is what I wanted to build the larger painting from.

'First Green Of Spring' - oil - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '09

Cape Cod Museum of Art paintings

2010-12-20T18:22:00.003-06:00

As part of the Creative Convergence show at Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA each artist is also submitting one or two paintings to the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, MA.

I hadn't decided what to paint for that part of our show yet as of last night. This morning I went into my studio with a sudden awareness of what and how I wanted to paint for the CCMA show. The two pieces below are the two I painted today to be shown.

Time was of the essence as it's time to frame and ship the work to Addison and to the Museum. Hope you enjoy these both.

'PTown Pier At Night' - oil on board - 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson '10
While on the trip, I didn't spend a lot of time on the pier painting. But at night it always caught my attention as a beautiful display of lights, warm and cool notes and all of that being reflected into the harbor waters. That's what I decided to paint for the first of the two pieces today.

'Night Coming On' - oil on board - 12x9 © Marc R. Hanson '10
While on the Cape in Provincetown we all spent a lot of time walking the streets into and back out of town to the houses where we were staying. The walks were always a real treat right at dusk, when the lights of the stores and town would come on and create a brand new visual treat for the eyes. When the skies were clear, the contrast between the bright sky and the dark corridor of the PTown houses and businesses were a painting in waiting.

December 17, 2010 "Foggy Top"

2010-12-17T12:37:00.003-06:00

"Foggy Top" oil on linen - 30x36 © Marc R. Hanson '10
A recent painting finally finished... I think... of a woodland interior. I'm planning a number of these type of large woodland scenes at different times of the year. I really enjoy getting involved in the spots of color that the foliage provides me to paint. And I love to put myself into the scene, wandering around the tree trunks, up into the canopy, along the ground in all of the clutter. Can't do that on an 11x14, you need to open the window up wide and wider is sounding even better to me lately. Thanks for looking.

December 6, 2010 'Scarlet Sunset'

2010-12-06T12:26:00.003-06:00

'Scarlet Sunset' - oil on stretched canvas - 14x18 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
I painted this one yesterday, the first of what will probably be several paintings using my September Nocturnes as inspiration and the starting points for larger pieces. Nice thing is that since they were only 5"x7"... anything is a lot bigger!

Not to be misunderstood... this was painted yesterday in the studio from a study done last September, not from life yesterday.

December 4, 2010 'Waiting For The Glow'

2010-12-04T11:13:00.002-06:00

I'm working on a larger scale woodland scene in the studio right now. But it needed to be set aside for a little bit for a couple of reasons. One is that it needed to 'dry up' a little bit for the next stage of work on it.

More pressing is something that's going on with me right now... I have images pouring into the well, even getting me up at 2a.m. this morning and not letting me get back to sleep! The images are vague, full of mood, and are resulting from the many field sketches that I am surrounded by in the studio. I'm seeing these images based on the studies but they are 'not' the studies. This is a lot of fun. I'm seeing new ways to interpret the work from my past into something new, maybe even completely different than what I attempted to do in the original sketches. I'm not sure why this is happening, but it's driving my engine right now so I'm going to run with it.

'Waiting For The Glow' - oil on panel - 20x24 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
This is the first one, painted yesterday but tidied up about 3a.m. this morning. It's loosely based on a couple of studies I did in Sarasota, FL last May and June. What I wanted to play with was the gorgeous color that I witnessed while there. I've chosen to just include a few figures for compositional reasons, but the beaches were full of people sitting and looking out towards the water. I couldn't figure out why so many people showed up just before sunset... the beach was almost empty until then. I've been in the midwest for a long time now and had no idea about the "Glow" at the exact moment of sunset. That's what the people on the beach were doing... not going skinny dipping at night as I sort of suspected they might be getting ready to do!

A slightly blurry detail of the figures...

Nov. 16, 2010 - Winter Harmony

2010-11-16T17:59:00.002-06:00

'Winter Harmony' oil - 14x18 © Marc R. Hanson '10

I tried to stay inside today but just couldn't do it. By about 2:30 I'd had it and threw on the winter garb and headed out of town a couple of miles to paint for the last two hours of useable light.

Although a very overcast day, I'm searching for the beauty in the grays as my challenge. When I first climb out of truck the thought runs through my mind that I must be nuts... there's not a thing interesting to paint. I know better than to let that get to me so I usually stand or walk around to let my color sense adjust. As that happens, I'm amazed at all of the color and am then wondering why I don't have more color in my color box. One that I am definitely taking out next time is Cobalt Violet Light, it's everywhere!

Temps in the mid 30's, not too bad for a winter day. Now if I only had a gallery that liked winter paintings???

First Blanket - Nov. 15, 2010

2010-11-16T10:43:00.003-06:00

'First Blanket' - oil - 9x12 © Marc R. Hanson '10

We've had our first major snow storm with about 8" on the ground. Yesterday I decided that I wanted to paint it before it's gone and we're onto our second storm. The sun was just out enough to add a warm light and cools shadows to the landscape. It was that kind of a day when about all you could conjure up was Mr. Monet. The color was like that. I mentioned to a friend earlier in the day that the St Croix looked like it was being played in the key of 'Monet'.

It's hard to find a safe place on the edges of the highway to paint now because of the loss of shoulder due to the snow build up. In light of that, I went into William O'Brien (we are so lucky to have this gorgeous park near by) to paint the mix of distant hills, evergreens, willows, dogwood and grass with it's newly laid blanket of fresh snow.

The area that I wanted to paint was in a restricted part of the park so I ended up just painting to work out the wrinkles. Winter painting is a new thing all over again with it's own needs to adjust the way that I painted all summer. Good to shake it out early.

I like the color in this one, but wish I could have positioned myself so that there was a little less horizontal to it. I could have used my official license and made something up. But I decided to take what was there and get the paint on the panel.

Provincetown, MA 2010

2010-11-12T13:31:00.005-06:00

I'm finally getting some of the paintings photographed that are going to go to Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA for the "Creative Convergence-Cape Cod" show that opens on January 15, 2011. The linked text will take you to the gallery and to the information on the show... times, dates, events.

Some of these were painted in P-Town, the larger one is studio piece....

'In The Mist' - 8x10 oil © Marc R. Hanson '10

'Last Day, Last Light' - 18x24 oil © Marc R. Hanson '10

'Night In P-Town' - 8x10 oil © Marc R. Hanson '10

'Provincetown Golden Light' - 5x7 oil © Marc R. Hanson '10

'Sunny Street' - 7x5 oil © Marc R. Hanson '10

2011
January 15 through
February 28
Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico decided to meet in Provincetown, our country’s oldest art colony, and to explore Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. Like other artists who have been drawn here for over 100 years, they came to be inspired by the landscape, the light, the sea, our communities and each other.

Saturday, January 29
2:00 pm Artists’ Talk: Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Friday,February 18
3:00 pm Artists’ Talk: Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Friday,February 18
5:30 - 7:30 pm Museum reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Saturday,February 19
5:30 - 7:30 pm Reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico decided to meet in Provincetown, our country’s oldest art colony, and to explore Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. Like other artists who have been drawn here for over 100 years, they came to be inspired by the landscape, the light, the sea, our communities and each other. We invite you to discover their own interpretations of this place and its people.

'October' 24x30 oil

2010-10-28T14:40:00.003-05:00

A new painting for 'The Value of Black & White' exhibit in Fish Creek, WI in November, at the Peninsula School of Art.

'October' oil, 24x30 © Marc R. Hanson '10

I neglected to mention that this was painted from a field study that I did earlier in the week...

'What A Difference A Day Makes" 8x10

Here's the little 6x8 that is on the exhibit ad for the show. This was a demo for my August workshop a couple of seasons ago.

'new gallery'... Dallas, TX

2010-10-28T09:23:00.003-05:00

I'm very happy to announce that I will be showing my work with a Dallas, TX gallery... 'new gallery'!

This is the description from the website about them and the philosophy that they've developed. It's one that I am very proud to be a part of.

"New Gallery and Studio is an art gallery founded by artists. Located in Dallas, the gallery features contemporary realism by artists who are not currently represented in this area. Through our unique arrangement of gallery and working studio, we hope to heighten awareness of contemporary realism and expose DFW art enthusiasts to the process of creating beautiful paintings. As a fresh concept in a growing cultural city, we feel there is ample opportunity to expand the appreciation for representational art.

Vision: To elevate the extraordinary value of contemporary realism. "

These are the paintings that are headed their way for now....

Christmas Morning 12x16

Record Flow 12x16

What A Difference A Day Makes 8x10

Along The Road Alone 8x10

Sunday, October 24, 2010

2010-10-24T16:02:00.004-05:00

'Along The Road Alone' - oil - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson 2010

I may like the light of the last couple of days more than high fall, summer and winter combined. I'm finding such rich subtle color to work with, enhanced by the mist and light warming the atmosphere. Yummmmm!

Today I went to paint on a road that has been the scene of many an effort. One of the nice things about it is the quiet, it's seldom traveled and usually only a car or two go by, a guy on a bike (who I always seem to see), and the occasional dog walker or jogger. But this afternoon it was fun because a quarter mile on the other side of this scene there were labrador retriever trials, in the short distance I could hear duck hunters, probably after geese at this time of day and due to the 'socked in' low ceiling. I love fall and if I wasn't trying to be an artist, I'd be out there hunting too. Nice few hours to be out.

Saturday, October 23, 2010 - William O'Brien State Park

2010-10-23T20:13:00.004-05:00

'What A Difference A Day Makes' - oil on linen - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson 2010

I spent the day on studio tasks but was itching to get out and paint the warm and moody gray day. I did in the afternoon and went to the same spot as yesterday to see what the differences would be. I love the color of this kind of a day, so different than yesterday.

After painting I went to Olive's in Marine and had a pizza and wine. I've been there before and couldn't eat the wood fired oven pizza because it was too charred. But that was shortly after they opened and they seem to have gotten the hang of it because tonight's pie was just outstanding! To top it off, I met a lady who taught Art of all things, in the area schools. She and her husband were very nice and it made a nice topper to the painting day.

Friday, October 22, 2010 - William O'Brien State Park

2010-10-22T17:36:00.003-05:00

'Some Days Don't Make Sense' oil - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson 2010

Not much to say about that. I hope that you enjoy this one.

The Value of Black & White

2010-10-21T11:44:00.004-05:00

I'm very excited to be a part of this exhibit that opens November 13th at the Peninsula Art School's 'Guenzel Gallery' in Fish Creek, WI. The artists have been selected because of the 'value' they see in using black and white in their art either as a final statement or as a means to a better understanding of their subject... or both I suppose.

I first began to use value as most art students do during art school; where black and white work is mainly seen in drawing class, or as a preparatory step towards a more complicated full palette painting. Had I gone to an Atelier', there would have been even more time spent in black and white before even being allowed to venture into color.

In my case, as an illustration major at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, my pivotal moment came when I was given a class instructed by Dan McCaw... Painting I. In Dan's class we painted the model and still life in a full value palette, I think it was a mix of Thalo or Prussian blue and Raw Umber or something like that. In other classes we used black and white to do prelim's and design considerations, not to mention all of the drawing from the model that went on. I'll admit to wanting to 'get to color' back then, but now know how important that was for me to have gone through.

I didn't fully realize the 'value' in those early instructive moments until I began to teach students myself. Once faced with the issues that students bring to a class, I began to go back in time and search for the most important lessons that I had learned during my own schooling so that I could bring that to my own classes and students. I quickly realized that the most valuable training that I had in school was centered around understanding value and it's relationship to color. This is the basis for what most people seem to want to know and understand more about than any one thing in a class... COLOR!

The understanding of value relationships and how they translate to color relationships in and around the subject, and consequently onto the painting, is key to using color in a more effective way in painting.

