Peace in the Studio...

'River's Silence' - oil - 18x36 - © Marc R. Hanson '10
A tranquil place... seems appropriate. ;-)

Concerning the evil flax situation... I've subdued the troublesome beast and saved it for another adventure by giving it a good scraping and wiping down, and then smothering it in a coat of good ol' lead carbonate! Off to the drying rack for it now!!!

Some day I'll give it a reprieve and subject it to another session of flailing hog hair bristles and pigment filled oil. In the meantime, I saved the drawing and have stretched up another, known... 'friendly'... woven flax, field of battle. I'm now in the process of taming the new foe and bringing victory to the studio!!! :-)

More to come...

A Piece of My Mind!!!

The view of Marc's burn pile... That linen won't get me again!!!

I'm sharing this with you because this is a demo... and this is part of the process...

Right now I'm sitting here contemplating a drastic move with this painting. I'll explain.

First a warning... DO NOT buy Frederix RIX oil primed linen! That is unless you want a nightmare on your hands.

I already know this, but I have almost 5 yds of this junk and thought that maybe I could make it work. It's one of those linens that was the 'best', when it was primed with lead. I don't know what it's primed with now specifically (some sort of titanium/oil primer), but it's not lead and it SUCKS.

The block in (lot's of opaque and transparent darks) that I painted on it yesterday has not dried, but it looks like a piece of board painted with flat black spray paint! Yet the paint isn't even close to dry or even setting up. This stuff sucks the oil right out of the paint.

~I can take my finger and wipe the pigment, pigment only mind you, right off of the surface!!!! ARRRRGGH!!! ~

Since 1988, I've used about 5 six yard rolls of it, when it was still primed with lead, and... except for the cost $$$$$$... loved it. It has one of the most beautiful weaves of any linen I've tried, and it's strong.

Because of the expense, I hadn't purchased it for a number of years. I finally broke down and purchased a roll last year, painted two paintings with it and thought that it was really difficult to see the paint on. The color kept sinking or changing on me. But I thought that I could 'out paint it' just by brute force and make the negative side of it a non factor, so that's what I stretched up for this egret painting.

Not so!

So... Now I'm faced with fighting this crap for the rest of this egret painting, or chucking it before it drives me nuts, and re-stretching something else to save my sanity... and this painting.

I think I'll go work out at the gym and think about it.

So how's your morning??? ;-)

Big Bird Demo

This will be my first painting using a bird as the primary subject in about 10 years! I have decided to post the steps along the way. In my mind, this is insane because it could be a total failure. Taking risks is what being an artist is all about however... So please join me in my 'risky business', painting a large bird, the Great Egret. I'm calling him 'Big Bird'. That keeps me away from my ornithologically geared past, and instead I have in mind the creative people on Sesame Street. ;-) They had so much fun, and I intend to also.


This first photo is of a couple of small color comps that I did mostly for placement, trying to decide if I wanted this egret front and center in the composition, or setting back into the picture plane. At first I thought that I wanted the bird to set back into the composition, to be more a part of the landscape, not a portrait. I was slightly hesitant to confront an egret that is about half life size on a 30"x40" canvas at first. But the more that I have thought and planned the more confidence I'm gaining in my ability to pull this off. My final composition is now closer to the sketch on the right and I'm happy with that placement.



Big Bird! (temporary title:)... 30x40 on RIX oil primed linen... First wash in just to map out placement.

Car Painting near Menomonie, WI

On Monday Kami and I found ourselves outside of Menomonie, WI, near Downsville, WI, in the middle of some beautiful winter light. We had planned to paint from the car and that turned out to be just the ticket. In the car we have some creature comforts that let us concentrate on painting and not survival skills to keep things from freezing. Both of us do enough of that already the way it is. Taking a break and having some music on the radio, some coffee or tea in the cups and some warmth is welcome to me. We had a great time and the results are below.


'Outside of Menomonie, WI' - 5x7 - gouache © Marc R. Hanson '10


'January Colors' - Oil on linen - 8x10 © Kami Polzin '10
A beautiful little study full of the rich color that we experienced.

And here we are...

