Duluth Gallery Hop

If you're in the Duluth area today please stop by the Duluth Gallery Hop. Many galleries are participating, and it's always a good time. Artists feature new works at the gallery hop, and many are spring themed, which is a great way to kick off the spring season. I have new works at Siiviis Gallery in the Canal Park area of Duluth ... Lady Slippers, Tulips and more. And at Lizzards Gallery in Downtown Duluth I have many new spring themed works, along with several new ladyslipper paintings.

For more information on the gallery hop, please visit http://duluthgalleryhop.com/index.html

Spring Maple Forest

"Spring Maple Forest" 20"w x 16"h

It won't be long until the maples are budding, there's warm southerly breezes and the songbirds are singing ... I kept telling myself today as I shoveled the last of the snow off the deck this afternoon on a cold gray 40 degree day. Please contact Lizzard's Gallery for more information on this painting.

Budding Birch Forest

"Budding Birch Forest" 20"w x 16"h Siiviis Gallery, Duluth MN

Today's painting is a 20"w x 16"h canvas titled Budding Birch Forest. This piece is along a series I've enjoyed working with recently that features a lake and places the shoreline across the lake right across the middle of the composition. I find the distant shoreline, along with the foreground rocks, birches and shrubs to be a very interesting visual play of elements. The lake and sky are also fascinating to me, each having a different saturation of blue. The snow is melting fast around here today, it won't be long before the ice is off the lakes and the birches are budding.
Please contact Siiviis Gallery in Duluth, MN for more information on this piece.

With Love, From Minnesota

"With Love, From Minnesota" 72"w x 36"h

Here is a new work which is as wide as I am tall...6 feet! This triptych is 72"w x 36"h, and titled With Love, From Minnesota. I sure enjoy this piece which features golden birches on any given lake in northern Minnesota in the autumn season. The sun sparkles through the sky and the water in this piece, and the rocks and underbrush bring back fond childhood memories of growing up in Minnesota, and I couldn't help but title this painting as if closing a letter that was written with love, from Minnesota.

Friendly Little Fellas

"Friendly Little Fellas"  12"w x 4"h

If I was a bird, I'd want to be a chickadee. That's all there is to it. They are just the friendliest little bird ever. This painting is titled Friendly Little Fellas and is available at Siiviis Gallery in Canal Park, Duluth, MN.

Quiet Solitude

"Quiet Solitude" Diptych, 72"w x 24"h

Here is piece that endeavors to capture the feeling of a quiet birch and maple forest during the last light of the day. The foreground gold and burnt sienna underbrush fade to a deep rich black and so does the cobalt sky in the distance. The maple leaves sparkle on the trees as the sun dances off them, and the birch hide in plain sight in the foreground. Some of my favorite comments have come from people who don't notice the birch trees right way as they focus on the background ... neither of which is the focus of this work, in a busy, noisy, hectic world, the quiet solitude of the birch forest beckons to be seen and experienced. Nuff said.

April Snow Tulips

"April Snow Tulips" 6"w x 6"h

I felt this piece was appropriate for a cold gray April day. The snow is softly falling in large flakes and melting on the soggy ground as the birds that were so full of song yesterday are quietly waiting for sunnier skies. This time of year is called by many as the theater of seasons with snow one day, warm sun the next, rain, then sleet etc... but it is also a time of eager expectation and preparation for the summer season. Everything will soon be lush and green outside and I'll face a bigger challenge than that of trying to paint with low gray light and that is distraction. Hard to stay in the studio with warm summer days outside ... these tulips that are covered with snow in this painting can't wait for summer and neither can I. Until then we patiently wait out the April snow...
Please contact Siiviis Gallery in Duluth, MN for more information on this piece.

Pushing through the Snow

"Pushing Through the Snow" 8"w x 10"h

I titled this piece Pushing Through The Snow in order to describe what the crocus are doing, which is something everyone that lives in the northland does every winter ... pushing through the snow. It's really neat that I'm posting these snowy spring themed works as the snow is melting. These flowers represent all of us in many ways ... colorful, unique, diverse, beautiful, steadfast, resilient ... wow, all these qualities and more find their place in a tiny little purple flower that isn't afraid of snow.
... this piece is available at Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais, MN.

Snowy April Tulips

I'm at a loss for words at the moment ... not sure why. Here's a new piece featuring tulips and snow falling on a deep cobalt blue background titled Snowy April Tulips which is 8"w x 10"h and available at Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais, MN.

Gold Ridge Crocus

"Gold Ridge Crocus" 6"w x 6"h

Another piece in a spring flower series featuring flowers in the snow. This one has a warm gold ridge in the background to complement the blue sky and deep purple blooms of the crocus. I haven't painted flowers for a couple years ... it does feel a bit strange to be blogging about my flower paintings, but oh well, Vincent Van Gogh painted flowers so I can too! lol. Check back soon and happy spring.
Please contact Siiviis Gallery in Duluth, MN for more information on this piece.