Now in my own workshops and classes, there are at least two days of value work before we move onto color theory and practice. Consistently I get feedback saying that those couple of days are the most valued segments of the class time. Most of us don't think to head outside and paint, the landscape for instance, in black and white. Why would you with all of that color out there? But I think that once we find out that what we're doing a lot of the time outside is trying to 'understand' nature, to look for the truth to what we are seeing, it becomes obvious that understanding value structure is as important to the mood of the painting as is color.

Here's a blog that some of my students started after a workshop to encourage each other to continue to work in value. They've added color but still continue to use the value studies to enhance and boost their knowledge.
"Black & White Painting Challenge 5.26.09'

In the exhibit I'll be showing plein air work. Possibly one large studio piece. If you're in the area, I hope that you will stop into the gallery before the end of the year to take a peak at the show.

Thanks... Marc

Sunday October 3, 2010

2010-10-05T18:40:00.004-05:00

'Doug's Kettle Korn' oil on canvas, 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson'10

I took part in the Wild Wings Fall Festival and Original Show in Lake City, MN this past Saturday and Sunday. I was asked to do a painting demonstration along with other demonstrations being done to help show the public the 'art' in action.

It was a beautiful fall day with the sun shining brightly, lighting up the surroundings. Doug Hase from Alexandria, MN runs a business who was a vendor at the Fall Festival, 'Doug's Kettle Korn', an he cooks up some mean kettle corn. I should mention too that Doug is a tall dude... guessing at least 6'4'? So his head was always up in the canopy of his tent.

The crowd watching had lot's of questions and kept me on my toes while trying to concentrate on pulling off a successful painting. I'm happy with it from many aspects, color, composition and being able to get it down all the while the models were moving and the light was changing. A great day.

Provincetown Gathering!

2010-10-05T11:17:00.008-05:00

'Dinghies' pastel, 16x20
I'm about to make the trip to Provincetown, MA to paint with a distinguished group of very, very good artists; I'm proud to be included in the group. Last year we met in San Miguel de Allende, hosted by Frank Gardner who lives there and his lovely wife Julie. This year we are sticking to the US and are close to where the shows for these gatherings are held in January and February...

Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA.

1. Paul Schulenburg
2. Frank Gardner
3. Jeff Bonasia
4. Eric Merrell
5. Ernesto Nemesio
6. Ignat Ignatov
7. Jeremey Lipking
8. Jerome Greene
9. Logan Hagege
10. Marc Hanson
11. Dan Corey
12. Rick Casali
13. Stapleton Kearns
14. Sam Vokey
15. Colin Page
16. James Coe
17. Michael Klein
18. Ian Factor

There will be a 'Wet Paint' exhibit of a couple of new pieces by each artist from the trip-

Saturday, October 16
5:30 -7:30 Creative Convergence: Fresh Paint from Cape Cod
This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico will be exhibiting the work from their October, 2010 trip to our country’s oldest art colony and the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. We invite you to meet them and discover their own interpretations of this place and its people.
The Addison Art Gallery is open year round with regularly changing shows. We are currently open most days from 10 to 5:30, Sundays from 11 to 3. Tuesday and Wednesdays we are open by chance and by appointment.

Then several events around the trip at Addison Art Gallery in January and February-

2011
January 15 through
February 28
Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico decided to meet in Provincetown, our country’s oldest art colony, and to explore Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. Like other artists who have been drawn here for over 100 years, they came to be inspired by the landscape, the light, the sea, our communities and each other.

Sunday, January 16
2:00 pm Artists’ Talk: Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Saturday, February 12
5:30 -7:30 Reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
We invite you to meet this renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico at the Addison Art Gallery. We will be exhibiting the work from their trip to Provincetown, our country’s oldest, continuously operating art colony, and their explorations of Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. We invite you to discover their individual interpretations of this place and its people.

Friday,February 18
3:00 pm Artists’ Talk: Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Friday,February 18
5:30 - 7:30 pm Museum reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Saturday,February 19
5:30 - 7:30 pm Reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico decided to meet in Provincetown, our country’s oldest art colony, and to explore Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. Like other artists who have been drawn here for over 100 years, they came to be inspired by the landscape, the light, the sea, our communities and each other. We invite you to discover their own interpretations of this place and its people.

September 29, 2010 ... The End of the September Nocturnes.

2010-09-30T14:14:00.006-05:00

My nocturne painting adventure ended two nights short and with more adrenaline coursing through my body than I needed! Im fine, no injuries to anything other than a deer and my truck.

Last night I was on my way from Stillwater up to Marine on the St. Croix to set up for some nice painting in the quaint little village of Marine. About 4 miles north of Stillwater I was intercepted by a young 7 or 8 point whitetail deer buck who came at an angle from my back left side and made a direct line for the front of my truck. I know not to try to miss them, that leads to ditches or worse, like a serious encounter with oncoming traffic. So I hit the brakes and kept it on a straight track, couldn't stop in time and caught the buck's hind quarters with my front right quarter.

The impact was so loud that a nearby resident came down on an ATV to see if there had been a head on collision. He said he was in his front yard on a nearby hill and it sounded like an explosion! Unfortunately the deer was seriously wounded and the on the scene state trooper and sheriff deputy had to dispatch the deer. Some people from the area stopped, to see if there was the possibility of free deer meat I'm sure, and asked if they could tag the meat. I said sure, the trooper gave me the appropriate DNR Car Kill Possession slip needed, and the people loaded the animal up and were off. So despite it all, some good came of this because I think that they probably get a lot of their meat this way and need it. Not for me, but good for them.

This ends my nocturnes for the month. I have a rental car for now and I AM NOT TAKING IT OUT ON THE ROADS ANYWHERE NEAR DUSK, DARK OR DAWN!!! :)

But... Here's my plan... I'm going to be painting in Provincetown, MA for about 8 or 9 days coming up shortly. I plan to paint some more 5"x7" nocturnes there, and some daylight pieces that are the same size and am going to keep posting here and on eBay if I can take some decent photos of them.

Same plan in terms of the eBay details. If you're interested in following any of those, stay tuned to the blog in the upcoming couple of weeks.

Tonight I'm going to get caught up on some bookwork, equipment preparing for the trip and that sort of thing.

Then I'm going to open a good bottle of red wine and enjoy a nice peaceful dinner and evening without the drama of last evening in thought.

I'm also going to try to catch up on blog replies. A HUGE Thank YOU to all of you who've followed my progress this month, and to all of you who purchased the paintings from the September Nocturne Marathon. I'll write up some thoughts on it soon.

September 28, 2010

2010-09-29T12:43:00.007-05:00

Only one painting tonight. I drove too much trying to find a subject to paint. It's very dark, inky, until the moon is up and that happens too late now. I painted this location for my April Marathon too. So it's a revisit to CJ's...

4/22/2009-2 'CJ's Bar and Grill'

Click Here to Bid.
9/28 'CJ's'
I still haven't had a burger at CJ's! I'm always busy painting it. CJ's is on Hwy 95 north of Taylors Falls, almost to Almelund on the way to North Branch. I hear that the burgers are good. Some more orange light, can't get away from it. A quaint place to paint, I enjoyed the time in their parking lot.

September 27, 2010

2010-09-29T12:08:00.004-05:00

Busy... Just never quite had the time to get these up yesterday!!!

The first one is 'legal' by my definition, but it sure was bright out even after the sun was down below the horizon. So I'm fudging a little bit by calling this a nocturne, it's not by color scheme, but is by my guidelines for this project. The next project might be titled "Twilight Marathon"! That's the time to paint, the magical short 30 minutes when the subtleties in the color explode with their softness. Soft but powerful!

The moon is rising so late now that for me it's not an option to wait for it. I need to be finished up around 10 p.m. or my truck turns into a gallon can of Turpentine and I'm stuck 'till morning! Besides, that makes for a full enough day as it is.

My objective has been to not be driving all over the country side during this project, and with a few exceptions, I've stuck pretty close to home. I will admit to approaching "local subject matter" burn out. The moon was great while it was up and around. But I'm getting tired of painting white buildings orange, because of these street lights we have now. In fact, I'm tempted to lobby, someone, to either turn them off or get some cooler kind of bulbs!!! They are not artistically inspiring to me anymore. I wonder if I wore some blue shades things would balance out? Hmmmm...

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9/27-1 'Twilight Palette'
Well... Saw it and like it! I'm beginning to become starved for light value color... that isn't yellow or orange. I've already talked a lot about how nice it is to paint at this time of the day, so I won't bore you with more of that. While painting this one there were pheasant roosters ( I grew up with roots in South Dakota and it's hard for me not to call the roosters 'cocks' because that is what they were Always called when hunting them ) were cackling and making short flights all around me and in this marsh area that is just barely shown in the painting. I am tempted to see if the property owner hunts this or allows anyone to do that. I can see it as a great place to hone my archery skills on pheasants in flight. In case anyone thinks that's cruel, believe me the cedar arrow Flu-Flus launched out of my long bow at a flushing 'rooster' pheasant out number the roosters bagged by about 25 to 1 in my case. Sure is fun though!

Click Here to Bid.
9/27-2 'Fuel Stop'
No moon, and this is about the most interesting structure on the main drag in Taylors Falls, with lights on past 8:30 p.m. that I hadn't painted yet. There is the Drive-In, which I would love to paint but it closes right at dark, shutting down the lighted root beer mug and car hop area, a church which doesn't light up very often (services every other week), several very nice little homes from the 19th century too but nearly always dark by the time I'm ready to paint them. So tonight I painted the gas station that has recently been remodled into something called a 'Adium'??? Strange word... I always want to say 'StAdium'. I know I'm ready for some daylight because the last two paintings of this type of subject matter have really taken me a long time, comparatively speaking, to finish. And I'm running out of orange, red and yellow!!! ;)

Nocturnes back on eBay!!!

2010-09-27T12:59:00.002-05:00

I had a very good experience in talking to a customer service rep at eBay today and my limit to selling is now increased to the point where there shouldn't be anymore interruptions in the listing process.

There are 3 new nocturnes now listed with the "Click Here to Bid" buttons active again.

Thanks for your patience.

Marc

September 26, 2010

2010-09-26T22:40:00.005-05:00

A good night. For the artists out there, I just had to change batteries in the Might Bright LED book light tonight, the first time since beginning this project 26 days ago! The light still wasn't out, but was dimming. That's pretty impressive. Twenty six sessions of about 2.5 hours...65 hours of light!!! That's amazing to me because the other light I used with the color balanced fluorescent bulb would use 4 batteries about every 2 or 3 hours.

I was in the Interstate Park for the first one. I have a question... Is there a school out there that teaches the two questions that almost everyone who walks up behind me asks?

1- "Are you an artist, are you painting?"... Easel is up, brushes in my hand, paint all over the palette, paint brush with paint is on the canvas...
2-Remember, they're behind me looking at my painting and what I'm painting... "What are you painting?"

Tonight the last people in the park, besides me, were rock climbers. A young lady clinging and clanging from all of the climbing gear hanging from her body came up and asked me both questions. To answer her first one I said "Yes...Are you a climber?" She stretches out a big grin and says "Why yes I am!".

To answer the second question, I just pointed out in front of me.
Either I'm not doing a very good job, one that she can recognize, or she took the course... I just don't know!!!

Just to let you know how this is affecting me... I see nothing odd anymore about sitting outside in my plastic Adirondack chair with a beverage in hand, in the pitch black, no fire in the pit, frost or very cold moisture on the chair, with about 4 layers of clothes and a pair of gloves on... and watching life go by my back yard as if it were 3:00 in the afternoon on a nice warm Saturday in July!!!

9/26-1 'Twilight In The Park'
There was some beautiful color happening in that canyon last night when the sun finally went below the western horizon. The canyon gets dark early, but then it bounces color around for quite a while after sunset. The palette tonight was gorgeous with magentas, ceruleans, mossy greens, and grayer versions of all of that. What a treat!

