Hauge Park

Finished this one up at home. I went for the panoramic view and trying to convey a sense of distance.

Tom

November 7th - Hauge Historic District Park - Windy!!!

 I think 5 or 6 painters came out on a very nice but windy day.  Most painters chose the beautiful panoramic views offered. I got there later and the wind was getting even stronger so I only managed to do one sketch of the old "log" church just south of the main parking lot.  That site offers good views, too and I hope to go back to the park in the future.  Tom said it may be the last group date for 2020 but we can see how the weather behaves. Either way keep getting outdoors and keep painting and stay safe everyone!

Old log church & cemetery - Ink and Watercolor in 7x7 Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook

Bernie & Tom in discussion with great view in the background

Saturday Nov. 7th - Painting 8 AM - Town of Perry

 Per Tom's email:

 

We’ve had some nice painting weather recently, but, I must confess, I’ve been distracted by some home projects I’ve been working on, any by this damn anxiety causing election … it’s almost over … maybe.  Anyway, I know it’s short notice, but I’m scheduling one last group outing for this coming Saturday in the morning (about 8 am start) at Hauge Historic District Park.

 

We painted at this location for the first time last year and I’m including the park information as I did last year. 

 

I’m adding a link to a park brochure that describes how to get there.  It’s southwest of Mt. Horeb.  I’m also adding a Park Map.  Doug King (who I talked to about this park last year) provided a good explanation of the map in his email to me and I’m copying that from him, as follows (and note that the north direction on the map is to the right):

 

"The parking area is shown on the map.  It is in the Northwest corner of the park at the end of the Parkway Road where there is a round red marker on the map saying:  “you are here.”  Just drive quarter mile past the Historic Site and you’ll see a big sign on the road saying:  “Hauge Historic District Park.”

 

That is a very good location for a really nice view.   And of course there are many other views and vistas of the countryside in all directions as well as of the Historic Site itself.  But if anyone wants an even more spectacular view of the Blue Mounds and sky to the North, the highest point in the park is the Observation Point.  It is in the Southeast corner of the park where the map shows a round red marker saying:  “Observation Point.”  It’s a nice little walk on the park path from the parking lot --- you just go across highway Z at the crossing shown by the directional signs on the map.  The view is amazing, and if the light and sky conditions cooperate, it’s quite a nice show. :-)"

 

One last thing I should mention is that there is no bathroom there.  The brochure says the nearest public bathroom is 9 miles away in Mt. Horeb.  That’s rough!

 

Link for Park Brochure:http://www.haugehistoricdistrictpark.org

Stewart Lake

We painted at Stewart Lake this morning and had a nice clearing in the weather. My painting didn't work out very well but I'm posting two photos just to show some of the subject matter we had. I tried painting the scene in the photo of the wooded path but ended up deciding later to wipe it off and try again.

 Tom

Prairie Flowers - August 2020

 I still have to finish my Ice Age Trail drawing from Lodi.   This is a pastel I did at Holy Wisdom Monastery in August.  I spent much of 3 weeks out there then painting the prairie flowers. Great weather and I rented a room for the day so I could get meals cooked by their excellent chef.  It was like a nice vacation and got me away from the racket while the city tore up my neighborhood for new streets and sewers..  I don't usually do such large pastels outdoors but it was fun.  The asters out there this fall have been just gorgeous and I hope to do some studio paintings of them.

Hope we can do some more dates in November and maybe some snow paintings on less frigid days this winter.   

Soft pastels on Pastelmat 17 x 21

Lodi Ice Age Trail

Here's my painting from last week's outing. I'm actually posting both the painting as it was as I left the field, and the painting as I later fixed it up. Not even sure which one I like better. I messed up scheduling the next outing. I had thought this week's weather would be bad but it didn't turn out to be that bad. And there was previously a better forecast for next week, but they changed that, it now next week looks bad. So not sure when we'll get the next outing in. But I'll keep watching the weather. 

I'm updating this post with a third version since I repainted this again in my studio and want to see them side by side.

 Tom

Salmo Pond and A Groundhog

 When we were are the pond last week I saw a big fat groundhog run down this path and came back this week to sketch him and the trail for my Inktober sketch.  So far I'm on track and have done my Inktober sketch the first 10 days of the month.  The only rule is that the sketch must be done in ink and posted somewhere even if only on your fridge.  https://inktober.com/

 The sketchbook is an 11x14 Hannemuhle Nostalgie which has great paper for ink.  I used a Sailor Fude pen and a Kuretake brush pen with Noodlers Lexington Grey which is my favorite sketching ink. A warm grey that's a bit more subtle than black.  The groundhog was drawn from a photo.  They are not very cooperative subjects.  There's still lots more days in October so give an ink landscape a try & post it here or on your fridge.  It's fun!!!

