Drive 2 hours. Paint 1 hour. Great old barn in oil

This fall I was driving around aimlessly looking for somewhere to paint. If I spent as much time painting plein air as I did looking for that so-called perfect spot, I'd be a much better artist! By chance, as I blasted down a highway at 60mph I glanced to the right to look up a weedy road. STOP...pull over and back up. Nothing posted as private so I drive in about 40 yards and here is this awesome abandoned bard/shed. The painting had to be looking inside the building with all the broken wood slats and light streaming through the roof. 

I didn't get a close up of the 8x10 oil painting, but it was fun to try and get those grays correct. I kept the palette to just a couple colors and tried to work fast. So after driving for an hour, I painted for an hour. The sun was going down and it was time to,,,drive another hour back home. Such is the life of this plein air artist.

Colectivo Coffee- Corporate Christmas Party raffle item

I was invited back this year to paint at the corporate Bostik Christmas Party. Held at the Calatrava/Milwaukee Art Museum, it was a great event. This painting was a raffle item, won by a woman who frequents this coffee shop, Colectivo, in the Fourth Ward of Milwaukee. Completed in acrylic on 40x30 gallery wrap canvas over 4 hour period. I was able to snap a couple of progress photos (bottom up).

Milwaukee Yacht Club plein air

On a recent morning this summer I stopped down by the Milwaukee Yacht Club. It was 6am and I wanted to get a painting done before going to the office.  This 12x16 set up perfect right outside the main marina area. Their MYC boat with a small sailboat positioned just perfectly. I set up right next to these two and got to work. I liked it. Just need to find a MYC member to sell it to!

2nd Place & Artist Choice- New Berlin Plein Air Competition

Lucky me: The urban landscape of New Berlin, Wisconsin. About 50k people, lots of office and industrial parks, main artery freeway and a couple of winding roads and vanishing barns. But I went to one of my favorite places in NB, Calhoun Park. Three soccer fields, a baseball diamond and one pond. The pond with a bridge. I love it. Reeds, trees, scum, ducks. It's a painting waiting to happen. And the verdict is 2nd place PLUS the coveted Artist's Choice. Thanks people.

I went out of the box with my approach and got all impressionistic. Cape Cod school of art was my influence with 5 layers and heavy palette knife. Painted 9:30-11:30am on a sunny Saturday morning.

Palette knife and Impressionism Oil Painting

Door County Plein Air Festival 2015

My annual trek 200 miles north to Door County has one purpose: Create and admire exceptional plein air art. This type of event is the only national plein air event I've ever been to so I don't have anything to compare to. But it's always well done, and the art is great.

My quick paint piece sold. Didn't win anything. I never do. The competition is getting better every year. But I had fun, and that's what counts.

Here are a few photos from the Saturday main event. Just the invited artists are shown at the Peninsula School of Art.

Workshop with Mark Boedges

Since I'm a fan of Richard Schmid I was lucky enough to travel to Burlington VT and participate with 9 other artists at the June workshop with Mark Boedges. Mark has painted with Richard and shared many of his techniques that mimic those of Schmid.

My connector flight got canceled so I missed morning #1 but caught up with everybody in time to paint that afternoon. Here are a bunch of shots as Mark worked his magic at Shelburne Farms right outside Burlington.

On Day 3 we went back to Shelburne and Mark took on the Coach House close to Lake Champlaign. Here was that effort.

Oil Painting. Quick Winter Plein Air

How to Oil Paint- Representational Horse Demonstration

About a year ago I created this painting for a charity event to celebrate equine recovery and the Kentucky Derby. I was happy with how this went. Spent very little time on it and felt I hit the mark in many ways.

Is it really 2015 already?

So blogging on a regular basis is not my thing. Who says you have to do it? Well, I guess if you want to get a lot of followers, and be a real artist, and gain momentum, and drive traffic to your website...then you blog. More than once every month or two. I ain't no regular blogger.

I have a day job; I'm a sr project manager at a software company. I work 45-50 hours every week slugging it out on left brain crap like trying to get shitty software implemented for customers all over the country.

This is the art I create for real money- my day job as a BA/PM

And then there's my art. It's been a slow start to 2015. I have "artists block". I can't seem to get motivated. I did paint live at a corporate Christmas party in December. Painted in acrylic over 3 hours I managed to grab a couple of in progress shots. Other than forgetting most of my paints and grateful my wife fought downtown Milwaukee traffic to bring them to the rescue, it was more fun than painting success.

I'll rehash this one from last spring. Sitting on the beach in Huatulco, MX, the water was crashing over these rocks as I banged out a quick pastel en plein air. Water changes so fast...the rocks were pretty much covered by the time I was finishing this piece. Kinda like it.

So, off we go to 2015. I've actually just finished a 30x40 abstract, I just have to get the photos up and visible. I forced myself to paint. Is that good? I don't know. I just felt I had to do something, one thing per month. At a minimum. Real artists paint every day. Real bloggers blog every day. So where does that leave me?