24"x 48" oil...black gesso experiment, paint like a Gouache!

Well...I've been playing with gouache of late and the
medium has been feeling very comfortable. My approach is
much like I paint oils...but I've been pushing my oils for
a certain/particular look or direction which I think the
gouache studies might actually help.

I started a 24"x 48" oil tonight, and never have I painted
oils on a black ground or gesso. A friend of mine (Connie)
uses it often for her acrylic paintings, and has offered.
Since I've played with gouache now on color supports
including black, I decided heck...why not!

Here was my start tonight...a closeup to follow...


























Ran out of titanium and flake white, need to make an order
but, found some zinc white so will give that a go!

Here is the painting after a bit of work today...progressing
with oils, but very much like the gouache...













Scroll down to October 12th...and you can see the gouache
study this large one is now based on. Clicking on the
images brings up a larger view.

Wetland...duck week & reeds- Gouache 6"x 8"

A small gouache study tonight...6"x 8"
on blackdrawing paper...

Demo for High School Student Painters Today

My high school students (juniors & seniors) began their painting week, 2nd quarter...and today, I demonstrated the concepts of blocking in shapes, color and values, and refraining from worrying about what a thing "is"...or its details. Artists have a unique language, seeing shapes, color, values, texture, line...and so forth...

Each year, I am seeing less and less patience on the part of young people to embrace what is thought difficult, as though a sign therefore such is not meant to be...and, seeing less patience. I try thus, to keep my demo's very quick while talking thru it...and this one was about 15-20 minutes start to what you see here.

I put out generous amounts of paint, acrylic...which they will be using...and then used a rag wrapped around my finger to demonstrate no concern for detail at this point and the initial step of blocking all parts in. A student took
this photo of me using the rag and painting-






















Here then is the painting...the last five minutes, I used a flat (brush) to suggest some detail...vertical lines for tree trunks. As always, clicking on the image brings up a larger view.












Each year, I do one of these quick demonstrations...not representing how I typically paint, but I find them fun and when finished expressive and intriguing visually in their own right.

Gouache...Forest Edge.. 4"x 8"

image- 4"x 8"

Too rainy to sit in my tree stand tonight, not
that I'm whoosie...but very hard and frustration
to track results...so, took a few photos and
opted to paint this simple gouache tonight, of
a forest's edge.

Thought I'd show the steps, from block-in using
an acid free mat board for my paint support, to
the finishing steps...

Click on images to see larger view...

Open House- Arts "Happening" in Wisconsin North Woods!

We held our first end of season culminating event,
open house at Tim and Connie Friesen's beautiful
Wabeno historic lumber baron's home. Eight artists
representing batik, welded sculpture, floor coverings,
poetry, plein air, paintings, and rugs...with work
set up in three rooms. Art literally everywhere!

The photo above shows artists and friends relaxing
after the event, excited about how things went, very
well attended. The event continues tomorrow,
Saturday.

Here in this next photo, you see the wonderful floor
scapes or coverings of Connie Friesen...and the room
beyond I was set up playing guitar for most of the
evening.
















Check out Connie's floor scapes/coverings
Here...

Dawson Lake Shorelines- Gouache

Image size- 6"x 8" on an 8"x 10" 300# black paper...

Since some have asked for steps to my painting one
of these, I have three that should give some insights-

Hiles Deer Trail...gouache 6"x 8"

Revisited a scene I plein air painted at last
day of deer gun season a couple years back,
and thought it would be fun to work it up with
gouache and see what I might learn...

6"x 8" image on 8"x 10" 300# black drawing
paper

Access Road- 5"x 7" Gouache

A road about ten miles east of my home, just
really was attracted to the light and the
juxtaposition of trees breaking up vertically
into the sky planes...

Click image to see larger view...

The Stec Farm...Armstrong Creek, Gouache Plein Air

Had a couple hours before the time I needed to
get to my tree stand tonight (saw three deer tonight,
btw...seven last night). Found this lovely light
and very inviting old barn in the Armstrong Creek area
here in NE Wisconsin.

My first attempt using gouache for a plein air, on
140lb Cotman watercolor paper. A very pleasant and
satisfying day!

Clicking on the image will bring up a larger view.

NE Wisconsin Fall...Farm, 4"x 8" gouache study

Spent the afternoon in the woods chasing whitetail,
but on the way stopped at a familiar farm scene to
check on the fall color. No time to paint a plein
air, but took a photo...and opted to paint a small
gouache study tonight... 4"x 8"

This gouache was painted on a colored acid free
mat board, as shown here-













Clicking on images brings up larger view...

Original is available to purchase...(Contact me...)

Ducks Unlimited...Banquet Night!

Got home late last night from Green Bay where
the Pete's Lake Chapter held their Ducks Unlimited
banquet, and I held the enviable position of this
year's featured artist. A very classy affair,
and my oil painting of redheads and Longtail
Island finished out the evening as the grand
event.

