Full Bloom

The prairie is in full bloom! If anyone wants to come out for a prairie walk, let me know.

FYI - I will not be having my annual Fall show/sale at my studio this year. Instead I will be participating in the Fresh Art Fall Tour, down by Lake Pepin, WI. I will be a guest artist at Barbara McIlrath's studio. The dates are October 1,2,3, and I will be mailing out brochures in September. It is spectacular on the Mississippi River Bluffs at that time of year, I think it will be a fun event. If anyone is not sure if they are on my mailing list or if you want to be added, e-mail me your information. Thanks!

Sedge Wren Nest

I found this beautiful little sculpture next to a mowed trail in the prairie..... a sedge wren nest with three eggs. Unfortunately it has been abandoned because of the mowing - I hate that! But on the bright side, there are many other wrens nesting where a few years ago there was a cornfield. An old bur oak - 200 yrs. ? That I could see from my studio window has come down in a recent storm. This tree had been a favorite perch for many a raptor and song-bird; it will be sorely missed.

Barrow, Alaska

Charcoal on Paper

11 x 15

Ever since I returned from Alaska I have been playing around with charcoal, something I have never really used before. Thanks to friend Holly Swift for her help and to artist Kathy Hodge, kathyhodge.com, who I know only via internet and who generously gave me advice; there's more to it than I thought! Trying to find paper that feels right to me is my first task. I am wondering if this paper is too grainy....

I came across a concept that really struck me. In the Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard talks about Intimacy in Immensity - the possibility that a work (painting, poem, music, etc.) can induce a person to have the experience of vastness that feels in proportion to his/her inner expansiveness. Every time I read that I get tingly!

Prairie, two months after burn

The grasses are over my knees now and there are lots of buds forming on the flowers - I think it will be an amazing bloom. I have been going through my Alaska photos and bemoaning the fact that I did not take more. The camera gets between you and the experience; I was too busy looking, absorbing, feeling. I wish I had a video of the red phalarope spinning! And the landscape - I felt a strong resonance with my own inner scape, and I have been working on drawings of the tundra and pack ice. More reference would be good....

Starting July, I will be mentoring artist Emily Lynch for a year. This mentorship is funded by a grant from the Central Minnesota Arts Board. Check out Emily's great work on her new blog:

emily-lynch-artwork.blogspot.com. Emily is a wonderful artist and an enthusiastic, motivated person - I am sure I will get as much out of this year as she does!

Alaska

Two days before the summer solstice (which is tonight) found me across the arctic circle, at Point Barrow, the northern most spot in America. It was midnight with the full summer sun shining down, and a polar bear ambling towards us, about 200 yards out. It may have been my closest experience to the sublime.

photo 1 - I was with a great group of birders lead by fieldguides.com, a birding tour company that I highly recommend. Here we are looking out at the pack ice towards the North Pole.

photo 2 - Barrow landscape

photo 3 - Polar Bear

photo 4 - Long tail duck

" It is the transience of gale birds, their seeming frailty in the toils of wind and sea, that stirs me most. To see a lone petrel arc across some desolate reach of ocean, as fleeting as the spray blown from the wave crests, is to risk innumerable intuitions of mortal solitude and transcience, ones own swift passage towards the void." - Peter Matthiessen

Marsh

oil on board

6 x 8"

available

This is the view out my studio window, earlier this spring. On a day too cold to be out painting I stood inside and painted it in comfort. I won't be able to post for a couple of weeks.... I am going to Alaska! I am trying to have no preconceptions, but I am hoping to see lots of rare birds in breeding plumage; large, wild animals; and amazing landscapes.

Grain Tower, Bay City WI

oil on canvas

6 x 8

sold

I went to Chokio MN over the Memorial Day weekend. Chokio is my mother's home town, it is just a little west of Morris, MN, in the central farmlands. Along the way I studied and took photos of all the old grain towers that lie in the small towns along the rail road. I love the architecture and the simple shapes, the soft colors and the history. I have been thinking of doing a series of these buildings for a few years now, and this week I began doing small studies.

Frontenac Bluff Overlook

sold

I have been outside painting whenever possible, trying to find my "sea legs" after a stretch of working in my studio. It is so different/difficult working out-doors! But there is nothing like it. This is a painting I did last year down by Lake Pepin.

" There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or hands. I love a broad margin to my life." - Thoreau

Precisely!

Red Peony

oil on canvas

6 x 8

available

I have some hosta and peony paintings in a show at the Pepin Art and Design Center in Pepin, WI. The show runs from May 14 - June 17 . Have lunch or dinner at the Harbor View restaurant if you go, it's fantastic!