Lavender Crocus

"Lavender Crocus" 10"wx8"h

April showers bring May flowers. Except here in northern Minnesota, where the landscape is still covered by a thick blanket of snow in April. The sunny 50 degree temps may do something about that snow this week, however. I painted a series of flowers pushing up through the snow last week, as we were getting hit by a couple snowstorms and spring seemed like a fleeting dream, and this is one of the new works titled Lavender Crocus, 10"w x 8"h. Crocus and tulips seem to be resilient flowers, often found pushing through snow, and thriving amongst the cold weather. And I don't blame them ... after this record setting cold and snowy winter I join these flowers in saying enough is enough. Time to start growing again.

The Land of the Loon

"The Land of the Loon", 36"w x 24"

Here's a new piece titled The Land of the Loon. This one is 36"w x 24"h. A simple color palette of cobalt, crimson and gold that complements each other and sets off the foreground birches really well. The repetition of the elements in this piece also really bounce the eye around. At first, I was lamenting the subtle darker quality this piece has, but as I've been viewing it, it has really grown on me, and I bet it has something to do with the glazing of the paint and brushwork. The black canvas is visible through much of the painting, which gives the color an underlying gray quality. Just one of those happy accidents when you just let the painting happen, as I often endeavor to do. I have quite a few little paintings to upload now as I've been taking a break from the computer as of late. Not sure why, perhaps it's this weather ... making me feel a bit ... loony. Stop back soon to the land of the loon ... northern Minnesota.
This piece is part of my upcoming show at Your Art's Desire Gallery, Minnetonka, MN. The show is available for viewing May 24 - June 30, 2014.

Chickadee Moon

 

 

 

"Chickadee Moon"

Here is a fun painting featuring two chickadees on birch with a bright full moon in the sky above them, radiating its light through the deep cobalt blue sky. I was ice fishing on a lake north of Duluth recently and was skunked, as usual, but I did get a sweet shot of the full moon over the lake. The ice fishing trip was cut a little short due to my son stepping into an ice hole and getting cold, but we still managed to have fun. Just like the chickadees, they seem to have fun no matter what the weather.

This painting is part of a small collection of paintings and framed prints collectively called "Lights" that can be viewed at Bixby's Cafe in Duluth at 1608 Woodland Ave now through the end of April, 2014. The works from the show can also be viewed online on my personal website here.

Baby Chick 5 & 6

Here's baby chick numbers five and six in the series of small chickadees I posted to my DailyPaintworks web page. I've received quite a bit of feedback on these, people noticing the subtle shades of blues and light browns in the birds and birches. Funny how people notice the little things, sometimes I think people just glance at my paintings, but when they point out some details, I know they're noticing what I'm noticing. I'm noticing I have some work to so so I'm going to get to it .. happy St. Patrick's Day!

Baby Chick No. 4

"Baby Chick No. 4"

With Spring on the horizon ... even as we received a fresh four inches of fluffy white snow this morning ... I'm posting a series of 'baby chickadee' paintings, this one titled Baby Chick No. 4. The baby in the name refers to the sizes of these pieces, a mere 4"wx4"h. I've never painted a nest of baby birds, but that would be a fun composition, especially a robin holding a big fat juicy nightcrawler over half a dozen open beaks. I observed a nest of baby birds once, and I noticed the beaks would pop out of the nest before the momma bird was in sight, and I thought that the babies could hear the familiar sound of mom's wings flapping in order to slow down prior to landing on the delicate nest. Anyways ... if you like this piece, this one is available on my dailypaintworks gallery, which is an online community of artists who paint, give eachother feedback and support, and occasionally sell a painting, which to an artist is equivalent to a hungry baby bird getting a big fat juicy nightcrawler.
Please visit my DailyPaintworks gallery page for more information on today's piece.

Two Birds on Birch

"Two Birds on Birch", 12"w x 4"h, Lizzards Gallery, Duluth, MN

Here is the last of this horizontal format chickadee works titled Two Birds on Birch. I had so much fun with this series that I could just keep painting them ... and I just may! But, alas, I only had three of these canvases ready to paint. I have several 4"wx4"h chickadee paintings from this series as well that I'll be posting in the coming days. On another note, I broke shovel number four yesterday. This winter has been the coldest and snowiest of my mere 39 years in Minnesota. It was a record setting season, and I'm ready for the next one. Yesterday, we had 50 degree temps and I was clearing several inches of ice off the sidewalks when the shovel said one last uff da and joined the stack of cracked shovels in the garage. I guess I'm going to buy shovel number five before the next snowfall forecasted for Wednesday. This time, I'm buying a wood handled steel shovel. We'll see how old man winter likes that. lol.
Please contact Lizzards Gallery in Duluth, MN for more information on this piece.