Lowland Marsh

[Marc Hanson]

This morning I decided to paint with a different limited palette. This one is Ivory black, Ultramarine blue, Venetian red, yellow ochre and white. I like it for dealing with greens, easily attainable, but less 'green' than using more pure colors on the palette. The earth colors and black make for some pretty pleasing earthy greens.

The painting is a 'memory' piece based on many experiences and some portions of different field studies. I've posted a few of those studies, but there are others that I drew upon. The location isn't any one place, but a collection of locations that represent 'marsh' in my mind.
The studies are just set around the easel as I work little bits and pieces of each are employed. Nothing specific, maybe a way of handling a color, treeline, weeds, atmosphere, etc..

"Lowland Marsh" oil/Hanson panel 11x14 2 hours
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Mar-2005/37743-Lowland-Marsh-oil-panel-11x.jpg

Closeup #1
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Mar-2005/37743-LM-detail-1.jpg

Closeup #2
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Mar-2005/37743-LM-detail-2.jpg

Study #1
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Mar-2005/37743-LM-study-1.jpg

Study #2
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Mar-2005/37743-LM-study-2.jpg

Study #3 I don't have this painting anymore, but the memory of having painted it(and a photo of it) still served a purpose.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/11-Mar-2005/37743-LM-study-3.jpg

[JanB]

You're keeping busy :) I've used a similar palette in watercolor, called the "Valesquez palette " yel. ochre/ven.red/ivory bl. of course with watercolor you wouldn't need white....and for landscapes with oil I see how the ult. bl. would be a big help. It's always fun to try out new triads and see how they work. The marsh memory piece is lovely and I especially like studies #2 and #3 great pieces in themselves.

[nancymae]

Beautiful soft greens Marc....I had no idea you could get these with black in your pallette! I guess it pays to try out different colors! Will write this pallette down for my next shopping spree! I most recently bought a ton of masonite from Guerrilla Box on sale for this summer's plein airs! Love the way you took aspects from the different paintings and made one painting out of them.

I think you should come over here to the eastern side of Wisconsin and give us a workshop!! I'm sure I could russle up plenty of people!! Larry lives about 1/2 hour away from me...Shelley (mural artist) down in Green Bay area 1.5 hours away...just to name a couple of people that would love to paint with you!

Thanks for posting these....your paintings are always a treat to look at and study!

Nancy

[Jholdren]

This piece is beautiful Marc!
Scott Burdick mentions on his website that he sometimes uses a similar limited palette. I don't know if he uses it for figure work or his landscapes, but the palette is: Ivory black(which he says works as the blue), cad. red, yellow ochre, and white. I am going to try a study with that palette tomorrow night. One nice thing about learning limited palettes is that you don't have to buy so many different colors which can get expensive for someone on a budget like me ( I work for a non-profit so you know I bring home the big money :rolleyes: ).
Great work!

Justin

[Erik]

Wonderful paintings. If I had to design a book cover or poster featuring American Transcendentalism, I'd use your paintings (I'm an English teacher so I'll say things like this from time to time). I love using ivory black with cad. yellow light to mix greens.

Erik

[mnpainter]

Marc,

I like the concept of making a memory painting. I sometimes have that ornate skill of remembering certain things in full detail to compose a painting if need be. I guess thats what happens when your an outdoors nut. This to me makes a painting more, one because it makes you recall what you had seen and two it takes alot of skill and element understading pertaining to weather, light, color, temprature, etc.. I also like the choice in palette. Are these colors easier to attain the right green that is needed? I have some huge problems with greens and am looking forward to using them again if and when that comes here!(MN) :D

I think that, that is the best sky in painting #2 I have ever seen!!!!! There is something about it!!!! WOW

Ben

[Marc Hanson]

Jan, Thanks, these limited earthy palettes are a good excercise. Zorn's palette is also close to this, but with a vermillion, or cad red instead. I mixed the black and ult blue to make a blue black instead of using them seperately. Interesting.

NancyMae, Thank you. Yes, this is a good one to try, or using a different red like cad, or napthol. I'm going to carry different reds and black in the backpack and adjust the one I use depending on the situation. This set of color is leaning towards the warm and gray side of things, can see times when the advantage would be to have a selection that was leaning more towards pure color.