Prairie burning

Morels

I found these last week out in our woods, all under one tree! It has been a great morel spring, early warmth, not buggy, and enough rain. Wild ramps, asparagus, rhubarb and morels, how can anyone get any painting done? Oh, did I mention the warblers are back?

Before, After, During

We burned 30 acres of our prairie last night! It was a spur of the moment ordeal, there has been a burning ban on in our county as it has been so dry this spring. I called the local fire-chief and he said they could do it if they lifted the ban. It rained this weekend, and Wade the chief called Sunday to say the ban was off and they would come out Monday evening and burn it as a training session. The photos don't do it justice. I will post a video soon. The firefighters did a great job! Note the moon in the last photo. I look forward to seeing the prairie develop this summer, already this morning we have had killdeer and horned larks on the charred field.

Greater sage grouse mating ritual

Greater Sage Grouse

This is a photo of a Greater Sage Grouse hunkering down in the grass. I just uploaded my video of Sage Grouse displaying on the lek in northern Colorado, see it above.

Cow study

oil on canvas

12 x 16

available

I have been in Colorado this past week going to grouse leks and looking at birds and landscape. A lek is a patch of ground that a group of grouse will gather on to display and do their breeding rituals. I got a good video of Greater Sage Grouse strutting their stuff - it is too long for me to be able to post here, but I will try to upload it to youtube and post a link, it's pretty amazing what they do! I was fortunate to see Lesser Prairie Chickens and Gunnison Sage Grouse, both of which are endangered. The only down-side is the necessity of pre-dawn arrivals to the grounds, which made for very early wake-ups. The cow study is part on my on-going animal studies series. I used to work in clay a lot, and doing the burnt-umber sepia-tone painting reminded me of sculpting in terra-cotta. Often when I watch animals I feel as if they have an aura of calm surrounding them, something I rarely see in humans,

Pepin Bluffs

12" x 12"

oil on canvas

available

This is a piece I did last spring in April, of the Wisconsin Bluff lands by Lake Pepin. I am looking around and see the same palette of muted grey-purples and yellows. Spring is upon us and the yard work is demanding attention - we already have some vegetables in, which is earlier than usual. No complaints.

Auspicious Goats

sold

I have been doing animal studies for the past 6 months or so. I love the patterns on goats and their body shape and expression. Anyone who has spent time with goats knows how much personality they have!

(first stanza of) The Goat, by Umberto Saba

Ho parlato a una capra

Era sola sul prato, era legata.

Sazia d'erbe, bagnata

dalla pioggia, belava.

I have spoken with a goat.

She was alone in the meadow, tied to a post.

Satiated with grass and her coat

rain-sodden, she was bleating.

Why is this only thing I remember by heart after studying Italian for three years in college?

Fur-Peace

Fur-Peace

10" x 10"

jute on board

This is the piece I have in the "Foor-in-the-Door" show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts - artsmia.org/foot-in-the-door-4/ . Some of you may not have seen my fiber work, all made of baling twine that I collect, discarded from farms and ranches. It is now getting harder to find, as most hayers now use plastic "twine". If anyone comes across some of the natural jute, I could really use more. I love using recycled material.

I am starting the second year of the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas Project - mnbba.org. Any of you citizen-scientists who are interested in helping out and supporting conservation planning based on current, scientific information - they need volunteers! Check out the web-site. There are only 7 states that don't have this breeding bird information yet.

Cranes at Bosque Del Apache NWR

I leave tomorrow morning..... mixed feelings. Here is video I took with very cold hands early morning on my way down here. I stopped at the the Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande in New Mexico.

"The world is big, and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark." - John Muir

Cliffs, paint box

This is a small 6 x 8 oil paint study I did last week. The view is looking up at the cliffs just down the canyon from where I am staying in the Chiricahuas Mountains. I included a photo of the new paint box I am using and liking very much. It is only 9 x 7 x 2.5 and fully loaded weighs less than 5 lbs. I can sling it over my shoulder, have everything I need for two small studies, and hike back in areas that it is difficult to drag a bunch of painting equipment around.

" Above on either side tower sheer cliffs, topped by crenellated battlements and groups of slender columns, while yawning caves, arches, and windows have been carved into the stone by centuries of wind, rain, frost, and melted snow. The rock, called rhiolite, is of volcanic origin and glows with soft shades of orange, pink, yellow, and deep salmon as if it had been dabbed by a giant paint brush." - Weldon Heald, The Chiricahuas Sky Island

Sycamore trees

I have been walking through the canyons and looking up at the trees against the sky. Sycamore trees have creamy pale bark that stands out against the sky, and I have been doing many small watercolor negative-space studies of them. Negative space is the sky-space between the branches that makes abstract shapes, looking at this when working helps get you away from what you "think" you know about a tree, very freeing.