I have over the course of many many years dontated
paintings to help raise monies for habitat, wildlife
management, conservation...and it is a high
privilege that one's talents can effect such good,
IMO...

The picture above shows me with Pete's Lake Chapter
president, Tom Last...

Here I am with the event's winner, Mike Hebel of
Green Bay, owner of M&K Supply...


















...and...if the night wasn't charged enough with
excitement...I came home winner of this absolutely
amazing bronze sculpture of three Green Wing Teal
by artist John Richard-

My Second Gouache...4"x 8" Strong Falls...Peshtigo River

This is my second attempt at gouache now...feel
I'm getting a handle on it...but definitely need
to do more...

4"x 8" Strong Falls, Goodman Park/Peshtigo River
NE Wisconsin-

This gouache was painted on an acid free mat board
seen here-













Click on image to see larger

Original is available to purchase...(Contact me...)

My First Gouache Attempt...

Thanks to New Yorker artist friend, Fred Harper
...for so generously sharing some gouache with me
to experiment with, I've made my first attempt
that will lead to one more option for plein air
work...

This is a 5"x 7" black 300lb paper stock, the
image 4"x 6"...

click on image to see larger view-

Original is available to purchase...(Contact me...)

Oil Portrait of my wife...our early years.

28"x 22" oil on board...

I've been working on a portrait involving scraping back the
flesh next day after painting, which leaves a film residue.
You keep repainting and rescraping back to slowly build a
quality into the flesh that glows and appears more flawless,
then upon the last repaint session, you apply finishing touches
that give the work an appearance of alla prima, a fresh and
spontaneous look.

Things I've been learning from "Painting Methods of the
Impressionists" by Bernard Dunstan...attributed methods of
Sargent, Degas, Manet, Cassatt and Whistler...

This close up of the face represents the 4th repaint...and I'm
happy with the way it is progressing, and will let this one
remain without a fifth scrape back. I'll post the whole work
when finished...












Note the steps of each repaint...to paint a midvalue flesh color
and block in the face area, then painting the darks and lights
directly into the midvalue wet into wet...
click on images to see larger...


With some of the questions people have, I'll explain this process a
bit more, and I DO NOT claim to be an expert of this. It is something
I am building some familiarity and expertise with by experimenting.

My fortee has been painting outdoor subjects, landscapes, wildlife
but I have done my share of "sporting portraits" over the years.

Follow that link to see a blog I only share with folks interested in that
aspect of my artistic offerings.

But...the basic alla prima approach can be demonstrated by my
showing a composite of my own self-portrait. That which can be done
in one sitting...(ie., "alla prima")-






















A few lines to suggest the head, a mix of a midvalue color
for the face blocked in...and darks and lights painted
wet in wet to finish. This as I read was one of Sargent's
common alla prima method.

Reading Bernard Dunstan's book, "Painting Methods of the
Impressionists" I discovered that Sargent would apply such
wonderful finishing alla prima-like touches of paint, that
no one would guess it to have been labored and wrestled with,
keeping that fresh spontaneity. There is the genius and
mastery IMO...

The scraping back was a common practice, as I found utlized
by Cassatt...at times Degas, Whistler...and Sargent. Each
scraping back allows a residue of what was painted to build
into a lovely rendering of color. As the face builds thru
this scraping back, you then more judiciously decide what to
add paint to in future sessions, less and less until the final
alla prima-like finishing touches.

Here...you see my wife's portrait after its third scraping,
and you can see that the residue of paint film left behind
is revealing the building up of a portrait. Imagine then a
good six or eight such repaint sessions and how you can
eventually paint more transparently...or judiciously, leading
up to an ideal quality of the skin-























The painting I did of my grand daughter, Isabeau...has a half-
dozen separate scrape backs-






















Now...agree with what has been written or not, how I am
interpreting the description of the process...I am finding this
to be a no brainer way to eventually arrive at the ideal and
lovely portrait. The flesh appears to glow...and the final
strokes of paint you leave are not incidental or accidental,
but intended. Appearing quite fresh and spontaneous.

But...I must be honest and report that psychologically, this
is brutal. Most difficult to commit to painting with such
great effort each time aiming to improve and do even better
knowing you will be scraping it out. For me, I waited 'til
the next morning. It was painful...but, after several sessions
you begin to see what comes and it becomes consoling and
encouraging.

As for the depiction of men...the less than ideal flesh tone,
surface texture, the blemish free feminine quality..is not
necessary. Painting the effects of gravity, a rough life on
the face is fun...and requires less doctoring and attention.
So...from what I read, less scraping back was required.
However with regard to fine ladies, young children and so
forth...the flawlessness and purity of the flesh is one of the
finer details the portrait must capture.

IPAP Worldwide Paint Out- 11"x 14" oil...shores of Lake Superior

this was my plein air effort for the World Wide Paint Out
sponsored by IPAP (International Plein Air Painters)
association.

Hiked in by the Wetmore Landing area, three miles north
of Marquette, Michigan....and followed trails north along
the lake shore and set up out on a jutted rock bluff looking
along the shore.