Erik, I won't even mention how I did in English....but I understand your point. Making a painting in the studio definately draws on the other resources we have other than objective observation. Thanks. I think I prefer the objective way of painting however! :wink2:

Hi Ben, Thanks for the comments. Yes, this is a good palette for the middle of summer when we're 'greened' to death. Presents a challenge to seeing and rendering them in a different way. Sometimes that alone will open up other avenues in painting when it seems that we've 'done it all' for a season, or are sick of GREEN.

[JamieWG]

Marc, I really like the tranquility of this painting and the violet tones in the foreground. You must be reading my mind; I've been thinking about using Ven. red, yellow ochre and ultramarine for a few paintings, but without the black. Do you feel the black is really necessary for that palette? And if so, why?

I've tried them in the past with Paynes grey instead of blue and black; after all, that's what Paynes' grey is anyway! But I thought the result was too cold. Maybe it was the subjects I chose at that time, or my painting. ;)

Jamie

[Marc Hanson]

Marc, I really like the tranquility of this painting and the violet tones in the foreground. You must be reading my mind; I've been thinking about using Ven. red, yellow ochre and ultramarine for a few paintings, but without the black. Do you feel the black is really necessary for that palette? And if so, why?

I've tried them in the past with Paynes grey instead of blue and black; after all, that's what Paynes' grey is anyway! But I thought the result was too cold. Maybe it was the subjects I chose at that time, or my painting. ;)

Jamie

Jamie,
Thanks. No, the black probably isn't a necessity, but it makes for some nice grayed greens with the y.ochre, and I liked it for it's transparency and graying/warming capacity when mixed with the Venetian red, which can get a little cool.

I used to LOVE Payne's grey...It made the perfect color with a little red for the feathers on a Nuthatch!!!

But I don't have any and also if only using that, I'd loose the advantage of the warm black in other mixtures.

[Marc Hanson]

Jamie, on the black thing, I really like the palette that painters like Milt Kobyashi(?spell), and this guy, Jordan Wolfson use. Looks like a limited palette with black playing a large part.
Jordan Wolfson (http://www.dfngallery.com/artists/artists_represented/jordan_wolfson.htm)

[JamieWG]

Jamie, on the black thing, I really like the palette that painters like Milt Kobyashi(?spell), and this guy, Jordan Wolfson use. Looks like a limited palette with black playing a large part.
Jordan Wolfson (http://www.dfngallery.com/artists/artists_represented/jordan_wolfson.htm)

Thanks, Marc. I realized a very long time ago that black just isn't for me. I don't like it in my own paintings, and I usually don't like it in others' either. I don't like it in Jordan's....'Don't like it in Dan MaCaw's work....I have to admit there are some who use it better than others. Mike Pacitti was one of them, and your few paintings shown that use black don't look 'dead' to me either. There are some who can pull it off, but I think it is more of a liability than an advantage. From time to time, I give it another try just to prove myself wrong, but I only end up reinforcing my beliefs every time. I joke with my friends about not being able to find a 'style', but whatever my 'style' is, one thing I know is that it doesn't contain black. ;) I don't even like looking at it on my palette!

jamie

[Marc Hanson]

Thanks, Marc. I realized a very long time ago that black just isn't for me. I don't like it in my own paintings, and I usually don't like it in others' either. I don't like it in Jordan's....'Don't like it in Dan MaCaw's work....I have to admit there are some who use it better than others. Mike Pacitti was one of them, and your few paintings shown that use black don't look 'dead' to me either. There are some who can pull it off, but I think it is more of a liability than an advantage. From time to time, I give it another try just to prove myself wrong, but I only end up reinforcing my beliefs every time. I joke with my friends about not being able to find a 'style', but whatever my 'style' is, one thing I know is that it doesn't contain black. ;) I don't even like looking at it on my palette!

jamie
...............................................................................never mind. :( ;)

Actually, I fully understand what you're saying though in a different sense. I can spot Pthalo Blue from .....miles away. It's like fingernails on a blackboard to me. Has nothing to do with the painters abilities in making a painting, but it's just a color that I do not like no matter who or how it's used.

[Peter-MN]

Very nice paintbox1,

I'm new to the forum and am planning my first real plein air outing over
MN spring break. Do you have any suggestions for areas I should visit or
favorite spots of yours? :wave:

Thanks for whatever help you can give.

Peter-MN

[JanB]

Thanks Marc for the link to Jordan Wolfson's work....I like the looseness of his work VERY much and would like to incorporate such a look and feel into my own work. But I have a question that maybe you (and others) may have some thoughts on. How does one paint with and looseness, soft erratic edges, melding of background and objects, blurring of unimportant areas etc. and maintain a convincing illusion of reality. Whenever I try, I end up with something that just looks sloppy and poorly painted :mad: not masterfully handled.

