"Crosby lake"

9" x 12"
Oil on panel

I started this painting at Crosby Lake. I got quite a bit of information down when it started snowing. The snow was like tiny particles. It was getting everywhere. I continued on for as long as I could. It got to the point where I couldn't mix anything. It was like mixing with sand. I packed up and finished at home.

"Thaw down Mississippi"

8" x 10"
Oil on panel

Stopped off after work and went down to Crosby Lake Park last Wednesday. I have painted up above, along Shepard Road, in the past, but never ventured down to this place before. You can follow the paths back into the woods there. It ends up taking you pretty close to the Mississippi shoreline. I walked down to the sandy shore and came upon this spot. It was very nice and quiet. Lots of potential painting locations here. I had the good fortune of getting a good view of the setting sun. I worked really fast to get the fading colors. Initially, there was a ton of glare and I wanted to get those effects, but they faded pretty quick, so I adjusted early on to accurately get what I was seeing when I got to mixing up my colors. I surprised myself in that this took me a little over an hour to complete. I had the important information I needed so I headed home. There I made a few adjustments to the sky and foreground.

"Beckoning"

12" x 6"
Oil on panel

Continuing to draw influence from the park near work.

"February in Bloomington"

11" x 14"
Oil on canvas/panel

During this bitter cold spell I haven't had the time to get outside and paint. Convenient huh? Well, I have made the time to take a few walks and photograph this little area in Bloomington, MN near my workplace. Lots of little areas and spots that would make for some good paintings. I do plan on painting there on site soon. For now, I am working from my photographs. By the way, I took a cue from Ed Terpening and am painting right from my laptop screen. The colors are truer, though not as true as being there, and make for a more pleasing painting experience from the warm confines of my studio. More paintings from this area to come....

"Harrison's bane"

6" x 8"
Oil on canvas/panel

This is a spot where my son Harrison had a pretty good wipeout. It was a handle bar turning, over the the top, tuck and roll. It looked worse than it was. He jumped back on and continued our ride...a little more cautiously from there on out. That's Lexington Parkway crossing over the bike path. This is from a series of pictures i took last spring in and around the park.

This was painted from a photo. Still working in studio until the bone chilling cold subsides.

"Rainy days and Mondays"

I painted this scene last spring. I had taken photos of a bunch of different spots around Como Park and they came in handy this past month when I didn't have the opportunity to get outside. Here is the same scene painted from the photo and set back a bit from the plein air painting from last spring.

9" x 12"
Oil on panel

Here is the painting from last spring. This one is an 11x14.