April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 26, 2009

A full day of rain made today a new challenge. I spent 3/4th’s of the painting time in the car, not an enjoyable way to work, but sometimes the only way to work. Painting one painting in the rain is, one thing. Painting all day in the rain, doesn’t make sense to me. I’d rather paint all day in the snow.


“St. Croix Falls D.Q.” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I was about to go get some flowers and fruit and make this an indoor painting day. Then I turned onto the main drag through St. Croix Falls, WI (across the river) and was immediately convinced to paint it.


“Green Shed” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I saw some pheasants in the ditch and stopped to watch them in a courtship display, two roosters and a hen making up the group. They did there thing, in... made new pheasants, and I stayed to paint.


“Red Boat Resting” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This little 12 foot boat was all alone on the beach and caught my eye as a willing subject. Usually about half way into the painting, the owner shows up and takes the boat out. I thought that I’d be safe today because of the rain.


“Curve” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The white surface of this canopy shelter lit up the hillside as I came to the curve in the road. Seemed like a good choice for the last one of the day.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 25, 2009

Today was a surprise! It was nice.


“Red Gates” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I’ve found a favorite painting road, another one, near by. Barns, yard ornaments and sheds all right next to the side of the road. It feels like you’re in the farmyard when you’re standing on the road painting. Today I noticed ‘red gates’ everywhere I looked. They’ve always been there and I know about them. But today they attracted me as subject matter or adornments to the main subject. Funny how that works, that you suddenly notice things that have always been around.



“Treeline Pasture” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Just a simple but beautiful piece of grazing land full of cows and sandhill cranes calling in the background. Farmers put together fence gates, place buildings and leave equipment around in ways that are incredibly beautiful arrangements that assume an ‘Organic Construction and Placement Patina”... that’s my phrase. You couldn’t purposefully place and weather a farmyard with such design if you tried. It’s just the by-product of a busy life, and it’s beautiful.



“Tape Fence” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a farm that’s on one of my main routes of travel between Taylors Falls and Center City, about 8 miles. Until a major crash of the injury variety, on rollerblades late last summer, I rollerskied this road nearly every day. The title refers to the electric tape fence that surrounds the pasture.



“Home Up There” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Kids of swings, 4th of July picnics, dogs barking... it reminds me of a place where those would be the norm, year in and year out. Very calming to see it.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 24, 2009

Okay, change of plans! My goal is 120 paintings for the month of April. Four per day worked up to last weekend when I had a three day workshop to conduct. I’ve been intending to slip in an extra one or two per day until the 12 missing paintings are made up. That hasn’t been going well. The days have been tough in general and I haven’t been able to fit in the extra ones. That was until today. Most of the day was perfect for painting with only the last couple of hours taking a turn for the worse. I’m in now because of rain and thunderstorms, but had a good day. Rather than wait to post these like I thought I would do, I’m going to post them as they’re done. So today there are seven paintings.



“ ’42 Chevy” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I found this beautiful old truck and had to paint it. The land owner was extremely kind and has given me permission to access his farm and his dad’s farm. He has a collection of ‘yard ornaments’ as he called them, including about 5 or 6 old, I mean really old as in a horse drawn road grader, tractors and things like that.


“Single Silo” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
After painting the truck, I turned to the left and saw this single old silo, no longer accompanied by a farm house, barn or any other buildings from the past. It’s still used and in good shape and the color of the surrounding trees made it an art form this morning.



“Friendly Old Dog” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a gold mine of yard ornaments! I was greeted by two dogs, a large hairy, burr ridden ‘friendly old dog’ and a yappy Boston Terrier. They both became my buds as I painted, but the old dog stayed and laid down under the tailgate of my truck while I worked. Once in awhile he’d get up, snuggle against my leg and offer me a paw for a shake. Nice dog.



“Distant Thunder” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The first sign of what was to come later happened around 3:00 pm or so. The sky all afternoon was the inspiration for nearly everything else that I painted. All I needed was a little bit of a foil to show it off, as in this one.



