I'm so inspired by the area I live in, and honestly never tire of looking at rural landscape.
One of my favorite illustrators/authors, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, said, "Pay attention to what you pay attention to." I paint what I pay attention to, and the above painting that I finished this morning, reflects that.
The annual VIVA Gallery Holiday market is happening November and December in my hometown of Viroqua. Lots of original art! Such a wonderful gallery and collection of artists.
Love this piece of oak savannah!
Last week I got to visit a stand of oaks in Kenosha county that I have enjoyed my entire life. Thankfully they are still standing, among a small patch of land, as the interstate and sprawl is all -consuming around them.
As a child, every time we passed these trees on the highway I would look so wistfully at them, as they were obviously hundreds of years old even then. It's amazing to me to imagine the prairie and oaks that laid like a blanket over the landscape, as it is now just a small patch.
I got out of the car to walk among the grass (off the parking lot of a mega grocery store), and the crickets and birds were singing.
Coming up soon. Hard to believe that I was among the first group of artists to start out this art fair in Ferryville so many years ago. The years have flown by. It's really one of the best shows around.....and it's an honor to be among so many fine artist friends all these years.
Driftless Soaring
Just finished this triptych this past week, plus two others. Working toward having things at the upcoming Winding Roads Art Tour and for the International Crane Foundation. It is an absolute thrill to make these. It can feel so clearly how everything that I have done in my life and everything has led me to bring this forward...all right here!
FINDING THE WAY HOME
Such a wonderful time of year to hear the Sandhill Cranes returning and flying overhead. I love and look forward to this sound every year. I finished this piece today, and I am so inspired to be making these. This is 11 x 14" and on a 1.5" deep canvas, ready to hang. It is primarily acrylic, but there are some other elements in it: colored pencil, mixed media, and some oil paint. It is covered with a gloss medium for archival quality and protection.
These images combine all my life experiences that have brought me to this point. When I painted this, I remembered long bike rides in Finland over bridges and across many lakes and grasslands. I loved to watch the waving grass take on so many colors and be reflected in the water. In Wisconsin, trips to Horicon Marsh and the International Crane Foundation inspire me every single time. My heart truly sings to see these birds.
Anyone who knows me is very aware of my love affair with all sorts of birds, but especially cranes. It's a great honor to have many of my bird prints and greeting cards at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI. I so admire the tremendous work that organization and their many volunteers have made in saving cranes from around the world. Here is a sample of some of my prints and cards that I will soon have listed on this site.
Getting Ready for the Winding Roads Art Tour coming up May 20th and 21st right here in my hometown of Viroqua. These smaller works have been popular, and they are probably some of my favorite to make. I plan to have many of them for sale.
So many other fine artists are a part of the show. You can learn more about it and see who will be participating: http://www.windingroadsart.com/
I've been making these 6 x 6 small paintings originals lately, on deep canvases about 2 inches thick. They will be available at the Driftless Art Festival coming up in September : http://driftlessareaartfestival.com/
I have such a good time painting these snow shadows, which are some of my favorite colors. This was really fun to complete and is based on the scene that was outside my studio where I used to live in Soldiers Grove, WI. This stream is in the watershed of the great Wisconsin River. We used to do volunteer water monitoring on it. I hope it remains a world class trout stream. I loved being around it in every season.
You can see other applications of this image on my Fine Art America site. Prints are available there, too.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/winter-harmony-diane-splinter.html
I'm so amazed by the beauty of Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world. Right here in my home state of Wisconsin! Anyone who has ever seen this lake cannot walk away without an experience of its presence.
I just finished this yesterday morning. 9 x 12 size on 140 lb. paper.
It's been quite fun posting more and more images on Fine Art America and connecting with people globally from that site. To be perfectly honest, at first it seemed a little "kitschy" (or cheesy - when in Wisconsin...) to see my work posted on shower curtains. But after VERY positive feedback from folks and customers on that site....I'm a convert and continue to post more and more to it.
Here's the link in case you want to see many of my forest scenes applied to shower curtains, with a money-back, satisfaction-or-your-money-back guarantee. http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/diane-splinter.html
All winter I continue to paint trees, as they continue to capture my imagination. Here's the latest from my creative zone. It's probably my favorite one of several, which I will more regularly post now!
So many people have asked me for prints of my work and to investigate less expensive ways to frame my work. I've been doing both. With regard to framing, often the frame can be more expensive than the original painting itself!
I've been researching this and have seen several prominent international watercolor painters using deep canvases and then treating the work with an archival and protective surface, after it is adhered to the canvas with conservational materials. No glass involved, no traditional frame, and the painting is UV protected, too! Plus it is protected from dust and surface dirt and a whole lot less expensive.
I tried this on four paintings. Super exciting. The fact that all four paintings sold as a grouping encourages me to keep going with this new method! The customer was glad to have the paintings "up close and personal" - just like an oil painting would be. And this new method provides has all the protection for UV rays and dirt - without the expense and a very contemporary look.
These are an example of the four that sold last week:
In getting ready for the Driftless Art show coming up in September in Soldiers Grove, WI this colorful fall scene emerged this week.
“I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree, or a yellow-birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines”
All winter I've been working on a series of birch tree and landscape paintings, many of which I've started to post on this (newer version) website. "Keeping an appointment with the trees" feels like a coming home statement to me.
When I was young I regularly sat beneath trees and communicated with them, quietly. These things I kept to myself. I kept up my visits with many trees in my life, returning to special ones in all the areas I lived. How rich it has made my life. All the simple gifts and rich treasures nature provides!
So every week this winter I've been keeping an appointment with the trees. It's been energizing and very fulfilling. My latest series is one of several birch landscapes, three of which are now complete.
