MSC Model 18x24 acrylic sketch 10/22/13

I thought I might start painting bigger in case I ever need bigger pieces. I wonder why the larger acrylic canvas paper does not come in standard frame sizes. I have 12x18 and 18x24 paper. Standard frame sizes if I would choose to mount my pictures on mat board to frame are 16x20 and 20x24.

Milwaukee Sketch Club is exhibiting at Clement Manor and the preferred size is 16 x 20. I decided not to exhibit as my plein air pieces are too small. However, on November 12, we're having an artists' reception and the food is very good there. Plus if we want to, we can sketch the residents. I'm going to try marker next week at sketch club and see how that works.

MSC Model Acrylic Sketch 18x12

We've started our indoor sketching season and am having trouble staying awake past 8pm, so this is about a 1 hour sketch. I'm using up my cadmium orange and phthalo green (blue shade) that I never use when painting outside, plus white of course.

Minooka Park 6x8 acrylic 9/26/13

Managed to meet up with 2 friends at Minooka Park. Quite chilly in the morning but then it warmed up a little by the time I left. Paint was not drying at all and was still wet when I left.

Trimborn Farm 6x6 acrylic sketch 8/29/13

Went to Trimborn farm. Shadows fascinated me.

Hanging Plant in Als' Garden 8/27/13, 7x5 acrylic

This was our last official plein air outing with the Milwaukee Sketch Club. Al served food too! Life has gotten real busy with a total schedule change that I still haven't gotten used to. Just catching up on posting now.

Rudy 7x5 acrylic

 Stepwise progression of painting, blocking in to finishing.

 

Here's a picture of Buttercup, his mom, painted in 2010

(ref: http://katsmishmash.blogspot.com/2010/11/5x7-acrylics.html )

Trimborn Farm 8/20/13 6x8 acrylic

Hansa yellow light, ultramarine & cerulean blue, burnt sienna, white

Marinette County acrylics 8/11/13

This is my favorite place to visit.

I painted two pictures, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I used ultramarine blue, titanium white, hansa yellow light and alizarin.

Marinette Co Feeder 5x7

Marinette Co Birches 6x6

Here's a previous picture from 2011

Marinette Co Island 5x7

I need better shade to take these pictures. Having a gloss problem.

Roger's Garden 7/30/13

Al and Cathy were unable to come so we went to Roger's Garden to paint. It was overcast but then decided to rain softly so we moved into the garage to continue painting. It took forever for the paint to dry. Roger got out his blower to dry his watercolor

I used Quin Mag, hansa yel lt, ultramarin blue and white in the first picture. The second picture, I added Pyrrole red because I needed that orangey red shade.

5x7 acrylic

6x6 acrylic

Minooka Park Pond 8/1/13

Met up with my friend Donna. Lighting was very interesting but very changeable. Sometimes there was wind other times not. I'd like to return and paint on this picture some more. 6x6 acrylic on canvas. Ultra marine blue, Titanium white, hansa yellow light, burnt sienna.

Near Catalano Square 7x5 acrylic

I got there before my friends so sketched a little bit. Utrecht is pretty close to where we were last week. All around is metered parking except on Erie street towards the Hoan Bridge area where we were last week. I sat with Al & Roger. Al wanted to paint the umbrellas at Charlies but all these parked cars were in the way. So we moved a picnic table where no cars were parked but kept it in Catalano Square Park.

I used pthalo blue, titanium white, burnt sienna and hansa yellow light which is sort of a green yellow. Rather cool, around 70F, slight breeze. Golden opens were not drying so scraped back into the paint to put in the light pole and umbrellas. At first hardly any people but by the end there were quite a few.

Trimborn Farm 6x8" acrylic 7/19/13

Met up with John about 8:30 am Friday morning. We decided to paint in the shade of a large tree but the shade kept moving, so I had to keep moving back. Ran out of time before I finished. Used Phtalo Blue which really matches the sky. The sky was definitely darker than the farm buildings and silos. Yellow ochre was a good yellow for the silos but probably needed a cleaner yellow for the greens. Alizarin Crimson worked well for the reddish farm building. Halfway through someone opened the barn door. Titanium white was used also.

Hoan Bridge as Seen from Sail Loft Spirits and Dining on Erie Plaza in 3rd ward

Lake park is NOT located at 500 N Harbor Drive. That is near Discovery World. Pleasant breeze off the water. Restaurant not real busy (moderate amount of people eating outside) as it was a week night but I could see this area getting really busy on the weekend, holidays, and Summerfest.