“ Leaves!” pastel 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a pastel! I might do more of these but the weather has to co-operate as in no heavy wind or rain. They’re actually more difficult to do at this size. My fingers are way too big and get in the way on these small ones.



“Little Water” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Driving along and who-o-aaa! I’ve driven this road a dozen times two times and never have seen this little creek. Maybe it’s the changes of the season showing me more, and the gray of the sky today. But this was beautiful. I didn’t spend too long on it, I thought that my day was about to be cut short.



“Barely Time” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The title refers to the impending storms. I had it all around me and the wind all over me but managed to finish and get home just before it all hit. Not really as bad as the forecasters said, but wet enough and plenty of lightening. Again, the sky.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 23, 2009

Today might be the day where I’d ask for a ‘gimme’, if that was an option. I can say for certain that this was the windiest day that I have ever painted in. I don’t know if the forecast gusts of 45mph were accurate, but I do know that today made the day when I painted the flags seem calm. There are no architectural pieces today, other than the distant farm buildings in one, because there was no way that I was going to be able to draw a straight line while constantly being blown off balance, confronting a tipping tripod or shaking paint box and brushes that were possessed! I write this as my daily reflection for interest, not to complain daily, though it might seem like that. But... remember yesterday’s comment... “Today was... peaceful!” I’ll take that again, thank you.


“Backwater” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The water is dropping along the St.Croix now. I thought that if I dropped down into William O’Brien State Park and the river’s edge I’d avoid the winds this morning that were picking up already. The trees broke the gusts somewhat.



“Dark Water” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
There was an eerie, hazy light today that blanketed every thing up here. If I can remember my weather from flight training, when you get these incredibly high winds a lot of debris like dirt and water vapor is taken up into the atmosphere and the result is almost like having a translucent shade covering the sun. If you’ve ever been outside during a solar eclipse and seen the weird light of one of those, you’ll understand the type of light today. Very similar. No strong shadows, forms somewhat dissolved, but lit.



“Greening” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Yes it is! This scene attracted me because of the very light value but warm sky and how fast forms cooled as they receded. Honestly, it’s the hay bales that caused me to stop.

“Darn Near Airborne” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The end of the day was the windiest period. I’m serious about being airborne too. I had my tripod legs splayed out to the point that they had about a 6 or 7 foot, foot print. I had to hold the easel with my hand the entire time that this one was painted. At one point the wind twisted the paint box in the tripod clamp and started to unscrew the adaptor that affixes to the bottom of the box and then is clamped into the tripod head. This scene is a great one and I’ll be going back when I can actually draw out the myriad of birch trees and this old cottonwood.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 22,2009

Today was... peaceful. I got a slow start today. First order of business was to mail my accepted painting to the OPA National Exhibition to be held at Sage Creek Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. A little change in plans about that too. I’ve been invited to give a public painting demonstration for the OPA conference on Saturday, May 2, along with four other painters. More on that in a few days when the official announcement is made by OPA.

I know I’ve posted this info before, but I keep getting questions about it. If you are not getting the Newsletter your email program might be rejecting it as Spam from time to time. If that happens, go into my website and “re-subscribe” again. I don’t have the time to do it for you. It happens often so check your email security and see if you can set it to allow my Newsletter to come through without being bumped. I’m not doing it, it’s your computers.

Also, people are still asking how to buy these paintings. Go to my website and to the Paintings page, then to the April Painting Marathon page. Open the images there to larger than thumbnails and they will have a PayPal buy now button... IF they are for sale. If not, then they’ve sold. The paintings are not for sale on my blog. Thanks.



“Freshly Plowed” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
As in... the farmer and tractor were getting closer to me the longer that I painted! This is my favorite white house from a totally new station point. I might find myself in their yard one of these days.



