The Drawing Board

Wow, what an event. The event started on Friday, I got there just before 10am, got my panels stamped, then started walking around to scout out locations. It was HOT and humid - temps ran between 85-99 degrees Fahrenheit both days.

I was told there was a river on the other side of the tracks, but when I got there, it was all "No Trespassing" signs...no go. So I went back to the waterfront area and eventually happened upon a gravel trail that led to a clearing, obscured by trees on either side. It was going to be a challenge, many subtle layers of green, the light showing from the opening was actually more intense in chroma than the foreground trees, which made for some tricky color mixing. I actually wiped out most of this painting three different times, and quit it when I felt I was just wasting paint. OK, no big deal, the first painting is almost always a wash, something to settle my nerves and get into the swing of things. 4 and a half hours gone. I ended up turning this piece in, although there are parts of this that I didn't like. Got some compliments on it anyway.

After low blood sugar levels and near heatstroke, I had some food and water in an air conditioned restaurant (Brewers Two Cafe has amazing sandwiches), then headed for the pavilion where there was more shade. Unfortunately, the weather was beginning to turn. I set up to paint the lake with a large sky area, to capture some of the clouds that were rolling in. Unfortunately the wind started to pick up. We got notice that there were Tornado warnings in the area, and we were in the path of the storm. Further, it was a band of storms, and the weather was probably going to go sour. And it did. About an hour into this painting, the wind kicked up to around 60 mph. If it weren't for the help of Mike Neilson, I would have lost everything, but managed to get my stuff around the corner of the pavilion where it wasn't so bad. To give you an idea of how strong the winds were, one of the rented tents next to the pavilion ripped in half. It was bad.

I had only just gotten my panel into the panel carrier, but the wind had kicked sand and debris into the wet oil paint. Grrrrr. After the wind died down, I tried to salvage it but it was a lost cause, there was noticeable grit on it, no matter how I scraped it. So I wiped down yet another painting. In the process of restarting, I fell into a composition that I really liked. A group of dark ultramarine clouds were blowing through, the layers of clouds was pretty amazing, and the land masses were almost engulfed in fog. I managed to give the foreground a strong diagonal and dropped in a couple of areas of color, some raw sienna to compliment the cool ultramarine tints of the background and sky. It was cookin' and I knew I had a keeper. It ended up having a tonalist palette, as everything was so subdued. White, Ultramarine, Raw Sienna and some Blue Black.

Again, about 45 minutes into this piece, the wind started kicking up again. I wasn't going to let this one get ruined, so I packed up just (just) in time, before the winds hit their peak, this time MUCH stronger than the last. I got soaked. My hat blew across the street, my painting bag was doused and everything was wet. Fortunately, my panel carrier was pretty strong and well made (if I do say so myself). I decided that was enough for me for a day. I packed up and changed my shirt when there was a break in the weather, then headed home. More storms blew through that evening.

The next day I got there late. I was too amped up to sleep Friday night, and too tired to get moving early on Saturday. I started with a mile-long hike to the area (the street was blocked off for the festival and parking was wholly insufficient for the event). I set up immediately, knowing I had only about 5 hours total to wrap up two pieces. I touched up the storm piece and it turned out nicely, then turned that in early. Then I went back to the original spot with the opening between the trees, and tried the piece again with a horizontal format. I had only a hour and a half to do it, to safely have enough time to frame and turn in the second piece. This didn't go well. I tried to simplify things but ended up with a painting that will soon be wiped. Still not good at fast high-pressure painting.

Well, it seems the judges liked my work again. My storm painting took third place in the event. I was beat out by my good friends Jason Prigge, who took second, and Jenny Anderson, who took first. Mike Neilson and Bill Suys took an honorable mention. There were a few other awards given out as well, some artists with whom I was not familiar. We were treated to an amazing meal at the Artist Reception after the event closed. I believe there were less than 40 artists in the event. A few people sold artwork, I was not one of them. Oh well. In the end I got to spend some quality time with some talented, inspiring people.

Tomorrow I pick up my artwork from Oconomowoc, it doesn't look like anything sold from that event either. Very frustrating. I would have liked to have sold something this year. I did find out that there may be another event, at the end of September, in Plymouth, WI. Once more into the breech...at least the weather will be better.

