Driving By

2009-07-07T09:22:00.002-04:00

I started making small "daily" paintings last June - ending up with over 250 posts and more on the shelf. Painting every day has taught me a lot, further solidifying painting as a passion in my life. I'm not sure what's next for the blog... I am still painting like crazy - but I need to find a better balance between my art and the other, and more important, loves of my life. If I only had a few more hours in the day!

2009-05-30T23:49:00.000-04:00

4x6in acrylic on paper

Still New

2009-05-12T00:19:00.000-04:00

4x10in

2009-05-11T23:55:00.000-04:00

4x6in

2009-05-07T23:57:00.000-04:00

4x6in panel

2009-05-06T23:10:00.000-04:00

Evening

2009-05-05T23:24:00.000-04:00

5x7

2009-05-04T22:22:00.000-04:00

4x6in panel

2009-05-03T23:10:00.001-04:00

5x7in
I have been painting, just not posting. Back on track now (I hope)

New - Finished

2009-04-23T06:54:00.001-04:00

Acrylic on canvas 24x48in

New II

2009-04-21T23:12:00.002-04:00

24x48in

color study for "new" painting

2009-04-15T23:05:00.000-04:00

4x10 in acrylic

New

2009-04-12T22:14:00.000-04:00

24x48in

2009-04-11T23:27:00.000-04:00

4x6in acrylic on paper

2009-04-10T20:51:00.000-04:00

Acrylic on paper 4x10in

2009-04-09T19:57:00.002-04:00

Acrylic on 24x36 stretched canvas
It feels odd to post after such a long absence... I havn't taken so many days "off" since I started this blog!

Finished

2009-03-30T21:11:00.001-04:00

Acrylic on canvas 24 x 36in

2009-03-24T22:47:00.001-04:00

Amelia and I painted a fish tonight!

Complements

2009-03-23T22:42:00.001-04:00

5x7 Acrylic on paper

2009-03-22T23:10:00.000-04:00

2009-03-21T23:02:00.002-04:00

5x7 acrylic on paper
This is an update to an earlier painting - redone with a better sense of the color and feel I am looking for.

Detail Images

2009-03-19T23:19:00.002-04:00

2009-03-18T23:07:00.003-04:00

I am entering the roughest part of the painting process for me - finding a finish. I am really happy with the overall design, and I am starting to work into smaller spaces. Each individual area feels like a separate painting that I could spend hours on, but I want to avoid overworking and throwing off the overall balance. At this point I am going back and forth between textured layers of dark an light values followed up with light glazes of color to enhance the depth and texture.

Color study

2009-03-17T23:04:00.002-04:00

I have been talking to a friend about complementary color combinations and felt like messing around with some mixes. I started plugging some into the landscape I sketched this morning.

2009-03-16T22:20:00.000-04:00

6x6 acrylic on paper

Another day

2009-03-15T23:22:00.001-04:00

The hardest part is taking a decent picture. These stink but it is too late to try again ~

On the easel

2009-03-14T23:46:00.000-04:00

Well not really on the easel - more like on the table

2009-03-14T00:04:00.006-04:00

Progress! I started a second 24x36 canvas. The plan is to work on both at the same time, funtioning as one image. I am going to catch up work on the second image so the two can develop together.

2009-03-12T23:09:00.001-04:00

Canvas 24x36
A commission for a large canvas - started tonight with a warm brown base coat, followed with the initial "sculpting" or rock formations with the knife.

2009-03-11T23:27:00.000-04:00

March 11
Acrylic on 5x7in hardboard panel

2009-03-10T21:52:00.001-04:00

5x7in acrylic on paper

Thoughts from the Wildflower Show

2009-03-09T22:49:00.005-04:00

Today wrapped up the Michigan Wildflower Conference at MSU. It was really exciting for me to be able to show all the progress that I have made through doing this blog. It is bittersweet to see many of my favorite paintings go to new homes ;)

This is an updated photo of the last canvas I was working on before getting so sick a few weeks ago (its hard to believe it was that long...). To me it is a really important piece - kind of a synthesis of so many of the things I have been working on over the last few months. I watched many people at the conference spend long moments staring into this painting. It seems to evoke a sense of familiartity - a feeling that you have been to this place before, perhaps many times over, but it is not exactly clear when and where.

