Florida Heat and my first plein air work

Oh how life just passes us by. One minute I'm living and working away in Milwaukee, the next I'm announcing my retirement and moving to Florida. I'm free now to create. Free from day to day toiling in the office. Weeks have gone by as my wife and I have had to get "set up" in our new house in The Villages. Yeah. 55+ planned community in central Florida. So much to do and it's all fun!

I set up my studio in a 3rd bedroom. I found my easel and Easy L box and off I went to paint. First stop was so close to my house; a county park called Lake Okahumpa, Today was a typical blazing hot June day. Morning 9-11am was the time slot for this painting.

 The first marks. A loose turpy wipe down of paint.

 Setting a couple of darks and slight adjustment from initial sketch.

 Establishing shapes and wiping out strong light areas along with the cast shadows.

 The photos look washed out because I'm shooting with the phone looking into the light. Not a good excuse but it's the truth.

 Light has already moved since I started but I wanted you to see the subject matter. Better late than never.

The Spanish moss hanging from these trees is very unique. Used a smaller sable round to drag a loose bit of paint down off the branches. I think it works. 9x12 on canvas panel with oil.

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).

Vernazza Italy- SOLD

Created this little one in the studio after a visit to Vernazza, Italy in the Cinque Terra area. Was fortunate enough to have someone love this painting and collect it. Enjoy.

As the year ends

I realized making blog posts is not a habit of mine. Go ahead, click on "Next Blog" and see when the last day a post was made. I'm not alone. We all have good intentions. Most of us fail. This blog was supposed to be a recap of my artistic ventures. I just don't think about posting every time I paint or have a creative thought. More than likely I'll videotape my antics and post to my YouTube Channel. Hey, I enjoy writing, it's just with work and things, this is not my default method to communicate online. Part of me thinks "who cares anyway?" Most don't.

I did recently complete a pastel painting. Of course, Blogger doesn't allow uploads from your local drive, and I didn't take a picture with my Android phone and it resides nowhere else online, so at this exact moment I can't post it. Ugh.

I do have some goals set for next year. No it's not buying Eric Rhodes Artist Boot Camp DVD, but it does sound interesting. And I do have the money. But I have to ask myself, how serious do I take myself with respect to art? Shit, I just started a new full time job. This is my focus. Three years to retirement...I hope. Then I can paint all I want...I hope. If I'm lucky, I'll double my blog posts from this year. And that's good enough for me.

The first painting of 2013 ends with a sale

As the year comes to a close I was wondering how many pieces of art I created this year. I don't keep very good records by month/year but I do have a pretty good idea. Sure, I can go through the dozens....185 to be exact...paintings that pile up in my studio and I'll remember what I did this year.

I had goals for my art, many were hit, some not. Art is not my sole source of income. Thank God, because I would epitomize the starving artist label. Again, I don't create art solely for making money. It's nice, believe me, when someone purchases one of my pieces. Two galleries I exhibited in closed, so I lost local exposure. I've done nothing to get new gallery representation. But, that's okay.

So what about the art? Let's start with a piece, two to be exact, that just sold to a buyer in New Jersey. He happens to be an artist too, and saw my bit on YouTube. First the plein air video. I did it during Christmas break 2012, about a year ago.


I liked the scene enough that I decided to make a bigger version back in the studio. That video is here.

24x36" Oil "December Chill" sits framed on my dining room wall. The cool thing about this one is the scene is literally less than a mile from my house. Sometimes I drive around for hours looking for a place to paint plein air. This was the painting that started out my 2013.

Door County Plein Air

Dodging rain drops, Saturday morning the skies cleared long enough for many dozens of artists to descend on Fish Creek in Door County Wisconsin for their annual quick paint plein air event. Two hours of frenzied painting culminated with about 70 pieces of "amateur" art along with 40 works from the invited artist list. Here's a couple of pieces, starting with my own. In my mind, this one didn't work, but my number one goal was to have fun. Hope to be back next year.

Michael Pintar, artist

Gray day is a perfect day to paint outside

It's a couple days after Christmas. I'm still looking for a job. It's gray outside. I haven't seriously painted in several weeks. Hello...brain...tell this body to get off it's butt and do something...like paint.

So I know I have to paint more from life. But, it's winter. It's cold. It's ugly out. Isn't it? As a matter of fact, I love snow. It's the cold that I really could live without. I enjoy a big snowstorm. And when the snow is wet and sticks to everything, it's really a beautiful sight. Guess what it did just before Christmas? It snowed. Wet snow. It hasn't melted down and there's a painting waiting for me somewhere.

