Some recent work from earlier this month.

This first group are field studies that were painted in early May in Sarasota, FL on a short weekend painting trip. We found that our cold northern blood is not so fond of the HOT midday of Gulf Coast Florida. So the painting was best in the morning or afternoon. The rest of the time we did a lot of looking and exploring. Including spending several hours at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. The grounds there are spectacular to see and to paint.

The last painting is now in Charleston, SC at Coleman Fine Art. It is a studio painting of one of the bridges at The Magnolia Plantation in Charleston. Another spectacular preserved garden, like the Ringling grounds, that is a treat to see and paint.


'Botanical Gardens' oil, 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson 2010


'Pair of Paired Palms' oil, 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
Try saying that 20 times fast!!! This was painted in Myakka River State Park. Alligators...need I say more?


'Lido Beach Park Trees' oil, 10x8 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
There many racoons here. One was next to where we were painting and it was particularly bothersome. It kept coming down from it's palm tree and towards us. Very nasty looking critter.


'Springtime Walk' oil, 18x24 © Marc R. Hanson 2010
Just a pleasant spring light on the subject... wanted to paint it. Not to mention all of the gentle color and textures.

Morel Woods

'Morel Woods' oil, 8x10 © Marc R. Hanson '10

I went to paint the woods behind my house this afternoon. About ten minutes in I found some morels and that was all it took to ruin a perfectly good intentioned day of gathering field studies. Instead my head was glued to the ground for 'mo' morels! I did find more, not a lot, but enough for a taste. More importantly I found out where they are and will be back to check again.

I did paint this little 8x10 study of the interior woodland. This is such an amazing area that I am realizing that it's going to be a never ending source of material for my work. I can see doing some very large scenes of the deep woods. It's almost entirely very large and old maple trees. The canopy is so thick that there is very little under story growth on the forest floor. A perfect hiking and exploring area. And painting area. There are a lot of bugs. Probably bears and according to many around here a possible cougar.

These pics are of the area and of the morels I found.

OPA Award of Excellence!

I am very happy and proud to announce that my painting "Sunday Morning Frost" has been given the "John Marion Pardy Landscape Award of Excellence' at the Oil Painters of America's (OPA) 19th Annual Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils held at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.

This award is a special one, established by the family of John Marion Pardy, who was a lover of all things outdoors, who instilled a love of the land in his family, and who had a great love of art and music, traditional oil painting in particular. The annual award was set up by his daughter as a way to honor her father and the gift of these loves that he passed on to her.

That's a very special story and makes me even more proud to have been the recipient of it.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 30, 2009

It’s over! I’m not happy about that. It’s been an incredible journey for me on several levels. The art of course, personal stamina and endurance (not to mention the organization question?), discovery of what is around me, a plethora of new subject matter that’s been here but that I haven’t taken stock of before this project. And finally to all of you who’ve emailed comments of support and encouragement, to those who’ve tried very hard to purchase one of these paintings, and of course to those of you who did purchase the paintings... My sincere and most humble ‘Thank You’.

There is a lot to write about all of this but I am going to take some time to let it all sink in and mature so that I can write my thoughts about the month with a little perspective.

A confession... Today I took the morning and went into the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to view the show “Noble Dreams and Simple Pleasures”, a show of American Masterworks from Minnesota Collections with Kami Polzin. She’s been hearing about the exhibit from her students and until then neither of us had. They all said that it was a great show, closing on Sunday and that it was a “must see”... and we hadn’t. That meant that I wouldn’t get home until this afternoon. So yesterday I painted a couple of extra paintings so that I’d have the four today, though two were painted yesterday. Well, it was worth it. The show had a number of paintings by Sargent, Tarbell, Inness, Chase, Glackens, Fournier, and many other important American painters.

My goal was met, other than I was not able to make up the days in the workshop. I made up three of those paintings, of the twelve. But, I managed to paint my rear off, I have no clothes left without paint on them, my car looks like it was painted by a maniac finger painter, Sargent the cat is so angry that I haven’t been around much that he’s stealing the avocados out of the cupboard and mauling them (crazy cat), there are flowers growing with the weeds from last year all around my house, my mother and my sons know that I’m alive... they just don’t know how or where, I get mail???... should open some, I have no good brushes left or paint, I used 2 gallons of Turpenoid, and I can’t stand the idea of not getting up tomorrow and heading out on another daily expedition.

I’m going to Santa Fe, but you know what I mean?

I thought hard about what to paint for the last paintings. What would be grand enough to end this month? Then I decided that the month started under a bridge with snow on the ground from the night before and an intimate scene of rocks and the snow. So I realized that the best finish to the month was to just do what I’d been doing each and every day so far. That is to go into my backyard ( Chisago County), keep my eyes open and paint what strikes me as magnificent and wonderful and is a sign of why it’s great to be alive again today!


“Little Shed” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I’m not sure why one little object stands out like this and makes me think it would be a good subject. However, that’s the kind of intuition as a painter that I try hard to listen to when it hits. My dad used to tell me that I had a different outlook as an artist. I wasn’t sure that was a good thing, but knowing him I knew that if he said that, it was probably a good thing. He had that kind of sense about most things and I tried to always listen and understand his ‘inner voice’ when he told me about it. My dad is the reason that I became an artist. He inspired me to love what I do.


“Stand” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
These trees, poplars?, are out in the middle of a field on an island of grass! It would be interesting to know ‘why’ they’re there. I’m glad they are, they’re interesting.


“Glorious Sky” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This afternoon was wonderful to watch. Fronts coming and going gave us nice clear air with broken clouds and blue skies until later when it completely clouded over. I caught this farm, one that I’ve painted before but not during this project, in the shadows of clouds with just a sliver of sun glancing across the fields and road. Very, very cool light.


