hook painting

    In the house I am doing something and as my eyes turn from here to there, they fall on the front of my shirt, and I stop to stare. From the window a patch of light rests there and it flickers for my benefit. A thought comes to mind and I whisper the words as a reply to the flicker: "I see you, God."

    That was how it was that Monday in November. Out looking for a subject to paint along Moss Creek. Some leaves were still fastened to the highest limbs. Bundled up warm in my insulated overalls, my feet walked along the edge of the wood over the cold ground, eyes taking in the textures, flicks of color, branches darkened by shadow

Halting. Observing where lined branches came to their end next to the blue sky. Listening to the stillness, the creak of branches, regarding a cheery rustle above me. Seeing many cottonwood leaves, but only a small cluster of them were fluttering. The thought came and my lips replied with a kind whisper: "I see you, God." I felt the smile grow at the corners of my mouth. Tears began to release. The motion of yellow was like the motion of firelight among coals, like that of a burning bush. The reference came and I understood. With a nod, the moment was not lost on me.

   Tiny chik chik chik sounds. I listened and turned. In a thick fence row I saw the silhouette of two birds hopping about. I regarded the delicate fluster, the breeze, the calm, the cold on my cheeks, the fresh sunlight. I would later write down in my journal, that the yellow suspended leaves were a pattern in the air, a pattern in motion, the presence of Christ. So here I was, walking, listening, being still. The subject I sought was not "a tree" or "the water" or "the sky."  I was there, drinking in Your Photoshop of complexity, Jesus. Reeds lay over curled lines, a forest of blonde blades, layer upon layer of bizarre otherworldly shapes in a strange composition, full of imagination, intention, and architecture. Whew! Where to begin? How to render? Those patterns were a vocabulary beyond what I was familiar with.

    I had been there since 8:30 that morning. First, surveying the west side. Then driving out and around to prowl on the east side. My notes indicate I was ready to call it a day at 9:20. I climbed back in the pickup. And drove slowly, reluctant to give up. And then, at 9:40, I SAW  IT !!!!!! (Double click on right sketch to enlarge.)

A close dark trunk and a distant lit up tree trunk reflected in the water. There was dark shadows in the foreground from which to practice. A branch that was both dark and light.

I would turn what I observed into ABSTRACTed components, patterns, dashes, contrasts, worked over and locked in this manner. The row of trees on the opposite bank would become feathery, like a mist, like a watercolor wash. Yes, that caught my senses. I jumped out of the truck and began setting up the easel and paint supplies. Energy rose in me. Work commenced and concluded after three and a half hours.

Details from finished work.

Afterwards,
after the paint dried, and the pigments were varnished, LATER ---- I would DELIGHT and REGARD this vocabulary, this juxtaposition, Your closeness to me, the way You come and remind me that I belong to You. You have made me become one of Yours, Jesus.

  First of three. Eighteen minutes.

See progression of painting, below.

 

Between these, COMPARE what areas were changed.

POINT to all the places you see one color used.

     Second of three. Twenty-eight minutes.

(Note---- In the first video from the seven-minute marker on, you can notice something small flit about in a dot-dash motion. It shows up against the back of me painting. It also showed up for the first half of the second video. I had not noticed it before. In keeping with this post, I believe the camera observed and caught "the flicker." With a smile and a chuckle, regarding this activity: "Thank You. I see You, God.")


Third of three. Twenty-four minutes.

Hook by Karl Marxhausen, 40 by 30 inches, acrylic on canvas, plein air 100 %, November 2015. Double click to see enlarged.

That work was a candidate entry for the 20th Annual Heartland exhibit. I will know in the next few weeks whether this and two other works were accepted for the March show.

moss creek basin

     The temperature had dropped to 30 degrees Friday morning, October 16th. I arose, dressed warm, loaded supplies in the truck and drove out to see if I could paint in the cold. I had on insulated overalls, layers and layers of shirts, and my bright orange vest. My confidence level had risen. The Lord had strengthened me to TRY this in faith. And I did.

    On the corner of Highway 10 and County Road # 211 I could see across the length of Moss Creek. After having practiced the routine of starting fresh this large in my own yard, it was a thrill to do it at my favorite location. See next photo.