Okay, make a decision: I'm going to go paint outside. Ya know, plein air style. And I know just where I'm going to go because I scoped this spot out earlier yesterday, a whopping mile from my house. The resulting plein air trip produced a nice little study of snow, trees and a winding creek with fallen trees. It was a beautiful scene. The study has got me thinking about a full size studio version.

But for now, here's the video I put together as I trampled through a field on a perfect neutral gray day to do a little painting.

Palette Knife Painting

I've used a palette knife for many years. For awhile all my paintings were done exclusively with a knife. I've got about 10 varieties, but truth be told I only use about 4. In the classes I've taught many students want to learn how to use a knife. It's pretty easy. Just don't treat it like a brush.

One of the best things about using one is the clean-up process. Just a roll of paper towels and you're done! Plus, in between colors requires just a wipe and you move on. No solvents, rags, etc. For oils it's really a great option. It also forces me to focus on big shapes and away from over-blending colors.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

Winter Path- 16x20 Oil

Hiked out to a local nature center a couple weeks back. Attempted to complete this plein air but the oil paint wasn't cooperating due to the cold. I scrapped the 8x10 I started on and worked from the photos I took while I stood there. Sun was getting low and cast some nice shadows across the path, with the only tracks being mine.

Karen and the pink sky painting

This morning was just another morning until I got a phone call while in the car. It was a woman who said she had previously purchased one of my paintings and had tracked me down to ask about another, one with a pink sky. She had seen the piece awhile back when I exhibited at Almont Gallery in Waukesha. Of course, the owner wasn't as helpful as I would want her to be but with perseverance, she tracked me down. Still not knowing exactly who this was, we agreed to meet later to discuss the painting in question: Did I still have it or was it sold?

Karen and Rob met with me at the Steaming Cup in Waukesha. Let's just say it was strange destiny as the three of us shared very similar views on art, life, politics and business. We chatted non-stop, at most times drifting away from talk of art. Two very interesting people, just a few years my senior, but very engaging.

I had photos of pieces I thought she was describing and in fact the work she was interested in was in fact back home in my studio. So off we went back to my place to take a closer look. Note: always pick up your dirty underwear in the event new guests may be coming to your house to look at your artwork! We looked at lots of pieces I have littered throughout my lower level/studio. Rob was interested in learning more about techniques. I offered the class I am about to start teaching next week. In the end, I'm going to prep the piece for a sale and deliver asap. What started as a "who is this?" phone call led to a interesting interaction with two very nice people (and another sale). Art has this way of bringing people together as they explore the spiritual journey of life.

My submission for the Cedarburg Plein Air competition. Painted at Covered Bridge Park.

SOLD

Got a call from gallery today to let me know I sold another painting! Hurray, I can pay the rent for 4 more months. Now how do I live off my art? How about paint more and focus. Sorry....didn't even take a photo off this piece. Shame on me!

Lots of Wet Paint

Got to put down a lot of paint today on a portrait that I should have done weeks ago. Never did a horse before so it was a bit daunting. Sketched it all up and put in the background in one session. A friend of mine commissioned this to give to a friend of hers, who owns this horse and is the rider.

November 26- Let's get started

Inspired by all the daily artists I stumbled upon, I have to start somewhere. I've had a lot of luck lately as an artist. I've been painting for 35 years. I've been an illustrator for 10. I've wished and dreamed of living strictly off the earnings of a career in art. Alas, I have a day job to go with my dream. I've accumulated dozens of paintings that sit in my home. I've sold dozens more, primarly commissioned portraits, and gave away just as many to friends and family. My current journey starts with this entry.

This painting was done during a local charity event called Open Canvas. It's an awesome opportunity for local artists, who come in by invitation only, and create an original piece in a 6 hour window. All this in front of the admiring public who bid on each piece as it progresses. It's exciting and rewarding. All the money is donated and used for scholarships to the local art college (MIAD). This piece, 36x40, Acrylic, was done based on a recent fall trip I took with my family to Rhinelander, Wisconsin. It was purchased for $800.

Shortly after that, all full of myself, I went to our local Art District (10 galleries) looking for a break. The second place I walked into loved my work and offered me exclusive placement in their new gallery, The Clinton Street Gallery. Wow! So I get busy, buy a LOT of frames, dust off a bunch of paintings in my basement, and hang. I'm in a gallery...and within 5 days I have a sale. So now I'm really cranked up and I'm in the middle of producing 4 more paintings since then.

I'm so impressed and jealous of the artists that produce "a painting a day". I have to work a day job to pay the bills, but I feel highly motivated lately. So, this will be my attempt to keep up and post info everyday as I struggle to find my spot in the art world. I've given away lots of art, and sold a bunch of portraits on commission. More of those to follow.