Yule

North Shore Lighthouse

Spiltrock Lighthouse
is located on Lake Superior's north shore, a few miles north of Two Harbors Mn.

This light house is one of the most famous lighthouse on the Great Lakes.

I painted the scene with acrylics on an 11 x 14 canvas board.

North Shore of Lake Superior

Stone Water tower;

located in Gooseberry State Park

painted in acrylics

Prokudin-Gorskii's Color Photography

The current exhibition (September 28, 2009 – February 28, 2010) at The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis is Photographer to the Tsar: Revealing the Silk Road. The exhibit features the work of Sergei M. Prokudin-Gorskii. Prokudin-Gorskii was one of the pioneers of color photography. Between 1907 and 1915 he documented Russia's Central Asian territories and other regions of the Russian Empire.

My favorite photo in the exhibit is the Fabric Merchant of Samarkand. Sergei M. Prokudin-Gorskii used a special camera that made three black-and-white images through three separate color filters. The Library of Congress online exhibit The Empire That Was Russia describes this photographic process and shows examples of his work. The Library of Congress made digital color images from Prokudin-Gorskii's negatives.

images from the Library of Congress

conclave

I wish this would have come out clearer. Voica

Minneapolis Waterworks

I painted this picture in acrylics from a photo I shot in October of 2008. In Sept. 2009 I entered the painting In Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts Members Only Fall Show. I didn't win anything but It was a good experience

Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century

A couple of months ago I posted a Season 5 preview of Art21, a PBS TV show.

Here is where to watch Internet videos of past seasons of Art21: Art in the Twenty-First Century:

Art 21 Seasons 1-4

Below is the current Season 5 schedule for the next two weeks on TPT Channel 2 (St. Paul, MN):

Art in the Twenty-First Century: Fantasy
Wednesday, October 14, 11:00pm
Artists who mine the world of fantasy are featured.

Art in the Twenty-First Century: Fantasy
Thursday, October 15, 5:00am
Artists who mine the world of fantasy are featured.

Art in the Twenty-First Century: Transformation
Wednesday, October 21, 11:00pm
Artists who observe and satirize society are featured.

Art in the Twenty-First Century: Transformation
Thursday, October 22, 5:00am
Artists who observe and satirize society are featured.

NEW BRIGHTON HISTORIC DEPOT

I painted this picture from a photo I took last Spring in Ramsey Reginal Park . The building was moved to that location couple decades ago and then re stored

weary

Blog List & Links

I have added some local links and a Blog List to the sidebar.

The first entry on the Blog List is Urban Sketchers. Urban Sketchers is a network of artists around the world who draw the cities where they live and travel to. This is a really good blog that is regularly updated and has drawings by many different artists in a variety of styles.

Gooseberry Falls Old gift shop

My Cat Shelby

ART:21 Videos and TV Program

I recently checked some ART:21 DVD videos out of the library. These are collections of episodes from the PBS program about "Art in the Twenty-First Century" featuring a variety of artists. I have never seen this program on TV. I don't know whether it is shown here, but is worth watching for.

There are many brief videos from the program on YouTube. (Search for "Art: 21" for all of them or "Art:21 painting" for just a list of those about painting). Here is a Season 5 Preview (October 2009). This video is excerpted from the Season 5 episode "Fantasy," premiering on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 10pm (ET) on PBS (check local listings).

Mimi Sammis Video

This is a video about the joy of creating. It is an excerpt form a PBS art series, "Love to Paint with Mimi."

Apollo 11 Painting

This is a painting I did shortly after the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969. It is acrylic on a 22x28 canvas board.

Florence Court Apartments

This apartment complex is located at 1022 University Ave SE. Mpls, Mn

I have found this property interesting for many decades, and a couple months ago I desided to paint it. complex was built in 1886. style is said to be Queen Ann

Como Park Conservatory

sad

More Twin Cities Drawing Co-ops

Studio 510 Drawing Co-op

When: every Sunday, without exception, 2:00 to 5:00
Where: California Bldg at Mill City Cafe parking lot door
2205 California St. NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418

Types of poses: two-minute up to 25-minute
Types of Media allowed: nontoxic media only
Cost: $6

Easels, drawing boards, or benches available? Yes, and tables also.

Co-coordinator or contact: Florence Hill 612-782-0353 fhill510@aol.com

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Minneapolis Drawing Workshop

Drawing on Wednesdays
Activities:9-12 (Short poses)12:30-3:30 (One long pose each day)

Costs:10-week session prepayment is $100 for the morning or afternoon sessions, or $150 for both.The current 10-week session started onApril 8 and will continue through June 10.Drop-in rate is $15 each for morning or afternoon, or $20 for the whole day. Easels and drawing boards are supplied.

Location: Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art Studio 228250 Third Ave NMinneapolis, MN 55401
For more information, contact us.

MCAD Life Drawing Co-op

Monday nights
May 11 – Aug. 10.
7 to 9 p.m.
Room M109

Cost per session:
$5 for the general public
$4 for MCAD alumni, faculty and staff
no charge for MCAD degree-seeking students

The Sunday co-op will resume after Labor Day on September 14.

