Twilight Maples: Five Shadows

Acrylic on 4"w x 4"h x 1.5"d Canvas
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Another small canvas, I'm really enjoying the transparent quality I'm getting out of the paint. It's a challenge as I'm varying the pressure with the brushwork, but it's getting the depth I'm looking for ... a layering of texture and color. Just like a late-Autumn forest floor. :)

Twilight Maples: Larger Than Life

Acrylic on 4"w x 4"h x 1.5"d Canvas
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I couldn't resist giving this painting the title Larger Than Life as this is the smallest size I've ever worked in. Weighing in at a whopping four inches by four inches ... I must admit I struggled with my brushstrokes and found myself concentrating more than usual with this painting. As I view this work on screen, I find I can see the texture of the canvas, and I'm enjoying the depth the texture is giving to this work. This is why I wish people could view my art in person and not on screen as they are missing a wealth of detail on screen, but my show is coming up soon where people can view my work in person and also I'm hopeful to work with a local gallery or two to display my work on a regular basis. I enjoyed the challenge of this painting though, and will post a few more of these little guys before beginning my next challenge in a couple weeks ... a 5'w x 3'h painting. That size is definately larger than life.

Waves of Mercy

Acrylic on 24"w x 36"h x 2"d Canvas
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NFS

This is one of those paintings where the painter wishes to express themselves without agonizing over details. I envisioned five Geraniums in a landscape that had visual form and repetition. You'll notice this painting has five background layers: a white foreground of Sweet Alyssum, followed by the Geranium leaves and flowers, then the yellow perennial bushes, then greens (topped with yellow Daisies), and finally blue sky. The five layers repeat the same shape, reflecting the influence of the Geraniums. I felt that the Geraniums carried the significance in this piece, which is why I labored so much on the color and texture of this piece, wanting it to be right while letting it have a playful feel at the same time. I often feel like we can influence our surroundings and relationships more than we give ourselves credit for. Our lives can have a ripple effect on our family, friends, neighbors and community. I often find myself glancing too quickly at small things while ignoring the larger picture. If we don't judge at first glance but look deeper, we'll find our surroundings aren't so bad. 

For next week I'll be exploring the Autumn landscapes, trying to capture on canvas the special time of year when the Birches and Maples cover the forest in blazing color while brightening our lives. It is also a time of harvest, rejoicing and thankfulness. I have a 2'x3' canvas, a 16"x16" canvas and several 6"x 6" and even 4"x 4" canvases prepped. I'm thinking I'll build some miniature easels to set the smaller canvases on when they are finished for presentation. Stop back soon, I have a feeling next weeks works will be special. :)

Geranium Jive

Acrylic on 14"w x 16"h x 2"d Canvas
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Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

This painting and the one I'll post tomorrow are a lesson in patience and and perseverance. I wanted to capture the color and texture I saw in the flowers and their surroundings so I worked on layering the blues, greens, and pinks; many with transparencies; to get the color I was after. I don't feel like the photo does justice to the brushstrokes in this painting. I suppose you could count the thousands of brushstrokes in my paintings, but that's not the point. The point is for the viewer to identify with the mood and emotion of the subject matter. I realize that art is subjective and not everyone will identify with a particular painting, but as long as I'm jiving with the painting I know others will. Do you jive?

Geraniums!

This week I've been busy working on a 2'x3' geranium landscape as well as a 16" square geranium close-up painting. While I'm happy with the background in both paintings, I've reworked the flowers themselves as I've really wanted to get the color right. I've looked at them several times in their natural setting in different lighting as well as on a computer screen, and the pink is really a challenge. I've labored to capture the texture of the petals without compromising the color, and I believe I'm getting very close. I anticipate posting the smaller of the two paintings tomorrow and possibly the larger painting by Friday.

I'm excited to start my next landscape series of birches and maples in fall color with the focus being on the vertical lines and hilly backgrounds. I'm thinking I'll try another 2'x3' as well as a 16" square and have some fun with a couple small 6" x 6" paintings as well. Stop back soon!
-A

Twilight Maples: Loaded Maples No. 2

Acrylic on 8"w x 10"h Canvas
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Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

This painting along with Loaded Maples No. 1 were painted during the time I completed Twilight Maples Diptych. Maple trees have a way of really loading up their leaves. I suppose they don't care for the hot summer sun so they attempt to block it with their leaves. They also keep all of their leaves to themselves in the summer, but they are more than willing to share their leaves in the fall as the leaves fall gracefully to the ground. The leaves provide a colorful textural carpeting for the forest floor and help fertilize the soil and provide shelter for bugs and small fuzzy critters. And a playground for children.