2009-03-08T22:31:00.002-04:00

4x10 acrylic on panel

I finished the road canvas, but forgot to shoot it before packing it up and heading to the wildflower show today. I enjoyed showing the body of work I have put together through this blog. As I updated and signed paintings I can really see a lot of changes.

Still Here!

2009-03-06T05:32:00.002-05:00

Ok I havn't given up painting, I just got sick again this week - worse if you can imagine :( - and life has pretty much been in survival mode. The plan is to get back to working this weekend.

Sick...

2009-03-01T22:08:00.006-05:00

I havn't posted in a while! Sara and I had some kind of stomach flu at the end of last week - the "might as well just sleep on the bathroom floor" type of flu. Really terrible. The kids seem to only have mild issues, so I hope that keeps up. Anyway, I felt like myself today and spent some time signing and "updating" some of my old daily paintings... not huge changes but it is cool to be able to apply the new things I have learned over the past months.

2009-02-23T23:05:00.000-05:00

2009-02-22T20:55:00.000-05:00

canvas 12x16in

2009-02-21T23:23:00.002-05:00

Acrylic on paper 5x7in

2009-02-20T22:16:00.000-05:00

2009-02-19T23:20:00.001-05:00

5x7in acrylic on paper
I am just taking 10 minutes to paint tonight - too tired for anything else.

2009-02-18T23:55:00.004-05:00

6x12in Acrylic on panel
I meant to only spend 20 minutes on this, which was an hour ago! Midnight! Ah! Of course you can't tell I actually did anything to it, which is why I hate this stage of the painting!

I started this painting last weekend at my parents house back in Houghton Lake. I was looking across the field outside the window of my old room - the same old view I had for years growing up - but now has new life to me.

2009-02-17T22:10:00.002-05:00

6x12in Acrylic on panel

I am trying to get back in sync after spending our extended weekend at my parents house. It was good to relax, but this long weekend makes me wish I had more time! Come on summer !(or at least spring break...)

2009-02-12T22:33:00.000-05:00

5x7in acrylic on paper

Edge of Winter

2009-02-11T22:52:00.003-05:00

5x8in acrylic on paper
I know it won't last, but we havn't had a rainy day like this in a long time - and I can't get enough of the color. Is it the beginning of the end?

2009-02-09T23:55:00.005-05:00

Updated Feb 10

My kids at school have been working on still life drawings and collages over the past few weeks. I have been showing them Cezanne paintings, and I have been getting the itch to make a still life of my own - so I started this last night and corrected some problems and polished up the image tonight. I enjoy getting lost in texture, pattern, and color... its like I forget I'm painting a still life and I am just painting.

2009-02-08T20:42:00.003-05:00

5x7 acrylic on panel
I made a pencil drawing of these trees a month or so ago and finally painted them today.

This painting is posted on my new Etsy Shop! Click here to see my storefront - (Keep in mind this is brand new!)

2009-02-07T23:56:00.001-05:00

5x7in acrylic on panel

2009-02-06T23:02:00.000-05:00

5x7 acrylic on panel

2009-02-05T23:06:00.004-05:00

acrylic on canvas - 7x14in or so

Today I had a chance to attend a field trip to a local nature center with some of my 3rd graders. We talked about observing the landscape and I brought all of the "tools of the trade" I use for painting outside. This is a painting I started with the kids on one of their observations - it was fun but windy and cold on the "plains" of Waldemar!

2009-02-04T22:55:00.001-05:00

4x6in acrylic on paper

There is always tomorrow

2009-02-02T23:35:00.000-05:00

4x10in acrylic on paper on board

2009-02-01T23:44:00.000-05:00

4x6 acrylic on paper

2009-01-31T23:13:00.000-05:00

4x6in acrylic on paper

2009-01-30T21:30:00.001-05:00

5x7in Acrylic on Paper

2009-01-29T21:52:00.000-05:00

Acrylic on paper 5x7in

2009-01-28T23:46:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 5x7in

2009-01-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

Acrylic on paper 5x7 in

2009-01-26T22:03:00.000-05:00

Acrylic on canvas 11x11in

2009-01-24T17:23:00.000-05:00

4x6in Acrylic on paper

2009-01-23T23:19:00.000-05:00

4x6in Acrylic on paper

2009-01-22T22:40:00.001-05:00

9x9 acrylic on canvas

I like this.

