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Portrait Class
I had the opportunity to take a portrait class with Bob Witte this week. Faces are not too difficult if you want to represent a generic human. However, individual faces grow distinct by the smallest of details. If you miss the distance between the eyes, you miss the individual.
Photo and monochrome painting In this class we used photo reference and transferred the crucial dimensions by first piercing the photo then transferring those points to watercolor paper. Then with care to the original lightly draw in the key features
Color rendering I’m working on a portrait of our granddaughter. I can post the progress because facial recognition will probably not recognize her.
Bob likes to work with multiple washes in a remarkable method that is both precise and yet free. This painting is about half way done. Stay tuned for the final versions of these portraits.
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Convergence
Between the Bluffs is a Plein Air event centered in La Crosse WI. It runs for two weeks each Fall, and on a Saturday there is a quick paint event. This year the quick paint was at the Friendship Gardens in Riverside Park.
My set up In this location three rivers converge: the La Crosse, the Black and the Mississippi. I wanted to capture the varied water at the convergence. In the front, the La Crosse water is calm, reflecting the opposite bank. That water meets the Black River, which all feeds into the Mississippi. At each place the water surface changes.
A little upstream The event lasts 3 hours, and so speed is important. I learned this time to aim to finish with enough time to make adjustments
My result needed a little extra time to finalize. It is a not so quick painting.
Convergence This is the final painting currently at River City Gallery in La Crosse until February 28.
Keep an eye out for this event, as there is a show with all the participating artists at Gallery 1802.
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Hawks Delight
ORA, Outdoor Recreation Association, has opened a new property in the West edge of La Crosse, on State Road. This farmland will be developed into a place for trails.
Painters with the Between the Bluffs event met here to paint together. It was fun to see what caught the eye of the dozen or so who participated. Some painted old farm structures, a derelict truck, and others the landscape.
My set up. I chose this field edged with trees. Greens and golds converge against the distant hill. Hawks cavorted high in the thermals. The sky was changed constantly.It was a brisk day, cool temps and a vigorous wind.
Dark clouds kept moving in. An artist came by to chat. He did not see any colors in the scene so he chose not to paint. I agree that the colors were muted, but I liked the shape of the field.
Note stormy clouds This was one of the works I submitted to the BTB show.
Look closely This month you can find it at River City Gallery.
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Elmaro
There is a Plein Air event at Trempeleau National Wildlife Reserve that includes an invitation to paint at Elmaro Vineyard which is nearby. Here is the poster for 2025
Last year it was raining, but we artists persisted either from the shelter of our cars, or by umbrella or canopy. Watercolor in the rain is a challenge, a fellow artist commented that the paint didn’t want to stop moving.
Artists along the Trail In June Elmaro has Sunday markets in the vineyard. So here is what I painted.
Elmaro The conditions couldn’t have been more different. Rainy and cold vs. sunny and dry. The painting is a vine just in leaf with no visible grape clusters. Grape vines develop character over time. That interacts with the structure provided in a commercial vineyard. You can see posts, wires and water lines.
All winemaking grapes are of varieties that are spliced onto native root stock. Each variety can be managed with different pruning and support configurations.
It is a fun event and people enjoy watching the process and asking questions.
In the act If you are an artist, feel free to contact me for information on how to participate in any of these events. Otherwise drop by and visit.
Rain or shine!
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Miller Bluff
Miller Bluff is to the north of Grandad’s Bluff and to the east of Myrick Marsh.
Miller Bluff I’ve painted this bluff a few times, only once or twice with success. How the show the variety of colors while not attempting to pain every tree and branch.
Backyard View Miller has less exposed limestone than its neighbors but has a goat meadow near the top.
This painting is from a patio behind the Nature Place at Myrick Park. The marsh was full of algae.
Miller Bluff Look closer to find the crane.
This work is at River City Gallery in La Crosse.
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Lansing View
Lansing View This is a view from Mt. Hosmer park outside of Lansing, Iowa. What caught my eye was the repeated horseshoe shape with the clouds, the reflection and the islands.
I’m wondering if it’s the current that forms the horseshoe shaped islands, as I’ve seen them before.
The Mississippi River was calm and reflective this day and captured the cirrus clouds.
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Pen or Brush
A fellow artist saw the Belgic Confession quote on my business card and said, “can you change letters to paint brushes?”
Belgic quote That is how I think of my art. For example this one from my display at River City Gallery.
Marsh Light This is a view from Trempeleau National Wildlife Reserve of the Mississippi River and Minnesota on the other side. I was struck by the yellows and blues of this late Winter scene.
I’m not a fan of words on top of pictures. I’d rather say, “look at this!”
This morning we came across another Two Book quote:
John Calvin, sixteenth-century theologian and reformer, wrote, “The creation is quite like a spacious and splendid house, provided and filled with the most exquisite and the most abundant furnishings. Everything in it tells us of God.”
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Breaking Light
Breaking Light The Friends of the Trempeleau National Wildlife Reserve hold a Plein Air event every June. There is time to sign up by March 1.
Part of the event involves displaying a dozen local artists at Elmaro Vineyards in the topic of the Reserve.
Jerry and I took a few walks in the early spring to take pictures. Morning light was the first painting from that project. Looking West towards bluffs on the Minnesota side of the Mississippi, the sun caught the water and reflected nicely through dormant golden yellow grasses.
I was trying to simplify the image in order to focus on the reflection.
I heard that a local university student from the American South said that the sun here is broken. On this day we found some ice on the water, so it was brisk. But properly wrapped up like Northerners it was a lovely sight.
It is also a reminder that our seasons are a result of the Earth’s orientation to the sun. Some have worshipped the sun, but it’s better seen as God’s servant to rule the days and seasons by its predetermined relationship to the earth. (Genesis 1)
This is currently on display at River City Gallery, Main Street La Crosse.
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Cliffwood Bluff
Between the Bluffs is an annual Plein Air event located in a 15 mile radius of downtown La Crosse. I first participated in 2023 and did a series of bluff paintings.
Straight West of our house is Cliffwood Bluff, a little brother to the more famous Granddad Bluff to its north. The bluffs on both side of the Mississippi River are the most prominent feature of the local geography.
Cliffwood Bluff This view is from a park near the base, on a day with threatening clouds. In fact I had to find shelter as I painted. Watercolor and rain do not coexist.
What we have learned by living on the flat land of the city is that we live on a flood plane, so the soil is very sandy and does not retain water well. Compost is our friend for gardening.
The limestone faces of the bluff change according to the light, this was painted at mid day. I used yellow ochre and burnt sienna for the limestone and a few greens that I mixed from the blues and yellows in my pallet. I have been working on using the three primary colors, adjusted for the season, plus a neutral gray and violet for shading
My Fall pallet I’d like to return during the evening golden hour to paint here again.
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At River City Gallery
I’ll be the featured artist in the La Cross Society of Arts and Crafts in January and February.
Lansing View 
Elmaro 
Marsh Light 
Hawk’s Delight 
Convergence 
Miller Bluff 
Breaking Light 
Cliffwood These are watercolors and available for purchase. On the First Friday of January and February, there will be refreshments and local artists from 4-7 pm. River City Gallery is a cooperative of local artists, located at 321 Main Street, La Crosse.
The theme is getting to know the region, since we moved here in 2022.
I’ll be commenting on each picture during January and February.
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Two Book Reflections 