Sunday October 3, 2010

'Doug's Kettle Korn' oil on canvas, 11x14 © Marc R. Hanson'10

I took part in the Wild Wings Fall Festival and Original Show in Lake City, MN this past Saturday and Sunday. I was asked to do a painting demonstration along with other demonstrations being done to help show the public the 'art' in action.

It was a beautiful fall day with the sun shining brightly, lighting up the surroundings. Doug Hase from Alexandria, MN runs a business who was a vendor at the Fall Festival, 'Doug's Kettle Korn', an he cooks up some mean kettle corn. I should mention too that Doug is a tall dude... guessing at least 6'4'? So his head was always up in the canopy of his tent.

The crowd watching had lot's of questions and kept me on my toes while trying to concentrate on pulling off a successful painting. I'm happy with it from many aspects, color, composition and being able to get it down all the while the models were moving and the light was changing. A great day.

Provincetown Gathering!

'Dinghies' pastel, 16x20
I'm about to make the trip to Provincetown, MA to paint with a distinguished group of very, very good artists; I'm proud to be included in the group. Last year we met in San Miguel de Allende, hosted by Frank Gardner who lives there and his lovely wife Julie. This year we are sticking to the US and are close to where the shows for these gatherings are held in January and February...

Addison Art Gallery in Orleans, MA.

1. Paul Schulenburg
2. Frank Gardner
3. Jeff Bonasia
4. Eric Merrell
5. Ernesto Nemesio
6. Ignat Ignatov
7. Jeremey Lipking
8. Jerome Greene
9. Logan Hagege
10. Marc Hanson
11. Dan Corey
12. Rick Casali
13. Stapleton Kearns
14. Sam Vokey
15. Colin Page
16. James Coe
17. Michael Klein
18. Ian Factor

There will be a 'Wet Paint' exhibit of a couple of new pieces by each artist from the trip-

Saturday, October 16
5:30 -7:30 Creative Convergence: Fresh Paint from Cape Cod
This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico will be exhibiting the work from their October, 2010 trip to our country’s oldest art colony and the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. We invite you to meet them and discover their own interpretations of this place and its people.
The Addison Art Gallery is open year round with regularly changing shows. We are currently open most days from 10 to 5:30, Sundays from 11 to 3. Tuesday and Wednesdays we are open by chance and by appointment.

Then several events around the trip at Addison Art Gallery in January and February-

2011
January 15 through
February 28
Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico decided to meet in Provincetown, our country’s oldest art colony, and to explore Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. Like other artists who have been drawn here for over 100 years, they came to be inspired by the landscape, the light, the sea, our communities and each other.


Sunday, January 16
2:00 pm Artists’ Talk: Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Saturday, February 12
5:30 -7:30 Reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
We invite you to meet this renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico at the Addison Art Gallery. We will be exhibiting the work from their trip to Provincetown, our country’s oldest, continuously operating art colony, and their explorations of Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. We invite you to discover their individual interpretations of this place and its people.

Friday,February 18
3:00 pm Artists’ Talk: Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Friday,February 18
5:30 - 7:30 pm Museum reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
at the Cape Cod Museum of Art
60 Hope Lane, off Route 6A, Dennis

Saturday,February 19
5:30 - 7:30 pm Reception for Creative Convergence: Cape Cod
This renowned group of artists from across the United States and Mexico decided to meet in Provincetown, our country’s oldest art colony, and to explore Cape Cod, the region that inspired Charles Hawthorne, Edward Hopper and Henry David Thoreau. Like other artists who have been drawn here for over 100 years, they came to be inspired by the landscape, the light, the sea, our communities and each other. We invite you to discover their own interpretations of this place and its people.

September 29, 2010 ... The End of the September Nocturnes.

My nocturne painting adventure ended two nights short and with more adrenaline coursing through my body than I needed! Im fine, no injuries to anything other than a deer and my truck.

