Summer at Split Rock

This new painting is titled Summer at Split Rock, and is 36"w x 36"h on canvas, and was delivered to Lizzards Gallery in Duluth just yesterday. This painting is probably my third effort at painting Split Rock Lighthouse, and I enjoyed painting the rocks, waters and sky of this piece. Here are links to my other paintings of Split Rock from the past:
Why Can't This Night Go On Forever?
Hope Springs Eternal

As you well know, at least you know if you read my blog ... I love painting negative spaces and backgrounds of compositions. The subject is frequently an afterthought, as I work to draw attention to other areas of the painting. In this piece, I focused on the hue of the water first, using blues, purples and teals to give the water a rich color. I then continued that color palette into the stones and sky, increasing the value until I was happy with the contrast between the different elements. The lighthouse perched on top of the rocks is the brightest part of the painting and draws the eye, but I hope the viewer lingers to enjoy the waters and rocks ... at least that's where you'll find me, sitting on the rocks and skipping stones into lake Superior while I listen to the waves crash against the rocky shoreline. That never gets old.

Tiny Summer Triptych

"Tiny Summer Triptych"  12"w x 4"

It always amazes me that I enjoy working small after working exclusively on large canvases when I first started showing work publicly. There's a certain challenge that makes working small intriguing ... the constraint of the canvas giving every brush stroke more significance and the speed of completion makes for quick decisions. When I work large, I often wait a week or longer to begin to get a feel for how the final piece will look, but there isn't that waiting period with small canvases, and that's what compels me to continue painting them. Some artists call the studies, I don't like referring to my work as a study. Unless a piece absolutely speaks to me and I can't part with it, I offer all my work in all sizes for sale. The little paintings usually sell fast, you have to enjoy them while you can ... just like summer. Ahhhhh summer.
This piece is part of my show at The Art of Hair on First through September 2015.

Rocky Shoreline

"Rocky Shoreline"  9"w x 12"h

This is a new piece titled Rocky Shoreline, which is 9"w x 12"h. While I enjoy all the blues and greens of summer, it seems as though I can't work fast enough to paint the summer season before the leaves change color and the seasons change. I try to pack as much fun and activity into summer as I can, and some of that fun and activity includes works like this one featured today. This piece is quite simple in composition with the three birch trees and a rocky shoreline. But when you have rich blues and greens, you don't need a bunch of elements to cloud the composition ... you just need the vibrant blues and greens of the summer season. Add a hammock, a deck, a BBQ grill ... and maybe some mosquitos and you have all the ingredients of the summer season. :) This piece is part of a show titled Paintings & Prints at Art of Hair on First in Duluth, MN now through Sept. 2015.