Lodi Ice Age Trail Segment - Thursday October 8th - 3pm - Sunset

Meet us for plein air painting this Thursday afternoon. See Events Calendar for more details and map.  Click on the event on the calendar and there will be details on how to get there and a map.  It's a  great place to paint and the weather forecast is good so far!  Pat

 

 

 

Salmo Pond

We had to wait out a short, light rain, but then had a nice evening for painting. A variety of sun, clouds, rainbow, and even a full moon on the drive home. I chose to paint a darkened sky with just a bit of sunlight coming through. This painting might need some fixing but this is my plein air result. Tom

Salmo Pond - Plein Air Painting - Wednesday Sept. 30th 3:30 - Sunset

We will meet for painting here on Wednesday.  (See Events Calendar for details).  Below is Darya's painting from last year.  Gorgeous!  We should have some fall color to paint this time.  Hope to see you there,  Pat

Oil on panel, 12"x16"

 

 

 

 

 

Pheasant Branch Conservancy, Tuesday, September 15th

 This is an 8x16" panel. I repainted the sky five times. Its dull, pale, grey blue wasn't doing anything for the painting so I kept scraping it off and trying different things. This sky represents the color of the setting sun, which was in the sky opposite to this view. It was a perfect evening for plein air. The lone figure in this landscape is Tom, coming back to his car from the hillside he was painting on. I snapped a quick reference photo at the end of the evening and noticed him carrying his gear. Not many people remained at the park after the sunset. The lighting was odd because of the wildfires 2000 miles away. The sun was unobscured by clouds but there were hardly any shadows. I really boosted the color in this one.

Pheasant Branch Creek

Had a good group of painters at Pheasant Branch yesterday, and some of us maintained social distancing so well we didn't even see each other ;-) There was sort of an orange haze that I tried to capture in this painting. Is this haze due to wild fires out west?

Tom

Holy Wisdom Monastery - August 2020

 With travel being pretty much out of the question this summer I spent 3 weeks off and on painting at the monastery.  The prairie was in full bloom and beautiful. So many butterflies!!  I got a room during the days with meals cooked by their excellent chef and cool off in the a/c and shower after being in the heat all day.  It also got me away from my street which was under constant and noisy construction all summer.  There's an old abandoned barn on the property I've always wanted to paint.  Mostly I worked in pastel but I did a few tiny gouache paintings, too. 

Pastel on Pastelmat 8 x 12

Gouache 2 1/2 x 3

Donald Park, August 26, 2020

No.691; Wednesday Morning at Donald Park; oil on panel; 7x10"

It was really quite hot but, as Tom says, shade and a nice breeze made it pleasant enough. I looked around for quite a while. Donald Rock was very tempting. I resisted it in favor of these oaks and the mild blue yonder behind them. The sky was actually blue but I used warm colors to express the heat of the day.

 

Donald Park: Larson's Pond

 On the other end of Donald park, there is Larson's Pond. In the far background on the right side, you can even see Donald Rock. Watercolor. 9 x 12. David Williams

Donald Park Outing

It was a bit hot and humid last week but not too bad with shade and a breeze. I'm hoping we've seen the last of hot weather. Here's my Donald park painting after substantial fixing at home.

Tom

McCarthy Park

Had some nice weather and a good group of painters at McCarthy Park last week. My painting from there is still undergoing repair (it may not survive) but here's a photo of some of the park's scenery.

Paint the Point, the nocturne event...

This is my nocturne from this year's Paint the Point event. It's 8x16" on a gessoed panel. It won 1st Place in the competition. Also, the owners of the Mineral Point Hotel (the building in the middle) bought it. If you want to see it in person take a jaunt out to Mineral Point. This was the perfect evening. Not too hot, a little breeze, and zero mosquitos!!! Therefor the title of the painting is: A Perfect Evening on Commerce Street. 

It was great to see so many DCPAPainters at the event. I thought Arts Mineral Point did a good job of keeping everyone safe. A lot of nice work this year!!!