2009-01-21T22:21:00.000-05:00

2009-01-20T22:24:00.002-05:00

12x24in Acrylic on canvas
It is fun to work on a larger canvas after working in such a small format for the majority of the time. I like the general feel but it needs some revision tomorrow.

2009-01-19T21:54:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x8in

2009-01-18T22:23:00.002-05:00

Acrylic on paper 5x7in

Ebay!

2009-01-18T13:13:00.005-05:00

So I finally put my first painting on Ebay...

Sold! This little guy is on his way to Missouri!

September 17th
Acrylic on Ampersand Aquabord
5x7in

2009-01-17T22:04:00.002-05:00

4x4in Acrylic and Ink

This is for Mr. Andrew Wyeth, who passed away earlier this week. He had such talent for realism, but what makes his pictures so special is their ability to tell a story. Mr. Wyeth was able to do this with simple, profound compositions that seemed to only show what mattered most.

2009-01-16T23:28:00.005-05:00

I added a few more washes today. I really have no idea what I am doing with the water - I have just been wetting the surface and throwing on some paint to see how it moves. I find the watercolor on the rocks really beautiful... I appreciate the ability to wipe away pigment to reveal subtle highlights is great, and nearly impossible.

The sky is such a great blue on these cold evenings.

Merrit Road

2009-01-15T22:39:00.004-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x6

This painting is from a photograph I took when I got lost driving around the Houghton Lake area (Merritt I think) a few weeks ago.

2009-01-14T22:24:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x6

Ok so after scanning this I realized that the tree persepective and proportion was a little off. One of those cases of over-focusing on one area at the expense of the rest. I love the overall mode though.

Edit: revised this one

2009-01-13T22:05:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 9x12in

2009-01-12T22:38:00.001-05:00

Tonight I laid down some initial washes of watercolor. I need another hour or so to bring out darks.

2009-01-11T22:15:00.001-05:00

Ink 4x6

2009-01-10T22:27:00.002-05:00

7x7 in Acrylic on 300 lb paper
(Small image is on the reverse)

2009-01-10T01:11:00.000-05:00

2009-01-08T23:14:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x6in

2009-01-07T22:08:00.002-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x6in
Pushed the color a few degrees

2009-01-06T22:02:00.000-05:00

Ink and watercolor 4x6in

2009-01-05T19:36:00.001-05:00

Ink and watercolor 4x6in

2008-12-30T22:47:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x6 in

I hardly ever use red, it always feels like too much anytime I make a mark with it. I forced myself let this develop.

2008-12-29T20:13:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on 300lb paper

Every once in a while I pass a field with brilliant green showing through the snow.

2008-12-28T22:02:00.001-05:00

Acrylic on paper 4x6in

Reminds me of a Turner...

2008-12-27T21:50:00.000-05:00

2008-12-23T22:43:00.003-05:00

Acylic on 300lb paper 5x7in

I need to figure out how to get higher quality images. This particular painting has a lot of subtle color changes that I can't seem to pick up with my camera or scanner.

Smaller image is on reverse side, from Dec 12

Across the Pond

2008-12-22T22:27:00.002-05:00

9x12 Acrylic on paper
For Mom and Dad.
I love the sky across from my parents house in Houghton Lake. We'll just pretend that the water is a calm wilderness lake...

Pictured Rocks study

2008-12-21T20:31:00.000-05:00

5x7 Acrylic on paper

2008-12-20T22:16:00.000-05:00

Acrylic on canvas 12x24

2008-12-19T19:22:00.000-05:00

2008-12-18T22:31:00.000-05:00

2008-12-16T22:07:00.000-05:00

2008-12-15T22:42:00.000-05:00

2008-12-14T20:25:00.000-05:00

2008-12-13T22:43:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Grandma!

2008-12-12T18:01:00.000-05:00

Sorry we're late!

2008-12-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

2008-12-10T22:07:00.000-05:00

2008-12-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

2008-12-08T23:02:00.000-05:00

2008-12-07T21:41:00.000-05:00

Acrylic on canvas 12x24

2008-12-06T22:58:00.000-05:00