Exciting news! Artist of the Day on Streamline Productions Facebook!

On this Thursday, May 21st at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, I am the featured Artist of the Day on Streamline Productions Facebook page.  Be sure to mark your calendar and tune in!  I will be there to answer any of your questions as the video progresses.  This video explains the charcoal pour process and then how to collage and paint a bird in watercolor.  Lots of design tips as well.  Hope you will be enticed to buy the video!
Here's the link to watch it:
https://www.facebook.com/StreamlineArtVideo/

Day 24: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Early Bird gets the Worm"      $99 SOLD
Image size:  11" z 15"     Watercolor, Charcoal, and Collage

I'm torn about painting landscapes or painting birds.  I love the process of painting birds, so I've been switching back and forth.  I've also been really wanting to do a total abstract painting lately, but I'm committed to finishing this 30 day challenge.  I'm finding it really hard to do this challenge this year, since I'm in Florida.  We've had lots of company, I taught a workshop one week, AND I got sick for a week.  Now, all that is behind me, but the nice weather keeps calling my name.  I'm loving my times at the beach or the pool.  It was easy to paint in MN when it was cold and snowing outside.  This is teaching me to be very organized and try to paint ahead.  I should do this more often.

Day 16: 30 Paintings in 30 Days!

"Favorite Meditation Spot"     $99   (SOLD)
11" x 12"         Watercolor and charcoal pour

I am playing catch up, after hosting our daughter and 2 granddaughters at our condo in FL for the past 3 days.  (Great time!)  When we were swimming in the pool, I floated on my back and it felt so good to just BE.  I think I'd like to make that a part of my every day routine.  Finding somewhere that is special to me to meditate.  When in MN, that place is the North Shore of Lake Superior, where the sound of the waves, lots of birch, pine trees, and great rocks make the perfect spot for me to get back to my soul.
This painting started with a charcoal pour, where I sprinkle ground charcoal on a paper and throw a huge bucket of water on the paper, which disperses the charcoal towards the outer edges with great force.  Below I have my start to this painting.  I could envision a landscape from this beginning. Using a credit card loaded with paint, I scraped in the markings on the birch trees.  It's a great technique.  This was a very limited palette, so that the charcoal markings could match the paint.  I used burnt sienna mixed with ultramarine blue.  At the end, I added a little raw sienna to warm up the painting.

Charcoal Pour Start

"Where the Heart is"  11" x 15"
$295    watercolor and charcoal

My heart tugs toward for country life, since I was raised on a ranch in Montana.  Whenever I paint a country scene, I want to go home to my family ranch.  This painting started as a charcoal pour.  This is a fun process where you prepare the paper using charcoal powder, and you actually throw a big bucket of water on the paper to make the charcoal powder do it's magic.  Below is the beginning of this painting.  I'm teaching Abstract Landscapes at Dillman's Resort, (4 day workshop in June 20 -- 23, 2016.) I will be demonstrating abstract landscapes on this Sunday, April 17th, at 3:30 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, MN 55343 (Suburb of Minneapolis). There will be many other demonstrations starting at 1:00. Come early and spend the day! This is a FREE event!