More Telluride Plein Air Fest Paintings

'Mountain Cabin' oil 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '09
One of the first things that caught my eye was this little cabin. It reminded me of a little Swiss chateau.


'High On High' oil 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '09
This is up on Lizard Head Pass a high elevation pass outside of Telluride. I met Jill Carver on this same road painting too that day. It was a four wheel drive road, no doubt.


'Jeep Trail' oil 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson '09
Tried to settle down on this one but was feeling the effects of too much heat and altitude. By the time this one was finished, so was I.


'Stars' oil 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
The star is the sign for 'Stars' a garment store on the main drag through town. I found it an interesting juxtaposition of the Stars and Stripes, and the large star.


'Waste Management' oil 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
This was my 'Quick Draw' painting.


'Prairie Dog Town' oil 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '09
A situation where you set up to paint one light effect, it totally disappears so you paint whatever is there. I set up with the entire village lit up, that's the courthouse steeple in the distance, background in shadow. That changed to this situation with the sliver of light that shadowed the prairie dog village. There is an extremely healthy dog town in the valley so I painted them in in silhouette.


'Valley Shade' oil 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
A 20-25 minute painting at the most. A few artists lined up along a road out of town to paint this scene one evening. The shadows moved so fast that it was hard to keep pace but the color just got better and better.


'Time To Go!' oil 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
One of the nice things in the mountains is that you can stand many miles away from on high and watch as these storms approach without feeling like you should be in the basement. If I saw this in Minnesota, I'd be in the basement already! This was a nasty, large electrical storm that was beautiful to watch... from a distance. It did eventually hit me but I was already almost packed and in the truck.


'Road To Mountain Village' oil 6x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
One day I did 5 paintings, some little studies like these. And the Quick Draw... and Time To Go!


'First View-Valley Floor' oil 6x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09


'Bear Creek Morning' oil 6x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
First of the five of that day.

A couple of workshop dates fast approaching, and a new 2 day announced-

Taylors Falls, MN - 5 Day - August 10 - 14.

Brewster, NY - 5 Day- August 24 - 28. ( 2 days outside producing studies, 3 days working up larger paintings from those studies)

Zumbrota, MN - 2 Day - September 19 & 20.

Details on my website - http://www.marchansonart.com or email me at - paintbox1@frontiernet.net

Telluride Plein Air Festival

(Another box canyon town up the mountain from Telluride)


'First View-Telluride, CO' oil 6x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
That's where I've been for the last week. What a spectacular place that is! If you ever have the chance, GO...

We painted for about 3-1/2 days or so, then set up our displays and greeted the crowds on Friday and Saturday the 4th of July. I had a great time meeting so many other artists, local residents and visitors to what might be the most beautiful mountain setting that I've ever been to. The Telluride Plein Air Festival staff were a pleasure to deal with I must say. One of the really great things that most of these events do for the artists is arrange 'host families' to house us for the week, saving a lot of money but also allowing us the chance to meet and become friends with people who live in the area. My host family was more than I would have expected, kind, understanding of the strange schedules that artists keep when deep into painting and socializing, and completely available if needed. A funny side note... I was trying to find their house using GPS and the address. The 'lady' on the GPS took me to a road with a very large gate, security and all. I tried to get in, tried to call my host but couldn't reach them. I found out later that they had been called to a location for their work around the mountain and were out of cell phone range. Anyway we did eventually connect later that evening and I told my host Sheilagh that I had been at the gate but didn't know how to get in. She told me that they didn't have a gate and asked me what the gate looked like and where I was. I told her, she told me that the gate that I was trying my all to get into (called the security guy, the assistant?, etc..) was in fact Tom Cruise's gate! I couldn't see his house, he has a nice place. I don't know why the GPS thought that I should go up that way? They're very accurate. Could it be that the GPS Lady (the female who's voice is constantly giving me directions) had an ulterior motive???

The week finished with a great 4th of July parade, fireworks and a rain storm. I loved being in Telluride. Back when I thought skiing was ALL there was in the world, I would have been in heaven to have landed there. I think that I will go back when the white stuff is covering the green and see what that time of year is like. NO lift lines from what I've been told.

Here are a few from the week that I've edited for posting. I painted about 15 or so pieces and will post them as they get edited too.


'Vermont Volvo' oil 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is an alley painting, very popular in Telluride because they have a ton of old alleys to be painted. I sold this one at the Artist Choice Gala event in a silent auction.


'Flash Boom!' oil 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The last day was the 4th of July. Most of us in the exhibit decided to paint that day. Ken DeWaard and I painted the parade, Walter porter painted me painting the parade. It was your a typical small town parade full of characters, children, dogs (lot's of dogs in Telluride), and red, white and blue. The painting was done in about an hour. I started it when there were only a few people in front of me. By the time I finished there were about 4000 people in front of me. This is as impressionistic as I probably paint but it was fun to do. A very nice lady saw it and decided that she should have it for her house.