[Eugene Veszely]

Love your little studies....#2 appeals to me the most :)

[atrox]

Hey Marc, great work all of them but study #3 knock my socks off :clap: great work!

[Viyi]

Dear Marc, I have just come out of surgery and the only thing I can do is be in bed, so I decided to check wet canvas (thank God I have a laptop) and there, were your beautiful paintings and studies. They are incredible. Because I am going to be in bed for a couple of weeks I am going to challenge myself doing some little studies with that limited palette of yours .What a great inspiration you are to all of us.

[jackiesimmonds]

Thanks Marc for the link to Jordan Wolfson's work....I like the looseness of his work VERY much and would like to incorporate such a look and feel into my own work. But I have a question that maybe you (and others) may have some thoughts on. How does one paint with and looseness, soft erratic edges, melding of background and objects, blurring of unimportant areas etc. and maintain a convincing illusion of reality. Whenever I try, I end up with something that just looks sloppy and poorly painted :mad: not masterfully handled.

[jackiesimmonds]

Thanks Marc for the link to Jordan Wolfson's work....I like the looseness of his work VERY much and would like to incorporate such a look and feel into my own work. But I have a question that maybe you (and others) may have some thoughts on. How does one paint with and looseness, soft erratic edges, melding of background and objects, blurring of unimportant areas etc. and maintain a convincing illusion of reality. Whenever I try, I end up with something that just looks sloppy and poorly painted :mad: not masterfully handled.

I have been thinking quite a bit about this lately, and I believe it is all to do with edges.

However, even if you do have erratic edges, the underlying draughtmanship has to be really, really sound, to support a looseness of colour application.

[Bill Foehringer]

Was riding across Northern Illinois from Elgin where I live to the middle of Dekalb county,(yes, the DeKalb county), last weekend and I saw paintings all the way. The pallette you used would be perfect for what I saw. Even in spring there is something muted and graceful about the vistas across the plains converted to farm country. I don't think one can take the plains feel away just by farming the land. The human mark skims over the surface but leaves the lay of the land and the Oak groves intact. No doubt the oak/hardwood stands were more plentiful, dotting the open spaces more and the grasses longer in presettlement days but with a tall stand of corn and squinting the landscape would look similar to 200 years ago. To me as a native of the plains these vistas are just as breathtakingly beautiful as any other I've seen in their own way.
I have an order for more muted greens in pastel on hold, any pastel suggestions for summer tree greens on the plains Marc? Especially the mid to distance tree colors? Thanks, Bill

[JanB]

Jackie I think you are correct...(I think about this a lot LOL) the underlying drawing must be right on and then amidst the looseness certain well chosen edges are defined based on the the precision of the drawing beneath generating a believability. It seems like and impossible task but I see paintings that are like this so I know it can be done :D

[Marc Hanson]

Very nice paintbox1,

I'm new to the forum and am planning my first real plein air outing over
MN spring break. Do you have any suggestions for areas I should visit or
favorite spots of yours? :wave:

Thanks for whatever help you can give.

Peter-MN
Peter,
Good thing this thread has come back to the surface. I'm sorry that I missed your post last month...Even if you've already been out, there are some great places up there in the Twins that we go with classes.

Ritter Farm Park, south on 35W past Burnsville about 10-15 minutes. Get off on 185th st(exit for Target), cross under 35, swing to the right and take the frontage road south(it's on the East side of 35) for about 3/4mile. When you see the right turn to go across a bridge over 35W with no on or off ramps, turn and cross. As soon as you get across it a dirt road turns to the right and will take you back in past a couple of lakes and into the parking lot. Huge park with lakes, marshes, old orchards, oak woodlands, prairies....plenty to paint. It's a Lakeville city controlled park.

Hyland Park/Richardson Nature Center, in Bloomington. I'd google that one and they have a good map with directions. Lot's of lakes, woods...acres and acres.

Shulze Lake Beach (Lebanon Hills Regional Parks), in Eagan. Take Cliff road east from the Burnsville area and just before you get to Cty 3 to Rosemount you'll see the entrance. There are other access points to that park all with good painting area. This is all near the Minnesota Zoo.

Then there's Murphy's Landing in Shakopee. I haven't been there but plan to this summer with classes.

Minnehaha Falls park is good.

