New Harmony

I just spent a wonderful week in New Harmony at the First Brush of Spring.  I found out something about myself though--I'm really not a good plein air painter!  I absolutely love the idea of painting on location and observing the colors of nature but I get so distracted.  Practice, practice--the message I keep hearing. 

Indiana Plein Air Painters Paint In

Through IPAPA, we were invited to paint from the collection of a couple in  Indiana who have an extensive collection of early Indiana impressionist paintings.   This is an excerpt from an early T. C. Steele (1885) painted at the end of his stay in Munich or shortly after returning.   The painting was very large and we only had approximately 3 1/2 hours of actual painting time.  I had to choose quickly of what to include and eliminate from the much larger painting.  This T. C.'s painting was "tighter" than his later paintings.  But, the thing that captivated me in the larger painting was the atmospheric background bringing you into the more intimate, backlighting of the figures in the foreground.

Owen County has some beautiful scenes

An artist friend and I spent a couple of mornings early in the month traveling the backroads of Owen and Morgan counties.  We came across this creek scene and I felt I had to try to get it on canvas.

Nancy Franke workshop

I was absolutely delighted to be able to attend Nancy Franke's workshop in Chattanooga in March.  It was held in Lisa Seago's wonderful studio--Artworks.  Nancy is so much fun and inspired me to come home and paint the two paintings that I've posted.  Nancy uses very large brushes even on small a small canvas--encouraging the artist to capture only the essentials of the set up.   I have been a fan of Nancy's work for a long time and if you want to see her work she has a website.