This makes 75 separate paintings this year. The best painting of the year is yet to come, with the fall colors and the cooler weather. 100 paintings is easily in reach. The next I'll be working on are the 2 for the Rockford event, due early September.

In preparation for this weekend's plein air event in Pewaukee, I've been trekking down to the marina by Cupertino Park to do some research and work on this type of subject matter. I started this piece yesterday, but at the time I had only a couple of hours to paint. There is a rather wide concrete boat launch just north of the yacht club that is a common place for fishermen. As I was painting, I had no end of distractions, noisy fishermen, bicyclists passing by, a handful of rowdy kids catching and torturing little fish and their parents who kept shouting at them, some Vet who wanted to take my picture, and finally two airheads in a row boat who were determined to land their craft where I was set up. After an hour and a half, I called it a day.

This afternoon I managed to get back there, and although the light wasn't as overcast, I managed to resolve a lot of this piece. Another three hours work, three peaceful hours. 6" x 8" oil on panel. This is on the Raymar double primed canvas panel that I got as part of the Artist Package in the Wauwatosa event. It's not bad. I'm not a big fan of such a prominent weave, but I think maybe the linen ones might be more to my liking. The panels are very strong and very light weight. I think these would be great for taking on a trip. These would have to be bought in bulk however, as they are rather expensive.

Link: http://fineartamerica.com/customshop/anthony-sell.html

I have created an online gallery through Fine Arts America. This will allow visitors to purchase prints of my work in a variety of sizes, framing options and paper/canvas selections. They are also relatively inexpensive. If you or anyone you know are interested, please forward this link: http://fineartamerica.com/customshop/anthony-sell.html

It seems the judges liked my work this time. My painting "A Quiet Day on Lake Fowler" took 2nd place in the 2010 Midsummer's Brush Garden Quick Paint event. This included a $100 prize. It's odd that the piece I had the least invested in did the best of the three that I submitted. More important than this prize, I met some interesting people and received some great comments about my work in general from artists whose opinions I respect. Looking forward to next year.

These were the two other paintings I did for the Oconomowoc event. This first one I did mid afternoon on Wednesday, after touching up my Masonic Center painting. This is from a vantage point that I've painted before, thought I'd give it another go. Sometimes it's useful to see a comparison, side by side. To see the one I did last year, click here. It's the third one down. Much improved, I'd say.

When I got back into town on Tuesday, after driving for 6 hours, I decided to set up on the back side of the Masonic Center. It was around 5:30pm when I set up, the traffic I ran into just outside of Hayward really slowed me down. I started into this with less consideration than the earlier piece I did on Friday the week before, ended up struggling with the drawing, as the light died. I decided I would come back to this on Wednesday evening, which I did. This is where I left it. It's a decent sketch, but I don't think I'll take it further, there are still too many problems with it.

What a crazy week.

After a rather promising start last Friday, then a hasty distracted painting before my trip to Cable, I returned on Tuesday, Wednesday and today to get in three more paintings. Camp was hot, temps were always around 85 degrees and humid, thank god I had an air conditioned room (RHIP). The past two days in Oconomowoc were painter hell, lots of blazing heat (temps in the 90's and today was 101 degrees), and lots of mosquitoes.

This is the piece I did on Saturday for the Quick Paint. We had a four-hour window to turn in a finished, framed piece. Quite frankly, I was more concerned with getting on the road for Cable as soon as possible, it was quite a distraction, but this turned out alright. This is 14" x 11" oil on panel. The view is of the peninsula garden at the church on Lake Fowler. It was one of several locations chosen this year for the Garden Quick Paint event. It was very popular. I had to omit several elements to get this composition, there were over hanging branches that just didn't sit right.

Although I posted this earlier, I went back on Wednesday morning to touch up certain areas that I felt were still unresolved. This is the final version, the frame did wonders for it. As I set up to work on this, I noticed that certain things were no longer there to paint, such as the railings on the building in the background. Apparently, while I was away at camp, there was a storm that came through Oconomowoc, strong winds knocked down a rather large tree which wiped out this structure. I'll post before and after shots later. 14" x 11" oil on panel.

