New PA's for April 2008

Hi Everyone,
It had been almost six months since I had been out painting on location. I've been painting every day in my studio/dungeon, but I had gallery commitments to fulfill, not to mention making the transition of illustrating full time to painting full time in February. Lord, I can't believe how much time is not spent painting, when you start painting full time, LOL. But the change is behind me and I got out of the studio this past month more than a few times. Needless to say, on location painting in April in Minnesota isn't always the most pleasant experience, but it beats working for a living!! I ain't complainin'

Here are a few of the paintings from the past sessions....

A Change in Direction, 6X8
This is the first painting I did after my self imposed extended break.

A Fresh Blanket of Snow, 8X10
Painted on April Fool's day. It had snowed heavily all night and there were paintings everywhere I looked. Every branch was bent with a thick layer of snow. It warmed up so quickly that there was so much less snow when I finished this study than when I started it.


Outstanding In His Field, 9X12
Painted on what I thought was the Minnesota Arboretum's property. That is, until the farmer that owned the field came out with his very upset dog and asked my why I was out standing in his field. Luckily, he was nice enough to let me stay and finish.


April's Melt, 9X12
This painting was done in the afternoon of the same day as "Fresh Blanket of Snow". This is how quickly the snow had melted off in just a few hours. I was standing in what must have been a direct flight path of Canada Geese, as there seemed to be an unending stream of them flying by all afternoon.



Late Winter Shoreline, 6X8
This was the final painting for the day. I wanted to do a quick study, so I did what I call a guerilla painting. I give myself 40-45 minutes to get down the essence of the scene. Quickly decide on the focal point (which in this case was the oak tree in the upper left third of the painting), winter came so quickly here, that this tree was still holding onto it's yellow leaves. Everything else is simplified and subordinated to it. I love starting the day doing these quick studies to loosen up. I'll also do them at the end of a day, if I feel that I was spending too much time concentrating on details which only hurt the painting in the long run.

Happy Painting, Steve