South of you down along the River is Frontenac State Park, Whitewater State Park, Forestville State Park, all of the state parks are good but require stickers to get in.

Hope that helps some, and again sorry that I didn't see this earlier.

[Marc Hanson]

Thanks Marc for the link to Jordan Wolfson's work....I like the looseness of his work VERY much and would like to incorporate such a look and feel into my own work. But I have a question that maybe you (and others) may have some thoughts on. How does one paint with and looseness, soft erratic edges, melding of background and objects, blurring of unimportant areas etc. and maintain a convincing illusion of reality. Whenever I try, I end up with something that just looks sloppy and poorly painted :mad: not masterfully handled.

Jan,
I agree with Jackie and what you're saying too. But I think more importantly it has to do with 'not' trying to paint in a certain manner and to just be honest when you're making your paintings. Soon it comes about, style that is (that's what we're talking about afterall), however it's going to as a result of your own take on how you see and render what you see.

It's handwriting. No matter how I'd like to write like Benjamin Franklin...I write script like a 4th grader still! So for my entire life I've printed when handwriting anything but my signature. It just wasn't in the cards for me to have his kind of penmanship, and my mom used to teach it! I don't think painting style is any different. Repetitive working with certain tools without really concentrating on the 'look' of the results, but concentrating on what you want to say with the paint will lead to your own very personal expression over time.

We see that change too in artists. Monet, Picasso, Wyeth, they all evolve the longer they work. And I think that's the key, work hard and long and it will come out of each one of us.

Otherwise it looks 'contrived' IMO.

Anyway, that's how I see the topic.

[Marc Hanson]

Hey Marc, great work all of them but study #3 knock my socks off :clap: great work!
A long delayed but sincere thanks Richard!

[Marc Hanson]

Dear Marc, I have just come out of surgery and the only thing I can do is be in bed, so I decided to check wet canvas (thank God I have a laptop) and there, were your beautiful paintings and studies. They are incredible. Because I am going to be in bed for a couple of weeks I am going to challenge myself doing some little studies with that limited palette of yours .What a great inspiration you are to all of us.
I hope all is well Virginia. That's very kind of you. Thanks. Get well and get painting OK? :wink2:

[Marc Hanson]

Was riding across Northern Illinois from Elgin where I live to the middle of Dekalb county,(yes, the DeKalb county), last weekend and I saw paintings all the way. The pallette you used would be perfect for what I saw. Even in spring there is something muted and graceful about the vistas across the plains converted to farm country. I don't think one can take the plains feel away just by farming the land. The human mark skims over the surface but leaves the lay of the land and the Oak groves intact. No doubt the oak/hardwood stands were more plentiful, dotting the open spaces more and the grasses longer in presettlement days but with a tall stand of corn and squinting the landscape would look similar to 200 years ago. To me as a native of the plains these vistas are just as breathtakingly beautiful as any other I've seen in their own way.
I have an order for more muted greens in pastel on hold, any pastel suggestions for summer tree greens on the plains Marc? Especially the mid to distance tree colors? Thanks, Bill

I agree with you completely Bill, and this was beautifully put in your words. I also come from early settlers on the plains in the Dakota and Nebraska territories. Spent my entire early years everywhere but on the plains. First chance I had as a young adult out of school, I packed up my Vega and headed straight back and am still here. It's in the blood as they say.

The best pastels for greens are the 2 green sets that Girault makes. If you don't get any others, they'll make you happy. They have warm, gray, and some mid value cool and then dark greens and are vital to my work.

Then Unison, Schminke and many others. But I tell my students that if they want to paint representationally with pastels, and paint our summers, then get 'every earthy' green they can get their hands on. I've gone to the art supply store many times and left with no colors other than greens by 5 or 6 different makers. Also colors like caput mortem, grayed roses, and other grayed violets and reds that can be used to modify the intensity of greens are very useful. By earthy I mean greens with a lot of red in them, grayed greens, yellow greens. But I don't find I use the real intense thalo's, emeralds, and so on. Those with a lot of blue in them seem out of place for most of our territory's trees and foliage.

