My attempt to capture the changing light at Pheasant Branch.

Eaten alive by mosquitoes and chased away by the storm, here's last night's effort at the Pheasant Branch.

Oil, 11"x14"

Pheasant Branch August 4th

Tracy and a very nice view of the prairie and hill

Joan painting despite pesky insects

Elizabeth and Darya packing up

Siraj on the edge of the prairie

Doug sketching

Gouache in my new sketchbook painted the evening after

Tom and Queen Anne's Lace

We had a great turnout for our most recent paint date but not such great weather. I think I counted 9 painters and one was new to the group (Welcome Noel!). A thunderstorm cut the painting time short but there were some dramatic stormy skies to paint and the prairies are in bloom. I went back this evening to try out a new sketchbook with gouache.  It was recommended on James Gurney's blog and I loved painting on this paper.  It's a Strathmore 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch hardbound journal with 400 series 140lb watercolor paper. It lays nice and flat so it's easy to do a 2 page spread.  Dick Blick offers a substantial discount.  I have the Strathmore wirebound Artist Journal with 140 lb watercolor paper and did not care much for that paper but this is totally different and very nice for gouache or watercolor. Just after I finished the painting there was the spectacular sunset that we had wished for yesterday.

The approaching storm

Plein Air Exhibit by Doug Haynes

August 3 - October 30, 2016 
UW Health at The American Center
4602 Eastpark Blvd
Madison, WI 
Take the American parkway exit from Hwy. 151. Then follow the H signs to the Hospital. 
At the main entrance go up the stairs or take the elevator to the second floor. the exhibit will be right there in the cafeteria.

I posted a map on my site (http://emeraldstudio.com).

There are 22 works ranging in size from 40 x 30 to 10 x 8

Siraj Hull: Watercolors and Collages

One of our DCPAPA watercolorists will have a show at the UW Health Sciences Learning Center on the 2nd floor lobby in August.  The Center is adjacent to UW Hospital.

Title:  Paintings and Collages by Siraj Hull

Where: UW Health Sciences Learning Center, 2nd Floor Lobby

750 Highland Avenue

Madison, WI 53705

When: 08/02/2016 – 08/30/2016

“I am a retired school psychologist who has enjoyed art throughout my life. I worked in Jacksonville, Illinois for Four Rivers Special Education school districts for 15 years and taught at Spoon River Community college in Macomb, Illinois for 9 years before taking a position in Taipei American school in Taiwan for a year. My husband Bob and I have traveled and lived in many interesting parts of the world. We spent ten winters in the South Pacific, living in Fiji, Marshal Islands, Cook Islands and Tonga. While in Tonga, I studied Tapa cloth art from a noted artist of Tonga. We've traveled to over 97 countries. In every place we've traveled, I make it a point to visit art galleries and pick up some new ideas.

I am a member of both Dane County Plein Air and Macomb Plein Air in Macomb, Illinois.” – Siraj Hull

- See more at: http://isthmus.com/events/siraj-hull/#sthash.DivwIkME.dpuf

Cherokee Park, Pastel, 8.5" x 11.5"

Here is my completed painting from our outing last week. 

Cherokee Park, Pastel, 8.5" x 11.5" 

Cherokee Marsh sketch finished in the studio

Cherokee Marsh. Morning. Oil on linen board, 12"x16"

Annual Plein Air Painting & Pot Luck July 19th

 Left to right - Joan Siebers, Louise Kubista, Jan Feyzi, Siraj Hull, Gretchen Tweitmeier.

