Painting crab apples in bloom at the Arboretum is a lot of fun!

Oil on Raymar linen board, 12"x16"

Painting Arboretum

Sorry I could not join you all yesterday -- family duty! :-) However, I've spent a few mornings in the Arboretum this week. Started on a cold overcast day (was it Tuesday?) and managed to block in a painting before I was chased away by rain. Have been hoping to finish it, but... it's sunny and bright now. So, not to waste this glorious weather -- here's another one. My challenge for this season is to get used to larger format for plein air and push myself to work faster. Both paintings are oil, 16"x20" on Raymar panels. I would need another outing for the 'sunny weather' one, and one or two more for the 'cloudy day' one. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate! Also, my two cents to the theme of pink flowers -- they are fabulous this year, indeed. The unknown cherry variety completed last week, oil, 12"x16". Hope to see you all next time!

Arboretum Trees

Here's my completed painting.  Except when it dries maybe I'll try adding a figure in the distance plein air painting.  I had lots of models for that.   Tom

First Plein Air Outing of 2017 - UW Arboretum - Logenecker Horticultural Garden

DCPAPA had a great turnout today. I think I counted 14 painters and 4 of those were painting with us for the first time!  Welcome, Kitty, Gina, Jeanne, and Sarah!!  The crabapples were blooming and the weather was just about perfect so it was very pleasant painting today.  Darya stopped by on her way to pick up her kids and said she had been out painting a lot this spring and hopefully we'll see her next time and it will be warm enough for us to paint in the morning. And hopefully she will be posting some of her work soon, too.  It was a great way to start the painting season!!

Kitty and Gina

Gretchen and Gina

Jan Norsetter

Rick and Gretchen

Mary and her watercolor set up and Gina and Jeanne

Gretchen and Trisha deciding if Trisha's oil painting is finished 

Kung, Trisha and Jeanne 

My 9 x 12 watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press

Sketching Group in Madison

Sketchers on the left and Raging Grannies singing on the right at Dane Co. Farmer's Market

Brittingham Boats

Union Terrace

                     Urban Sketcher roughing it on a cold winter's day in the Reading Room at the State Historical Society

The people in these photos are having almost as much fun as plein air painters do but usually in more comfortable conditions.  They are the members of Urban Sketchers Madison https://drawmadison.blogspot.com/ a regional Chapter of the international group called Urban Sketchers www.urbansketchers.org/ which is 10 years old this year.  We meet usually twice a month to sketch together for a couple hours and share our sketches and experiences with each other and we would like to invite anyone with an interest in drawing from life to join us.  You can find our schedule by clicking Events on our blog.  For several years we sketched as members of Draw Madison a local group inspired by Urban Sketchers to draw in our community and wherever we traveled.  In 2016 we were invited to apply to for Regional Chapter status in Urban Sketchers and we have been Urban Sketchers Madison since then.  Urban Sketching is a lot like plein air painting in that we are working from what we see in front of us in whatever is the medium of our choice.  And we paint outdoors as much as the weather permits and find cozier places when it is cold or rainy outdoors.  We invite anyone who is interested to come sketch with us.  There are no dues and no experience necessary.  If you have a question please feel free to contact me at pwafer@charter.net.

Date Changed to Wed. May 3rd a@ 2pm - Plein Air Painting at the UW Arboretum

Lilacs and crab apple trees will be in bloom in the Longenecker Horticultural Garden at the UW Arboretum on Wednesday May 3rd for our first outing.  This is a change due to poor weather conditions on Tuesday.  Wed. afternoon should be warmer and hopefully we will see some sun.  We will meet at 2pm in the main parking lot by the Visitor's Center which will be open until 4pm.  The restroom and bubbler in the horticultural garden is now open for the season.  Curtis Prairie was recently burned as part of prairie maintenance and is looking fresh and green now.  Looking forward to seeing you all again this year!!

BB Clarke Beach

It's that time of year again. Finding cool a cool spot to paint is half the fun. It just gets hard after that, lol. I enjoyed getting sunburnt at the beach. I'm going add a person or two as well. Looks like I'll be finishing the color here.