“Little Lake Ending” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Little Lake was unknown to me before all of this began. It’s one of the jewels of discovery that has been my pleasure to realize. I’ve been here several times, mostly at the end of a day, where I always found the winding down of the day an interesting and beautiful experience to behold standing on the edge of Little Lake. Today was no exception.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 29, 2009

I had a stand in today... just couldn’t take it anymore! (I kid.)

Today was a ‘no complaints’ day even though there were the occasional sprinkles, it was easy to deal with. Light winds, but warm and great atmosphere. If I ever do this again, I’m calling it ‘Marc’s July Weather Report and Marathon’. But you know what? If you do anything outside every single day, the weather counts. Did you notice the month above, July? That would be another change in plans.


“Sherbert Morning” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The light this morning made me want some Rainbow Sherbert. It was that kind of color, light yellows, golds, oranges, pinks and greens, with the same clarity that that frozen delight has to it. It was warm enough to eat some too. Where’s the ice cream truck when you need it?


“Change Is Coming” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
After the Sherbert Morning, I turned around and it looked like the treat was melting! Steel gray skies in all directions meant that the rest of the day would be up for question. I loved the cool sky against this piece of native grassland and trees.



“Lonely Road” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
The skies kept looking more ominous as the day wore on today. Just looking up into this treeline with the one old farm building in it gave me a sense of being the only one within miles of anyone. There was no real noise other than Trumpeter swans, Sandhill cranes and geese flying around. Yet the color was soothing and nice.


“Life Aquatic” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I almost missed this little remnant of winter as I drove by it. I imagine it was all of about 10 or 12 feet across, yet it gave me the opportunity to watch those crazy little muskrats chasing each other around and doing the ‘muskrat love’ thing again. Maybe it’s spring fed, but it didn’t look more than ankle deep to me. I got rained on doing this one, the rain providing me with the second artist, the one that is supposed to tell you to stop before you ruin a painting. I probably would have gone to far if not for the rain.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 28, 2009

Bright blue skies, temps in the low 60’s... a good day. I’m really late tonight so am going to get right to the paintings.
I had some good news last weekend. The Oil Painters of America have asked me to do a demonstration painting on Saturday, May 2 in Santa Fe for the National Conference and Exhibit. The painters demonstrating are Me, Kevin Macpherson, Calvin Liang, John Michael Carter, Kenneth Cadwallader, and George Gallo. So I will be heading to Santa Fe on Friday for the weekend. A nice end to April’s Marathon.



“Backyard Boys” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
You’ve got your Bobcat, your John Deere combine, and your Dump Truck. If you’ve got all of that, where are you going to park it? In the backyard of course. There were enough parked vehicles on this property to give me about 50 painting options, at least.


“Cobalt Blue” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Every once in awhile you run across buildings with these blue shingles. I love them but wonder who it was that decided that cobalt blue shingles would be all the rage? As I was painting the owner of this farm ( who I did not know was the owner ) and another close by stopped and asked me why I was painting this barn. I said because it was “beautiful”! She then told me that it was her barn and we had a very nice talk about the history and property. I love to meet the land owners while painting. They’re always very appreciative of what I’m doing. There was a lot of stacked up wood in the pasture, which I had thought was old wood from barns or houses. She told me that was exactly what is is and it’s going to be sold in a sale over Memorial Day weekend. Sure would make some gorgeous furniture, interior trim or something like that. I’m sure that some of it is over a 100 yrs old, maybe even 150 yrs+. Lot’s of buildings around here.



“Milk Barn” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Another unique barn. The styles around here are endless. I love the doors on this one, barely still on the track. The light was smashing right into the face of this barn and is what caught my eye. Love that barn!



“Last Light” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Boy oh boy... I almost missed #4 tonight. I was meandering around the country side after painting Milk Barn and drove for quite a while before finally realizing I had better just stop and paint or it would be too late. This was a view off of the road near Taylors Falls and was painted in about 25 minutes just as the light did it’s ‘thing’ for me. Any earlier and it wasn’t interesting to me to paint. But when the color lit up, it was time.

April 2009 Painting Marathon Redux

April 27, 2009

Today dawned as a cold, gray, windy one. That lasted for at least half of the day but towards the end, the winds calmed down and the sun gave a little bit of warmth to my bones. I’ve had the greatest wildlife experiences this month. I’ve seen almost everything with fur or feathers performing a courtship display, eagles on the nest now with eaglets, muskrat ‘love’ (their little whistling/squeaking chase around the pond), and today a fox family, mom and about 4 or 5 kits chasing each other around an old hay barn. If this wasn’t Minnesota, I’d swear I’m in South Dakota for all of the pheasants I’ve seen. Very, very cool.


“A Minnesota Farm” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
This is so typical that it wins the title! Right off of the road for my pleasure. I met a little beagle while painting this, don’t know his name, but he sure liked my easel and truck.


“Old Hangar” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
Lot’s of farmers used to have an airplane on the farm. That was when an airplane could be purchased for a few thousand dollars. Not anymore. The pasture in front of this was probably an airstrip at one time for a Cub or small Cessna. If it was my land and hangar, it’d have one in it still, I hope.


“Black Willow” oil 5x7 © Marc R. Hanson 2009
I think that this is actually a black willow, but would need to get the tree book out to be sure. The title refers to how dark it was against all of that grass and cool gray background. I was going to call it Blue Wing Teal because two pair of them were in the little stream doing their own courtship ritual of bobbing heads and little two or three note whistles followed by the males bashing wings and beaks with each other.


“Tranquil Little Lake” oil 5x7 Marc R. Hanson 2009
Sometimes at the end of my day, following a bout with the weather gods, it’s nice to paint something that is calming. This is one of those places, Little Lake. I’ve done a couple of this place and will probably do more in the years to come.