Darya's painting

More paintings from the morning session and some of Jan's collection above

More

Left to right on bottom: Oil paintings by Jane Varda, Jan Norsetter (2) and pastel by Trisha Duren

Marla explaining it all to us 

Jan Norsetter on Marla's wonderful porch

Jan, Tom and John deep in discussion about color

Trisha Duren taking a well earned break after a morning of painting

Jane Varda

Marla Brenner's lovely paintings

Jan Feyzi with new lightweight easel

Many thanks again to Marla Brenner for hosting our annual summer potluck.  The food, company and setting was excellent!!  Marla graciously gave us a tour of her extensive and wonderful art collection and a peek in her studio.  Just a glance around at all the paintings and color charts show what an excellent and hard working artist Marla is.  Even her color charts are works of art in themselves.  Marla said she wants to know how her colors mix before she goes outdoors to paint so she can get precisely the color she wants.  She also talked about the importance of mixing only single pigment paints to help keep the colors clean.  Jan Norsetter discussed how to mix a variety of greens which is essential for summer landscape painting and both her paintings were great examples of doing just that.  Thanks to everyone for showing up and sharing your paintings and ideas and great food!!

Cherokee Park Outing

Another nice day painting at Cherokee Park followed by the pot-luck at Marla Brenner's.  We had a great turn-out (must be the food) with many fine paintings resulting.  Here's a framed view of the water I found in the park, near the playground equipment.

Tom

Allen Centennial Gardens

Ginkgo tree in pastel.
Wendy

Under the trellis at Allen Gardens

More Allen Gardens

My watercolor from last evening

Siraj's Watercolor

Siraj was unable to attend last night's session but painted this watercolor earlier in the week.  As Tom said it ended up being a nice evening after all and there were so many subjects to choose from it was a bit overwhelming.  The sky was beautiful so I decided to leave out the campus buildings that are behind the gardens in my view.  Many flowers were in bloom and I'd like to go back with pastels and try for some of those gorgeous flower colors.  It is a great place to paint in the evening.

Allen Centennial Gardens

After going back and forth on the weather forecast, we ended up with a nice enough evening for painting and a good group of painters showed up.  I'm posting a photo of what I thought about painting and also my painting in which I settled on a small portion of the garden pond to paint.  I call this pushing the paint around until the light is gone.  It needs more definition which I'll probably add in another layer once the initial painting dries.  -  Tom

Chilly morning, fun painting, and wonderful company at lunch in Belleville! I went back and took some photos when the sun came out after lunch and did a bit more work on the piece I started once I got home. It's good to get some plein air practice.

Another Belleville Painting

Almost quit on this one but decided to try to salvage something.  And after quite a bit of fixing up on my initial field effort, here it is.  It was nice to have a number of people walking along the path so I could gauge their size and paint a person into it.    

Tom

Painting in Belleville 6/28/16

Jan, Tom, Gretchen, Wendy and Trisha

Soft Pastel on Sanded Paper

Trisha Duren with her pastel painting - great job on the water!

We had a great time painting in the park at Belleville.  It was quite overcast and chilly in the morning and the sun didn't come out until we were ready for lunch which several of us ate at a local pub in Belleville.  A very nice gentleman bought my Belleville Park pastel and I forgot to snap a photo of it but I found a nice little spot on the Sugar River on my way out of Paoli so I painted this pastel there looking back towards town.  I had stopped at Paoli on the way home to see Jan Norsetter's latest show at Zazen Gallery.  It was great and there were some beautiful local landscapes in various seasons.   Well worth a trip to Paoli!

Belleville, WI; June 28, 2016

8x6", "Sugar River at Belleville", Jan Norsetter

We had a cold morning in the park. I finally resorted to my down coat:-p

However, plein air painting is still great fun. 

June 28th - Plein Air Painting at Belleville Community Park

We will meet at 8am at Belleville Community Park in Belleville Wi. on Tuesday June 28th.  Meet in the main parking lot just off Hwy. 69.  For a map click on this date on the events calendar.

Fredericks Hill

On June 14th, Tuesday, we'll be painting in the evening at the Pheasant Branch Conservancy near Fredericks Hill.  Here's a photo of one view in the area.

Mariners Cove Outing

Last Thursday we had a very nice morning painting along the Lake Mendota shoreline at Mariners Cove.  I did manage to find a sailboat, although it was raised out of the water.  That may not be obvious from the painting.  A few of us there agreed we might want to paint here another time later in the year.

Tom