Shortly after working on this piece, I went to a location I had painted from last year to try my hand at the lake again. This went alright. Then I went back to the Masonic Center to tackle a different perspective, looking up at it from the lake. I'll post the images of these paintings later. The problem I've found in Oconomowoc is that it sucks for parking. I swear that next year I'm going to be more portable. I have been looking at mountain bikes with a tail rack for saddle bags. If I can manage to get a bike rack for my truck, I'll be able to park somewhere and head out on two wheels to areas that would be otherwise logistically difficult. All I need is a new travel palette (something to make over the winter).

Today I went back for a last chance to paint. I was not looking forward to being out in the heat, it was pretty bad today. I didn't realize how bad it was until I turned in my stuff - truck said it was 101! After a good deal of driving around and scouting locations, I settled on a view of the tracks from the corner of an historic train shelter, known as The Milwaukee Road. I have to admit that I completely underestimated the force of the gust of wind created by a freight train. It was all I could do to hold my steel easel and secure my painting as this mile-long train slammed by. I was close enough to touch the train with my outstretched mahl stick (frikkin' awesome actually). The gusts knocked over my heavier Julian easel, spilling my turps and scattering my palette and brushes. Fortunately my palette closed itself as it landed (go figure), and like a proper boy scout, I had an extra can of Turpenoid in my truck.

Needless to say, the next time a train passed, I moved my easels away and held onto both of them. Shortly after this, railroad employee, driving one of those Ford F150's with the steel wheels drove by on the tracks. He stopped and backed up to warn me to be careful, that there would be other trains coming, including an Amtrack that would be going by at a faster clip in a couple of hours. I thanked him and busted ass to get done before then. Fortunately I was nearly done. Now I have to do some minor repairs on my poor folding easel...such a workhorse.

Tomorrow is the artist reception and awards announcement. This event is the last week-long event this year, the one Downtown was canceled. Damn, I hope I sell something. Curious to see who shows, there should be a lot of familiar faces there, rather looking forward to it. This last piece was number 70 for the year, btw. Fall is coming, and none too soon. The best painting of the year is to be seen in the next two months. I'll be glad for respite from the heat and bugs, and for the colors of fall. Bring it!

Every August, since 1996 (with one exception), I travel to the far side of the state for a Martial Arts training camp with my teacher and training partners from Minnesota. Invariably, life lies in wait, storing up every conceivable emergency, trial and tribulation for the week prior to this trip. In spite of my best efforts to be ready well in advance, this week is always stressful, with too many things needing to be done at the last minute.

After wrapping up three design projects, packing, running errands, and preparing for the competition that began today, I'm facing a ridiculous itinerary. Tomorrow I leave at 7 am to get gas, to drive to Oconomowoc, to paint for a 4-hour quick paint event, to leave straight away for Cable. When I get back on Tuesday, I get to stop in Oconomowoc to get a painting in, to return on Thursday and Friday to do more paintings. Friday at noon, I turn in my two paintings, then return the next day for the results. Saturday I teach and then, then, I get to mow the lawn.

But that all starts tomorrow. As for today...today was a good day.

After a few errands, I headed out to Oconomowoc to register for the Midsummer's Brush event. Immediately met a few of my friends in this community, people I've met this year and last. It's good to be recognized. Somehow, I knew exactly what I wanted to paint, and after the success I had with the painting downtown last weekend, I decided I was up to the challenge. On Lake Fowler, there is a Masonic Center, a large white building with a very unusual layout. Most of the buildings in this area are interesting, actually. I saw this building last year, but knew I wasn't up to the challenge. Architecture has always been a personal nemesis, the exacting angles required a steadier hand than I had at the time.

After talking with another friend who was painting in the area, I scouted out a few vantage points and decided on one of the front of the building. I was fortunate to have shade for most of the day, and polite passers-by. After starting, I knew I'd only get in one painting today, this one would take 5-6 hours to develop. But it was worth it.

Well after a perfectly substandard painting for the event in West Bend, I wanted to head out early today to get in a good day's work. I decided I would head downtown to take advantage of the free parking. After driving around, I decided to go over to Veteran's Park on Lake Michigan to tackle something that had given me fits in the past - the downtown skyline. Straight lines and exacting angles have always been difficult, there's something to be said about doing landscapes, you have a great deal of leeway when it comes to accuracy.