Out and about again

It's been wonderful to be able to go outside and paint after a dreary winter. Hungry for color I get greedy and want to paint it all. Started last week with painting a swamp though and gradually moved to brighter subjects. Here's a few very quick sketches  done in the past week at the Arboretum, Pheasant branch and Picnic Point.

Holy Wisdom Monastery

Spring greens at the monastery's pond

My first plein air oil painting of the year

It was great to get out Friday afternoon and push some paint around.  I am hoping to do a lot more painting in oils this summer so it felt good to get them out again as I haven't done an oil painting in many months. The wood ticks are always bad at the monastery and sure enough one came home with me in my hair.  Yuck!  Not my favorite part of being a plein air painter!!  I signed up for a class with Jan Norsetter and Jon Wilde for June 3rd www.lsrwa.org/get-involved/program-and-projects/adult-plein-air-workshop/ and another with Jan at Whispering Woodlands http://www.whispering-woodlands.com/id192.html in August.  Kyle Martin kyle-martin.blogspot.com/ has a 3 day plein air workshop coming up April 28 thru 30.  Not sure if that has filled up or not yet.  It was a bit too much walking for me but Kyle does great workshops and I always learn a lot in those.  It is so much fun to paint those spring greens but the do not last long enough.

Upcoming Show: Jan Norsetter

New Works at Zazen Gallery in Paoli, WI

opening reception April 21, 2017

Jan's opening reception is this Friday from 5 to 7 pm at Zazen in Paoli.

Rare photo from our archives of Jan with her feet up!

DCPAPA: Springtime for Plein Air Painters!!

Tom Gilbert in action!

It's that time again.  Our first outing will be on May 2nd with following painting dates on May 16 & 25.  We will post the time and locations soon!!  If any members have photos of their paintings or notices, etc they would like to post and are not yet a blog author please email me for more information.  We love to have our members work posted here.  Also if there are any plein air shows or events you want us to know about just let me or Tom know.  My email is: pwafer@charter.net   Pat 

Jonathan Wilde: Mostly From My Collection - at the Monroe Art Center, Monroe WI

Carolyn Liedtke Exhibit

J. Carolyn Liedtke was born and raised in Chicago, now lives in rural Wisconsin, enjoying the ever-changing landscapes and colorful creatures that inspire her paintings, mostly done on location. She studied fine arts at the School of the Art Institute, the American Academy of Art, and was inspired by a series of plein air watercolor workshops at Oakton Community College. She is a founding member and past president of the Illinois Watercolor Society and is now affiliated with several Wisconsin arts alliances and plein air painting groups. She has coordinated art exhibits for the Wisconsin Regional Arts Association and for many years wrote weekly articles on the Art Scene for local newspapers. She has also written an illustrated e-book, “Watercolor Journeys,” available on Kindle and the Apple ArtsStore.  See galleries of paintings on her website: www.keyartworks.com.

My show of 26 oil and pastel paintings is at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison,WI through April 16.  With the exception of the one abstract oil, everything is or was painted from a plein air piece. The largest (36 x 48) was inspired by a 3" x 5" pastel plein air sketch.  The portrait sketches are from our weekly figure painting group (Mon. nights) at Winnebago Studios on the east side (Phil Salamone, Atwood Atelier).  Thurs and Sat. morning sessions are also open.    John Mix

DCPAPA Exhibit

Another February Warm Spell Painting

Here's a painting showing the black ice on a pond in Edna Taylor Park.

Lake Monona 2-22-17

I would have been mad at myself for not getting out during this warm spell. The ice was melting as fast as I painted it.

Near St. Augustine

I forget the name of this park. It was neat and the first place I sat and painted. It turned out to be the least memorable but it was a nice quiet sit. I swear the water didn't look blue when I was there, lol.

March in Colorado

Like many of you, I've been craving winter this year. Finally, last weekend, I found winter, in Aspen, Co. Here's a quick morning painting I did in Aspen Meadows. Wish I had a few more days to spend there!

Aspen Meadows, oil, 12"x16"

I took my easel to Florida

I hope everyone is having a good winter. I just remembered my password and see you guys have been busy. I've been practicing from photos this winter but went to Florida for a few weeks in January. Here is the first one I finished. I went back to this spot a few days and just dabbled because it was a great place to hang out. I look forward to browsing through what I've missed here.