September 3, 2010

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ANYONE FOLLOWING THIS MARATHON: I will be attending a wedding Saturday, September 4th and MAY NOT be able to paint. If I can't, I will make it up in the next couple of days. Hey... it's Labor Day weekend!!!

After a day of intermittent rain, wind and generally chilly weather, tonight turned out to be a beautiful one at 51ºF and almost no wind. I'll confess to being worried that I was going to freeze out there so I donned the long underwear, sweater and even gloves and headed down to the Interstate Park on the Minnesota side to paint the first piece of the night. It didn't disappoint.

* FYI* I have solved the blinding light situation!!! This is big news for anyone wanting to paint nocturnes. I've had a number of great suggestions from many of you, including what I will call the 'Pirate Solution'. That being a patch over one eye to "save" it for night vision. That one is a good idea but might get me locked into a twisted tangle of arms, legs, brushes and easel due to really bad coordination at night!

The solution was so simple... GET THE LIGHT HIGHER THAN YOUR VISION!!! This came to me this afternoon. Clamp a piece of wood (1/4"x1") in some way to your easel. I use an EasyL so all I need to do is use two small clamps and clamp it to the back side, the flanges that hold the panels in the back. The 'stick' is about 3' long. Then clamp your book light to that high enough to be out of your vision, but low enough to still illuminate the panel and palette. I wore a baseball cap so that the bill would block the light too. This worked better than I could have imagined. I could see the subject and still see the panel without being 'night blinded'.


9/3-1 'Taylors Falls Queen Rounding the Bend'
The painting tonight started just after sunset but before civil twilight and complete darkness. I was up so late last night that I wanted to end tonight a little earlier. And I also wanted to paint a 'naturally lit' setting for this one. About the time I was starting to block in the shapes and thinking "Okay, this is peaceful but a little bit boring"... a bright light appears down river at the first bend I can see. Suddenly I'm blinded by a spot light and realize it's the river boat 'Taylors Falls Queen' coming up river from one of it's nightly runs. PERFECT! That becomes the focal point of my otherwise empty scene. Taylors Falls has two of these boats, the TF Queen and the TF Princess that run regularly scheduled cruises including dinner cruises.


SOLD
9/3-2 'Weber in Waiting'
After the being on the river I came back to my house to see what I could see to paint. The skies tonight were brilliant, and tempting, with all of the stars showing! I resisted that temptation and found what I thought was an interesting scene right out my back porch. My Weber grill waiting to do it's magic. Mmmmmm....

September 2, 2010

Oh boy... it's a late one tonight! A delay to the start, for a good cause, and the temperature a pretty chilly version of September... 58ºF with a 10kt wind... and I'm finishing up past midnight tonight. NO BUGS!!! I live in a fairly small town, lightly populated area, so once the summer temps are gone, along with the summer visitors, and the temps get down to sweater weather the streets empty out long before the Ten O'Clock bell sounds. Because of that I don't head out into the rural areas and park on a deserted road with my book light shining; it's just not smart. You feel pretty much alone and vulnerable to anything or anyone in that situation. So tonight I went into the town of St.Croix Falls, WI on the other side of the river from Taylors Falls to paint off of their observation deck that overlooks the river and the power plant. The power plant went into service in about 1912, following the elimination of the white pine forests and the logging industry, using the river for power seemed like the next best way for the fat cats to make more money off of the abundant natural resource that had drawn man, first Americans and Europeans, to the area for centuries.


SOLD
9/2-1 'Dam Lights'
At one time this dam supplied the majority of the power requirements that St. Paul and Minneaopolis, MN had. I painted it for the April Marathon during the day and it makes an even more interesting subject at night.


9/2-2 'Taylors Falls from St Croix Falls'
Last week it was 90º and higher. Tonight I had on heavy long pants, three shirts, a sweater, a polar fleece and my toes were cold! After painting 'Dam Lights' I decided that all I wanted to do was to get #2 done and go home. So I just turned to my left and painted Taylors Falls as it appears from St Croix Falls. I actually really like this kind of painting, especially after the more controlled way that the first one had to be painted. It has an expressive aspect to it that I like.

September 1, 2010

So tonight I learned that what I should have done before starting this one was to approach the mosquito spray companies to see if they'd sponsor me. I'm going to be using sooo much of that stuff that their profits are going to go up and they should share them with me... it's only fair!

It didn't get dark as soon as I had expected, dashing my hopes of being inside and eating dinner by 9:30PM! But I was in by 10:20. I couldn't really start painting until almost 8:30. Before that I could still see light in the sky. In the future, I may decide that a nocturne is really "legal" at "Actual" sunset and not "Civil Twilight" a half hour later when it finally gets 'dark' dark.

Photographing these was as hard as it gets. I apologize for the glare.


9/1-1 "Old Jail B&B"
SOLD

Anyway, I went into downtown Taylors Falls and painted the Old Jail B&B. This was the sight of Taylors Falls first jail. It's always lit up nice and I have wanted to paint it at night for a while now, so I did. The owner came by with his bulldog named 'Jimmy Buffet'??? I have no idea why unless he likes Margaritas, he doesn't look like Jimmy Buffet and I didn't hear him sing anything either???