Last night I was on my way from Stillwater up to Marine on the St. Croix to set up for some nice painting in the quaint little village of Marine. About 4 miles north of Stillwater I was intercepted by a young 7 or 8 point whitetail deer buck who came at an angle from my back left side and made a direct line for the front of my truck. I know not to try to miss them, that leads to ditches or worse, like a serious encounter with oncoming traffic. So I hit the brakes and kept it on a straight track, couldn't stop in time and caught the buck's hind quarters with my front right quarter.

The impact was so loud that a nearby resident came down on an ATV to see if there had been a head on collision. He said he was in his front yard on a nearby hill and it sounded like an explosion! Unfortunately the deer was seriously wounded and the on the scene state trooper and sheriff deputy had to dispatch the deer. Some people from the area stopped, to see if there was the possibility of free deer meat I'm sure, and asked if they could tag the meat. I said sure, the trooper gave me the appropriate DNR Car Kill Possession slip needed, and the people loaded the animal up and were off. So despite it all, some good came of this because I think that they probably get a lot of their meat this way and need it. Not for me, but good for them.

This ends my nocturnes for the month. I have a rental car for now and I AM NOT TAKING IT OUT ON THE ROADS ANYWHERE NEAR DUSK, DARK OR DAWN!!! :)

But... Here's my plan... I'm going to be painting in Provincetown, MA for about 8 or 9 days coming up shortly. I plan to paint some more 5"x7" nocturnes there, and some daylight pieces that are the same size and am going to keep posting here and on eBay if I can take some decent photos of them.

Same plan in terms of the eBay details. If you're interested in following any of those, stay tuned to the blog in the upcoming couple of weeks.

Tonight I'm going to get caught up on some bookwork, equipment preparing for the trip and that sort of thing.

Then I'm going to open a good bottle of red wine and enjoy a nice peaceful dinner and evening without the drama of last evening in thought.

I'm also going to try to catch up on blog replies. A HUGE Thank YOU to all of you who've followed my progress this month, and to all of you who purchased the paintings from the September Nocturne Marathon. I'll write up some thoughts on it soon.

September 28, 2010

Only one painting tonight. I drove too much trying to find a subject to paint. It's very dark, inky, until the moon is up and that happens too late now. I painted this location for my April Marathon too. So it's a revisit to CJ's...

4/22/2009-2 'CJ's Bar and Grill'




Click Here to Bid.
9/28 'CJ's'
I still haven't had a burger at CJ's! I'm always busy painting it. CJ's is on Hwy 95 north of Taylors Falls, almost to Almelund on the way to North Branch. I hear that the burgers are good. Some more orange light, can't get away from it. A quaint place to paint, I enjoyed the time in their parking lot.

September 27, 2010

Busy... Just never quite had the time to get these up yesterday!!!

The first one is 'legal' by my definition, but it sure was bright out even after the sun was down below the horizon. So I'm fudging a little bit by calling this a nocturne, it's not by color scheme, but is by my guidelines for this project. The next project might be titled "Twilight Marathon"! That's the time to paint, the magical short 30 minutes when the subtleties in the color explode with their softness. Soft but powerful!

The moon is rising so late now that for me it's not an option to wait for it. I need to be finished up around 10 p.m. or my truck turns into a gallon can of Turpentine and I'm stuck 'till morning! Besides, that makes for a full enough day as it is.

My objective has been to not be driving all over the country side during this project, and with a few exceptions, I've stuck pretty close to home. I will admit to approaching "local subject matter" burn out. The moon was great while it was up and around. But I'm getting tired of painting white buildings orange, because of these street lights we have now. In fact, I'm tempted to lobby, someone, to either turn them off or get some cooler kind of bulbs!!! They are not artistically inspiring to me anymore. I wonder if I wore some blue shades things would balance out? Hmmmm...