I used a split-complementary palette strategy, reddish-orange
as my dominant with blue and green...plus white...


Original is available to purchase...(Contact me...)

First day in Classroom...and a bit of end of day Paint Therapy!

10"x 8" oil on pumice panel

Got home from first day back in the classroom teaching,
went well I suppose really for first day, but I was aching
to get out and paint when I got home! So, got the grill
started for my wife, Debbie...then grabbed my gear.

My aim was to shoot for the absolute last light and time
allotted to paint, so as to push for the essentials in the
painting and refrain from overworking, which I think I've
been guilty of doing lately. I was pretty pleased overall.

Original is available to purchase...(Contact me...)

One of my VERY FIRST paintings...and available!

I received an email from an individual experiencing a very difficult road in life right now health-wise, no doubt leading to very expensive care. Asking if I would know anyone that might be interested in purchasing this work he bought from me back in 1983...

The painting has a bit of history, personally...as I was finishing up my last year in college on the GI Bill...married with two quite young sons. I was a black sheep, as I would be referred to by art profs as my schooling was during the anti-art era of the 70's...and squirting paint in cow manure and whipping it at a canvas would have gone further to earn myself high marks. However, I was checking books out of the university library copying works of Frans Hals and Rembrandt to teach myself how to paint, and then taking subjects dear to me and trying my hand at it.

I was pouring brownish glazes on my works back then, rubbing off with a soft rag which was a technique of chiaroscuro developed in the late Renaissance and Baroque period of painting. It gives a three-dimensional rendering effect of form, and pulls the work together as a whole.

As it would go...the building custodians took a liking to the development of this work on my studio easel and along with others, traveled the four floors up to see it come along. Not caring much else for what other students were doing, which further led to the disdain for my work and presence.

This piece (if memory serves me right) was finished sometime in my last year around 1979...and in 1983 a good friend prodded me to paint up an entree for Wisconsin's annual Wildlife Artist of the Year competition, which I then won in 1984 and more or less catapulted my career painting.

Were my work in general, and myself as an artist to have an important place in art history...and until one's passing how shall we ever know(?)...a work such as this would have great value, showing the development of a painter. Today...I get about $5 per square inch on such sizes... (24"x 36") and would be worth $4320...painted up fresh. However with history to it, and 30 years more painting that followed arguably some broader intrinsic value.

The owner is asking $1600...and if anyone is interested, please contact me and I'll put you in contact with the buyer. Again...this will help defray his costs of his medical needs, and we wish him certainly all the best.

As always, clicking on the image brings up a larger image to view...

Larry

Ducks Unlimited...Redheads Oil Paintng

The painting was well received the evening of the Ducks
Unlimited banquet, and as I would find out...the revealing
of this work was only a tease, as the larger corporate banquet
of October the 8th is the actual event this one will be auctioned
off. Hoping it will do well for DU...



















18"x 24" oil...finished, see steps below...to be donated to
Ducks Unlimited on August the 20th. Click on image to see
larger.



















This painting I've just completed for Ducks Unlimited, and will be the host/featured artist at a banquet on August 20th...to be auctioned off, monies going toward habitat management, acquisition and so forth.

Depicting a scene of Longtail...from a blind on the bay of Green Bay, fond for many many years by myself and friends that hunt waterfowl on the bay. I will be depicting divers...Redheads, winging in and checking out decoys. Stay tuned for more!
- - -

August 6th-
Two days of restoring, cleaning and painting three signs
for the township yesterday and today...each 8'x 12' and
greet visitors are our three entree ways into the town.
Having finished, I wanted to get started on the ducks.
Very difficult to get a decent picture, about 11:30pm here,
and I'll probably retake tomorrow where I can set the
work up outdoors...but, I added these two. The ducks are
a bit more silouetted, appearing lighter here..


















August 7- Added eight more ducks this afternoon, and some decoys, think'n maybe five more ducks in flight to arrive at the feel and composition I want.

Oconomowoc Plein Air event...results

16"x 20" Cty K- Farm

























14"x 11" oil- Maxim's- Dining Out!




















9"x 12" oil-- nocturne (painted at midnight) E. Washington St





















14"x 18" oil- "Porticello"


Had another week that will make summer feel like a blur come return to teaching this fall, much fun...met some very fine artists, even better persons. Always restores my faith in the good nature of people to spend time with artists I meet at these events. Good to put faces to those I've known online...and make new friends. The event brought 82 artists this year together over the course of a week's time...canvasing the broader Oconomowoc, Wisconsin area...painting their hearts out thru sun, drizzle, heat...coolness, you name it. Myself, I had come down following other event commitments, so really had only two days of paint time, but believe I gave it my best shot. Unfortunately, came up short this year on any awarding from judging, and no sales...but that puts me in a broader camp with many others as well, and its just how that goes. As they say, "next year!"
Each artist must pick two of their works of the week's effort that they frame and enter into the competition end of this. I chose to enter mine as indicated...and as always, clicking on the image will bring up a larger view...