9/1-2 "Out Back"
SOLD

From there I went back up to my house, turned off all of the house lights and was treated to a beautiful starry night with the Big Dipper stage center out the back door. It's a pretty dark scene, as a lot of these might end up being, but I like the subtleties that show up in the light on the utility pole and the grass that is being cast by the street light across the road. Even had shooting stars helping me out. There must be a meteor shower, I saw a lot of them.

I discovered that to paint this kind of scene, a naturally lit scene, I have to turn the light on and off in order for my eyes to stay sensitive to the dark. Some have suggested using a red light, I used to do that as a pilot, but I wonder what that is like to paint under? Might try before this is over. But turning off the light worked out real well. I actually ended up just grabbing the light in my hand and blocking it out every once in awhile. When the light is on, I can't see anything of the subject. But when it's blocked or off, in a few seconds the eyes adjust and all of that beautiful subtle light is available for use.

This is where that crazy exercise that I teach in my classes, The Memory Exercise, comes into play. At last, everyone who I've made do that will actually have a reason to use it!!! Without being able to recall what I saw when the light was off, I could not have painted the second piece tonight.

'Side Swiped'

I'm busy getting supplies ready for tonight but took a quick trip out to paint. The color, and temps, right now are hard to resist.


'Side Swiped' oil-8x10 ©Marc R. Hanson'10
This is an old barn that has had it's siding taken for something useful I hope? It's an old one and looks strange with just the studs showing.

September 2010 Nocturne Painting Marathon!

Instead of the four paintings a day that I painted for the April Painting Marathon, I'm launching a Nocturne Painting Marathon during which I will be painting 2 nocturnes a night. I know... four paintings a day for 30 days... is a "real" marathon! I'm already feeling like a "lessor" version of myself! Still, two paintings a night, every night in addition to all of the other work I'll be doing ( a lot of September to November deadlines ahead of me), the beginning of the hunting season, a wedding to attend, a two day workshop to teach, and a few other assorted obligations (including the ones that you don't plan on that pop up)... all are sure to challenge my efforts.

"Why would I want to do this?" I have been asked? Because I like painting, a lot, and since the 2009 April Painting Marathon I have been asked a lot if I am going to do it again. I'm not one to want to repeat exactly something like that, a once in a lifetime experience. I don't even know if I could repeat that. But I did enjoy it immensely and have been thinking about what I might do next. I thought about one 30x40 a day for a month (just kidding).

I like painting nocturnes and find a certain expressive freedom in them that comes with the same sort of adrenaline rush that you can get from doing something like eating a wild mushroom for the first time... or putting an airplane into a spin or emergency maneuver for the first time. It's a rush!!!

The subjects are diverse, from natural moonlight to city/industrial to residential lit up scenes. Painting at least 60 of them in the next 30 days means I'll be looking for a lot of variety in the subjects I choose to paint. That is exciting all by itself.

I'LL POST EACH NIGHT'S PAINTINGS THE FOLLOWING MORNING IN MOST CASES. They'll probably also go onto my website, but this is where I'll write about them and what went on. People have asked if they're going to be for sale and the answer is 'YES'.

( I knew there would be things to add...) The paintings are all oil on canvas board and are 5"x7" or 7"x5". For the techies out there, These are Panelli Telati boards, canvas on hardboard, that I over prime with an oil/alkyd type primer. The one I used is no longer available so I would recommend trying an oil primer by Gamblin, Winsor and Newton, Utrecht, Studio Products, Williamsburg, etc.. I've used those too and would find them all good for what I'm doing with these panels.

Auction Info...

1) Below each painting will be a link that says "Click Here to Bid.". This will take you to the 'eBay' page where the paintings are listed for sale via the eBay auction system.

2) Each painting will be put up on a 1 (one) Day Auction for bids. Following the 1(one) Day Auction, they will come off of the market and will not be for sale.

3) The starting price of each painting is $150.00 and includes shipping and insurance to the USA, Canada and Europe. MN residents will be charged MN State Sales Tax. Payments accepted via PayPal.

4) If you purchase a painting it will need time to dry, be varnished and packaged. Following that and cleared payment, the paintings will be shipped promptly. I estimate that it will take approximately 3 weeks following the day the painting is painted for it to be ready to be packed and shipped.

5) I cannot "hold one for" you... "save a special day"... All of the paintings will be put up for a fair sale via the eBay Auction system and will be sold as per that.

Thank you... If I think of anything else I'll add to this post. Oh... This is going to be fun. :-)

The last of August for 2010!

I painted these two this weekend and another one, a 14x18, but that one is only blocked in and will need another trip out to finish. Hopefully soon.


'Swirling Light' oil-10x8 © Marc R. Hanson '10
We painted down on the St Croix in William O'Brien State Park after trying to paint further away in the open farmland. But the winds were such that it just made it not worth it to even set up. This park always offers some shelter from that kind of weather and it's along the river so it's cooler. The water on the river is so high, never have seen it as high in my brief time painting here. I hear that from those who have been here a long time however.


'Glorious Afternoon' oil-8x10 © Marc R. Hanson'10
Following an afternoon hiatus to escape the heat and allergies we moved up north of Taylors Falls for the afternoon/evening and found a beautiful location. I've probably painted 10-15 paintings along this one road in the past. But it still is always a place to find available subject matter.

September!