Monotype 2 Sunset

I have not been very productive lately, I hope to get busy again

now that summer is over and I have more time to

concentrate on my art. 

This little monotype is part of my last series.

I didn't plan on including a lake in this piece but it turned out

rather nice by leaving it. I scratched in branches

with the end of my paint brush which gives an airy

feeling to the image.

Landscape 2

4x6

Monotype Acrylic Print

$35.00 unframed      $55.00 Framed

New Monotype

Fun new landscape print. It only took me a "few" trys

to get the new design right.

Landscape 1

4x6

Monotype Acrylic Print

 $35.00 Unframed       $55.00 Framed

Monotype Print

A new venture for me is the Monotype Print.

Monotype - A process in which a one of a kind original print

 is made by painting on a glass or smooth surface, then pulling 

a single print from the plate before the print is dry.

Hibiscus

4"x6"

Acrylic monotype Print

$35.00 unframed, $55.00 framed

Prairie Smoke

A little something new for me. After much frustration,

trying to finish a more formal image of these fluffy flowers,

I threw caution to the wind,

had a glass of wine (or two) and whipped this out.

Praire Smoke

10 x 14

Watercolor

unframed $225.00

Blue Flag

This painting is #3 in my 2nd "8 Little Flower" series.

The wild iris is a pretty wetland flower.

I find a large patch of them along one of my favorite

 driving trails and it is close enough to the road to

easily photograph and paint plein air.

Blue Flag

Acylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

5 x 7

$50.00

Blackeyed Susans

The Blackeyed Susan is #2 in my 2nd  

"8 Little Flower"  series.

It is a bright cheery flower that just makes you smile.

Blackeyed Susan

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

5 x 7

$50.00

Wild Rose, another series

Now that we have our gallery open,

I am starting another series of 8 wild flowers

and this is the first.

Wild Rose

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

5x7

$50.00

Blank Canvas Gallery and Education Center

 I have been busy working on a new fine art co-op gallery

downtown Park Rapids. 14 fellow artists and I opened our

 doors Friday morning after a year of hard work.

We are very excited to finally see the results of our efforts.

It looks great and hope to have a busy summer.

The gallery hours are 10:00-5:00 Mon.- Sat.
and 12:00-4:00 on Sundays.

Now that we are open I can focus on painting again. Yea!

Finally ready to move in.

This is my display area.

This is my son Peter's display of pottery.

I don't have permission to post others but

we will have more photos posted soon on our

gallery's new website.

See the BCG link in my favorites.

Woods Anemone #8 in the "8 Little Flower" series

This dainty flower is found in the spring on the shaded

woodland floor.

Woods Anemone

5 x 7

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

$50.00

"Peony" #7 in the "8 Little flower series"

Peony

5 x7

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

Sold

"Trillium" #6 in the "8 Little Flower" Series

This is a fun spring flower to find in the woods.

Nestled in the shade under the trees, they grow low

to the ground in the moist soil. Check with your state before
picking. They are protected in some areas.

Trillium

5 x7

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.
$50.00

Kitty pastel painting "Phoebe's Favorite Spot"

This kitty is my friend's cat.

She is a little sweetie and likes to nap in this patio chair.

I started this pastel on a brown textured paper to help with

the soft colors in her fur and to give a warm, relaxing feel to

the painting. The paper color will help draw your eyes to

the blues in the center of interest - her face. The colors

I used in the fur were a combination of violet, tan, gold, and

blue (keeping them all the same value) and a creamy white.

All colors were used throughout the painting, to tie everything

together. I left the chair pattern very simple so it didn't

over power the cat.

Phoebe 8 x 12 Pastel on paper

"The Dells" Finally a new pastel.

This little pastel was fun to paint. I don't usually work from

someone else's photo, but my mother lent me her picture from

their trip to the Dells. I liked the play of light against shadows

on the rock. The violets, oranges and greens worked together

to give a sunny feeling.

The Dells

12 x 15 Pastel

"Turks Cap Lily" #5 in the "8 Little Flower" series

This is one of my favorite flowers. It's easy to

grow, has a fun character and the color

is a day brightener.

"Turks Cap Lily"
5 x 7
Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

Sold

"Poppy" #4 in the "8 Little Flowers" series

"Poppy" 5 x7 Acrylic on wrapped canvas- Sold

I was going to have a step by step demonstration of my

little flower paintings, but I have to remember to take

the photos! I have two left to do, almost done, then it is on

to the commissions I have to do.

#2 and 3 in the "8 Little Flower" series

"Coneflower" 5 x7
Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.
Sold

"Showy Ladyslipper" 5 x 7
Acrylic on wrapped canvas
Sold

"Welcoming Pine" - Watercolor demonstration

I finished painting the pine boughs, and placing the final details of branches and grass using a small brush, with dark colors mixed from same hues used in the rest of the painting.

Working on the positive and negative shapes, I added trees

to the background, foreground grass and indicated tree shapes

to the left of the trunk. The main tree trunk was painted with burnt sienna with ultramine blue dropped in to create a glow to the tree.

I continued painting the middle values of the tree tops, by

wetting the area and dropping alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, b. sienna, yellow ocher and cadmium yellow, allowing them to mix on the paper.

Working on Arches 140# watercolor paper, I wet the sky area and used cerulean blue and ultramarine blue, avoiding areas I wanted to be white. I wet the background tree line with water and used violets, blues and greens to make soft and hard edges. Burnt sienna and yellow ocher was used to paint the space around the trunk keeping my center of interest crisp and white.

First in the "8 Little Flowers" series.

 This is the start of a series called "8 Little Flowers".

I'm going with the "start small" idea for learning how to use
acrylics and am posting start to finish images to
show the progress of this painting.

False Sunflower

Acrylic on wrapped canvas

5 x 7
Sold

3. I continued to glaze colors until I got the depth of color I wanted, making sure the shadow values were correct. Adding the center detail by dotting in the various values and shapes I then added the last detail darks to finish.

2. I decided to use a blue compliment for the background rather than a green, combining cobalt and ultramarine blues. I started glazing more cad yellow and added a cool yellow to sunlit areas as well as a bit of white added in here and there. Alizirine crimson was glazed on the center and combined with the other colors to suggest the crevice darks.

 

1. I started on a gallery wrap canvas with ocher and cad yellow.
Looks like I need to fix the center shape.

Cosmos

Acrylic

4x6"
Sold

I decided to try doing a smaller acrylic painting this time.

This cheery little cosmos was just what I wanted to do.

Mary Lake Trail

Acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

18x24"

My adventure into acrylics began last fall with this painting. It was a challenging first try and of course I had to chose a larger size, to make it even more difficult. I worked from reference photos taken at Itasca State Park, one of my favorite places to be. The sun shining through the trees was very inspirational.

Pine Lake Swans

Pastel

9x12

I did this painting on location at the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge. I actually did two that day, you will see the other painting, Next Year's Asters, on my pastel page. It was a wonderfully quiet and relaxing day to myself.

Oxeyes by the Water

Pastel

19x25

I wanted to express a happy, relaxed feeling for the viewer. I chose velour paper for a softness and used the colors to give a bright but calm emotion.

Chamber's Creek

8x10

Pastel on paper

 

I started this painting on location at Itasca State Park. It was late in the day and I wasn't sure if I wanted to start another painting, but I am glad did. Stepping over the creek bank and seeing the color of the grass was astonishing. Working the violets and golds in with the turquoise was exciting.

This turned out to be one of my favorites.

Getting started

Cloud Over Itasca

Watercolor

10"x12"