out to sea

Posting this saying that we have a death in the family and if I am not responding to things, just give me a little bit and I will be back. My apologies.

eclipse

Just painted these today on the Mississippi River in front of my house of the eclipse. It was like painting with sunglasses on.The vertical one is probably more accurate. Very brown.

Study and Painting

So this is how I work. Sometimes. One is the study from life. The other is the painting from my drawing. Sometimes I don't like using a study, because that gets in the way of how I picture it in my mind. This day I drove out quite a ways only to get a flat tire. Drove back on the spare to have my childhood friend fix the tire and make fun of me only in a way your lifelong friends can. So I missed the morning light and got stuck in the mid day heat on a flat dry boring day, hence it took me a long time to find something I wanted to paint. Very very frustrating at the time, but now just seems part of the process. It is all those struggles that show up in the long run. I truly believe all that ends up somehow in your work, because when I started painting I was definitely emotional and laser focused. Taking the easy most efficient path to me usually is boring and not very rewarding.

Tory Folliard Gallery

I don't do a very good job of presenting myself, except in paint I guess. Which is probably debatable. Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee represents me and this painting is currently there. I really like the painting and wanted to tell people it was available. However, it has sold already. They are top notch! You can still see it it is part of their summer show, which Katie and I are honored to participate in.

Trains

Trains from the salt plant in Miwaukee...

PBS

A few paintings from a recent trip home. A bar in Bayview, an engine in Waukesha and KK in Bayview. I am good enough to paint whatever I want, the hard part is making it my own and me. I think I am going to do a series on just bars. I like the dirty artist element and the historical nature of some of these places. I like to go to a bar and get myself out of the painting world, talk to different people and learn something. I think one reason Katie and I are successful is that we don't have an ego that prohibits us from going into small town places and talking with people. Or big city places. People are people, even in my hometown. In a rare announcement from me: PBS has filmed Katie and I in our studios and it is set to air late this month. I just wanted to let you know that I was informed today that the segment Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10 (Milwaukee PBS) put together about the two of us, will air for the first time on Friday May 19 at 7:30 pm on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10. It will be featured in a wonderful magazine program that is called “10thirtysix”. It will air again on Channel 10 on Sunday May 21 at 10:30 am, and on Monday May 22 11:30 pm. It will be made available at MilwaukeePBS.org a few days after the airing.

Life goes on

It is February,even my 92 year old grandma is getting restless. I am still painting away. Hopefully my role as an artist in this crazy world is to bring somebody joy.