Sarasota, FL Workshop

I am having a great time in Florida conducting a five day workshop. There is a lot to do and not too much time for the computer but I wanted to post a few pics of what is going on. First... it's colder than it should be here! We've been bundled up in layers, boots, gloves and looking for windbreaks constantly. M Gallery of Art is sponsoring the workshop and it's not a stretch to say that we are being treated in a Royal fashion with coffee, lunch and several dinners all provided for us by Maggie and her staff of eager helpers. They're spoiling us, truth be told. For now, here are a few samples of the experience.


This is the dynamic duo... Chad and Letty. Their counter parts in the feline world, Miss Ping and Mister Pong, a pair of Siamese cats, are more elusive and not on film... yet!


This is who Chad and Letty don't want in the neighborhood... Mr. Snack Attack! We saw this thing at Myakka. The part that you can see, eyes to snout, is about 12" or 13" long. They are telling me that if you multiply that length by 10 you can make a pretty good estimate of it's length... Yikes!


This is Florida??? Boots, hats and coats...


On Sunday we painted Natasha, a beautiful model. I wish that I had done her justice. Natasha is also the one who will get us anything we need while on location and we need a lot! :)


Today, looking for the perfect subject!!!


End of the day in Myakka River State Park on Saturday... GORGEOUS!

'Atotonilco Afternoon'

This is a new painting for our group show of San Miguel de Allende to be held at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Massachusetts. The show opens January 12, 2010 and runs through February 28th.

Atotonilco is a small quiet town about 6 miles from San Miguel de Allende. It is the site of one of the holiest sanctuaries in all of Mexico, Santuario de Atotonilco, the "Sistine Chapel" of Mexico as it is sometimes called. The day I was there with Frank Gardner, Ignat Ignatov, Colin Page and Scott Burdick, it seemed like a very quiet, dusty little village. I liked that and chose to portray a scene of daily life.


'Atotonilco Afternoon' - oil - 20x24 - © Marc R. Hanson '09


Detail...


'San Miguel de Allende Nocturne'- oil - 9x12 © Marc R. Hanson '09
I painted this one today as my second of two pieces for the Museum show. The first night we arrived in San Miguel, Frank and Julissa walked us into town, to the square, el Jardin. There was a party going on, not sure what it was about, but there were people in celebration everywhere. I knew that we were in a special place at that point. I did some picture taking and was captivated by the black shapes of these musicians. This isn't a large piece, but I am happy with that I stuck to my original concept. That was to paint the crowd designed as a large dark shape with a minimum of 'details' added and to still keep the spirit of that night in the painting. I am happy with the attempt to do that.

Now I'm done, this needs to dry, then framing, crating and shipping.

Christmas Show is Hanging!!!

I am SO proud of our upcoming 'First Annual Christmas Show' at 'Art In General' in Marine on St. Croix, MN! Tom Maakestad has graciously given this section of his space over to Kami Polzin and me as the exhibit area for our work during the show. Kami is showing in the neighborhood of 27 pieces and I have about 18 pieces hanging in this section of the space.






Anna Maakestad will be showing some of her ceramic art, like these absolutely gorgeous tiles in the picture.



Tom has a studio in another part of the space and is hanging his work in that area. At first we had thought that we would separate the work so that we would be seen individually by the visitors to the show. However, as we began to hang the show we realized that there is a harmony that exists between Kami's paintings and mine and that the best way was to intermingle our work. It works beautifully. WE are very, very excited about how it looks and can't wait to share it with everyone.



The is the first time that the four of us, who live within 30 miles or less of each other, have shown together other than at the Door County Plein Air Event last July. The second 'first' is that this is the first show that Tom and Anna Maakestad have held in this new venue of theirs. We are very grateful and proud to have been asked to be involved in it.



The third 'first' is that this will be the first time that Kami and I have exhibited solely together in one space. We paint together often so this is only a natural evolution of that. I'm thrilled to see our work hanging side by side, and I think that you will be too.



Tom and Anna will be working on hanging their art in the next day or so. I hope that anyone who is in this area can make it to the Opening Reception this Thursday night... December 10, 2009. We open at 5pm and will be there until 8pm. You won't be disappointed!