Also, The Foot-in the Door show is up at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, this is a once every ten year show open to any Minnesota artist. I have a piece in it, not a painting but a jute piece. It should be a fun show and I look forward to seeing it when I return.

Harris's Hawk, Dragoons

First I have to make a correction about a previous post. The Rock indian head is Geronimo, not Cochise. Sorry! The top photo here is a Harris's Hawk that has landed ever so delicately on top of a saguaro and is keeping it's wings out to "test" the air. I was at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson and I was fortunate to be there when they were doing a raptor demonstration. They let four Harris's Hawks fly; they are the only N. American accipiter that hunts cooperatively. It was an amazing thing to witness.

The second photo is of wild rock formations in the Dragoon Mountains where I went hiking last week. The hiking guide described them so: "The rock formations rise impressively as the trail climbs, resembling orderly stacks of tilted stone that were arranged by some forgotten giant."

Yesterday on my hike I saw a White-Nosed Coati in a tree - of course I did not have my camera!

"For the world is not to be narrowed till it will go into the understanding, but the understanding is to be expanded and opened till it can take in the image of the world."

- Francis Bacon

Granite Gap, Peloncillos

The last couple of hikes have taken me to the Peloncillos (little baldies) and Granite Gap. This is a beautiful desert/mountain area with exotic rock formations. Desert Bighorn Sheep have been re-introduced here. I ran into the New Mexico Bighorn Sheep biologist who was radio tracking some sheep and he said he found four babies. I hiked all over hoping to spot them but never did. I did see a Ringtail though, a small cat-like creature with a huge ringed bushy tail. Makes it seem as if I am in another country!

"To inquire into the intricacies of a distant landscape, then, is to provoke thoughts about one's own interior landscape, and the familiar landscapes of memory. The land urges us to come around to an understanding of ourselves."

- Barry Lopez

Arizona

After a brutal drive - freezing rain the second day and way too many consecutive hours sitting on my bum in the same position - I arrived to my little Arizona Cottage. Everyone asks me where I am, so: I am in the very southeast corner of AZ, in a tiny village called Portal, very close to Rodeo, NM, about 60 miles N. of Mexico. Because of the rough terrain, the sparse population, and the remoteness of the area, the illegal border traffic is becoming more of a problem. I spent three hours at a meeting last week with Border Patrol, local Police, politicians, and about 200 local people. I wanted to know more about the issue, living in Minnesota we are so removed from it.

The first photo is from a hike up to Silver Peak in the Chiricahuas. You don't see the head of Cochise on the way up, so on the descent is it quite a shock to look down and see this gigantic sculpture in front of you. The second photo is of a Javelina, or collared peccary. They are all over the village here, scavenging under bird feeders and such. Very cute!

Whippet Puppies

I was going to post a painting but after seeing my sister's two-day old whippet puppies (I should say her dog Helen's puppies) I knew I had to share them! 5 little multi-colored softies.

I am leaving this weekend for my annual southwest sojourn. I plan to keep blogging so check back for art/trip updates.

Short Eared Owl

oil on canvas

6 x 8

sold

The birdxbird benefit auction will be held on Saturday, February 6, from 6-9 pm at the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis. This is a great art event and benefit for the birds - check out www.birdxbird.org . Unfortunately I will not be able to attend, but I will be submitting this painting of a short eared owl. Two years ago I saw my first short eared owl in the winter at Carlos Avery State Wildlife Management Area, which is just north of Minneapolis.

They are amazing creatures that fly low over fields and sloughs in search of food. A beautiful thing, to be standing in the twilight, in the dense silence of winter, with a dozen stealthy flyers gracing the darkening air.

My sister, Mary Logue, will also have one of her wonderful hooked wool pieces. I hope you can check it out and help the birds!

White Lilacs

oil on canvas

11 x 14

sold

I have been busy with the "business" side of art - documenting, opportunity research, filing photos, looking into show possibilities for the upcoming year, and of course the perpetual studio organization. I am getting pieces ready for two shows - BirdXBird, and A Foot In the Door. I will post more about these shows soon, but for the meantime here is a painting that was in my home sale this Fall.

Burly Maple

oil on canvas

10 x 12

available

This is a painting I did out in our woods this Fall. It's hard to remember green and warmth after all the cold and snow we've had! On a good note, the cross country skiing has been superb, I was just out making trails through the prairie and enjoying all the animal tracks. We have seven red-winged blackbirds that have been hanging around - they should be way down south by now, and I worry about them in this sub-zero weather. I just added a new web-site to my list of sites I like - my friend Sue does wonderful nature photography, you can see her work at suecoller.com.