9/26-2 'Moon Beam'
I walked across to the north side of Hwy 8, across the road from the park, and set up to paint the moon rising over the hills of the Wisconsin side of the St Croix. This view is looking up towards the St Croix Falls power dam that I painte earlier in September. The orange/red glow to the left center are the lights from the dam. I checked the charts and knew that the moon would be rising about 8:18. What I didn't think about is that down in the river canyon the rise wouldn't pop over the top of the bluffs then, not until about 9:10 did it show up. Well it was worth the wait. Nice calm, fairly warm night to sit and watch stars until it was time to paint.

September 25, 2010... Again!

2010-09-26T12:03:00.004-05:00

Just dawned on me (seriously, no pun intended) that the nocturne I did last night made 3 for Saturday the 25th! Now I feel better about not painting a second one last night.

I did get up at 4 am again this morning to try to get another one in but the moon light wasn't very good, pretty dull in fact as was the sunrise. I saw it, said "That's boring"... I mean don't get me wrong, I'm glad I saw another... but it was cloudless and a litttle flat. This of course is all in relation to my having to go out and stand in the temps that are now approaching the 30's. You need some inspiration to do that in September!!!

SOLD
9/25-3 'Harvest Moonrise'
I was out in the country side waiting for dark, what a strange life I lead, when it got DARK! I check the tables so I knew that the moon was to rise at 7:38 or there about. I'm sitting on tailgate with the easel ready to go, looking at where the moon would come up. Nothing... then a glance 30º to the north, behind me, and holy moly... it's on it's way up, just starting to peak over the rise out in that direction! I grabbed the tripod and brushes and ran to the front of my truck and started painting. It rose fast but I zeroed in on it when about 3/4's of it was about the land in front of me. I decided to make it all about the moon, not much detail and in fact it was so bright that it obliterated everything with in my field of vision in front of me. It was very cool.

September 25, 2010

2010-09-25T11:20:00.010-05:00

NOTE TO EBAY FOLLOWERS... I RECEIVED A MESSAGE FROM THEM SAYING THAT AS A "NEW SELLER" I HAVE REACHED MY MONTHLY LIMIT!!! I can call them to discuss this, but not until Monday during business hours. I do not get this one. I thought the idea was to be there selling??? They seem to want to limit your success at doing that.
So I will post these and hopefully get this worked out Monday and will then list them all at once...I guess?

As sort of promised, I got up this morning at 4:00am to go paint nocturnes! I'm not going to lie, that wasn't easy to do. I went out to dinner and did some socializing, a 'not to frequent' activity this month being a student of the night! According to our extremely accurate weather forecasts, it didn't rain like they said it would, either last night or this morning. Good thing they were wrong about this morning.

Cold this morning too... 43ºF. Gloves required for the first time since last winter's painting season.

9/25-1 'By The Light Of The Silvery Moon'
I'll tell you what... As of this morning, I get that old song's title now! It was so 'silvery' that there was almost no color, well subtle grays, but only the slightest hints of warm and cool grays. This one was painted at Little Lake, a 'little' lake five miles or so from me. What I didn't know was that there is a very healthy population of big beavers on Little Lake. I found that out because they swam up behind me while I was painting ( it was dark ), intending to come ashore I guess, and slapped their tails on the water in some sort of aggressive act!!! I acted, jumped out of my shorts in fact! They wouldn't go away, kept circling 10 yds off the lake edge, slapping tails and basically making me worried that they thought my still, concentrating legs might be tender saplings. I took out my flashlight and shined it on them, they're big! There were also about 3 or 4 muskrats swimming around. So much for concentration.

SOLD
9/2502 'Before 7:00 AM'
I left Little Lake, the beavers and muskrats needed some 'Muskrat Love' time alone. I intended to start the next painting just as the horizon began to lighten up, about a half an hour before Civil Twilight, about 6:00 am this morning, and stop just before Actual Sunrise to be 'legal'. This is what greeted me!!! And more... If I've learned and hang onto one thing from this project so far, it is to get out at Twilight on both ends of the day, morning and night. That's where the magic is happening! I always new that, I'm a hunter and fisherman after all, but life's schedules seemed to have always prevented that in my normal course of plein air painting in the past. Getting kids up for school, to school, to games, activities in the evenings after school... those kind of things. My time to paint was usually more mid-day when the other family obligations weren't there. That is what was supposed to be done then, of course. Now they're on their own. Funny how long it takes us to 're-schedule' our psyche after having done it one way for so long. Whew... I see it happening now, finally!

Nocturnes Friday & Saturday...

2010-09-24T15:36:00.004-05:00

I want to let you know that if you're following this, the nocturnes for tonight and tomorrow night might be painted in the wee hours of the morning, before sunrise, for a change of pace and to try to "out smart" the rain and wind! Wish me luck with that one.

I've been thinking about doing this for awhile now, to paint early in the morning rather than right after dark. With the full moon (if we can see it), the light should be amazingly bright again. I'm looking forward to that. So instead of catching the last light and then dark, I'll be trying to catch dark and the first light. Fun...

Posting may wait until later in the day... A few people have indicated that they're using these posts to start things off each day. Sorry to interrupt that again, but it's all fluid.

Here's one from a few years ago for fun...

'Wild Mountain Nocturne' 6x8

September 23, 2010

2010-09-24T08:02:00.006-05:00

It rained and rained and rained. Tonight had me limited to either in the car, the coffee shop didn't work out, the car didn't work out either. So when the rain let up for a little bit I set up under the awning of the Chisago House Restaurant and painted the corner of the street where the Bakery is... in the rain!

Only one painting in the bag for tonight. I started one in the car and ended up wiping it due to not being able to see well enough with the heavy rain. Just didn't work out...

Click Here to Bid.
9/23 'Corner of Bench and First St'
In the rain this was a beautiful corner of TF to paint tonight. I even had the assistance of lights from under the awning on the Chisago House until the owner left at 9pm. My little light did the job for the next half hour though and I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome of this one. It feels wet, it was wet.

September 22, 2010

2010-09-23T08:13:00.003-05:00

With the possibility of a very rainy couple of days I got right to it tonight. Three pieces resulted, two right after sunset as the incredible color of the more northern sky was intercepted by the storm from that was moving in from the SW. Some Great color to paint!!! PS... there are times when I wish these weren't so small.

Click Here to Bid.
9/22-1 'Raining To The South'
Wow... sunset is now 6:57, a half an hour earlier than just a week or so ago! I'm taking advantage of that. The sky is so amazing foiled against the darkened landscape, car lights and trees silhouetted in a deep, warm shroud of color. I love the contrasts that are happening in that period I keep mentioning, between Actual Sunset and Civil Twilight. This one, and the second of the night, were painted in a wide spot on County Rd 37 about two miles from my house.

NFS
9/22-2 'Scarlet'
I simply turned about 30º left to paint this one. The slash of light was awe inspiring! This kind of color, in a painting and in life, has to be seen and be afforded time spent looking at it, to get the full impact. Such fun!!! Is this legal?

Click Here to Bid.
9/22-3 'Fast Food Alley'
From the 'sublime' to the 'ridiculous... but 'good to paint'! No moon means that the sky was dark once things settled into the night. I made my way up the hill above St Croix Falls to the parking lot of the Cinema and TSC (Tractor Supply Company) store. I did not need my light to paint up here tonight. That was nice for a change! So my target was Subway, the Mickey 'D' sign and the intersection of the road leading to the two. A real mix of warm and cool street light affected color, the little spots of white, tangerine, yellow, red, green and some other truly unworldly reds that I could only approximate in oils. And in case I got hungry, finished up at 10pm, I was right where I needed to be.

September 21, 2010

2010-09-22T11:56:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure that I've painted two of these in one night that are quite so different in color yet painted within an hour of each other. The first piece was painted about a half hour after sunset, the second one started about an hour and a half later when the moon was really bright.

Click Here to Bid.
9/21-1 'Isaak's Moon'
For my first nocturne tonight I painted north of Taylors Falls at the Isaak Walton League park and boat launch. I thought it might be fun to get the moon's reflection on the water. Didn't work as planned because the river is too narrow to give the space for the reflection to drop down. There is another park and boat launch on the Wisconsin side of the river, that's what the bright orange light is. Leaves are warming enough now so that even as it's getting darker, their color seems to illuminate the hills. I don't understand all of this, like the greening of the sky (probably due to the complimentary contrast of the reds and oranges in the trees on the hillside), but I paint it as I see it out there. I think that being honest and not trying to 'sway' the color towards your own preconceived ideas is an exciting way to paint. I've talked about it before, but to me, this is what makes plein air painting so exciting and worthwhile doing. I can never dream this stuff up, and it's right out there for the taking.

Click Here to Bid.
9/21-2 'Lit Up'
That's all I can think of after painting the second one, how bright it was last night. I tried to paint without the auxiliary light and almost made it. It's just not quite bright enough... yet. Now we're expecting a couple of days of rain, right through the fullest phase of the moon! That is disappointing, I'll see what happens.

September 20, 2010

2010-09-20T21:59:00.005-05:00

Duty called today and took me away from the computer so the post for last night's paintings is just getting up...

What a night! Temps near 70ºF at 9pm!!! The winds were out of the SE at about 11kts gusting to 15kts. The temperatures will be warming as the night matures. The moon is at 95% illumination.

My basic approach is to find a pull off on one of the gravel (county) roads near me and get set up just before sunset. The last few nights I've been sitting on the tailgate of my truck. Tonight I painted the moon rising at Twilight, and then again about an hour past Twilight so that the full illumination of the light of the moon was in play. Between the early painting and the later painting I sit in the brightening dark (that's an odd thing to see happen) and listen to the sounds of the quiet, waiting for the land around me to brighten up as the moon takes over the show. It's interesting to do that. As soon as it gets dark, critters start moving around you. Last night a skunk passed by, that was obvious, and other 'things' that aren't identifiable by sight are heard to be moving about in my area. I just sit quietly with lights off and try to feel a part of it all. It's spectacular!

SOLD
9/20-1 '95% Moon'
This painting was so interesting to paint because the last light of the day, the sun, was still throwing some warmth from the western horizon ( to the right on the painting ) onto the scene. At the same time the moon on it's way up, the darkness advancing, created a beautiful gray quality to the land. The wind and warmth was accompanied by a lot of moisture in the air. This affects the color, even the color that is very close. Tonight's sky was a very grayed color, the trees green was very grayed, the flatness of the land and grasses also very grayed. All of this is what made the brilliance of the moon itself stand out and dominate the scene.

SOLD
9/20-2 'Warm Southern Wind'
I can tell you that I am a lucky guy to be doing this, but I can't share that feeling as well as I'd like to. My hope is that you will feel my own joy at being here, doing this in the paintings. Tonight was one of the best.

September 19, 2010

2010-09-19T22:30:00.005-05:00

The moon tonight is at 91% of full! Tonight I could almost paint without auxiliary light!!! No kidding, it was so bright that I painted a lot of this one without the book light on. By the time this moon is full I'm sure that I won't need the book light. It was beautiful out tonight.

SOLD
9/19 'Calm and Quiet Night'
It was just perfect tonight. No wind, bright light, a dead end road with a farm at it's end. I sat on the tail gate of my truck for about an hour waiting for the light to the West to turn to dark. A skunk was poking around near my truck, that smell is unmistakeable, and as the light to the west faded, the light on my panel and palette became brighter and brighter. Almost bright enough to paint without the lights on. I used a palette of Viridian, Alizarin Crimson, Black, White and Yellow ochre for this one.

September 18, 2010

2010-09-19T22:21:00.005-05:00

First day of my workshop in Zumbrota, MN and it was kind of chilly, wet and just not much fun until after lunch time! Then it warmed up a little and made our day a little bit nicer. Following class I made the drive north, made a stop in Stillwater for some homemade chicken soup (thanks Kami :), and then drove into William O'Brien State Park, just north of Marine on St. Croix, and painted this piece. Only one tonight. I'll admit to being tired by 9:30 at night, after getting on the road at 6:30 am, teaching all day and a lot of driving.

