I had the great blessing of being able to partake in  Ken DeWaard's Plein Aire Painting IntensiveWorkshop.  And it was indeed intense!..as we whipped through the canvases, furiously capturing color notes during the sunrises and sunsets of July in lovely Viroqua, WI.
 
Each new day began, at least for me, at an hour I absolutely never experience...4:30am when the alarm went off.  Oh the pain!  I can't imagine ever being a morning person, which is such a shame, because there is something unexplainably beautiful, holy almost, about that time of the day.

And then there is the whole thing about just how darn gorgeous the whole driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin is.  Each day I felt as if I was in a fairytale, expecting Anne of Green Gables to appear out of the fog, around some corner.

And so, each morning and evening we painted on location, attempting to translate onto canvas the light.  Ken is a master of being able to make his paintings radiate light.  and it was very insightful to paint along with him and see the color choices he made compared to ours.  So much light!

One last thing: I fell in love with the cows!

Once again I went to paint in Red Wing, MN.  It is always exciting to head down to that sweet little town because I know there are so many yummy options to paint...everywhere!...gardens, boats, lovely old houses, the countryside. 

The other cool thing is that I know we will start our morning at my new favorite place, the "Smokey Row Cafe", with the most awesome, healthy, and robust breakfasts imaginable, bottomless coffee, good conversation and scenic info swapping, but most importantly, the most delicious almond rolls on earth!  ooey gooey heaven!  Just can't get enough.  I get a fresh one each morning as a reward for my hard work! 

Any way, this year once again, it was hot and humid.   And a little rainy.  So I chose to paint the lovely Pratt Tabor Inn, which would be lovely nomatter what the light was choosing to do!  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to bring my husband there someday...

I did a couple more paintings too, but they are at the Depot Gallery, right along the river, where the other 34 participating artists will be showing their paintings too.  Should be a really nice show, with a lot of variety.  I had to come home to teach on Wed and Thursday so I 'm still anxious to see the show myself!  Hope you can stop by too.

Recently a student and I had this discussion as we were working on a painting of a field of flowers...
She said," I was thinking about the different styles in class, and I remember looking at the realistic one, and thinking it's very good, but something is missing. I love your work, right or wrong, I call it impressionism. And I realized the difference between your painting and the realistic one was the suggestion of movement. When I look at your painting I can almost feel the gentle breeze making the flowers bob, I don't get that in the realism. Am I onto something?? "

Yes, I think she is on to something.  So many artists struggle to loosen up their paintings and show their passion or "impression" of a moment in time...so I thought, why not start out loose to begin with...and bring it tighter and tighter as you progress, with the option of pushing it as far as you want....or  not! 
You can't loosen up an already tight painting.  And in fact I think that unless you are an expert drawer, which most of us are NOT, then any little mistake in the drawing sticks out very loudly and looks far more amateurish than a suggestion would.  So many more realistic paintings look "stuck"  and at times even painfully so, unless the artist really knows what he's doing.  

Still, I try really hard to respect the personal style of each artist, because even though I paint the way I do, meaning more impressionistic, it does not mean it is the only way. 

I do!  Every year I see them growing out of my kitchen window and I feel such joy... and hope... and sweetness.  Just a few tiny sprigs set up in a little glass jar, and I painted this alla prima, meaning all at once... which is a good thing because for as delicious as lilacs are, they sure don't last long! 

I know I lead a magical life when I discover that the avacado I am preparing for dinner is just so beautiful I can hardly contain myself! 
Unfortunately for my family this lovely and voluptuous piece of produce did not make it to the dinner table but instead was stolen away to my studio to be painted on the spot.  Oh juicy, creamy, joy...

I've been painting a lot of fresh produce lately.  Could it be because I live in Minnesota and I'm ready for it to be springtime?  Enough said. 
Aren't these pears just lovely, though?

Here they are...Of course in the time it took me to get this posted a lot of stuff happened in my life!  Our daughter came home after spending 6 months living in Spain, so for a week straight I did nothing but talk to her!...then I changed to background color of this painting, then I got sick, changed the background color again, kept teaching classes, entered a few art competitions, painted some lemons, painted some pears, changed the background color yet again... and then I actually joined Facebook which overwhelmed me for a couple days while I tried to get the hang of it!  And so here I am again...and here is the finished painting.

Yesterday I was on a mission to paint some fresh produce...I just couldn't help myself!  I have been painting so many landscapes lately that I just could hardly stand it until I was at the supermarket waiting to be seduced by a piece of fruit, or maybe a fresh vegetable...And there it was,... a most lovely bunch of carrots.  You know, the kind with the greens still attatched.  So then I began the quest to build the scene.  Red onions would be a nice contrast in both shape and color.  And then I needed something bigger to anchor it all...which is where the squash came in.  Nice warm colors and pleasing shapes.

So here's the beginning of the painting.  Just laying in the shapes, getting the composition right and noting where the lightest lights are and the darkest darks.  Hopefully I can hold on to this!  The carrot greens are going down fast.  I'll keep you posted.

Sometimes I wonder what the rest of the world sees...because i'm pretty sure it's not what I see! 
This is the humble little scene, (a couple doors down from where I dropped my son off to hang with his good buddy), that caught my eye and made me slam on the brakes!  Nothing  amazing, as you can see...but the way the light hit, it just caught my eye.  I could feel a quirky little painting waiting to be born. 

This photo captures the excitement of being able to recieve a critique, on my very own canvas, by a Master!  This is Scott Christensen, what a nice guy.  I'm definately saving this canvas!

My first whole day in Colorado Springs was spent on location at the Glen Eyrie Castle, an amazingly beautiful area surrounded by mountains and weird red rock structures both near and faraway, and also lots of amazingly exotic-looking animals that I've never seen before.  It was invaluable to see how Scott Christensen lays in his paintings, making it look far easier than it should. 

However, if there is one nugget I got out of this whole weekend it is this: simplify, simplify, simplify!  Capture the light and as soon as you have said what needs to be said, be done!  That is where so many of us go wrong, overdoing it and not giving the viewer an opportunity to engage their own mind in our paintings.

I ended up back at Glen Eyrie on two other days to paint with Skip Whitcomb and also Frank Serrano.  What an amazing opportunity...if only it hadn't been so rainy, cold, and windy that I could hardly stand it!  I thought coming from Minnesota this would be a breeze, but I definately did not come prepared for that!  Still, the out of character weather we endured showed the true resiliance of a plein air painter!  And often it is that sort of weather that offers the most intriguing atmosphere to try and capture on canvas.

The day I was to fly home I wrapped up this unexplainable experience exploring the Garden of the Gods.  It seemed appropriate that I would be sharing this with new artists friends I had made from both Brazil and Canada, a reflection of the awesomeness of this conference.  And the cherry on top of it all is that I also saw my first Rattle Snake, up close and personal, about 5 feet away!...It made my heart beat fast.  But it was very cool...and noisy as it rattled!

Another thing that made my heart beat fast was stopping at the Hayden Hays Gallery at the Broodmoor Hotel on my taxi ride back to the airport.  I brought the driver right in with me because no one should miss seeing these paintings up close and personal!  I pondered the majesty of a single vase glowing out of the darkness in a David Leffel painting that was priced at $70,000.  But perhaps my favorite was a tiny 8X10 winter scene by Frank Serrano that just radiated reflection off the snow.  Ahhh...how sad to leave.

And so as I enter back into "real life" I know I will forever be richer because of this opportunity.  I feel truly inspired to jump in even deeper on my never-ending quest to honor the beauty God has shared with us.