I set up by 9am and was painting non stop until just before 3pm, at which point I was begining to lose concentration. Probably the low blood sugar. I thought the juxtaposition of the picinic tables and the puddle of water made for an interesting foreground device, also that the trees were an interesting mid-ground. And I knew I would have to tackle some serious repetition in the windows of the buildings there. The last time I did this view, I didn't have the patience, nor the steadiness in my hand to attempt that. This one has come a long way since last year. I think that very soon I'm going to start tackling some of the architecture that always catches my attention when I drive through downtown. 12" x 15.5" Oil on panel.

Damn. It looks like I'm not going to make it to the Door County event after all. Things are just too tight. So I'll have more time to work on my speed of painting. Next year I'll be there.

Trying to console myself, I went out for a drive today to look for new vantage points. I was driving along the Menomonee Parkway in Wauwatosa when I happened upon the campus for Mount Mary College. The buildings were at the edge of a sea of green, backlit and framed in by rimlit clouds. I thought it was a worthwhile view. 12"x12" oil on panel, 2:45.

This is the second since the Wauwatosa event. Yesterday I tried a late painting, from the Tobboggin run in Whitnall Park. I ended up losing the light and may re-work that piece before posting it. This one was done this morning near the ski hill in Whitnall Park.

I've decided that I'm going up to Door County to participate in the Dockside Quick Paint event that is open to the public. The winner of this event gets invited to the main event next year, which is a highly prized opportunity, being an invitation-only competition. The Quick Paint is unique in that you get only two hours in which to complete a piece. That is a frantic pace.

In preparation, I'm doing a nunber of pieces this week in two hours or less. This piece was done in 1:50, 9"x12" oil on panel. I think I've found the right set of priorities, sort of a formula for structuring my time:

• by the end of the first 15 minutes - Stained & wiped-in the composition, major values established with my undercolor, focal point established
• ...45 minutes - get to a point of full coverage of the surface, blocked in primary shapes and base colors, developed directionality of brush strokes with an eye for contrast at the focal point.
• ...60 minutes - All necessary corrections made (scrape & repaint), further defined silhouettes, soften or sharpen edges.
• ...90 minutes - further layering of color, simplification where necessary, refining shapes.
• ...105 minutes - accents laid in, small brush work, sgraffito, details, larger shapes broken up.
• ...120 minutes - final touches, done.

This process is forcing me to simplify things into a few primary values and shapes. I've also been tweaking my palette, trying to find the best way to get to certain colors. I've also begun to use more medium in my work, painting wet in wet more often.

Since the event is a dockside event, I plan to get out to the Marina later this week and do some more paintings with a nautical theme. Need to invest more time studying boats. That will be useful for the Pewaukee Boat Show event as well.

Well, here is the final painting for this event. I finished this today about an hour before the deadline. Well, sort of. On the advice of a friend, I touched it up a bit in one spot.

The right edge of the trees in the upper left corner presented a little too vertical a line, so I brought the silhouette back towards that corner a bit and broke up the vertical slightly. It was good advice. Unfortunately, in my haste to get these in on time, I forgot to shoot it again, in the frame. I'll have to shoot it this weekend. It looked great.

This photo doesn't do the color justice, it's a bit flat. I think my white balance was a bit off.

This and the one I did yesterday are the two I submitted for the event. Tomorrow is the party and announcements. I'm satisfied that I got in 7 paintings in 8 days, and three of them turned out very well.

Today's painting. I think it's a keeper. Only managed one today, this heat is really getting to me. Went back to the Milwaukee County Grounds, found an abandoned dirt road in the field, followed it over a hill for the better part of a mile, looking for something good to paint. After awhile I decided I should head back, and when I turned around, I said "Hey, that'll do."

8" x 10" oil on panel. The frame is obnoxious, but necessary. This event will have all the paintings stacked 3 or 4 high and tightly hung. A small painting like this tends to get lost among other larger works unless it has a wide border to give it space. The gallery space is also poorly lit, I'm betting that the gold will capture what light is there and lead the eye to this piece.

Tomorrow is the last day of the competition. I'll be shooting for two fast paintings, but we'll see how the weather is. I have until 7pm to turn in two finished pieces. Unless I come up with a much better one at this size, this one will be one of them.