SOLD
9/18 'Moon Over O'Brien'
Almost a full moon, 5 days or so to go. I had it going, bright moon and painting away, then the clouds rolled in and that was it for me, too dark to make it interesting. I'm anxious to paint the next week when the moon is moving into it's full phase.

September 17, 2010

2010-09-17T22:26:00.005-05:00

If you see a painting here this morning, I'm surprised! I painted one nocturne last night but wasn't sure if I'd have time this morning to post it.

I teach a 2 day workshop this weekend in Zumbrota, MN about an hour and a half from me. What I think will end up happening is this... I'm still painting nocturnes, but the posting may have to wait until Sunday or Monday morning. I'm not quite sure how else to do it. I finish up late, leave before 6:30 am to make the drive to the workshop. That doesn't leave much time to shoot, edit, post on the blog, eBay, website and Facebook.

SOLD
9/17-1 'Tangled in Blue'
This is a local dining establishment on the main drag here in Taylors Falls. On site, I could not seem to get the cool violets and blues I was seeing in the scene. Turns out that the reason was, once again, the orange street lamps. Once I was home I saw that the colors I thought I was mixing were there. This says a lot for trusting yourself when painting these things.

September 16, 2010

2010-09-16T22:04:00.006-05:00

I feel gooo-ood! (James Brown impersonation) Back at it tonight. Looking for the half moon but the cloud cover foiled that idea. I painted the canyon walls inside the Interstate Park right at sunset for the first one, then went into down town Taylors Falls and painted the our US Post Office building.

SOLD
9/16-1 'Canyon Sunset'
The color was inspiring as the clouds just broke a enough after the sun was down to reveal the warmth of the end of the day sky!

SOLD
9/16-2 'US Post Office-Taylors Falls, MN'
This is our stalwart little post office. I just liked the light on the building front. I spend so much time there that it was good to see it from this point of view.

September 15 Nocturnes... Here's the 'Method and Materials' scoop!

2010-09-15T18:29:00.009-05:00

I'm sitting here wishing I felt well enough to go out to paint tonight... just kidding... severe thunderstorms, heavy rain, lightening and hail, tornado warnings near by! Never mind!

So while I'm sitting here, and instead of wasting time, I thought that I'd post some info about what I use to paint, and what my approach to painting nocturnes is in order to answer a number of questions that I'm getting about this.

The Methods and Materials are really just about the same as I use during the day. Painting is painting and painting a nocturne calls for the same sensibilities to Drawing, Value, Color, Composition... Edges, Temperature and most important... Concept!

Observation is key, and painting what you see... not what you know... is essential. This is certainly true during the daylight situations also. But at night you really don't have a choice because much of what you 'think' you know about an object or situation is no longer valid. The darkness obliterates details, artificial lights can obliterate form, and the combination will leave you wondering just what it is that you're looking at. Don't worry about it, you don't need to know, if you're paying attention to putting down the correct relationships of the shapes, values and colors (with the accompanying attention to edges and the qualities of the colors... hue, intensity, value and temperature) that are before you. If you do that with a Concept in mind, you'll have a great time at this.

There is something freeing about painting at night. I suppose that in part it's because you can't see everything that is happening in the subject, or on your painting. The lights I use are great, but they're still limited and this is not like painting in good studio or north light! Even with the 'better' illumination with the LED lights, they're not perfectly color balanced. Your color mixtures will look pretty good, but they will still surprise you a little when you take the paintings inside and view them under good studio light. Painting a nocturne is always an adventure into the unknown.

All of these obstacles make painting nocturnes both a challenge and a thrill to do. And once it's dark, the light doesn't change unless the neighbor, whose house you may be painting, turns off the lights and goes to bed!

I prefer smoother surfaced panels at night so that the glare from the darker colors isn't as bad. That glare makes them hard to photograph for one, but also hard to see the painting once it's varnished.

Usually I tone the panel first with either a warm tone or a dark neutral like some black with blue and a little red mixed in. It's best to let that dry a day or so before painting on it. More and more I prefer the gray vs the warm tone.

I don't switch up my palette, though I may not use as much of the lighter value colors as I would in daylight. I tend to use more of the darker value colors like Transparent Oxide Brown or Red, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue Deep and Viridian. I do add a few colors for catching the intensity of lights at night, like red, blue and green neon. I add some Pthalo colors... blue, green, turqouise. I also like a Quinacridone red or rose for the glowing pinks of some lights.

Here's the palette-
Titanium White
Cad Lemon Yellow
Cad Yellow Deep
Yellow Ochre light
Cad Orange
Cad Scarlet
Cad Red
Quinacridone Red or Rose
Alizarin Crimson
Transparent Oxide Brown or Red
Viridian
Ultramarine Blue
_______________
Night add ons-
Pthalo Blue, Green, Turquoise

I use the 10x12 EasyL box.

This is the Mighty Bright LED Book light.

That's the scoop! Thanks.

9/14 and 9/15 Nocturnes...

2010-09-14T19:33:00.004-05:00

For those of you who follow this, I jumped the gun on 'thinking' I was out of the woods with this viral thing going around. I'm not. So I'm sorry but I am going to spend the next two days and kick it for good! I know I'm not painting tonight the 14th, and will see about tomorrow night.

You have no idea how much this ticks me off! I remember a year ago in April when I made it through the entire month without one measurable interruption, except for a pre-planned 3 day workshop. Looking back, that was an amazing thing to me. There's always something going on and this month seems to have it's share.

See you in a night or two. One good thing is that the moon will be about half full on the 15th.

September 13, 2010

2010-09-13T21:38:00.004-05:00

Another gorgeous evening into night again! I'm really glad that the moon is making a presence again. The light it ads to the subject is so welcome. A friend mentioned that the northern lights should have been visible tonight, and maybe they will be later. I found this new crescent moon to be irresistible tonight. I drove over to Lindstrom tonight and painted on South Lindstrom Lake. Lindstrom is a very Swedish town as you might have guessed by the name. The sign across main street says "Valkommen till Lindstrom"... I don't know how to make the little dots over the 'o' or the 'a'.

The mosquitoes came out with a vengeance tonight. For the first painting I was almost inhaling mosquito spray there was so much in 'my' air. Did no good, they were swarming the face tonight! After the first one I scrambled out of there and came back to my house and caught the carriage house behind me with the crescent moon hovering over head.

SOLD
9/13-1 'Lake Lights'
As I mentioned, I'm really liking painting right at sunset. Especially on the lakes around here. The lake surfaces take on so much subtle color, grayed pinks, blues, violets, and greens. All very close in value and intensity and all darker and cooler than the sky. I was talking to someone about how I think that I'm going to spend more time working at this time of the day, right at the end. Only problem is that to do that you can't work large, or you can and just come back many times. To me it makes more sense to get comfortable working around 8x10 or 9x12 and limit it to that. These kind of studies make great reference, along with some digital images, back in the studio. Right now these 5x7's are plenty large to get that information down in time.

SOLD
9/13-2 'Crescent Over the Carriage House'
I drove home to try to paint the moon over the top of the hill behind my house. Problem was that it wasn't there, it was further east and over the carriage house, in between the trees. The light from my back porch added a second light source that functioned as a fill light to add a little dimension to the scene. So that's what I painted.

September 12, 2010

2010-09-12T21:50:00.005-05:00

After a couple of days fighting off some sort of annoyance, and many, many well wishes... I want to thank you for that!!! It's a pretty nice thing, this digital community we have going.

I was ready to go tonight after being stuck inside for two days. We had a beautiful day and the end of it's run did not disappoint. There was a richness to the light that comes at this time of the year that we look forward to as painters.

Tonight I painted three paintings, one before sunset, and two following that, on the Stillwater waterfront. There was a lot of activity, tourists, bikers, music, fishing, walkers, you name it, people were out enjoying the great day. I'll post all three, just the two nocturnes will be up on the eBay auction.

'Long Shadows' oil- 8x10
This was about a 35-40 minute painting. I was at the waterfront a little too early for sunset, and as it turned out, barely there long enough to get the light which disappeared behind the surrounding hills very fast. But I got a sketch of the nature of the area, the bandstand being slammed by the warm light and the many little indications of the people milling about.

SOLD
9/12-1 P.D.Pappy's
This was one crowded, biker infested bar and grill tonight. Live music and a lot of fun lighting to tempt the nearest nocturne painter in sight. The road in front was loaded with Harley's, all just silhouettes, but with lot's of bouncing reflections.

SOLD
9/12-2 Crescent Moon
Finally! Some moon... I barely had time to paint it before it was back behind the hills. But it was good to see it again.

September 10, 2010

2010-09-11T09:02:00.003-05:00

No nocturnes for Friday the 10th.
The 'Nocturne-ist' is under the weather with a, hopefully brief, bug of some kind.
... Marc

September 9, 2010

2010-09-09T22:03:00.007-05:00

What a beautiful day it was today. I know that because I spent most of it driving an hour from my house into the Twin Cities to return a light at National Camera... and then home... and then back to National Camera... and then home again! I saw the beauty out the window, all afternoon. This is what happens when you start using a new wallet that looks just like your old wallet, which you grab in a rush as you're heading out the door to the Twin Cities. Opening that wallet at the 'Customer Service' counter, I was surprised to see that there wasn't a driver's license, credit card, dollar bill or anything in it that would facilitate returning the light I drove all that way to return.

The store clerk said "Is there someone at home who you could call and they could read off the credit card numbers that you used?"... me... "No, the cat can't talk."... him... "Hmmmm..."... me... "But I'll work on that one."

Tonight I drove to Balsam Lake, WI about twenty minutes from here. It's a nice, clear typical Wisconsin lake with little bays full of pontoon boats, lily pads and homes spread around the banks. I had a plan to paint light from the houses and boat docks reflecting onto the water's surface.

A side note... If you think that painting lights on houses at night is easy, have you ever thought that those same lights are controlled by the people inside who might be going to bed long before you are? The things I'm learning by doing this nocturne painting event are numerous. Just as in the day time, light changes, but at night it's not due to the earth's rotation, it's due to businesses closing or house residents calling it a day.

Back on Balsam Lake... the other thing that I didn't think about is that on Wednesday night, in September, many of the people who turn on the lights of the cabins lining the lakeshore are not there! They're in Minneapolis or St. Paul and probably won't be there until the weekend!!! I learn something new every day that I had not thought of the day before.

SOLD
9/9-1 'Returning Fisherman'
Maybe not a nocturne of the 'dark' variety, but painted 30 minutes past actual sunset, civil twilight, and very dark though the sky was still light. I blocked in the land mass, reflections and lily pad masses and was waiting for a little bit for things to darken. The sky just stayed light for a long time, so I painted it in. Just as I was about to wonder where the focal point was going to be, there were some warm lights on the distant shoreline that could have been used for that, a little Lund fishing boat came around the corner of the point (similar to the Taylors Falls Queen last week) and became the perfect focal point with it's warm light on the stern and the green light on the bow. The guys in it pulled up and out of the water and walked over to me and said "If you don't mind me asking, why are you painting at night?" I didn't know what to say at first and mumbled something incoherent that they'd probably expect and artist to sound like. Then I said "Well I paint a lot in the day time too..." I don't know, I just can't explain everything!

9/9-2 'Balsam Lake-You Are Here'
The second painting was to be my legitimate nocturne for the day...er... night. I waited for "real" dark, and just as I was getting excited about the lake scene in front of me, the nuclear powered street light ignites and the entire lake environment vanishes behind a veil of airborne particles, bugs and moisture lit by the mercury vapor beast on the pole behind me. The idea to paint the reflections on the water are over at this point, I can't see them. So I turned left and see my +270,000 mile Ford Explorer Sport Trac parked next to the topographical map for Balsam Lake and I decide to paint that... because it's all I can see.

