Friday, September 28, 2018

Paintober

Painting A Day.
Follow me as I paint a personal portrait of October. Each day I will do a painting from life, recording a slice of season. It will be a whirlwind tour of my favorite month. Some paintings will be on location and some in the studio or where ever I am. I’ll try to include in progress photos and some videos.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The Yooper

Just returned from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I stayed in Ironwood, just over the boarder from Wisconsin. It is on the edge of the Porcupine Mountains near the shore of Lake Superior. A big area for winter sports, there are several ski hills the area. I was drawn to the are for the waterfalls. There were more than 30 in a 50 mile radius from where I stayed. Because I was new to the area and with a major road closure I spent more time driving than visiting falls. I did get the chance to paint a couple. Altogether I painted 11 plein air paintings. That is a little shy of my expected average of 4 to 5 per day. As I get familiar with the area I will drive less and paint more.
This was the first real field try of the fluid acrylics I have been using in the studio. Wanted to see how they performed in hot sunny conditions. I was pleasantly surprised how well they did. Because they are of a thinner more runner consistency they didn't on my palette too quickly. With the one exception being when I was on top of the Porcupine mountains painting the Lake of the Clouds. I had my palette shaded but there was a steady 20 mph wind that sucked the moisture right out of them. I used 2" diameter cups to hold the paints so there was not a lot of surface area for them to dry out from. I brought all my other paints, gouache, casein, and oils but never took them out.

Old Victoria, 12"x12"

Gorge Falls, 9"x12"

Cascade Falls, 12"x12"
Above Conglomerate Falls, 9"x12"

Black River Bank, 12"x12"
Lake of the Clouds, 8"x10"


Mt Zion, 9"x12"

Little Girl Point, 8"x10"

Superior Driftwood, 8"x10"