painting in a crowd

Afternoon day 2 in Mark Mehaffey's plein air workshop. We headed over to my neck of the woods, in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore... Where the Platte River flows into Lake Mi.
It was incredibly crowded, sunny and challenging! This gentleman was sitting reading a book...until he wasn't anymore...:-) Oh the challenges of plein air! Painting live in a crowd is not for wimps!
Full disclosure...I did fix a number of things back in the studio.

Big Week....

Had a great surprise last week with an article written about me in the Northern Express... Thanks Al Parker! You can read it HERE.

And then I spent 3 days at Interlochen, learning plein air painting with Mark Mehaffey. 

This is one of my attempts.... (pardon the glare... tough to photograph) Mark gave great instruction on simplifying what's in front of you. (Which is easier said than done) A real challenge with all the activity around the Interlochen campus. 

I also need to give kudos to the Interlochen program... so accommodating. Beautiful campus, and so inspiring to paint to all the snippets of music being played around you all day. Creativity permeates and pulsates throughout the grounds. Highly recommend.

My Minions

"My Minions" 12x12 Acrylic on canvas 

I dropped off 7 paintings to Synchronicity Gallery in Glen Arbor, MI.  A sure sign of spring, no matter what the weather is. (As it happens, it's quite nice and springlike here today)
Here's to new seasons!

simply and deliberately

6x6 warm-up ; Acrylic on paper

I'm back painting... and I'm a bit rusty. (I taught a 3-day workshop in Aberdeen NC last week...Fun!) I seem to be less decisive after I've had a break from working. ...and I just push the paint around and fiddle more. I just made myself a big sign...

SAY IT SIMPLY AND DELIBERATELY. 

Yup... I'm shouting at myself. There is no room for wishy washy in the studio.

hair-do ladies

"Red" 12x12 Acrylic and collage on panel

It's all about the hair.
I've been having the best time creating these portraits. Acrylic painted faces and collaged hair and brows using the paper I made with the Gelli Plate. Reproductions of them will soon be in a hair salon! Perfect, right?
Actually the series came about from a conversation with a friend of mine that owns a salon... he was looking for artwork after a re-model and had seen this older painting-

"Is My Hair too Blue?" acrylic and collage on paper (sold)

We decided that a series of "hair-do ladies" would be fun salon art... Can't wait to see it placed!

bursting

"Bursting" 12x12 Acrylic on Watercolor paper

This painting is a result of a process that I call... "Make a mess and then cover it up." I start with a mess of reds, and then negative paint (paint the background) with various whites.  I love the smudgy bits that show up in the white areas... mysterious!

warming up

"Hot Climb" 6x6 Acrylic on paper

I start each painting session with a few small "warm-ups"... (I learned this from Robert Burridge's workshop) This is when you can play with colors you don't normally use....They are quick and unconscious works for me... fun to do!