Two new larger paintings. One is Misna Ridge in Vernon County. I worked on this for a month or so on and off. I have been busy with commitments and spring happened so damn fast this year that this painting took on a life of it's own. I got stuck up on the ridge during a pretty potent thunderstorm in April and that is what the painting became. I hadn't been scared of a storm for a long time, and I figured what the hell, if I am going to die this is probably the best I can do. It took a long time to draw out what I wanted with this painting, and I actually liked that process best.
This other painting is done from memory of a day in March when the sky was ominous and the ice was melting on the Mississippi. This painting took a couple months and I worked thinner than I usually do, and in a more layering way. I think the painting ended up being denser, and I learned something. The abstracted stripped down root is what causes feeling for most people, and that isn't limited to painting. The only question for me generally is how much detail is important. How much drawing does one include, and because I can really draw, not to be seduced be that ability. Hopefully the painting conveys the idea.