    From the back of my pickup I pulled a factory-sealed canvas measuring 30 by 40 inches. After opening and disposing the wrapping I edged the sides with blue painter's tape. Though the view was wide and horizontal I chose a vertical format.

The foliage from either side of the basin dipped down in a great U-shape at my feet and was completely in shadow when I first got there. I wanted to keep that in the painting. My focal point was the silhouette of a lone bush in the lower center of the U-shape.

.
Twenty minutes. Double click on image to see enlarged.

     With lots of sunshine, the temp climbed to 46 degrees. Soon I worked on the sky and the light orange above the horizon. I pushed the west and southern banks back into the distance. I wanted a large body of water with the hint of trees. Lord willing, this piece would draw me back to the area.

   At 9:30 am, roughly half way through the painting, a combine driver stepped out of his cab and told me to park my truck off the road on the grass. That would give grain trucks more space to make their turn onto Highway 10. We checked and found a level spot. I parked the truck out of the way. Carroll County, in which Moss Creek was located, was in the middle of the fall harvest.

.
Forty minutes.

    There was traffic on the rural highway, the sound of passing trains, and a number of pickups kicked up dust, coming and going on the gravel road. One pulled along side and two men walked over to view the activity. Was the back-lit shadow on the canvas a distraction for me? No, I replied. I paid no attention to it. What about the dead limbs in the water and the tall broadcast antenna on the far shore? Was I going to include them in the painting? I wanted to keep the design simple, I explained. Something to help build my confidence. Then I showed him a pond study,next.

In which I ignored the young saplings standing in the water and did not paint them-- to see what the painting would look like that way. The surface of that pond was covered green with duckweed. I imagined it blue, then painted it blue, just to see what it would look like. And both of those decisions transformed how I saw my source material. For the better.

   Another car pulled up. Out stepped Bonnie Rodenberg of Norborne, MO. She told me stories of my father, Reinhold Marxhausen, who was her art professor while attending Concordia in Seward, NE. He was able to make every student feel like they COULD do art. No matter how insecure they felt. One day she came to class wearing a bright maroon outfit. Back then, she explained, girls were required to wear skirts to class. Bonnie said when he came by her table, he exclaimed with an exuberant "Wow." He was quite a teacher, she concluded.

     As I was trying to finish the painting, something came up. I had altered my palette to a slightly different green, when I switched from Viridian Hue Mixture to Viridian Hue. It screwed up the way the paint looked, next to what I had already painted. It made me nervous. Aargh! What to do? I made it right (but I don't remember how I did that. Ha.) When I finally stopped it was 12:30 and 59 degrees. I signed my name. Whew!

Moss Creek Basin,

acrylic on canvas,

2015

It was the FIRST 30 by 40 canvas I had EVER done in ONE sitting on ONE DAY!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!! A confidence builder to do more. YES.

This showed me I could bundle up and paint outside in colder weather.

           +++++++++++++++

POSTSCRIPT: I have since learned that I need to take more breaks to stand up and walk around for my leg circulation. I am working on that. Because, after the wonderful stint of that day my ankle hurt much more that evening. I had to take more pain medication as a result. So -- hurrah, but, moving forward, I need to pace myself and take more breaks.

he was my design teacher at unl

       Since I am a subscriber to Kietchel Fine Art, this Youtube interview link was sent to me, and I decided to embed it here. What Jacobshagen says about being out in the elements resonates with me. He was out there doing it long before I was ever interested in painting.



    Keith Jacobshagen was my design teacher at the University of Nebraska between 1974 and 1976.  One Saturday I was sitting on the floor at the Kietchel gallery, staring at and drinking in a large sky Jacobshagen had painted. Man, oh man. It was a good 15 minutes of studying it with my eyeballs, and worth every second of it. I am delighted that he still paints and keeps it fresh.

june 3 - 26

I am honing my skills, Bill Boelson tells me.

june 3rd 
start painting large tree by porch
action: Get arms reaching, eyes and hands mix specific leaf greens and place those colors on large panel, to get focus going.

june 4th 
painted tree same at dawn

18 1/2 x 36 inches, cradled panel

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june 7th    
12 noon - 5:00 pm painted beside our neighbourhood pond. 

action: See far far up (clouds above my head) and wide wide wide (from left to right) and down down down (to where my feet are standing). To accomplish this, the close tall trees on the opposite side were scaled down.   24 x 24 inch wrap around canvas

 

painted wide wide pond span,

action: See wide wide wide left to right and include tree closest to me.  7 7/8 x 26 inches, cradled panel.

