Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition 2009

This year the Fine Arts Department of the Minnesota State Fair received artwork from 2105 Minnesota artists with 382 pieces accepted and presented as the 98th Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition. The painting "Ewe Are My Resting Place", won Third Place Award in the Oil, Acrylic, and Mixed Media Class; and the Arden Hills/Shoreview International Rotary Club Award.

Grand Marais Plein Air Competition

North Shore is my favorite place to paint in MN -- fresh air, ever changing Lake Superior, lots of plein air painters, and no mosquitoes. 1. Tried a new technique with A Superior Tree. For three mornings started painting at 6:30 AM for about 90 minutes to get desired light. It placed 2nd in the Oil & Acrylic Class for this week's plein air event. 2. Three Fish Houses were on the historical list, but now there are only two. The third met its fate when a truck's breaks failed as it came hurling down the hill towards the fish site. A new light wooden structure stands is its place. 3. The Dinghy was painted during the 90 minute quick paint. 4. The actual dinghy can be seen in the background where I am cleaning up after the event in the Grand Marais harbor.

2009 Indivdual Artist Award

As one of four artists selected to receive the 2009 Individual Artist Award from the Central Minnesota Arts Board, entries for this competition were on display in the Mi Famiglia Restaurant for the June St. Cloud Art Crawl.

College of Saint Benedict Show

These three paintings were part of a show at the Benedicta Arts Center Gallery Lounge during January and February. They were painted from life with a group that meets twice a month to work from live models.

WAOW Show at Saks Galleries--Cheap Joe Award

First Attempt

This is the first portrait attempted by working from a photograph...alot more difficult than working from life, but then again it keeps the model in the same spot!

WAOW Show at Saks Galleries

These paintings were juried into the 2009 WAOW Show at Saks Galleries in Denver, Colorado.

The portrait was a delight to do. The little girl sat so patiently while being painted. The second painting was inspired after attending a pastel slide presentation by Albert Handel in Grand Marais, MN. He liked to use a watercolor wash as an under painting for the pastels. So I tried this method using oils instead to paint the huge boulders full of shapes and colors. The last painting was also a plein air painting done at Artist Point in Grand Marais. For the rocks a palette knife was used to quickly apply paint before the light changed. It is a real challenge to paint something in two hours.