Blue Moon

I talked with a friend on the east coast the first day of the year, she was distraught because the moon had been obscured on New Year's eve. I thought I would post a couple photos I took of the "Blue Moon" from our farm that night.

Blue Moon: The second full moon occurring in a month.

New Year's resolution: Read more poetry!

Here are a few poems from the wonderful book The Ink Dark Moon, love poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan.

Watching the moon

at dawn,

solitary, mid-sky,

I knew myself completely,

no part left out. - Izumi Shikibu

Where

are you hurrying to?

You will see

the same moon tonight

wherever you go! - Izumi Shikibu

Nothing

in the world

is usual today.

This is

the first morning. - Izumi Shikibu

Prairie after Snow

I just returned from a hike through the prairie, it is beautiful with snow-caps on the grasses. Above is a photo I took. The other day I was out in the prairie looking across the tawny-ochre swatch on a still day. Something caught my eye and I looked but saw nothing. I kept looking and finally I detected very slight movement at the top of some grass, still I couldn't make anything out. Then two little tawny colored points poked up about an inch above the grass and I could make out the tips of Buck antlers! It held still for a few moments then the antlers slowly sunk out of sight.

This photo will have to fill in for the Holiday cards that I did not get out this year -

Happy Holidays to all and thank you all for your support through the year!

A photo, a painting, a poem

North Shore Rocks

oil on board

6 x 8

available

A photo of me painting at the North Shore of Lake Superior last month. Thank you my friend and fellow painter, Barbara McIlrath, for taking my photo unbeknownst to me. A small rock study I did of the shore, wet and dry rocks. And finally, a poem by my sister Mary. She has a beautiful new book of poetry out, published by Mid-List press. It's titled Hand Work.

Turner's Paintings

It's all about light,

how it glances off water,

gets caught up in mist,

careens around objects,

tumbles through clouds.

Yes, I know there are ships,

but they are only there

to give the light

reason.

Three Tide-Pools

10 x 10

oil on canvas

available

"What artists are peculiarly equipped to know because they experience it everyday in the studio; that is, no matter how skillfully and knowledgeably they organize... elements of a work - in painting these would be composition, imagery, color, space, drawing, brushwork - a picture will not necessarily catch fire, come alive".

- Fairfield Porter

Rocky Coast

8 x 8

oil on canvas

available

Here is another North Shore/Lake Superior piece that I did this Fall. I am very happy to report that our little screech owl is once again in its hole out in our woods (I posted a photo of it last Spring). This is the 5th year in a row now that it has made our woods its winter home.

Violet Tide-Pools

6 x 8

oil on canvas

available

I finally did some image scanning today and now have some of my North Shore pieces documented. I was really captivated by the tide pools, by their transience and luminosity against the rocks. The weather was cold and often windy out by the water so the work had to be done quickly, with a thermos of hot tea handy!

Peony V

6 x 8

oil on canvas

sold

I want to thank everyone who came to my Fall Show/Sale this past Sunday. In spite of not the best weather, we had a good turn-out and I hope a nice time was had by all. After preparing for the show for the past couple of weeks, today was spent circling around my studio, trying to figure out where I left off...

Barn and Field

oil on paper

6 x 8

sold

Just a reminder that our Fall show and sale is happening this Sunday at our farm in Delano, from 1 -5 pm. Everyone is welcome! My sister and niece will again have their wonderful botanical hand-dyed scarves, and my sister-in-law Lely will have beaded jewelry and other creations. Hope to see you there.

Peony with petals

6 x 8

oil on canvas

available

I am going up to the North Shore of Minnesota on Lake Superior for a week with some painter friends of mine. We have been discussing how to stay warm while painting outside, as the weather will most likely be in the low 40's, and we all are planning on gathering information from outdoors to inform our winter work. I just hope it doesn't snow!

Deep Woods

oil on canvas

6 x 8

available

This piece just got sent off to the Miniature Invitational show at the Accola Gallery. The show runs from October 6 - November 7.

Hosta Interior

15 x 24

oil on canvas

available

Save the Date!

My Fall show/sale will be happening on Sunday, October 25, from 1 - 5 pm.

My sister Mary and niece Juliette will again have their beautiful hand-dyed botanical scarves, and my sister-in-law Lely Beitner will have beaded jewelry and other beaded creations.

I will post more as the date draws nearer, everyone is invited.

The photo of this hosta painting looks really light on my computer. If it looks light on yours, in reality it is quite saturated. (I wasn't able to scan this like I usually do because of the size.)

My Prairie

8 x 16

oil on canvas

sold

What I want most

is to spring out of this personality,

then to sit apart from that leaping.

I've lived too long where I can be reached.

- Rumi