Paint the Point

I just returned from Mineral Point after painting in their "Paint the Point" plein air event. The weather was good and the landscape and painting options there are just great. Other painters from our DCPAP list who attended were Jan Norsetter, Preeti Ojha, and Kyle Martin. We all did good work (in my opinion), with Jan winning the award for best nocturne and Kyle winning the Painter's Choice award. Preeti did an outstanding "Quick Paint" and I sold two paintings. So I may have achieved my goal of at least covering erxpenses.

One of my sold paintings was one of my better efforts so I have to post it. I titled it "Morning Glare". I'm also posting a photo of a dangerous gang of cattle who bellowed and threatened me as I was attempting to paint (behind a fence). The farmer stopped by to see what I was painting and I complained to him that his cattle were unruly. He just laughed.

Tom

Yahara Place Park - July 22nd

This was a really great place to paint and a perfect summer evening.  My apologies to the painters I missed getting a photo of; I hadn't realized there was so many of us there but I am glad we had such a good turnout.  Hope to see lots of you next time, too.  Pat

PS - If anyone wants to post their paintings on the blog just email me and I will send you an invitation to be a blog "author" and then you can post anything relevant to plein air painting. dgwafer@gmail.com

Joan and her painting and gear

Tom, Bernie and the hydrangeas

Charles and Pat

Welcome Judy!  First time out with DCPAP.  Sorry I got you with eyes closed - I'll do better next time!!

Tom by the shore

Lake Monona  oil painting 8 x 16 ; I'm new to painting with a knife but it is fun and no brushes to clean

Lake Wingra just after sunset last week - pastel on Pastelmat paper

Yahara Place Park

Watercolor. looking towards Olin park at Yahara River outlet

Yahara Place Park

Really nice evening for painting yesterday.  I'm posting my painting of a Lake Monona shore view.  Later in the evening the light turned quite nice and with the large number of sailboats on the water it looked like something that really needed painting.

Which got me thinking of how to make simple lake views interesting.  Sometimes the scene is just a horizontal strip of land with sky and water.  I guess the key is to create designs in the sky and/or water.  Just for fun I'm also posting a few other lake/water paintings that show how this might be done.  Two of these are by Marc Hansen, one of my favorite painters.  The other is by Fiona Pocock.

Yahara Place park outing

The sky was changing into beautiful pink later in the evening. Had to stop myself changing the colors in the painting after a certain point. Thanks Tom for organizing it! 

Resurrection Cemetery

A few of us painted at the Resurrection Cemetery yesterday.  Between the sky clearing early on, and the heat and humidity coming in later, I got a good start, and finished it up today.  My first time painting in a cemetery.  There are some interesting views.

Tom Gilbert

Indian Lake Follow Up

This afternoon I re-worked my painting (I'll call it a study) from last week at Indian Lake.  Another painting to add to my Indian Lake series collection.

Tom

Indian Lake, June 24, 2020

I was thinking I'd paint clouds last night but when I arrived at Indian Lake I didn't see any I liked.

So I painted a clump of trees that were backlit. (Lower photo.)

Towards the end of the day the sky got more interesting and I painted this one of the sunset.

Indian Lake Sunset; oil on board; 7x10"; Jan Norsetter

It's All About the Greens; oil on board; 6x8"; Jan Norsetter

First Outing at Indian Lake

We had a good group for our outing yesterday and a nice evening.  After the rain passed through (just as I planned it!) we had  really nice lighting.  The attached photos show the initial and last skies.  I found myself chasing the rapidly changing light a bit and then going color blind from looking into the sun, so I didn't take full advantage of the evening, but I'll probably work some more to fix , or create new,  paintings based on memory and photos from yesterday.  And it was nice to connect with other painters again even if six feet apart.

Tom

Another Plein Air Event

Hi, everyone!  I just wanted to pass on that Urban Sketchers Madison has restarted monthly sketching events in only outdoor locations with the understanding that we will keep doing appropriate social distancing.  We draw or paint with the medium of our choice.  This coming Sunday we will be on the grounds of  the Garver Feed Mill near Olbrich Gardens from 1-3pm. Here's the link to our blog and there is also a Facebook group.  https://drawmadison.blogspot.com/   Pat

Owen Park View

A few of us painted at Owen Park (keeping our distance) last Saturday.  Here's what I ended up with after working on it later at home.  This was sort of a test run for starting our group outings again, which I think I'll do soon.

Tom

Spring Painting

Got out to Edna Taylor Park during some of the nicer weather and painted the edge of the pond.  I may come back to it later and add birds or geese.

Watercolor by Siraj Hull

                 “Stay Away,”  is watercolor art on 8”x 8” 140 lb cold press watercolor paper.