September 8, 2010

2010-09-09T09:17:00.005-05:00

It's a late start today because I bought a diffuser photo light yesterday at the photo store, to see if I could eliminate the glare issue on the photos of these wet paintings. NOT! So after messing with it, it went back in the box and I took pics the old fashioned way. All the messing around has delayed my post for today. So in brief, here they are...

SOLD
9/8-1 'Firepit at Sunset'
It's a little 'fall like', the skies were clear and it seemed like a nice night for a fire in the pit. But I'd have to be here to do that, so why not do that and then paint it? These were a fun exercise in movement and using 'hot' color. I started the first one right at sunset because I didn't know if I'd even be able to get the wood to burn, it's been sitting in the pit through the rain of the last few days. Well it went up like a torch!!! Problem was that there wasn't that much wood, so I had to paint fast before it was gone. I wanted flames, not burning embers.

SOLD
9/8-2 'Firepit at 9pm'
For the second painting of the night I thought it would be fun to back off a little bit from where I painted the first one, and paint the fire pit in total darkness. Only problem was, as I mentioned above, the wood supply was gone. So I jumped into my truck and ran down to the gas station and had to 'buy' a stack of oak to burn for the second painting. It was worth it, I was toasty and had a blast painting the flames.

September 7, 2010

2010-09-07T22:11:00.007-05:00

If one more grey fox walks up behind me while I'm painting in my own yard and snorts or barks or chortles or whatever it is you call the weird noise that they make, I'm going to get a large stuffed coyote to stand next to me! They should know that if the coyotes show up, they're goners. My anxiety aside, I love having the little guys running all over my yard at night and stopping a few feet from my easel to look at me like I don't belong. I stayed in the yard tonight to paint to avoid the wind and to avoid driving around too much.

That's all I'm saying...

I decided I had more to say!

Observation is key in painting, I don't think that could be argued, not in representational painting anyway. In the dark...

You can't paint from what you know, you have to paint what you see!

Previous knowledge is almost useless because everything that you thought you knew about a tree, for instance, changes in the dark. So you have to be an even more careful and keen observer at night than you may be in the day time. I know I'm guilty of, and have to constantly remind myself, 'not' to paint things, but to paint relationships... value, color and edges... at ALL times. It's easy to let your previous knowledge slip into a painting, but at night that knowledge isn't there in all cases, so you have to rely on observation.

Now that's all...

9/7-1 'Porch Pot' ( Sorry for the glare. I could not find a way to shoot this and not have some?)
I planted this shrub rose last August. If it lives until next August I'll consider myself lucky. I liked it's profile against the lighter colored siding of the house.

SOLD
9/7-2 'Norway Spruce'
I have these two gorgeous old Norway Spruce adorning my front yard. And of course the obligatory orange street light. I'm beginning to hate whoever came up with these lights that are all orange. It's a strange color to paint in any situation other than Halloween.

September 6, 2010

2010-09-06T23:07:00.009-05:00

I've made an impact! I'm now known as the 'eBay guy', locally anyway. Tonight as I was painting, in the rain, a very nice lady walked across the street from Romayne's Bar and Grill, my subject in the first painting. She initially wanted to know what a guy with lights was doing hanging out on the sidewalk in the dark on a stormy night when all of the summer traffic was gone... NO ONE was in town any longer. When she walked up she said "Are you the guy who's on eBay, painting a couple paintings a day?" Well blow me down with a wisp of air! That took me by surprise to say the least. Evidently she searches for Taylors Falls items on eBay and when she did a search the other day, I came up and she saved my painting to follow along. I gave her a card with my blog address on it so that she could follow the whole kit and kaboodle. I was very proud that in my own town there are people who I don't even know who might be paying attention to what I'm doing in this marathon. I want to thank her here for making the trip across the street tonight to tell me that.

A little side rambling... I can amuse myself with very little, and I'm doing it again. As humans we are so conditioned to act and feel based on similar events in our past. How many of us have eaten something when we were very young, gotten sick on it because we had the flu, mumps, or some reason for it to make us sick other than the food, and to this day we can't stand to eat that food!!!??? For me it's carmel apples (I know, it makes me sick that I can't eat them) and the mumps... haven't eaten one since I was about 8 or 9 years old when because of having the mumps a carmel apple made me very sick.

Conditioning... During my April Painting 'Marathon' 2009, every single day I walked out the door it was nasty, some less than others, but still not all that pleasant and I wasn't all that anxious always to face it. It left an impression.

So here I am in another 'Marathon' and I'm cracking up because every night when I head out I put on long johns, three shirts and a fleece! By the time I get a few blocks away to paint, I'm hot and taking those extra items off. The only reason I can think of that I do this is because I'm 'pre-conditioned' from the 2009 Marathon and I'm doing another Marathon now... So...

To my pleasant surprise each night out, it's actually pretty warm! Once I'm on location I get kind of excited to be painting a Marathon that doesn't require gloves and a ski hat!!!

Like I said... a little side ramble!

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9/6-1 'Golden Light'
This is a painting of the courtyard of a local eating and drinking establishment called Romayne's here in Taylors Falls. I found the dark of the foreground tables sans the umbrellas for the night, played against the lit wall and the 'Golden Light' sign a good subject.

I was pretty excited to just camp on the, now quiet, streets of Taylors Falls tonight and paint. My plan was to stay in one spot and get my work done. Well as usual, Mother Nature had different plans. It was raining when I left the house tonight so I placed myself under an awning so that I could paint in the rain. What I didn't do was take my anti- lightening strike pills. As I was working on this one the skies became evil incarnate! With one strike, I saw at least 6 or 7 veins of lightening careening over the top of the hills in front of me, and my ears were about blown out, it was so loud and near by. That did it... I finished up and came home out of harms way. I don't mind rain, even tolerate wind... but lightening is a force that I just don't mess with.

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9/6-2 'Oscar the Grouch'
I have two pets, Sargent who I painted last night, and my fish Oscar. Oscar started life as a 1-1/2" Walmart resident. I rescued him and he's now about 7" or 8" inches long, the size of a large, really large bluegill. He has that grouchy look that has earned him the nickname 'Oscar the Grouch'. Getting chased inside tonight I thought it would be fun to paint Oscar in his 40 gallon aquarium. He's a beautiful specimen... but he doesn't hold still any longer than his companion Sargent. Animals that aren't on film or a memory card are hard to paint! I'm hoping for good weather so that I can stick to the buildings, trees and other subjects that don't move... ever.

Link to the nocturnes on my website.

2010-09-06T13:55:00.002-05:00

Click here to go to the 2010 September Nocturnes from Life collection on my website. If you prefer visuals without the writing and commentary this should do it. Thanks.

September 5, 2010

2010-09-05T22:21:00.004-05:00

One things for sure, every day it gets dark. I lived in Norway when I was young and there were a couple of days that broke that rule, it never gets dark on the Midnight Summer's Eve and Night. The other thing that you can count on is never being able to please everyone. I had an email from someone who was complimentary about my work, but who feels that I'm talking too much on these posts... "Here I go again!" I can appreciate someone's opinion that they'd rather just see the art, not hear the artist ramble on. I almost want to apologize for treating this blog and project as a daily journal... but I'm not going to! (I don't really want to apologize, just feel that it would be polite to.) This is my blog, my work and my thought. I hope you like what I'm doing, but it's not a requirement. Thank you.

Okay, rambling along... Tonight was my night back from not being able to paint last night because I wanted to have fun at the wedding. I did...

Click Here to Bid.
9/5-1 Sunset Rain
I set up a little early because I saw on weather radar and reports, that we were expecting some rain. The first painting was begun before dark, but right at sunset. We had a low overcast which held a lot of light for some time tonight. One of the things that I am discovering as I paint outside more and more, is that I'm as interested in what the atmospheric conditions cause to happen as I am in the subject. As it turned out the rain proved to be a very nice factor that influenced this painting.

Click Here to Bid.
9/5-2 Sargent Watching Bugs
Then my CAT... Sargent ... Back up at my house inbetween rain showers I decided to paint Sargent, my cat, because he ALWAYS sits on the window ledge of the screened back porch. Unless you are set on painting him there!!! With some trickery, some treats and a lot of clicks, whistles, squeeking and calling to him I managed about 1 minute of getting him to "model". Still, I feel I caught his attitude and am happy with the results.

Back on track for tonight...

2010-09-05T14:21:00.005-05:00

Okay... wedding successful and a surprise morning balloon ride is over so now back to business! I mentioned that I had come up with a way to get the book light above my line of vision, greatly improving my ability to see the subject and the lit painting without loosing too much night vision. Here's a picture of the set up. I'm using a piece of screen door moulding but would suggest a piece of 1/4"x1" flat pine trim moulding (or something like that). The photo was taken with the iPhone at night, kind of grainy.

Have to share some photos of the balloon trip this morning. :-)
Spectacular, amazing, pillowy soft, magical...FUN!

MVFR... Marginal Visual Flight Rules... Meaning that it's legal to fly, but use caution and judgement before doing so. The weather around the area was checked at a number of airports and it was decided by the pilot in command that this was a patchy ground fog and it would be breaking up and not be a hazard to our flight... so we went! :)

The St Croix River Valley at about 7AM, looking north of Stillwater, MN.

Our pilot, Scott Aamodt, brought us down to the surface of the lake...

We actually skimmed the surface of the water, just kissed it enough to wet the underside of the basket...

And then he set it down in less than a football sized parking lot!

September 3, 2010

2010-09-03T22:41:00.008-05:00

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ANYONE FOLLOWING THIS MARATHON: I will be attending a wedding Saturday, September 4th and MAY NOT be able to paint. If I can't, I will make it up in the next couple of days. Hey... it's Labor Day weekend!!!

After a day of intermittent rain, wind and generally chilly weather, tonight turned out to be a beautiful one at 51ºF and almost no wind. I'll confess to being worried that I was going to freeze out there so I donned the long underwear, sweater and even gloves and headed down to the Interstate Park on the Minnesota side to paint the first piece of the night. It didn't disappoint.

* FYI* I have solved the blinding light situation!!! This is big news for anyone wanting to paint nocturnes. I've had a number of great suggestions from many of you, including what I will call the 'Pirate Solution'. That being a patch over one eye to "save" it for night vision. That one is a good idea but might get me locked into a twisted tangle of arms, legs, brushes and easel due to really bad coordination at night!

The solution was so simple... GET THE LIGHT HIGHER THAN YOUR VISION!!! This came to me this afternoon. Clamp a piece of wood (1/4"x1") in some way to your easel. I use an EasyL so all I need to do is use two small clamps and clamp it to the back side, the flanges that hold the panels in the back. The 'stick' is about 3' long. Then clamp your book light to that high enough to be out of your vision, but low enough to still illuminate the panel and palette. I wore a baseball cap so that the bill would block the light too. This worked better than I could have imagined. I could see the subject and still see the panel without being 'night blinded'.

9/3-1 'Taylors Falls Queen Rounding the Bend'
The painting tonight started just after sunset but before civil twilight and complete darkness. I was up so late last night that I wanted to end tonight a little earlier. And I also wanted to paint a 'naturally lit' setting for this one. About the time I was starting to block in the shapes and thinking "Okay, this is peaceful but a little bit boring"... a bright light appears down river at the first bend I can see. Suddenly I'm blinded by a spot light and realize it's the river boat 'Taylors Falls Queen' coming up river from one of it's nightly runs. PERFECT! That becomes the focal point of my otherwise empty scene. Taylors Falls has two of these boats, the TF Queen and the TF Princess that run regularly scheduled cruises including dinner cruises.

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9/3-2 'Weber in Waiting'
After the being on the river I came back to my house to see what I could see to paint. The skies tonight were brilliant, and tempting, with all of the stars showing! I resisted that temptation and found what I thought was an interesting scene right out my back porch. My Weber grill waiting to do it's magic. Mmmmmm....

