Beautiful Baileys Harbor

"Baileys Harbor Morning"

Lunch among the Lilies

        This year, the Kansas City Plein Air painters had a hard time getting out of Baileys Harbor.  We spent 3 of our 5 mornings painting in Baileys Harbor.  Baileys Harbor's main street (Hwy 57) is dressed up with such beautiful flowers everywhere you look.  The buildings are quaint  and recycled instead of replaced.  It is nestled on a beautiful bay along Lake Michigan and has a feel of being "lived in" instead of  being"touristy. There is a painting everywhere you look.  The hard part is deciding what to paint!

Oil and Water #2

 

My "quick paint" entry.

    I returned from Door County a few weeks ago,  and I have trying to put into words what I discovered about "oil and water".  First of all, there is no better place to learn about painting water than Door County.  There are so many different types of water all in one place!  There is calm water, with its interesting reflections,  choppy water with lots of busy shapes to work with, and all sorts of water vistas in each of the unique villages nestled along the beautiful shoreline.
    I watched many of the 40 invited artists interpret water on their canvases.  I could see what they were looking at and then see how they handled what they saw.  What a learning opportunity!  One night all 40 artists were at a lakefront park in Sister Bay, all painting the same sunset!   What a smorgasbord of ideas and approaches to the same subject!
      I set out with my KC painting buddies and painted several types of water myself.  I decided what creates the transparency in water is the changes in values the reflections
and the light provides.  I also learned once again, that "less is more".  It is impossible to interpret every little ripple or reflection, so the artist has to decide which ones he/she needs to add that will enhance the composition and eye movement.
When working fast in a plein air setting, I found I had to separate my values and be decisive with a few stokes.  If I overworked my water, the light and darks values mixed together and turned grey.  I found the less I feared painting water, the better results I had.  I am happy to report that I sold 2 of my waterscapes (posted below) while in Door  County, so as far as I'm concerned, "mission accomplished"!
       

"Waving Glory"

"Eagle Harbor Sunset"

The Sentinel

Zoey, the Sentinel       6x8

    I don't consider myself an animal or portrait artist.  I think those two subjects require a concentration of very specific skills, in order to do justice to such "personal" subjects.  I love to add animals and people in my paintings when a particular likeness is not that important.

     This painting of Zoey was done as a thank you to the couple who extended their hospitality to me when I was participating in the Augusta Plein Air Event in April.  I could tell  Zoey was a very important part of their lives, so I took some snapshots of her "standing guard" in front of their home.  I noticed that Zoey had an unusual way of sitting with her hind leg pointing outward.  I caught shot of her with the sunlight dappling the driveway and her sitting with this special position.  When I returned to KC, I decided to attempt a small painting of Zoey to send to the Hoefts as a special thank you.  I enjoyed painting this subject so much, I may attempt some other four-legged subjects.

Oil and Water

"Falling Waters"  11x14  

        For many years, I worked exclusively in watercolor.  One of the things I loved about watercolor was the sense of realism I could achieve with a transparent medium when suggesting water in a painting.  In recent years I have changed my primary medium to oil paint.  I started to paint outdoors  and I found watercolor was too difficult to manage in an outdoor setting.  The paper dried too fast and handling the larger paper that I liked to use with watercolor was cumbersome.  

        One of my new challenges with an oil painting, is suggesting the transparency of water with an opaque medium like oil paint.  In June, I found this waterfall at the arboretum so I decided to try the running waters with my oil paints.  I had difficulty with the foamy areas especially in attempting to create a focal point near the  top.  I ended up letting the lower areas dry and placing a blue grey glaze over the frothy water so that the focal point  near the top of the falls, would stand out.

       I am going to attend the Door County Plein Air Festival again this year.  I am going to set a goal to learn more about painting water with oils.  I will watch the invited artists paint water on their canvases and I will focus my own work on water scenes.  I will post my results when I return and I will let you be the judge as to whether or not I have improved.

       

     One other item:  Several people have  replied to some of my posts asking about prices of the work on my blog.  When I set up this blog, I decided I wanted to use it primarily for sharing and getting feedback on my work, so I do not post prices on my blog.  I do have a "Blog Paintings" button on my website and I have prices posted there.  I have sold paintings that I have posted on my blog, so I am very happy for the response I have received. If you wish to get to my website, you can use the link on the bottom of this post to go to my blog.  There is a link to my website on the right side of my blog.

The Wheels of Time

" '28 Model T"  16x20

"Tractor Graveyard"  11x14

      While Gary and I  were traveling in April and May, we came across some old cars, trucks and tractors in Wisconsin and Missouri.  We took pictures of them and moved them into my picture file.  I have noticed that several of the winners in recent plein air competitions have been "old trucks and cars".

      I spent some time last week in my studio and decided to give these seemingly popular subjects a try.  I thought if I tried to paint a few of my photos that maybe the next time I saw one while painting in a plein air event like Augusta, maybe I wouldn't be to intimidated to try one.  They were fun to paint and I like the warm and cool color schemes they provided.  What do you think?

Errror

I just discovered a post written in 2007 that has been sent from my blog.  It is not from me and I don't know how it was attributed to my blog.  I will check into this.  Thank you to those who recognized that this was not from me and alerted me to this.  I hope this will not discourage you from opening future blogs from Judie Stang's world.

Art in the Vines

    Take a perfect 73 degree day,  add 30+ artists, wine tasting and music and you have a delightful event called "Art in the Vines" at Somerset Ridge Winery in Louisburg, KS.  The weather was "poetic justice" for this event that was rained out last year.  I was happy to be able to join the "Somerset Ridge" group of painters who met at classes at Artichokes Gallery in Leawood about 3 years ago.  Each artist was invited to display her paintings in the vineyard on the posts and guidewires. What a great looking event!  Patrons armed with glasses of wine, strolled through the vineyard enjoying all types of art.  A young 14 year old girl was next to me selling her art to donate to the Joplin relief fund.  There were several generations represented with grandma and grandaughter sharing a tent.

Strolling through the Vineyards

My "Augusta" paintings fit real well in the vineyard!

    I took the opportunity to set up my Easy L easel and painted the vineyards and the surrounding vista.
What caught my eye was the row of grapevines "dancing" against the dark row of trees behind them.  I kept hearing the song,  "I heard it through the grapevine" as I was painting.

"Dancing Grapevines"

   My daughter, Lisa, and granddaughter Rachel brought their puppy, Chloe out for a visit.  What a wonderful day in the sun!