Click Here to Bid.
9/27-1 'Twilight Palette'
Well... Saw it and like it! I'm beginning to become starved for light value color... that isn't yellow or orange. I've already talked a lot about how nice it is to paint at this time of the day, so I won't bore you with more of that. While painting this one there were pheasant roosters ( I grew up with roots in South Dakota and it's hard for me not to call the roosters 'cocks' because that is what they were Always called when hunting them ) were cackling and making short flights all around me and in this marsh area that is just barely shown in the painting. I am tempted to see if the property owner hunts this or allows anyone to do that. I can see it as a great place to hone my archery skills on pheasants in flight. In case anyone thinks that's cruel, believe me the cedar arrow Flu-Flus launched out of my long bow at a flushing 'rooster' pheasant out number the roosters bagged by about 25 to 1 in my case. Sure is fun though!



Click Here to Bid.
9/27-2 'Fuel Stop'
No moon, and this is about the most interesting structure on the main drag in Taylors Falls, with lights on past 8:30 p.m. that I hadn't painted yet. There is the Drive-In, which I would love to paint but it closes right at dark, shutting down the lighted root beer mug and car hop area, a church which doesn't light up very often (services every other week), several very nice little homes from the 19th century too but nearly always dark by the time I'm ready to paint them. So tonight I painted the gas station that has recently been remodled into something called a 'Adium'??? Strange word... I always want to say 'StAdium'. I know I'm ready for some daylight because the last two paintings of this type of subject matter have really taken me a long time, comparatively speaking, to finish. And I'm running out of orange, red and yellow!!! ;)

Nocturnes back on eBay!!!

I had a very good experience in talking to a customer service rep at eBay today and my limit to selling is now increased to the point where there shouldn't be anymore interruptions in the listing process.

There are 3 new nocturnes now listed with the "Click Here to Bid" buttons active again.

Thanks for your patience.

Marc

September 26, 2010

A good night. For the artists out there, I just had to change batteries in the Might Bright LED book light tonight, the first time since beginning this project 26 days ago! The light still wasn't out, but was dimming. That's pretty impressive. Twenty six sessions of about 2.5 hours...65 hours of light!!! That's amazing to me because the other light I used with the color balanced fluorescent bulb would use 4 batteries about every 2 or 3 hours.

I was in the Interstate Park for the first one. I have a question... Is there a school out there that teaches the two questions that almost everyone who walks up behind me asks?

1- "Are you an artist, are you painting?"... Easel is up, brushes in my hand, paint all over the palette, paint brush with paint is on the canvas...
2-Remember, they're behind me looking at my painting and what I'm painting... "What are you painting?"

Tonight the last people in the park, besides me, were rock climbers. A young lady clinging and clanging from all of the climbing gear hanging from her body came up and asked me both questions. To answer her first one I said "Yes...Are you a climber?" She stretches out a big grin and says "Why yes I am!".

To answer the second question, I just pointed out in front of me.
Either I'm not doing a very good job, one that she can recognize, or she took the course... I just don't know!!!

Just to let you know how this is affecting me... I see nothing odd anymore about sitting outside in my plastic Adirondack chair with a beverage in hand, in the pitch black, no fire in the pit, frost or very cold moisture on the chair, with about 4 layers of clothes and a pair of gloves on... and watching life go by my back yard as if it were 3:00 in the afternoon on a nice warm Saturday in July!!!


9/26-1 'Twilight In The Park'
There was some beautiful color happening in that canyon last night when the sun finally went below the western horizon. The canyon gets dark early, but then it bounces color around for quite a while after sunset. The palette tonight was gorgeous with magentas, ceruleans, mossy greens, and grayer versions of all of that. What a treat!


9/26-2 'Moon Beam'
I walked across to the north side of Hwy 8, across the road from the park, and set up to paint the moon rising over the hills of the Wisconsin side of the St Croix. This view is looking up towards the St Croix Falls power dam that I painte earlier in September. The orange/red glow to the left center are the lights from the dam. I checked the charts and knew that the moon would be rising about 8:18. What I didn't think about is that down in the river canyon the rise wouldn't pop over the top of the bluffs then, not until about 9:10 did it show up. Well it was worth the wait. Nice calm, fairly warm night to sit and watch stars until it was time to paint.