September 2, 2010

2010-09-03T00:19:00.005-05:00

Oh boy... it's a late one tonight! A delay to the start, for a good cause, and the temperature a pretty chilly version of September... 58ºF with a 10kt wind... and I'm finishing up past midnight tonight. NO BUGS!!! I live in a fairly small town, lightly populated area, so once the summer temps are gone, along with the summer visitors, and the temps get down to sweater weather the streets empty out long before the Ten O'Clock bell sounds. Because of that I don't head out into the rural areas and park on a deserted road with my book light shining; it's just not smart. You feel pretty much alone and vulnerable to anything or anyone in that situation. So tonight I went into the town of St.Croix Falls, WI on the other side of the river from Taylors Falls to paint off of their observation deck that overlooks the river and the power plant. The power plant went into service in about 1912, following the elimination of the white pine forests and the logging industry, using the river for power seemed like the next best way for the fat cats to make more money off of the abundant natural resource that had drawn man, first Americans and Europeans, to the area for centuries.

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9/2-1 'Dam Lights'
At one time this dam supplied the majority of the power requirements that St. Paul and Minneaopolis, MN had. I painted it for the April Marathon during the day and it makes an even more interesting subject at night.

9/2-2 'Taylors Falls from St Croix Falls'
Last week it was 90º and higher. Tonight I had on heavy long pants, three shirts, a sweater, a polar fleece and my toes were cold! After painting 'Dam Lights' I decided that all I wanted to do was to get #2 done and go home. So I just turned to my left and painted Taylors Falls as it appears from St Croix Falls. I actually really like this kind of painting, especially after the more controlled way that the first one had to be painted. It has an expressive aspect to it that I like.

September 1, 2010

2010-09-01T22:33:00.006-05:00

So tonight I learned that what I should have done before starting this one was to approach the mosquito spray companies to see if they'd sponsor me. I'm going to be using sooo much of that stuff that their profits are going to go up and they should share them with me... it's only fair!

It didn't get dark as soon as I had expected, dashing my hopes of being inside and eating dinner by 9:30PM! But I was in by 10:20. I couldn't really start painting until almost 8:30. Before that I could still see light in the sky. In the future, I may decide that a nocturne is really "legal" at "Actual" sunset and not "Civil Twilight" a half hour later when it finally gets 'dark' dark.

Photographing these was as hard as it gets. I apologize for the glare.

9/1-1 "Old Jail B&B"
SOLD

Anyway, I went into downtown Taylors Falls and painted the Old Jail B&B. This was the sight of Taylors Falls first jail. It's always lit up nice and I have wanted to paint it at night for a while now, so I did. The owner came by with his bulldog named 'Jimmy Buffet'??? I have no idea why unless he likes Margaritas, he doesn't look like Jimmy Buffet and I didn't hear him sing anything either???

9/1-2 "Out Back"
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From there I went back up to my house, turned off all of the house lights and was treated to a beautiful starry night with the Big Dipper stage center out the back door. It's a pretty dark scene, as a lot of these might end up being, but I like the subtleties that show up in the light on the utility pole and the grass that is being cast by the street light across the road. Even had shooting stars helping me out. There must be a meteor shower, I saw a lot of them.

I discovered that to paint this kind of scene, a naturally lit scene, I have to turn the light on and off in order for my eyes to stay sensitive to the dark. Some have suggested using a red light, I used to do that as a pilot, but I wonder what that is like to paint under? Might try before this is over. But turning off the light worked out real well. I actually ended up just grabbing the light in my hand and blocking it out every once in awhile. When the light is on, I can't see anything of the subject. But when it's blocked or off, in a few seconds the eyes adjust and all of that beautiful subtle light is available for use.

This is where that crazy exercise that I teach in my classes, The Memory Exercise, comes into play. At last, everyone who I've made do that will actually have a reason to use it!!! Without being able to recall what I saw when the light was off, I could not have painted the second piece tonight.

'Side Swiped'

2010-09-01T14:01:00.005-05:00

I'm busy getting supplies ready for tonight but took a quick trip out to paint. The color, and temps, right now are hard to resist.

'Side Swiped' oil-8x10 ©Marc R. Hanson'10
This is an old barn that has had it's siding taken for something useful I hope? It's an old one and looks strange with just the studs showing.

September 2010 Nocturne Painting Marathon!

2010-08-31T16:18:00.015-05:00

Instead of the four paintings a day that I painted for the April Painting Marathon, I'm launching a Nocturne Painting Marathon during which I will be painting 2 nocturnes a night. I know... four paintings a day for 30 days... is a "real" marathon! I'm already feeling like a "lessor" version of myself! Still, two paintings a night, every night in addition to all of the other work I'll be doing ( a lot of September to November deadlines ahead of me), the beginning of the hunting season, a wedding to attend, a two day workshop to teach, and a few other assorted obligations (including the ones that you don't plan on that pop up)... all are sure to challenge my efforts.

"Why would I want to do this?" I have been asked? Because I like painting, a lot, and since the 2009 April Painting Marathon I have been asked a lot if I am going to do it again. I'm not one to want to repeat exactly something like that, a once in a lifetime experience. I don't even know if I could repeat that. But I did enjoy it immensely and have been thinking about what I might do next. I thought about one 30x40 a day for a month (just kidding).

I like painting nocturnes and find a certain expressive freedom in them that comes with the same sort of adrenaline rush that you can get from doing something like eating a wild mushroom for the first time... or putting an airplane into a spin or emergency maneuver for the first time. It's a rush!!!

The subjects are diverse, from natural moonlight to city/industrial to residential lit up scenes. Painting at least 60 of them in the next 30 days means I'll be looking for a lot of variety in the subjects I choose to paint. That is exciting all by itself.

I'LL POST EACH NIGHT'S PAINTINGS THE FOLLOWING MORNING IN MOST CASES. They'll probably also go onto my website, but this is where I'll write about them and what went on. People have asked if they're going to be for sale and the answer is 'YES'.

( I knew there would be things to add...) The paintings are all oil on canvas board and are 5"x7" or 7"x5". For the techies out there, These are Panelli Telati boards, canvas on hardboard, that I over prime with an oil/alkyd type primer. The one I used is no longer available so I would recommend trying an oil primer by Gamblin, Winsor and Newton, Utrecht, Studio Products, Williamsburg, etc.. I've used those too and would find them all good for what I'm doing with these panels.

Auction Info...

1) Below each painting will be a link that says "Click Here to Bid.". This will take you to the 'eBay' page where the paintings are listed for sale via the eBay auction system.

2) Each painting will be put up on a 1 (one) Day Auction for bids. Following the 1(one) Day Auction, they will come off of the market and will not be for sale.

3) The starting price of each painting is $150.00 and includes shipping and insurance to the USA, Canada and Europe. MN residents will be charged MN State Sales Tax. Payments accepted via PayPal.

4) If you purchase a painting it will need time to dry, be varnished and packaged. Following that and cleared payment, the paintings will be shipped promptly. I estimate that it will take approximately 3 weeks following the day the painting is painted for it to be ready to be packed and shipped.

5) I cannot "hold one for" you... "save a special day"... All of the paintings will be put up for a fair sale via the eBay Auction system and will be sold as per that.

Thank you... If I think of anything else I'll add to this post. Oh... This is going to be fun. :-)

The last of August for 2010!

2010-08-31T11:09:00.002-05:00

I painted these two this weekend and another one, a 14x18, but that one is only blocked in and will need another trip out to finish. Hopefully soon.

'Swirling Light' oil-10x8 © Marc R. Hanson '10
We painted down on the St Croix in William O'Brien State Park after trying to paint further away in the open farmland. But the winds were such that it just made it not worth it to even set up. This park always offers some shelter from that kind of weather and it's along the river so it's cooler. The water on the river is so high, never have seen it as high in my brief time painting here. I hear that from those who have been here a long time however.

'Glorious Afternoon' oil-8x10 © Marc R. Hanson'10
Following an afternoon hiatus to escape the heat and allergies we moved up north of Taylors Falls for the afternoon/evening and found a beautiful location. I've probably painted 10-15 paintings along this one road in the past. But it still is always a place to find available subject matter.

September!

2010-08-26T22:00:00.002-05:00

Interstate Park twice...

2010-08-23T13:43:00.002-05:00

I haven't been out painting much lately, and when I have, twice in the last week, it's been to go just down the street to the Interstate Park on the Minnesota side. The first one I painted Saturday the 14th of August, the day after my workshop here in Taylors Falls wound up. Friends and students in the workshop Bruce Newman, Annie Compton and Linda Epstein stayed a day extra and were there painting too, so I joined them.

The water was high then, but yesterday a week later it's even higher from all of the rain the region's been having. Makes for some interesting patterning on the surface and lot's of foam from the spill coming over the dam in St. Croix Falls, WI just up river.

I met some nice people, had a few jokesters too... But best of all I met a young artist named Steven ( about 11 or12 yrs old, a guess... sorry Steven if I'm off by a lot) and his parents. Steven is a painter in acrylics and named the colors on my palette by specific names, ie... "Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Viridian"... not just "red, blue and green"! Steven is going places! :)

Did I mention it was hot, but a beautiful day?

I was really attracted to the 'coffee and cream' coloration in the water of this one. The water up here is always stained due to it's originating in the northern forests of Tamarack and peat bogs. But right now it has a lot of sediment (the cream) stirred up in it from the flow, giving it a creamy, chocolate brown color. The river was approaching a 'record' ft/per/cubic inch flow.

'Record Flow' - oil- 12x16 - August 14, 2010 © Marc R. Hanson

I heard from a ranger in the park yesterday while painting that the river is now at 'record flow'. But it was the warming of the late summer color that really caught my eye and provided the contrast to the cool hillside in the distance and the reddish hues in the water and the rocks in shade. The entire scene had a 'yellow green cast' to it.

'August Colors' - oil - 11x14 - August 22, 2010 © Marc R. Hanson

A new painting project...

2010-08-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

Taylors Falls Ten PM

2010-08-19T13:16:00.005-05:00

Oil on canvas - 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson'10

This nocturne was painted from life in Taylors Falls last week during my workshop on our 'Nocturne Night'.

Also, this is a first for me, a trial run if you will. I have listed this painting as an auction item on 'ebay'. I have a lot of smaller paintings hanging around that are taking up my studio space and I need the room to work. :) I may be posting some of those in time.

If you are game, you can click on the link below the painting and go there to take a look.

Click here to bid on this painting

'On The Bitteroot'

2010-07-28T14:45:00.003-05:00

We're back from Door County with lots of paintings to show but there have been a couple of pressing items to take care of first before I get into the editing of the photos of Door County paintings. Soon...

Here's one of the pressing items. I had to get this piece done to send to Wally Grewe in Hamilton, MT for his show 'Fall Classics' at his Ponderosa Art Gallery. It is a pastel done from an oil field study painted while at the OPA National Show in Missoula, MT in 2008.

'On The Bitteroot' - pastel - 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson'10

Addison Art Gallery One Person Show

2010-07-14T06:39:00.010-05:00

I'm on my way to Door County to teach a 3 day workshop and participate for the 2nd year in the Peninsula School of Art's '4th Annual Plein Air Festival'. Yipeee!

I'm posting some new paintings, and some I've posted previously, that are going to Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA for my opening on July 31, 2010. If you're in the area, please join us. I'd love to meet you.