Met up with Al, Cathy, Roger, and Ame.

Traffic was a bear going there at 5 and really bad getting home. Express backed up so took St. Paul to 35st to National Ave (backed up at MillerWay, maybe a train?) so jogged over on street behind Walmart Market and took Greenfield Ave the rest of the way.

Used titanium white, CP Cadmium Yel Medium (Wanted a more orangey yellow for bridge), Phthalo Blue-Green Shade to match the sky color and Burnt Sienna for red. No real bright reds here. Used damp paper towel on palette, mixed paints 1:1 with Behr Faux Glaze and sprayed occasionally with spray bottle so paints would not skin over or dry out due to wind and 90F temperature.

6x8 acrylic on canvas

 

Campaign for Kids

Last night I gave Al two of my matted and framed older paintings for this show along with the paperwork. http://milwaukeesketchclub.blogspot.com/2013/06/works-of-heart-charity-auction-juried.html

http://katsmishmash.blogspot.com/2010/02/oil-pastel-of-horse-eating.html

http://katsmishmash.blogspot.com/2009/07/5-pieces-for-st-marks-exhbition-july-19.html

Pen sketches

Hard week last week. Just did some pen sketches when I went to parade.

I find inanimate objects easier to draw than wiggly people but as I keep practicing I'll get better. We were on the shady side of the street. The people I was sketching were in the hot sun so they were uncomfortable.

6x6 acrylic from Hart Park in Wauwatosa

Very overcast and in upper 60s in July!
I used titanium white, Paynes Gray for blue, Burnt Sienna for red, and Hansa Yellow Light. Paint was still wet when I got home.

Must have got interrupted, never published this.

Some Wauwatosa Garden Tour pictures

I participated in The Suburban Woman's Club of Wauwatosa Garden Tour: "A June Jaunt in Ravenswood Gardens." Walking tour of six gardens near 87th and 88th streets off Blue Mound Road. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 29. Tickets were $10 or buy three, one free; $10 day of tour. Benefits local community service projects and teachers' scholarships.

It was definitely a nice place to paint and for a good cause too! I got there a little early and met up with Al from the Milwaukee Sketch Club, http://milwaukeesketchclub.blogspot.com/.   We walked through the Gardens. I got to say "Hi" to Wendy Thompson of WIPAPA, http://www.wipapa.blogspot.com/ . That's a good group too. Then Donna arrived and we started to walk around the gardens. We ran into Fred Bell http://fredbellpaintings.blogspot.com/ and Judith Reidy http://www.judithreidy.com/ . Judith was wearing a special panting overall with lots of pockets. I thought she said she got it indirectly from Jerry's Artarama but I just looked online and didn't see it on there. Finally Donna & I chose our painting spot. Al and Amy decided to paint there too. People were extremely nice there and interested in what we were painting. The day started out really cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. However by the time I left the sun was out giving interesting sun and shade patterns which of course kept moving.

I started out painting a really interesting house using titanium white, ultramarine blue, hansa yellow opaque, and burnt sienna for my red. (I like to challenge myself and use a limited palette.) I liked the triangle shaped lawn patch which led your eye up the right side of the house, then the peak led your eye back down in a circular eye pattern. I took out a big tree in front of the door because it disrupted the eye pattern. Also eliminated off white, sided addition.

7x5 acrylic on canvas

Donna left and Al went to visit around. Amy was still painting but I was basically done so decided to go to a peaceful garden that I saw earlier. I really liked the way the sun hit the leaves of the circular Ligularia (leapard's bane, rocket) and Cimifuga now called Actaea (snakeroot, bugbane). I had to break out the Alizarin crimson to paint the Actaea. The owner had a neat gate there too but I was painting to small to put it in. The owner told me that I painted his favorite view. Then he asked me if I was the one using my hands to find a view to paint earlier. Guilty! My hands are my favorite view finders. You can tell this was painted later in the day. With all this wet weather the colors of the green vegetation are still very intense.

 

 

6x8 acrylic on canvas

We got to wear a neat button too!

