Quick Night Painting

I had an hour to kill while my son had basketball. Instead of making two trips I waited at the school and painted a quick painting. I really enjoy night painting. It adds another level of challenge to plein air painting. I painted this one in my car so I had some light from the interior lights. That helped greatly because usually I try to set up under a street light or lighted sign which have really bad color temperature and make the paints on my palette look off. That makes painting at night an exercise in painting warm and cool. Since I can't trust the colors I see on my palette or painting I paint cool areas with cool colors and warm areas with warm colors. Night paintings tend to be very high in contrast so it is important to get the values correct. I am happy with how this came out. I think I got an accurate representation of the street light lit corner. The subject is a little simple and the placement of the stop sign in the center aren't ideal but I am happy with my effort.

Corner Nocturne, Casein

St. Croix State Park

I might be biased but I think Minnesota has one of the best State Park systems in the country. This last weekend I went camping with my father-in-law and brother-in-law and a bunch of kids. We try to make it out a couple times a year and we typically camp at a state park. Having been to most of the parks in southern and eastern Minnesota I had never been to St. Croix. It was somewhat by accident we ended up there. I had wanted to go to Banning but it filled up before I had a chance to book a site. So we headed to St. Croix, which is just a little west and south of Banning. It must be one of the largest parks in the system. We drove over five miles into the park to just get to the campground and from there toy can drive over ten miles to the fire tower or lookout points on the St. Croix and Kettle Rivers. St. Croix State Park is home to many WPA built structures including: shower facilities, lodges, water towers and ranger stations all built with logs and stones. This painting is of one of those structures.

St. Croix WPA Building, Casein, 9"x12"

Montgomery and Lonsdale

This morning I was fortunate to have a little time to enjoy the beautiful day painting. I again headed south to familiar areas. Montgomery, the "Kolacky Capital" was my first stop. I have painted here before but it has been a little while. I love the old buildings that line the main street. It has a timeless look. Accept for the car this painting could have been painted fifty or sixty years ago. I painted in the car because I left my tripod in the studio, which was fine, but I forgot that with the car I was in the lights stay on if the keys are in the ignition. So when I was done, a couple of hours later, the battery was dead. With the help of a nice elderly woman I contacted Dave's Cafe and Garage and got back on my way.

Ash Av., 9"x12", Casein

Next stop was in Lonsdale. Every rural southern Minnesota town seems to have a grain elevator of feed mill that look like these with the grey metal sides. I think they are the architectural equivalent to the 'grout-fit'.

Feed Mill, 8"x10", Casein