 

 

and painted above cloud pattern on existing cow scene.
the blue on the lower portion has created distance to horizon, which I like very much. 11.5 x 22 inches, cradled panel.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

june 11th 
daybreak 6:00 - 8:00 am, painted cloud study along 13th street 

action: Record daybreak, hillside, tree row. 16 7/8 x 30 7/8, cradled panel. 

 

rain storm interrupted workout (see video, click http://youtu.be/1yZRPMp_HUQ)

10:30 a-3:30 p painted cloud studies on two square panels 



9 x 12 inches, watercolor paper in frame,

blue painters tape over frame

 

9 x 12 inches, canvas panel in frame,

blue painters tape over frame

 

also painted study of south creek on thirteenth street 

9 x 12 inches, watercolour paper in frame,

blue painters tape over frame

 

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june 12th 

daybreak 6:00 - 8:00 am painted over the drips from yesterday

 

action: Record daybreak, hillside, tree row. By the time the right potion was finished the interesting middle had moved out of view. I smooshed in what I remembered. More cloud studies needed. 16 7/8 x 30 7/8, cradled panel. 

 

8:30 am-12:02  started on north creek along 13th street, which at this point is out in the countryside on a gravel road.

north creek, 16 x 20 inches, cradled panel



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june 18th 

up at dawn up, looked at neighbors cow pond,

 

drew quick 9 x 12 inch sketch of old 24 hwy pond, ABOVE

7:30 am - noon painted two tall trees

• Always wondered why John Constable works looked so MESSY (below). Guess what? I have MESSY works too.

(Study of Sky and Trees, courtesy of John Constable.org,

http://www.john-constable.org/Study-of-Sky-and-Trees.html,
 http://www.john-constable.org/ accessed June 29, 2013)

 

two trees sketch, 8 x 10 inch canvas panel in frame,

blue painters tape over frame

"When you work outdoors you fight with time and can find yourself in a panic, because the moving sunlight changes the colors you are looking at in nature. The clouds you were trying to get right have moved out of view. It is like mixing up a casserole using mislabeled ingredients and no measuring spoons, hoping it will taste alright when you pull it out of the oven."    karl marxhausen

and painted water scene on large sketch pad (14 x 17 inch)
(when in doubt, paint on paper first)

 

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june 20th   

1:00 pm - 4:15 pm painted sunlit creek near Griffin farm, north of Carrollton, MO.
on large 14 x 17 inch sketch pad. (By the time I finished the sun had moved and the shadows were all wrong. Still, painting the study downloads the mental information. Taking photographs with a camera CANNOT give me what I need. Field work, grunt work, swinging a sledge hammer at the rock pile, THIS SHARPENS my skills. Period.)

4:30 pm - 6:50 pm scouted late daylight scenes with truck:
drew quick 9 x 12 inch ink sketches of Schnare pond, moss creek on west side, and old 24 hwy pond.

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 june 22nd

up at dawn, 6:15 am - 7:30 am started painting square panel of Schnare pond (sketch, below)

7:00 am - 8:00 am painted east view (sketches above)
action: See far far far left to right along the bottom portion and far far far up in the sky.

12 x 16 inch panel

 

9:00 - 11:00 am painted fish in pond corner. Lincoln Street lakes owned by Miles Conner

 



10 x 10 inch square panel

 

11:30 am - 2:25 pm painted tall tree, from straight up above my head down to ground level. Ignoring the out buildings and trees further back.