Waukesha Riverwalk bridge closeup, 7x5 acrylic, 6/27/13

I got there early before my friends, Donna and Vivien, arrived. John's painting at the fish hatchery this month. Walked around and took some pictures. River very high and dirty, stairs have been taped off with yellow and black safety tape. Water was over the river banks along the riverwalk in most places and coming up the steps. Rolling brown flood waters rushing very strong. Met up with Viv, we both looked around and chose an area to paint. Then we went back to our cars and got our equipment. There is now 3 hour parking on the south side of the river and a police woman was marking tires! No public bathrooms yet but can always buy a cup of tea at the Steaming Cup. I like their food too.

I had a picture in my mind and started blocking in the main shapes abstractly with large areas of general color. Used titanium white, ultramarine blue, hansa yellow opaque, and raw sienna as my red. Mixed my golden open acrylics with Behr Faux Glaze medium to slow down the dry as it was windy and warm even though we were under a shady tree. Need to bring damp paper towels for my palette. Summer is finally here and the acrylic paint it drying quicker. Green inchworms were dropping onto Vivien's palette from tree but none dropped on mine. Other than that, no bugs. However, if we were down at the river we probably would have gotten bitten by no-see-ums as they are out after all the rain. Quite a few people walked by, friendly and nice.

Waukesha's riverwalk and downtown area is one of my favorite places to paint as it has interesting buildings juxtaposed with park vegetation.

Birdbath in Ilene's Garden

Tuesday night we painted in Ilene's garden. She has beautiful garden. I was going to work on this painting some more but my husband likes it the way it is. Camera battery ran out so waiting for a friend to send me some pictures anyway.

Two Thursday's ago added some detail to Joan D'Arc painting. Not sure if I will get to St. John's tonight or not. Kind of booked today.

I am reading
Capturing Light in Acrylics by John Hammond (isbn: 07134 8863 8) and
The Art of Urban Sketching by Bagriel Campanario (isbn: 978-1-59253-725-9)

Horn Feeds Mill, pastel 9x12 canson mis teints

I just realized that I missed posting this. Went painting with my buddies, John and Donna from Milwaukee Sketch Club http://milwaukeesketchclub.blogspot.com/2013/06/milwaukee-sketch-club-at-horn-feeds.html

It was a great day. I sat on the grass with my paper taped to my board. John and Donna sat in front of their easels. John a special vented umbrella to shade his paper but by the end of the morning, the wind had picked up so he had to put it down so it wouldn't tip over his easel. He mainly works in watercolor and Donna works in oils.

I didn't have the right shades of pastel greens for painting today. I was looking for more clean yellow green tones.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Vivian at the Elegant Farmer in Mukwonago. Hope the weather cooperates. It's quite chilly and wet even though it is June. Good grass growing weather.

Currently I am reading "Expressive Oil Painting; an Open Air-Approach to Creative Landscapes" by George Allen Durkee, isbn: 978-1-60061-151-3

6/6/13 Thursday morning plein air canceled due to rain. That's OK. Tonight I plan on reworking my Joan D'Arc painting at St. Johns.

Joan D'Arc Chapel, Marquette University

acrylic sketch, 8x6 canvas, titanium bhite, burnt sienna, hansa yellow opaque, paynes gray.

Used my guerilla box without tripod. I just sat on the sun warmed stones. Al teased me that I wouldn't be able to get up but I'm used to sitting on the ground.

Early Tuesday evening I met up to paint with some friends (Al, Bonnie, Roger, Kathy, and Amy)from Milwaukee Sketch Club. http://milwaukeesketchclub.blogspot.com/2013/06/milwaukee-sketch-club-at-marquettes.html
 
Clouds rolled in, sky was gray, and temperature dropped to 57F. Paint wasn't drying either.

Farmer's field kitty corner from Red School House in Mukwonago

EE, Beulah Rd and Section Rd
9x12 pastel
canson paper

Met up with my friends John, Donna, and Vivian from the Milwaukee Sketch Club. http://milwaukeesketchclub.blogspot.com/2013/05/milwaukee-sketch-club-at-mukwonago-red.html


Great day. Sunny, warm with a breeze and even though we were sitting in the tall grass at the edge of the field we didn't get bit by insects or ticks.

I like the colors, distant trees, and rocks in this painting. I believe I started with orange and red under-painting. The dandelions were really blooming.

Some more vacation pics

Some Pen Sketches when on vacation

Looking out from Inside libraries, Waukesha & Mukwonago

Mayfair Mall

People don't stay very long so can't get a lot of detail. Interesting architecture.

Brookfield Square

Steaming Coffee Cup, Waukesha, sketches