I think the maples smile when they see kids jumping into their leaves. :)

Twilight Maples: Loaded Maples No. 1

Acrylic on 8"w x 10"h Canvas
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Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

This painting along with Loaded Maples No. 2 were painted during the time I completed Twilight Maples Diptych. The vision for these smaller 8x10" canvases was to show a maple tree as I always remember them in the fall ... loaded with blazing leaves. There's nothing like a maple tree in the fall, and Northern Minnesota is covered with these magnificent trees, along with Birch, Aspen, and a host of different pine tree species. I'd like to continue this fall landscape theme, but I do need to pause and complete a few floral landscapes that are in the works in preparation for my upcoming show at the Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors.

Twilight Maples Diptych

Acrylic on 2-12"w x 36"h x 2"d Canvases
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Reserved

This painting marked yet another step in my style progression. I've been working on keeping a consistent color saturation in my paintings, along with consistent brushstrokes .. yet I went off the deep end on this painting. I painted this one entirely in the square brushstroke style on black canvas and I really enjoyed painting this one. I love the negative spaces between the trees, the long shadows and transparency in the orange leaves. If you've ever seen sugar maples in the fall, you know what blazing color these special trees are able to achieve. Perhaps I'll linger a while here in this forest, enjoying the peace that this complete isolation can bring, listening to the leaves and twigs snap beneath my feet and smell the familiar fragrance of Autumn leaves and the changing of the seasons. Like a good book that ends too soon and you have to say goodbye to the characters in the story who have become like friends to you, I need to move on to the next painting. The next painting is calling me, and I think I'll continue in this brushstroke style for a while to see where it leads. Cheers. :)

Lupin Five

Acrylic on 10"w x 8"h Canvas Panel
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Last Lupin painting in the series. Lately I've been pulled and tugged between landscapes and florals. The late summer blooms may have something to do with it, as yesterday's family walk down to our neighborhood garden inspired me and I took several reference photos. Next week I'll post the deep woods landscapes I've been working on, they feature deep blues and subdued lighting with sky-high maples in late Autumn color. Can't wait to finish them so people can view them, I might stay in that theme a while longer ... or I may just get pulled and tugged into another floral painting. :)

Lavender Lupins

Acrylic on 10"w x 8"h Canvas Panel
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This painting is the second of three. I enjoy working in series, although as of late I've been keeping the series short and exploring different ideas that I have. I'm envisioning a Lupin hillside with birches, water and blue sky in the distance on a larger scale, perhaps 2' x 3'. I'll get right to it ... as soon as I finish the works that are waiting patiently on my easel ... and the several paintings I want to begin.
Maybe I need a larger studio and more easels. :)

Please stop back soon as I'll be uploading four new paintings within the next week.

Lupin Line

Acrylic on 36"w x 12"h x 2"d Canvas
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Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

Lupins bloom in Duluth in the early summer and they are always a joy. They scatter their seeds and spread out, often covering entire hillsides in shades of lavender for several weeks at a time.  My girls really liked this painting (their favorite color is purple so I can't imagine why lol). One of my daughters immediately recognized the lupins as the 'flowers that grow on the hillside by my climbing tree'. My other daughter thought they were purple trees growing in a forest. They could also be cotton candy on a stick (Minnesota State Fair is coming up) or they could simply be ... lupins.

I have a couple more lupin paintings on a smaller scale available which will be uploaded later this week. They may also be viewed on my paintings page on my website. God bless.

Through the Trees

Acrylic on 36"w x 12"h x 2"d Canvas
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Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

I've been working with subjects that are up close recently and I've felt like stepping back to take in the view from a distance. In this painting through the trees you can see the lake with the distant horizon shaded in soft purples. The rocks in the foreground protect the shoreline from rolling waves, but not today as the lake is calm and the trees cast deep shadows on the leaf covered ground.

Twilight Birches

Acrylic on 8"w x 10"h Canvas Panel
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Please email me at aaronklossartwork@gmail.com for purchase information.

With this painting I worked on capturing the lighting at the end of the day when the sky is filled with blues and purples and the trees cast long dark shadows. I also wanted to incorporate more of a uniform ambient light as opposed to a central bright source such as the setting sun. Tomorrow's painting is an expansion on this theme, it's fun to be painting small again .. almost like a breath of fresh air. :)