“CJ’s Bar and Grill” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I’ve never been in here, really, but I’ve driven past it a million times. This is sunny Palmdale, MN. The only thing in Palmdale is CJ’s, other than many farms and homes in the surrounding area. I don’t know what the geographic boundaries of Palmdale are, but if it’s all the country that I daily travel through and paint, it is beautiful. I have not seen any palms however.



“On The Balsam” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is one of my favorite places to be. I feel like I’m in a remote northern place away from all the noise and hustle of most other places no matter how small. This is a little get away. It was a mill between 1902 and 1944. The Kennedy Mill, as I’ve mentioned before during this project. Who ever was here early on either planted or didn’t cut down some extremely large, beautiful white pine trees with the branches that speak of ages of enduring. If I had my choice in trees to surround my life they would be... White Pine, Balsam Fir, Eastern hemlock and American Chestnut. A piece of land full of those four main species of trees and I’d feel like I was in heaven.



“Balsam End’ oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The end of a beautiful day in a beautiful place.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 21, 2009

Today’s theme is.... WIND!!! Gusts today pushing 35mph and sustained winds around 20 or so made the theme for the day a no brainer. I think that they were higher than that. I had laid my plastic lure box with about 15 large oil paint tubes in it on the gravel and the wind blew it about 2 feet across it. That’s a wind.

First, this eagle nest is just outside of town. Today the male was patrolling the grounds around the nest and seemed to be out intercepting a wandering Sandhill Crane. I took a lot of photos of this, one of the many marvels of nature that I encounter every day.






“Flailing Flags, Dancing Leaves” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is a playful painting. My attempt at painting my impression of what it was like to watch the US flag and the Minnesota state flag almost being whipped to shreds before my very eyes. They were whipping in ways that even a shutter speed of 2000 or more would have had a hard time stopping the action of.



“Shelter From The Wind” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Even the big old spruce were moving to the beat today! It’s obvious that farms are planned to be in a sheltered position from the prevailing winds. Or at least as time passes, the plantings are made to make that a reality. This one probably had a pretty calm center yard area with chickens busily enjoying the nice sunshine of the day. Meanwhile I was grappling with an easel that wanted to take off into the wild blue yonder!



“Wind Shear” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I wandered into the Interstate Park, Wisconsin side, after lunch to see if it was calmer in there. Was a little. I found this edge of grasses on the water’s edge and decided to focus in on it.



“Virga” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Virga is rain falling from clouds that never reaches the ground. I was in the middle of a potential torrential rainfall but because the wind and dry air near the earth’s surface caused any falling moisture to evaporate before hitting ‘me’, all I had to do was hold onto the side of my truck, easel and hat and paint like a mad man! No Problem!!!

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

(It would have actually been enjoyable to have done this marathon this year, 2010. The weather is SO much nicer...)

April 20, 2009

I would love to tell you how beautiful it was today. If you like Wind, Cold and Sleet, it was gorgeous! My portfolio for the day reflects what there was to deal with. It’s good to be back, but will be worlds better when this current front gets the heck out’a here.


“Ditch” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
As you can see... WE HAVE GREEN! Yipee!!! Once the sun returns, tomorrow or Wednesday, the color is going to be a riot to paint. Today was powerful. But this morning was just plain ‘hypothermia’ inducing chilly. The cows watched me as I painted this one.



“Noon Rain” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
By now it was blowing and raining so hard that I just pulled the truck over onto an easement and painted from the front seat. The photo of this is not very sharp, my apologies for that. I like the subtle shaft of light in the distance and that’s why this one was painted.



“Deer Stand” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Up here these are as common a sight as jungle gyms in suburbia are. There is a permanent stand in any good looking funnel or edge where the trees meet the open fields. Pretty big ones too.


“It’s Over” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I was ready for today to close. Truthfully, the weather was as brutal as it’s been all month. Not as cold, but just plain nasty today. I grabbed what little bit of color there was towards the end and made the most out of it.