'Down Valley' oil 6x8 © Marc R. Hanson '09
One of the nice things about being in a large mountain range is that you can watch weather happen at some distance away without it affecting you... meaning I could paint rainstorms while staying dry. This is one looking out the valley from Telluride.

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A hot one today!

My son Erik was up for the day and we went out to paint and learn. I did this first little demo for him, and then painted later in the day after he drove home. We have some possible weather developing and I love to be out trying to capture the skies when they're hot, unstable and active.


'Red Shed' oil, 6x8, © Marc R. Hanson '09



'Unstable Air' oil, 11x14, © Marc R. Hanson '09

Plein Air Boat progress

This is where my 'Plein Air Boat' is in it's life. Since I took these on Saturday, I've added another coat of resin, rounded off the bow gusset and have begun to sand. It is a drop away from being in the water. That drop contains hours and hours of sanding, priming and painting. People who do these sort of things will tell you that at this stage of a project like this, when you're 90% done, it's the last 10% that will take 90% of the total time. Finishing is always tougher than the initial construction. But it's the most satisfying part too.

My plan for this boat had it's genesis back in 2005. It's a 12' flat bottom rowing skiff with a reinforced stern for the use of either a small (1-2hp) outboard or a trolling motor. I purchased plans, epoxy, and assorted supplies including some very beautiful Meranti ( a mahogany ) marine grade plywood, and began work on it. Within a couple of days the basic boat was cut out and assembled. Then I moved and very little work has been done. Now I'm on course to launch this summer.

The idea was to use it to access shallow swampy areas in the backwaters of the Mississippi River near where I used to live. Canoes are too unstable to paint out of. Now I live in an area with hundreds of little lakes and ponds and the St. Croix River. With a small boat like this I'll be able to access views and locations that even a small fishing boat won't be able to go. Besides, it's fun to build. This would be good to paint out of, or to just get to small spits of land or sandbars to stand and paint on. I'm also looking forward to just taking it out for some exercise in the mornings on the river.

Back to a little "reality"?

Following my last post of the abstracts, I've been trying to bring myself back to some "reality". My reality is painting my surroundings. So that's what I did a few times this week. I'll confess that after a month of 5"x7" paintings, these 11x14's bring me a little apprehension. That's so weird because before my April project, 11x14 was a normal every day size for me to paint. Now I'm having to get used to all of those square inches of extra space. I will, just sharing.



'June On The Road' oil 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson '09
The late afternoon sky caught my interest in this one.


"Baba O'Riley" oil 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson '09
It was a beautiful night on the river Thursday, lot's of boaters on the water. Across the river on the sandbank were a couple of dozen teens playing at full blast (been there) the Whos' "Baba O'Riley", a huge hit with teens since it was released in 1971! Most of us probably know it as "Teenage Wasteland"!!! I found it a perfect song to be greeted by on arriving to paint. What a theme!

Letting go! Twice....

"Skynrd" 24x32 oil on linen © Marc R. Hanson 09
That title really was awful! This might not be much better but it's not so 'blaghhhhh!'


"Jazz" 20x30 oil on linen © Marc R. Hanson 09

Here's an exercise in doing something completely different than I normally do, just to give me perspective. In case you're wondering, I have a reason to do this besides that 'it's fun'. It's an incredible release for me. I am also trying to develop more of a heavier use of paint on my 'normal' work and this is an exercise in doing that. If I can apply 3/8" of paint on these and fill a canvas of this size in a half hour, I know that I can bring that quality to my other work that will only help. I'm always experimenting with technique, purpose, materials, pushing for something further. These are probably a step towards something else...?

#1
I walked into the studio today and said to myself "Marc, do something completely emotional, something that is not preconceived, something that lets your brain shut off and the intuitive side kick in." So I turned on some adrenaline pumping music from Lynrd Skynrd, one of my all time favorites, turned it up too, and let the sound of their music push my instinctive reactions to the music around on the linen. The song that I ended up repeating was 'Simple Man' one of my favorites of theirs. I was moving so fast that I lost track of what I was even doing. This was the most creatively exhilarating experience that I've had as a painter in a LONG time. I still have a huge smile on my face from the experience. IT was well worth using up a lot of odd paint that I don't normally use without any feeling that I'm doing something wrong or not good enough.

At the end of the half hour session I was sweating and basically took a deep breath and let out a 'WHEW!". The painting is a 24x32 inch stretched canvas painted in 30 minutes.

#2
Okay... now I'm having way too much fun! This one is a 20x30 inspired by Miles Davis's 'Kind of Blue' classic work. I like to listen to that era of jazz while working anyway so this was a great one to allow myself to become absorbed by. Seems that there is no end to those compositions, they move through aural space seemingly with no end in sight. Amorphous comes to mind. Again, painted in about a half an hour of pure energy.