[Bill Foehringer]

Thanks Marc!! You mentioned that you use Girault darks so I ordered their set of darks. They are deep and I use them now as the foundation of my paintings. Deep darks in landscape work almost like the percussion or bass lines in music. I'll modify my order accordingly. Thanks again, BillF

[israelyang]

hello Marc, I have a technical question for you. I have ivory black, but it seems that doesn't matter how I thin it, it never appears blue to me, why is that?
And how do you decide when to add black? when the dark is not dark enough?

thanks

israel

[Marc Hanson]

hello Marc, I have a technical question for you. I have ivory black, but it seems that doesn't matter how I thin it, it never appears blue to me, why is that?
And how do you decide when to add black? when the dark is not dark enough?

thanks

israel
israel,

I don't make a habit of using it. Mostly when playing around with different possible palettes like in Lowland Marsh, or when using what is referred to as 'Zorn's Palette'. That is ivory black, yellow ochre and vermilion or cad red in my case.
The ivory black only looks blue when white is added to it and it becomes cooler and opaque. It's also a 'relative' relationship. The more yellow and orange varieties surrounding it, the cooler it appears. Those warmer colors squeeze the little blue that is in the black out visually. That's my technical explanation...'squeeze'! :D

Here's a painting I posted last year using the Zorn Palette. You can see how the bldg 'looks' bluer because it's surrounded by so much near complimentary warmer color. In isolation, the light gray (black and white mix) isn't that blue. It's a trick!!! :wink2:

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/13-May-2005/37743-Zorns-Palette---8x10.jpg

[israelyang]

Thanks this is so interesting Marc. I was looking at your website the other day and saw this painting and I was gonna ask you about the Zorn palette, and today here it is. :)
The trick does work!! wow! But I'd love to see an example of a sunny day depiction with this palette.

thanks

israel

[DominicM]

Mark some very nice paintings here.. :clap: :clap: :clap: limited pallette seems to suit you...

[LarrySeiler]

Marc, Marc, Marc...you amaze me.

You know...there are some things artists insist upon, condemn, are rather emphatic of what CANNOT be done. I did that stick painting awhile back in lieu of insistence that one can paint well ONLY with the most expensive best brushes. We know there have been those that insist it is a travisty to teach the RYB three primary colorwheel, and that another absolutely must be used if we as artists are to grow.

Then...there is myself having many many times said that black destroys more paintings than it helps.

For near 20 years instudio...using photo references I myself took, sketches and so forth..and heavily influenced by the Baroque Dutch...I used black heavily. I was a tonalist by default...not by a broad extensive experimentation of many palettes. It was simply what I had grown to use and depend upon.

Unbelievable just how many artists there are that believe if a photograph is copied exactly, they have elevated themselves be being a good and capable artist.

Then...taking it outdoors was like having fetters removed from my eyes enabling me to see for the first time.

I have seen very very few artists that I have felt have used black well. You mentioned Milt or "Bruin" as we've come to know him, and I agree. His work is stylized however...not what I'd call realistic...and I don't mean that in a negative way. Aesthetically exquisite and wonderful, much personality and such.

Singer Sargent is perhaps one of the very few whose work stops me in my tracks...and his use of black yet breathes. His later watercolors and studies of landscapes moved away from blacks...but his portraits were lovely just the same.

Then along comes Marc here...

hhhmm...I can usually spot the use of black from a gazillion miles away because it just sucks the life right out of work. To me...what you've accomplished here using black speaks volumes to me as concerns your sensitivities and capabilities as an artist and less about what thus might be possible for others. I think most will find dreadful their experimentations of it, but your results certainly make it tempting for anyone to try it.

I think the greatest compulsion though to your work is that you know the lay of the land. You have painted and observed enough of the St.Croix/Mississippi river valley, the land and western Wisconsin side..that they have become part of your inate personality.

I would think you could drawing using the charred end of a burnt stick, and because you have this feel for the variation and pattern, the verticals...sense of near from far and so forth, you could yet pull off a great work.

I think part of studying color not only is to discover its possibilities and its limitations...but helps you come to understand what might best be your own self-imposed restrictions, limitations and so forth. Not that one cannot learn in time...but so many folks put out so much color and are simply not well equipped to use them rightly with each other.

I'll tell you what I take from these lovely works from you. Two things. One is to broaden in my own mind what might be possible for others to do with what I see as better off for me to refrain from...so I don't make that mistake to be overly emphatic about what CANNOT be done. You've become one example of ONE person that CAN use black right. Again though...I think that argues just as much for what might be anticipated from someone with the experience and value of your studies afield, plein air, and so forth.

Secondly...I see your work, but I see a consistency here that works always with your work. I'm not so encouraged to go out now and start trying black. I see your work, and am that more compelled to simply become that more an expert of my surroundings. ITs got to be deep inside, and you've got it. You know eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin extremely skillfully well. You hone in on what is essential...you know what to ignore and give a deaf ear to, and I'm speaking compositionally and design wise.