'Tangerine Skies' 11x14 pastel - © Marc R. Hanson'10

'May Moon' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson '10

'Incoming Tide' 11x14 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson '10

'Edge Of Dunes' 8x10 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson '10

'Dinghies' 16x20 pastel - ©Marc R. Hanson '10

'Beach Day' 12x18 pastel - ©Marc R. Hanson '10

'On The Sand In P-Town' 8x10 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Old Float' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'North Chatham Beach' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Nice Boat' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Memories' 12x24 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Subtle Skies' 11x14 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'South Big Marine Lake' 12x16 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Sand And Sun' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Rasta Boat' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Perry's Pride II' 11x14 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Morel Woods' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'From Above' 12x16 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Labor Day' 20x24 oil - © Marc R. Hanson'10

'Spring Arrives' 16x20 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Balsam Branch Mill Pond' 18x24 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Brilliance' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Canoe Launch' 14x18 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

'Cats In A Row' 10x8 oil - ©Marc R. Hanson'10

Upcoming Events

2010-06-23T11:14:00.002-05:00

Right now I'm busy painting for my one man show Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA. The Reception is July 31st and on the 1st of August I will be doing a gallery demonstration open to the public.

If you're wondering if I have fallen off of the face of the 'art' earth, I haven't. I'm deeply ensconced in it and am building up a supply of paintings for this show. Once I am ready, I will post what I'm sending out there.

In the mean time, this is my schedule of Events, shows and such, for the fall and new year... so far!

July 19-25, 2010...Door County Plein Air Festival - Fish Creek, WI

July 31st, 2010... Reception for One Man Show at Addison Art Gallery - Orleans, MA

October 1-3, 2010... Wild Wings 'Fall Festival' - Lake City, MN

November 13 - 30... 20th Annual Small Works Show at Howard Mandville Gallery - Kirkland, WA

November 13, 2010... Beaux Arts 2010 at Scottsdale Artists School - Scottsdale, AZ

March 20 - 26, 2011... 'Wet Paint' at Coleman Fine Art - Charleston, SC

Workshop News

2010-06-22T18:30:00.002-05:00

Both my Fish Creek, WI and my 4th Annual Taylors Falls, MN workshops have filled as of today June 22, 2010.
If you are interested in having your name added to the waiting list for the Taylors Falls Workshop, email me at- paintbox1@frontiernet.net- and I will add you to the list so that you can be notified in case of a cancellation and a spot opening up. Thank you.

Some recent work from earlier this month.

2010-05-11T11:07:00.005-05:00

This first group are field studies that were painted in early May in Sarasota, FL on a short weekend painting trip. We found that our cold northern blood is not so fond of the HOT midday of Gulf Coast Florida. So the painting was best in the morning or afternoon. The rest of the time we did a lot of looking and exploring. Including spending several hours at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. The grounds there are spectacular to see and to paint.

The last painting is now in Charleston, SC at Coleman Fine Art. It is a studio painting of one of the bridges at The Magnolia Plantation in Charleston. Another spectacular preserved garden, like the Ringling grounds, that is a treat to see and paint.

'Botanical Gardens' oil, 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson 2010

'Pair of Paired Palms' oil, 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
Try saying that 20 times fast!!! This was painted in Myakka River State Park. Alligators...need I say more?

'Lido Beach Park Trees' oil, 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
There many racoons here. One was next to where we were painting and it was particularly bothersome. It kept coming down from it's palm tree and towards us. Very nasty looking critter.

'Springtime Walk' oil, 18x24 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
Just a pleasant spring light on the subject... wanted to paint it. Not to mention all of the gentle color and textures.

Morel Woods

2010-05-09T19:08:00.005-05:00

'Morel Woods' oil, 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '10

I went to paint the woods behind my house this afternoon. About ten minutes in I found some morels and that was all it took to ruin a perfectly good intentioned day of gathering field studies. Instead my head was glued to the ground for 'mo' morels! I did find more, not a lot, but enough for a taste. More importantly I found out where they are and will be back to check again.

I did paint this little 8x10 study of the interior woodland. This is such an amazing area that I am realizing that it's going to be a never ending source of material for my work. I can see doing some very large scenes of the deep woods. It's almost entirely very large and old maple trees. The canopy is so thick that there is very little under story growth on the forest floor. A perfect hiking and exploring area. And painting area. There are a lot of bugs. Probably bears and according to many around here a possible cougar.

These pics are of the area and of the morels I found.

OPA Award of Excellence!

2010-05-04T05:49:00.002-05:00

I am very happy and proud to announce that my painting "Sunday Morning Frost" has been given the "John Marion Pardy Landscape Award of Excellence' at the Oil Painters of America's (OPA) 19th Annual Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils held at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.

This award is a special one, established by the family of John Marion Pardy, who was a lover of all things outdoors, who instilled a love of the land in his family, and who had a great love of art and music, traditional oil painting in particular. The annual award was set up by his daughter as a way to honor her father and the gift of these loves that he passed on to her.

That's a very special story and makes me even more proud to have been the recipient of it.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-30T06:54:00.001-05:00

April 30, 2009

It’s over! I’m not happy about that. It’s been an incredible journey for me on several levels. The art of course, personal stamina and endurance (not to mention the organization question?), discovery of what is around me, a plethora of new subject matter that’s been here but that I haven’t taken stock of before this project. And finally to all of you who’ve emailed comments of support and encouragement, to those who’ve tried very hard to purchase one of these paintings, and of course to those of you who did purchase the paintings... My sincere and most humble ‘Thank You’.

There is a lot to write about all of this but I am going to take some time to let it all sink in and mature so that I can write my thoughts about the month with a little perspective.

A confession... Today I took the morning and went into the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to view the show “Noble Dreams and Simple Pleasures”, a show of American Masterworks from Minnesota Collections with Kami Polzin. She’s been hearing about the exhibit from her students and until then neither of us had. They all said that it was a great show, closing on Sunday and that it was a “must see”... and we hadn’t. That meant that I wouldn’t get home until this afternoon. So yesterday I painted a couple of extra paintings so that I’d have the four today, though two were painted yesterday. Well, it was worth it. The show had a number of paintings by Sargent, Tarbell, Inness, Chase, Glackens, Fournier, and many other important American painters.

My goal was met, other than I was not able to make up the days in the workshop. I made up three of those paintings, of the twelve. But, I managed to paint my rear off, I have no clothes left without paint on them, my car looks like it was painted by a maniac finger painter, Sargent the cat is so angry that I haven’t been around much that he’s stealing the avocados out of the cupboard and mauling them (crazy cat), there are flowers growing with the weeds from last year all around my house, my mother and my sons know that I’m alive... they just don’t know how or where, I get mail???... should open some, I have no good brushes left or paint, I used 2 gallons of Turpenoid, and I can’t stand the idea of not getting up tomorrow and heading out on another daily expedition.

I’m going to Santa Fe, but you know what I mean?

I thought hard about what to paint for the last paintings. What would be grand enough to end this month? Then I decided that the month started under a bridge with snow on the ground from the night before and an intimate scene of rocks and the snow. So I realized that the best finish to the month was to just do what I’d been doing each and every day so far. That is to go into my backyard ( Chisago County), keep my eyes open and paint what strikes me as magnificent and wonderful and is a sign of why it’s great to be alive again today!

“Little Shed” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I’m not sure why one little object stands out like this and makes me think it would be a good subject. However, that’s the kind of intuition as a painter that I try hard to listen to when it hits. My dad used to tell me that I had a different outlook as an artist. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing, but knowing him I knew that if he said that, it was probably a good thing. He had that kind of sense about most things and I tried to always listen and understand his ‘inner voice’ when he told me about it. My dad is the reason that I became an artist. He inspired me to love what I do.

“Stand” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
These trees, poplars?, are out in the middle of a field on an island of grass! It would be interesting to know ‘why’ they’re there. I’m glad they are, they’re interesting.

“Glorious Sky” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This afternoon was wonderful to watch. Fronts coming and going gave us nice clear air with broken clouds and blue skies until later when it completely clouded over. I caught this farm, one that I’ve painted before but not during this project, in the shadows of clouds with just a sliver of sun glancing across the fields and road. Very, very cool light.

“Little Lake Ending” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Little Lake was unknown to me before all of this began. It’s one of the jewels of discovery that has been my pleasure to realize. I’ve been here several times, mostly at the end of a day, where I always found the winding down of the day an interesting and beautiful experience to behold standing on the edge of Little Lake. Today was no exception.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-29T05:18:00.000-05:00

April 29, 2009

I had a stand in today... just couldn’t take it anymore! (I kid.)

Today was a ‘no complaints’ day even though there were the occasional sprinkles, it was easy to deal with. Light winds, but warm and great atmosphere. If I ever do this again, I’m calling it ‘Marc’s July Weather Report and Marathon’. But you know what? If you do anything outside every single day, the weather counts. Did you notice the month above, July? That would be another change in plans.

“Sherbert Morning” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The light this morning made me want some Rainbow Sherbert. It was that kind of color, light yellows, golds, oranges, pinks and greens, with the same clarity that that frozen delight has to it. It was warm enough to eat some too. Where’s the ice cream truck when you need it?

“Change Is Coming” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
After the Sherbert Morning, I turned around and it looked like the treat was melting! Steel gray skies in all directions meant that the rest of the day would be up for question. I loved the cool sky against this piece of native grassland and trees.

“Lonely Road” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The skies kept looking more ominous as the day wore on today. Just looking up into this treeline with the one old farm building in it gave me a sense of being the only one within miles of anyone. There was no real noise other than Trumpeter swans, Sandhill cranes and geese flying around. Yet the color was soothing and nice.

“Life Aquatic” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I almost missed this little remnant of winter as I drove by it. I imagine it was all of about 10 or 12 feet across, yet it gave me the opportunity to watch those crazy little muskrats chasing each other around and doing the ‘muskrat love’ thing again. Maybe it’s spring fed, but it didn’t look more than ankle deep to me. I got rained on doing this one, the rain providing me with the second artist, the one that is supposed to tell you to stop before you ruin a painting. I probably would have gone to far if not for the rain.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-28T06:31:00.000-05:00

April 28, 2009

Bright blue skies, temps in the low 60’s... a good day. I’m really late tonight so am going to get right to the paintings.
I had some good news last weekend. The Oil Painters of America have asked me to do a demonstration painting on Saturday, May 2 in Santa Fe for the National Conference and Exhibit. The painters demonstrating are Me, Kevin Macpherson, Calvin Liang, John Michael Carter, Kenneth Cadwallader, and George Gallo. So I will be heading to Santa Fe on Friday for the weekend. A nice end to April’s Marathon.

“Backyard Boys” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
You’ve got your Bobcat, your John Deere combine, and your Dump Truck. If you’ve got all of that, where are you going to park it? In the backyard of course. There were enough parked vehicles on this property to give me about 50 painting options, at least.

“Cobalt Blue” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Every once in awhile you run across buildings with these blue shingles. I love them but wonder who it was that decided that cobalt blue shingles would be all the rage? As I was painting the owner of this farm ( who I did not know was the owner ) and another close by stopped and asked me why I was painting this barn. I said because it was “beautiful”! She then told me that it was her barn and we had a very nice talk about the history and property. I love to meet the land owners while painting. They’re always very appreciative of what I’m doing. There was a lot of stacked up wood in the pasture, which I had thought was old wood from barns or houses. She told me that was exactly what is is and it’s going to be sold in a sale over Memorial Day weekend. Sure would make some gorgeous furniture, interior trim or something like that. I’m sure that some of it is over a 100 yrs old, maybe even 150 yrs+. Lot’s of buildings around here.

“Milk Barn” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Another unique barn. The styles around here are endless. I love the doors on this one, barely still on the track. The light was smashing right into the face of this barn and is what caught my eye. Love that barn!

“Last Light” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Boy oh boy... I almost missed #4 tonight. I was meandering around the country side after painting Milk Barn and drove for quite a while before finally realizing I had better just stop and paint or it would be too late. This was a view off of the road near Taylors Falls and was painted in about 25 minutes just as the light did it’s ‘thing’ for me. Any earlier and it wasn’t interesting to me to paint. But when the color lit up, it was time.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-27T06:18:00.000-05:00

April 27, 2009

Today dawned as a cold, gray, windy one. That lasted for at least half of the day but towards the end, the winds calmed down and the sun gave a little bit of warmth to my bones. I’ve had the greatest wildlife experiences this month. I’ve seen almost everything with fur or feathers performing a courtship display, eagles on the nest now with eaglets, muskrat ‘love’ (their little whistling/squeaking chase around the pond), and today a fox family, mom and about 4 or 5 kits chasing each other around an old hay barn. If this wasn’t Minnesota, I’d swear I’m in South Dakota for all of the pheasants I’ve seen. Very, very cool.