Started much later than I wanted to today, but I managed to get in a decent session. Went back to Underwood Parkway, tried to improve on what I did yesterday, given the clouds we've had. I set up on the far side of the bridge where I was last, which involved negotiating a rather steep embankment with slippery tiles. Next time I think I'll bring rapelling gear.

I think the sky is a little better in this one, but I managed to overwork the foreground. I may go back to rework this, after the competition. Two days left, am shooting for three more paintings. I think my next one is going to be very loose, I may push that to see how it works. Tomorrow and Thursday are going to be early days.

Today I knocked the mother of all spiders off of my shoulder. It had been crawling on my ear and neck before I realized it was upon me. Looking down at my shoulder, I saw the woolly brown bastard staring up at me with a thousand eyes. I cannot guarantee that it was actually the size of a tarantula, proximity affected my sense of scale. What I can guarantee is that that particular spider will never do that to me again.

Lots of clouds today. I found a new area to set up today, the Milwaukee County grounds, behind the Parks Department Building off of Watertown Plank Road. Talk about an expansive view - rolling hills full of wildflowers and grass, and insects abounds. Trees hemmed in this area in the distance. I saw several people running their dogs here, and one other painter today. Definitely a place to go when there are tumultuous skies.

I have Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday left to paint, should get at least three more done by then. Then to pick the best two. This is today's painting, 11"14" oil on panel.

This is my current painting setup. If you click on the image, you can see a larger version. I forgot to mention my brush carrier, the small box hanging off my easel. I have two thin strips of aircraft plywood inserted along one side for small panels. I use two small clamps to hold my small panels to these, which are held by the easel.

For the last year or so I've been using only Turpenoid as my medium. Recently I've started using a mix of 50% refined linseed oil, 10% poppy oil and 40% stand oil. I used to use cheap copal medium, but I found that this is basically an alkyd based medium, not much better than liquin. I also used to use a mix of refined linseed oil and Dorland's wax medium, but that seemed to make the surface quickly unworkable. Great for transparency, however, when used in small doses.

I'm currently considering ways to rig a straight-edge system for my panels, some thing I can affix to my easel(s), which is removable. I find that when doing things that involve architecture and other man-made structures, the angles are very important and hard to nail exactly without some sort of guide. My mahl only works on certain angles, largely horizontals. Verticals or near verticals are hard to align consistently.

Sunday's outing. 8"x10" Oil on panel.

Well, it's not the one, albeit I spent 5 and a half hours on it. Took my compass with me when I scouted out the location, I got there around 8:30 am and knew the light would change before I was done. This street is on an angle, not quite north, so it took a little figuring, but it worked out alright.

Definitely not one to submit for the competition, but it's close. Besides, shortly after shooting this I dropped it face down on the concrete. Man, I hate it when that happens. Salvageable but still, not the one.

Ah, finally, a decent painting. I decided that a timed painting event was not a time to burden oneself with a frustrating subject matter (namely the cityscape views available close to the registration area). We had four hours from the time we stamped our canvases and panels to turn in a finished, signed, framed and wired piece. I decided to drive for a bit and take up some subject matter that might not otherwise make its way into the Quick Paint event.

Having scouted this area previously on Friday, I knew what I wanted to get, especially given the clouds we had today. The downside was being out in the open under a harsh sun for the better part of four hours. Once I laid out the composition, the painting really came together quickly, I ended up with 40 minutes left to pack up and get back to turn it in.

I spent a good ten minutes looking at different compositions, and I'm very pleased with this. The gravel was the most tedious thing to capture, the only way I could really give the impression of the texture of the gravel and the subtle shifting of values as it led back into space was to layer dots of various tints. I think that turned out alright.

I also tried to give this piece a sense of depth and focus with the accents in the mid-ground, pulling individual blades of grass and flowers out of the overall mass. I used a lot of sgrafitto in this, layering and scraping, then layering again. Not bad for a little over 3 hours. 11"x14" oil on panel in a ready-made frame.

Damn, this weather is hot.

I've been procrastinating lately, spending time behind the computer, in the air conditioning, rather than heading out to get scorched again. Friday, after driving around for a good 40 minutes, I finally decided to set up under a bridge near the Underwood Parkway. This was a real blessing, the sun was unforgiving and the thermometer read low 90's. This parkway has been undergoing development for a couple of years now. There is a gravel path that leads under the bridge to the area in the painting.