Lovely lovely lovely work...and I say that humbly so. :clap: :clap:

Larry

[Marc Hanson]

Mark some very nice paintings here.. :clap: :clap: :clap: limited pallette seems to suit you...
Thanks DominicM. It's 'limited', but most of the year and in most situations around here it's enough.

[Marc Hanson]

Marc, Marc, Marc...you amaze me.

You know...there are some things artists insist upon, condemn, are rather emphatic of what CANNOT be done. I did that stick painting awhile back in lieu of insistence that one can paint well ONLY with the most expensive best brushes. We know there have been those that insist it is a travisty to teach the RYB three primary colorwheel, and that another absolutely must be used if we as artists are to grow.

Then...there is myself having many many times said that black destroys more paintings than it helps.

For near 20 years instudio...using photo references I myself took, sketches and so forth..and heavily influenced by the Baroque Dutch...I used black heavily. I was a tonalist by default...not by a broad extensive experimentation of many palettes. It was simply what I had grown to use and depend upon.

Unbelievable just how many artists there are that believe if a photograph is copied exactly, they have elevated themselves be being a good and capable artist.

Then...taking it outdoors was like having fetters removed from my eyes enabling me to see for the first time.

I have seen very very few artists that I have felt have used black well. You mentioned Milt or "Bruin" as we've come to know him, and I agree. His work is stylized however...not what I'd call realistic...and I don't mean that in a negative way. Aesthetically exquisite and wonderful, much personality and such.

Singer Sargent is perhaps one of the very few whose work stops me in my tracks...and his use of black yet breathes. His later watercolors and studies of landscapes moved away from blacks...but his portraits were lovely just the same.

Then along comes Marc here...

hhhmm...I can usually spot the use of black from a gazillion miles away because it just sucks the life right out of work. To me...what you've accomplished here using black speaks volumes to me as concerns your sensitivities and capabilities as an artist and less about what thus might be possible for others. I think most will find dreadful their experimentations of it, but your results certainly make it tempting for anyone to try it.

I think the greatest compulsion though to your work is that you know the lay of the land. You have painted and observed enough of the St.Croix/Mississippi river valley, the land and western Wisconsin side..that they have become part of your inate personality.

I would think you could drawing using the charred end of a burnt stick, and because you have this feel for the variation and pattern, the verticals...sense of near from far and so forth, you could yet pull off a great work.

I think part of studying color not only is to discover its possibilities and its limitations...but helps you come to understand what might best be your own self-imposed restrictions, limitations and so forth. Not that one cannot learn in time...but so many folks put out so much color and are simply not well equipped to use them rightly with each other.

I'll tell you what I take from these lovely works from you. Two things. One is to broaden in my own mind what might be possible for others to do with what I see as better off for me to refrain from...so I don't make that mistake to be overly emphatic about what CANNOT be done. You've become one example of ONE person that CAN use black right. Again though...I think that argues just as much for what might be anticipated from someone with the experience and value of your studies afield, plein air, and so forth.

Secondly...I see your work, but I see a consistency here that works always with your work. I'm not so encouraged to go out now and start trying black. I see your work, and am that more compelled to simply become that more an expert of my surroundings. ITs got to be deep inside, and you've got it. You know eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin extremely skillfully well. You hone in on what is essential...you know what to ignore and give a deaf ear to, and I'm speaking compositionally and design wise.

Lovely lovely lovely work...and I say that humbly so. :clap: :clap:

Larry
Larry can I use you as a reference when I apply at WalMart? :D

I seriously thank you.

Your point about one's surroundings rings true. Look at all of the art from those we admire and converse about. Monet, Chase, Payne, Levitan, Shishkin, Gruppe, Metcalf and all of the other greats all worked in the area that they were most familiar with and explored it until the work oozed intimacy. If painting is about life then what better way to speak of one's life then to paint what is near and dear to them.
I think it's rather silly for a 'plains' or 'northwoods' planted painter to head out to the Tetons and try to compete with those painters who live there. They live and breath that as much as we live and breath our own territory and have the 'truth' to be told that a visitor doesn't have. The same for the coasts, southern swamps and so on. If I moved there, to the desert for instance, I'd expect to have some paying dues time to put in before feeling that I have something to say about it.

[Bill Wray]

I 'm new here, but your work looks to be some of the best work I've encountered so far on the site. Sensitive and professional. Bill Wray

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