 

tree cluster, 12 x 16 inch panel

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june 24th

6:00 am - 7:30am  painted east sky

east sky study on 9 x 12 sketch pad

7:30 am - 8:45 am  finished Schnare pond

schnare pond, 10 x 10 inch panel

10:00 am - 11:45 am painted moss creek scene
action: Work on clouds first, then the trees. Use ink sketch of scene.

              moss creek drawing on 9 x 12 inch sketch pad                 

moss creek scene, 12 x 16 inch panel

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june 25th 
sore sluggish body from exercise laps at indoor pool yesterday afternoon
7:00 am - 7:30 am drew two pencil drawings of cows in water

drawing, 9 x 12 inch sketch pad

drawing, 9 x 12 in sketch pad

 

bathroom concerns took me home and afterwards decided to stay in our yard,

8:00 am - 9:00 am painted curved branch in side yard woods

 

branch study, 14 x 17 inch paper, sketch pad

 

rain interrupted, asked the K-6 CES art teacher (my wife) to critique my june work, OUCH.(red barn looks good, east view on paper would look good on a panel)

"Your picture is not communicating what you want it to convey!  To make it work, paint out the orange area in front." Jan Marxhausen

• It is hard to sit still and listen to a critique of your own work. Hard not to interrupt.
• A piece I am working on may well be finished. And I can accept that.

• My wife and I were at a family gathering out in the Sugertree Township. Over the cornfield were beautiful orange last light clouds. Many were well formed. One thunderhead was all messed up. My wife pointed to it and said, "That is NOT FINISHED." And there was chuckles. (I for one cringe when I hear those words spoken of a piece I poured long hours into)

~~~~~

june 26th 

5:00 am woke up refreshed. A good exercise workout and plenty of rest makes for lots of energy and well being.
6:00 am - 8:00 am painted east view onto framed panel

9 x 12 inch, watercolour paper in frame,

blue painters tape over frame

8:00 am - 9:00 am  started new barn on framed panel,

study, 9 x 12 inch on panel in frame,

blue painters tape over frame

drew 9 x 12 inch ink sketch under shade tree looking down at houses 

10:00 am - 11:30 am painted cove 1 at Lincoln Street lake
action: Mix paints colors for sunlight hitting sandy bottom at pond edge.

sandy bottom, 14 x 17 inches on large sketch pad



11:30 am - 12:40 painted second cove

 

second cove, 17 x 14 inches on large sketch pad

• After trying to make the sandy bottom read as such, later I looked at sandy bottoms by Hudson River Valley painters. IT IS HARD WORK. I can relate with the painted mixtures used by those who work I admire (ie. Alfred Bricher, Aaron Shattuck, Frederick Richard Lee, and John Constable) 

and drew a 9 x12 inch sketch of tree tunnel

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june 27th 

dawn, look at ridge on route E, no pond in sight, drive by cemetery tree cluster - too dark, eastern big impressive cloud cluster over the city of Carrolton,
6:30 am - 9:00 am paint water scene at old 24 hwy 16 x 20 panel, pushing the comfort zone, panic, take it easy, got branch in water
 

16 x 20 inches, cradled panel

looked at east tenth street location, spotted white cattle on hillside,
9:30 am - 11:00 am start painting storm scene

11 by 14 inch canvas

Chris Woodward pulled up on his four-wheeler, "Wow, you work fast. You just started that when I passed by the first time!!"  The cowhand showed me how to open and close the gate, where to drive to reach the ridge by the winding lake, and permission to draw his cattle.

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june 28th 
truck door won't close, repair shop has it today.

8:30 am -10:00 am organize computer photo files,

10:00 am seven mile pedal bike ride,

12:00 - 1:45 pm more organizing of files,

2:00 pm tetanus shot,

2:30 - 3:00 pm photograph paintings and upload those files. 

• I once thought that an artist found a scene with "everything what they wanted" and then they painted what they saw. I think there is more to it now.

• Bill Maxwell told me artists did pencil sketches while outdoors and then did more finished work back at the studio space.  According to Bill,  Michelangelo once said: The difference between good art and great art was in the details. What that means, Bill explained, is that doing studies helps one understand how a plant looks or how light falls on an object. This understanding took work, work, and more work.

July begins today. See you at the art reception at the Burkholder Project in August.
Mark Friday night, August 2nd, from 7 to 9 pm. http://www.burkholderproject.com/msie.html

The truck works now. Gone paintin'.

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