Please call Continuing Studies with any questions: (612) 874-3765.

These open drawing sessions focus on drawing from the live model. Drawing horses and easels are provided. While an MCAD staff member is present to facilitate the co-op, there is no instruction available.

Preview Dr. Sketchy's Twin Cities

More Info at: http://www.myspace.com/drsketchys_twincities

Where art class meets cabaret, Dr. Sketchy's will cure you of every boring art class you've ever been to.

The common view on life-drawing classes involves a silent room, a bored model, and no liquor in sight. From the mind of New York artist and burlesque performer Molly Crabapple comes Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, the cabaret life drawing party that has taken the hearts of hipsters from New York to Melbourne. A combination of performance, life-drawing sessions, amazingly complex costumes, and all the booze in town, Dr. Sketchy’s has become THE art event for all artist and awesome hipsters to attend. Of course we had no choice but to start our very own – Dr. Sketchy’s Twin Cities!

At any Dr. Sketchy's event you can grab a chair, a drink, and enjoy an eyeful of intriguingly clad and talented performance artists. We plan on getting only the hippest hosts and the coolest models with the weirdest careers-- burlesque girls, drag kings, roller derby girls, bodybuilders and sideshow freaks. Naturally as music runs hand in hand with inspiration, we’ll have good tunes. Dr. Sketchy’s also features irreverent drawing contests, where the lucky winner can win such prizes as booze or fancy trinkets from local retailers.

All scribblers, doodlers, cartoonists and Toulouse Lautrec wannabes are welcome. Come armed with sketchpads; dry drawing materials or simply a good sense of humor. Thankfully talent is not a pre requisite. In fact you can just stick to the drinking and enjoy the show if that’s your skill set. If Dr. Sketchy's doesn't cure what ails you, at least the booze will. As always, booze = 21 and up.

Fourth Sundays in the afternoon at the 331 Club, 331 13th Ave NE Minneapolis.
Admission $10. Registration recommended.

spirits

Minnesota Artist: Jean Leuthner

I saw an exhibit of Jean Leuthner's nostalgia paintings last month that I really enjoyed. These paintings were done from old photos and do a good job of maintaining a snapshot quality and capturing nostalgia without putting in too much detail. The look is kind of hazy like a memory or an old photo that isn't quite clear.

Jean Leuthner website

Watercolor Assignment -- Emil Nolde

These paintings were done for the "Emil Nolde" assignment in the watercolor course I took last fall. Some of Nolde's watercolor paintings were done on small pieces of slightly absorbent Japanese rice paper using very watery premixed paints. We looked at his paintings in the book Emil Nolde: Unpainted Pictures and then tried to create something similar.

I bought two different kinds of Japanese printmaking paper at Utrecht, also known as "rice paper" although it is not made of rice. The large sheets of paper were torn into quarters — the paper tears very nicely when it is folded and the crease is moistened with water. The bright colored paint was applied by pouring or with an eyedropper. This was done very experimentally. After I saw something I liked in the blotches of paint, I used black paint for the lines.

The top painting was based on a sunrise photo taken from my bedroom window. It was done on "Okawara Student" which was not really absorbent enough. The bottom painting was done on "Hosho" paper which is more absorbent and worked much better. For this I started with some random blotches but planned to make a face of some sort. The composition reminded me of a flower garden, so that is what it became.

When I was looking for information on Emil Nolde today, I found an interesting artist blog, Color Sweet Tooth blog, which has a post showing an example of watercolor progressions somewhat similar to what I was doing.

The Art of Kimmo Pälikkö

Kimmo Pälikkö is a Finnish artist. I discovered him when I saw a postcard of one of his paintings of lighthouses on the Wild Postcards blog (Note: my other blog is about postcards http://www.postcardy.blogspot.com/). Many of Pälikkö's paintings have been reproduced on postcards. According to Pälikkö's website "By 2009, over 1300 postcard motifs of his paintings have been produced and over 85 million postcards of his works have been printed."

There are many examples of his artwork online that can be viewed and/or purchased. What I especially liked about about his website are his books on watercolor painting techniques that can be read online in English.

Morris Miner woody

Cute English stationwagon

1214 Lowry Condo's/formerly Bremer School- North Mpls

Bremer school was built about 1870 in Mpls. on Lowry Ave No and Emerson Ave.

I find the architecture very interesting so I took photographs to refer to when painting this picture. While looking at my photos it seemed that the details I remembered of the top were missing, So I did some research and found the info I needed on the internet.
The building has been converted into condo's, and added to the National Register in the 1980's.
But unfortunitly stripped of some of it arhitectural detail.
This Painting reflects the way it appeared prior to 1940.

Vincent Van Gogh Gallery

The Vincent Van Gogh Gallery looks interesting, though I haven't had time to look at much of it.

Milwaukee Ave. Neighborhood Mpls south of Franklin ave

Painting of a couple railroad employee's houses. These were built before the turn of the last century. The dozen or more homes were renovated in the 1960's