“A Minnesota Farm” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is so typical that it wins the title! Right off of the road for my pleasure. I met a little beagle while painting this, don’t know his name, but he sure liked my easel and truck.

“Old Hangar” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Lot’s of farmers used to have an airplane on the farm. That was when an airplane could be purchased for a few thousand dollars. Not anymore. The pasture in front of this was probably an airstrip at one time for a Cub or small Cessna. If it was my land and hangar, it’d have one in it still, I hope.

“Black Willow” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I think that this is actually a black willow, but would need to get the tree book out to be sure. The title refers to how dark it was against all of that grass and cool gray background. I was going to call it Blue Wing Teal because two pair of them were in the little stream doing their own courtship ritual of bobbing heads and little two or three note whistles followed by the males bashing wings and beaks with each other.

“Tranquil Little Lake” oil 5x7 Marc R. Hanson 2009
Sometimes at the end of my day, following a bout with the weather gods, it’s nice to paint something that is calming. This is one of those places, Little Lake. I’ve done a couple of this place and will probably do more in the years to come.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-26T07:16:00.001-05:00

April 26, 2009

A full day of rain made today a new challenge. I spent 3/4th’s of the painting time in the car, not an enjoyable way to work, but sometimes the only way to work. Painting one painting in the rain is, one thing. Painting all day in the rain, doesn’t make sense to me. I’d rather paint all day in the snow.

“St. Croix Falls D.Q.” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I was about to go get some flowers and fruit and make this an indoor painting day. Then I turned onto the main drag through St. Croix Falls, WI (across the river) and was immediately convinced to paint it.

“Green Shed” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I saw some pheasants in the ditch and stopped to watch them in a courtship display, two roosters and a hen making up the group. They did there thing, in... made new pheasants, and I stayed to paint.

“Red Boat Resting” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This little 12 foot boat was all alone on the beach and caught my eye as a willing subject. Usually about half way into the painting, the owner shows up and takes the boat out. I thought that I’d be safe today because of the rain.

“Curve” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The white surface of this canopy shelter lit up the hillside as I came to the curve in the road. Seemed like a good choice for the last one of the day.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-25T07:05:00.000-05:00

April 25, 2009

Today was a surprise! It was nice.

“Red Gates” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I’ve found a favorite painting road, another one, near by. Barns, yard ornaments and sheds all right next to the side of the road. It feels like you’re in the farmyard when you’re standing on the road painting. Today I noticed ‘red gates’ everywhere I looked. They’ve always been there and I know about them. But today they attracted me as subject matter or adornments to the main subject. Funny how that works, that you suddenly notice things that have always been around.

“Treeline Pasture” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Just a simple but beautiful piece of grazing land full of cows and sandhill cranes calling in the background. Farmers put together fence gates, place buildings and leave equipment around in ways that are incredibly beautiful arrangements that assume an ‘Organic Construction and Placement Patina”... that’s my phrase. You couldn’t purposefully place and weather a farmyard with such design if you tried. It’s just the by-product of a busy life, and it’s beautiful.

“Tape Fence” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a farm that’s on one of my main routes of travel between Taylors Falls and Center City, about 8 miles. Until a major crash of the injury variety, on rollerblades late last summer, I rollerskied this road nearly every day. The title refers to the electric tape fence that surrounds the pasture.

“Home Up There” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Kids of swings, 4th of July picnics, dogs barking... it reminds me of a place where those would be the norm, year in and year out. Very calming to see it.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-24T06:29:00.000-05:00

April 24, 2009

Okay, change of plans! My goal is 120 paintings for the month of April. Four per day worked up to last weekend when I had a three day workshop to conduct. I’ve been intending to slip in an extra one or two per day until the 12 missing paintings are made up. That hasn’t been going well. The days have been tough in general and I haven’t been able to fit in the extra ones. That was until today. Most of the day was perfect for painting with only the last couple of hours taking a turn for the worse. I’m in now because of rain and thunderstorms, but had a good day. Rather than wait to post these like I thought I would do, I’m going to post them as they’re done. So today there are seven paintings.

“ ’42 Chevy” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I found this beautiful old truck and had to paint it. The land owner was extremely kind and has given me permission to access his farm and his dad’s farm. He has a collection of ‘yard ornaments’ as he called them, including about 5 or 6 old, I mean really old as in a horse drawn road grader, tractors and things like that.

“Single Silo” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
After painting the truck, I turned to the left and saw this single old silo, no longer accompanied by a farm house, barn or any other buildings from the past. It’s still used and in good shape and the color of the surrounding trees made it an art form this morning.

“Friendly Old Dog” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a gold mine of yard ornaments! I was greeted by two dogs, a large hairy, burr ridden ‘friendly old dog’ and a yappy Boston Terrier. They both became my buds as I painted, but the old dog stayed and laid down under the tailgate of my truck while I worked. Once in awhile he’d get up, snuggle against my leg and offer me a paw for a shake. Nice dog.

“Distant Thunder” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The first sign of what was to come later happened around 3:00 pm or so. The sky all afternoon was the inspiration for nearly everything else that I painted. All I needed was a little bit of a foil to show it off, as in this one.

“ Leaves!” pastel 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a pastel! I might do more of these but the weather has to co-operate as in no heavy wind or rain. They’re actually more difficult to do at this size. My fingers are way too big and get in the way on these small ones.

“Little Water” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Driving along and who-o-aaa! I’ve driven this road a dozen times two times and never have seen this little creek. Maybe it’s the changes of the season showing me more, and the gray of the sky today. But this was beautiful. I didn’t spend too long on it, I thought that my day was about to be cut short.

“Barely Time” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The title refers to the impending storms. I had it all around me and the wind all over me but managed to finish and get home just before it all hit. Not really as bad as the forecasters said, but wet enough and plenty of lightening. Again, the sky.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-23T06:29:00.001-05:00

April 23, 2009

Today might be the day where I’d ask for a ‘gimme’, if that was an option. I can say for certain that this was the windiest day that I have ever painted in. I don’t know if the forecast gusts of 45mph were accurate, but I do know that today made the day when I painted the flags seem calm. There are no architectural pieces today, other than the distant farm buildings in one, because there was no way that I was going to be able to draw a straight line while constantly being blown off balance, confronting a tipping tripod or shaking paint box and brushes that were possessed! I write this as my daily reflection for interest, not to complain daily, though it might seem like that. But... remember yesterday’s comment... “Today was... peaceful!” I’ll take that again, thank you.

“Backwater” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The water is dropping along the St.Croix now. I thought that if I dropped down into William O’Brien State Park and the river’s edge I’d avoid the winds this morning that were picking up already. The trees broke the gusts somewhat.

“Dark Water” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
There was an eerie, hazy light today that blanketed every thing up here. If I can remember my weather from flight training, when you get these incredibly high winds a lot of debris like dirt and water vapor is taken up into the atmosphere and the result is almost like having a translucent shade covering the sun. If you’ve ever been outside during a solar eclipse and seen the weird light of one of those, you’ll understand the type of light today. Very similar. No strong shadows, forms somewhat dissolved, but lit.

“Greening” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Yes it is! This scene attracted me because of the very light value but warm sky and how fast forms cooled as they receded. Honestly, it’s the hay bales that caused me to stop.

“Darn Near Airborne” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The end of the day was the windiest period. I’m serious about being airborne too. I had my tripod legs splayed out to the point that they had about a 6 or 7 foot, foot print. I had to hold the easel with my hand the entire time that this one was painted. At one point the wind twisted the paint box in the tripod clamp and started to unscrew the adaptor that affixes to the bottom of the box and then is clamped into the tripod head. This scene is a great one and I’ll be going back when I can actually draw out the myriad of birch trees and this old cottonwood.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-22T06:38:00.000-05:00

April 22,2009

Today was... peaceful. I got a slow start today. First order of business was to mail my accepted painting to the OPA National Exhibition to be held at Sage Creek Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. A little change in plans about that too. I’ve been invited to give a public painting demonstration for the OPA conference on Saturday, May 2, along with four other painters. More on that in a few days when the official announcement is made by OPA.

I know I’ve posted this info before, but I keep getting questions about it. If you are not getting the Newsletter your email program might be rejecting it as Spam from time to time. If that happens, go into my website and “re-subscribe” again. I don’t have the time to do it for you. It happens often so check your email security and see if you can set it to allow my Newsletter to come through without being bumped. I’m not doing it, it’s your computers.

Also, people are still asking how to buy these paintings. Go to my website and to the Paintings page, then to the April Painting Marathon page. Open the images there to larger than thumbnails and they will have a PayPal buy now button... IF they are for sale. If not, then they’ve sold. The paintings are not for sale on my blog. Thanks.

“Freshly Plowed” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
As in... the farmer and tractor were getting closer to me the longer that I painted! This is my favorite white house from a totally new station point. I might find myself in their yard one of these days.

“CJ’s Bar and Grill” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I’ve never been in here, really, but I’ve driven past it a million times. This is sunny Palmdale, MN. The only thing in Palmdale is CJ’s, other than many farms and homes in the surrounding area. I don’t know what the geographic boundaries of Palmdale are, but if it’s all the country that I daily travel through and paint, it is beautiful. I have not seen any palms however.

“On The Balsam” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is one of my favorite places to be. I feel like I’m in a remote northern place away from all the noise and hustle of most other places no matter how small. This is a little get away. It was a mill between 1902 and 1944. The Kennedy Mill, as I’ve mentioned before during this project. Who ever was here early on either planted or didn’t cut down some extremely large, beautiful white pine trees with the branches that speak of ages of enduring. If I had my choice in trees to surround my life they would be... White Pine, Balsam Fir, Eastern hemlock and American Chestnut. A piece of land full of those four main species of trees and I’d feel like I was in heaven.

“Balsam End’ oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The end of a beautiful day in a beautiful place.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

2010-04-21T03:33:00.000-05:00

April 21, 2009

Today’s theme is.... WIND!!! Gusts today pushing 35mph and sustained winds around 20 or so made the theme for the day a no brainer. I think that they were higher than that. I had laid my plastic lure box with about 15 large oil paint tubes in it on the gravel and the wind blew it about 2 feet across it. That’s a wind.

First, this eagle nest is just outside of town. Today the male was patrolling the grounds around the nest and seemed to be out intercepting a wandering Sandhill Crane. I took a lot of photos of this, one of the many marvels of nature that I encounter every day.

“Flailing Flags, Dancing Leaves” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a playful painting. My attempt at painting my impression of what it was like to watch the US flag and the Minnesota state flag almost being whipped to shreds before my very eyes. They were whipping in ways that even a shutter speed of 2000 or more would have had a hard time stopping the action of.

“Shelter From The Wind” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Even the big old spruce were moving to the beat today! It’s obvious that farms are planned to be in a sheltered position from the prevailing winds. Or at least as time passes, the plantings are made to make that a reality. This one probably had a pretty calm center yard area with chickens busily enjoying the nice sunshine of the day. Meanwhile I was grappling with an easel that wanted to take off into the wild blue yonder!

“Wind Shear” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I wandered into the Interstate Park, Wisconsin side, after lunch to see if it was calmer in there. Was a little. I found this edge of grasses on the water’s edge and decided to focus in on it.

“Virga” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Virga is rain falling from clouds that never reaches the ground. I was in the middle of a potential torrential rainfall but because the wind and dry air near the earth’s surface caused any falling moisture to evaporate before hitting ‘me’, all I had to do was hold onto the side of my truck, easel and hat and paint like a mad man! No Problem!!!