Well the first one is out of the way. (11"x14" oil on panel) Not ideal, but there are some things I liked about this. I need to work on my skies. I'm thinking about heading back here for the quick paint on Saturday.

Jesus was it hot out today. 91 degrees in the shade, which quickly disappeared.

After a lousy 8 hour day of painting on Friday, resulting in one bad and two mediocre paintings, I decided to take Saturday off, headed to borders last night to properly caffeinate myself and do some drawing. Then home for the UFC. I decided, I would go out on Sunday and just focus on one decent piece.

I started out with an exhaustive drive through Wauwatosa and West Allis, looking for an urban scene to get me going, but nothing was particularly appealing. I though that since most people would be at the parks celebrating the 4th of July, it would be easy to find a vacant parking lot somewhere with an interesting view of some buildings on the strip, but not so much.

After the better part of an hour of driving around, I decided to head back to familiar ground -- Whitnall Park. I initially set up in a shaded, secluded area that had a view of a waterfall from one of the lagoons, but I ended up getting eaten by mosquitoes, so I packed up and moved to a sunlit hill that had a view of these trees. I set up in the limited shade of some crabapple trees at the base of the hill. This was at least secluded, not many passers-by today, just sun. Sun and ants! Little Fuckers.

I decided to wrap up when I realized that I was close to having heat stroke, despite the water I was drinking. I think this was around 4 and a half hours (11x14" oil on panel) into the piece. It occurred to me that I was probably just as dehydrated on Friday and that probably had a lot to do with the outcome. This one at least worked out.

The next event starts on Thursday, this time much closer -- Wauwatosa. The Quick Paint event is on Saturday. Need to get some frames done this week, and I'm still trying to get in a total of 20 paintings before the event starts, even if they're only small studies. Trying to work on composition and expressiveness, I really want to avoid getting too tight in the remaining competitions this year.

I posted this earlier on Facebook:

Spent the morning painting on the streets of downtown Cedarburg amidst the thousands of people there for the annual Strawberry festival. This was akin to painting in the middle of Summerfest. Jesus was it crowded. Horns blowing, exhaust, vendors shouting, the wafting aroma of popcorn and charcoal and roasted almonds, clinging to a street corner like a drowning man in a river, a mass of onlookers with poking noses and elbows, sorry for the paint on your sleeve ma'am, dude don't kick my easel, don't touch that it's wet, hey, wouldya gimme a little room here, and damn it's hot out.

90 degrees all day long, then standing, standing, waiting for the judges, looking for a beer not in plastic cups, and finding some soba noodles instead. Then clapping and more standing and chit chat with friends and acquaintances, polite smiles and how fast can I get outta here?

Wiped out.

Well, tomorrow is the last chance for the work to sell. Once again the judges did not favor my work, and when I left there were no bids. This is terribly frustrating. The piece above is #9 for the week. I am dog tired. I have just under two weeks before Wauwatosa's Plein Air competition begins, I am planning to get in 20 small paintings between then and now. I have a list of things I feel that I need to work on, all centering around being more efficient and more deliberate and considerate as to how I describe what I'm seeing.

After today, I'm really looking forward to the solitude and quiet of some of my local venues. The Festival Paint event was an absolute circus. I think the only way it could have been more distracting was to have people throwing knives at your feet while you painted. Quite a challenge. Not only was the light changing, the venue changing as people moved things (chairs, tables, tents, signs, etc.), but the foot traffic was miserable -- as soon as I'd mix a color to hit something that I identified, someone would invariably stand in my line of sight, blocking my view. This went on and on. I think before this event next year, I'm going to have to spend some time painting in downtown Milwaukee in order to get faster at indicating people in a crowded scene.

After some reflection, I should mention that the competition was very steep this year, there were a total of 161 artists participating, many of whom had won national or regional awards, most had done this event in the past as well, there being 48 first time competitors like myself, some of whom were competing for their first time ever in this event. These artists submitted a total of 370 paintings, from which the judges had to decide on total of 16 awards, including the honorable mentions. The artist I chose for the Artist Choice also won the big prize for Best of Show, which was a $2000 purchase award. Her painting is now in the permanent collection of the city.