South of North Studio

Kurt

"Kurt"
(in the style of Vincent van Gogh)

6x8 oil on canvas
Sold

Gloria Zukaro of Daily Paintworks challenged artists to paint in the style of an artist they admire. I always wanted to do a portrait of my son-in law in the style of Vincent van Gogh. Kurt, who looks like Vincent's better looking twin is a song-writer and musician.

For reference, I used one of van Gogh's last self-portraits painted in 1889 a year before his untimely death. I'm afraid I got a little carried away with lines and swirls, but at the same time I found myself admiring the passion and genius of this prolific painter.

"This is my ambition, which is, in spite of everything, founded less on anger than on love, more on serenity than on passion. It is true that I am often in the greatest misery, but still there is a calm pure harmony and music inside me..."

Vincent van Gogh

Waiting For Toast

"Waiting For Toast"

6x6 oil on canvas

Carol Horzempa

Shelly Ross on DailyPaintworks challenged artists to paint their toaster in this weeks challenge. This was an opportunity for me to work on reflections and paint some more tomatos. Even though I got a little carried away with detail, I'm pleased that my toaster looks shinny. Thanks Shelly, this was a fun challenge. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

These Boots Are Made For Walking

"These Boots Are Made For Walking"

6x6 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa

Nancy Sinatra's song was running through my head while painting this one. Walking my dog in the woods is something I do twice a day while wearing my favorite hiking boots. I tried to capture what I see along the leaf covered path on a fall day. This painting is part of the Shoe Challenge posted by Cheri Homaee on Daily Paintworks.

Smoking Scection

"Smoking Section"

6x6 oil on masonite panel

Carol Horzempa

Carol Marine posted a photo on Daily Paintworks challenging artists to paint a crowd scene. This was a lot of fun but next time I will use a larger format...very challenging!

Mini Pumpkins on Red

Mini Pumpkin on Red

6x6 oil on canvas

Carol Horzempa

For several weeks these two mini pumpkins were sitting in my studio waiting to be painted. I decided to set them on a red background and see if I could get them to stand out and be noticed. I found painting these little guys a real challenge but a lot of fun! This is part of the DPW Paint Your Pumpkin Challenge hosted by Carol Marine. Thanks Carol!

Camping Trip

Bear Lake Campground

I have been away from my studio for the past two weeks enjoying the Rocky Mountains, traveling through New Mexico, Texas and finally down to Covington, LA where my husband and I spent some time visiting our son. Now after a lot of gas miles, hundreds of photos of fantastic scenery, I'm happy to be back in Wisconsin and looking forward to getting back to my studio.

Nature Study

"Nature Study"

oil on gessoed panel 6x6

Carol Horzempa

Ann Feldman posted a Fall Challenge on Daily Paintworks last week challenging artist to paint something pertaining to nature with a fall theme and using bright colors.

In this challenge I painted on a gessoed panel with a bright orange undertone and used Manganese Blue Hue for the background. Ann suggest turquoise for one of the colors so this is the brightest blue I could find in my studio. I hardly ever use this blue, made by Winsor & Newton but with this challenge I discovered a wonderful intense blue and plan to use it more often.

I really love this time of year! My studio is getting cluttered with acorns, leaves and other fall gatherings. Unfortunately this season goes way too quickly.

Early Girl

"Early Girl"

4x5.5 oil on gessoed panel

Carol Horzempa

Another tomato painting, this time all by herself. I'm really starting to enjoy painting tomatoes and hope the frost doesn't get them before I can paint a few more.

No Makeup Please!

oil on canvas 6x4.5

I painted my makeup (which I rarely use) for the Limited Stroke Challenge in Daily Paintworks. We were challenged to plan our painting by counting the number of strokes we would need to paint each color shape. I tried to stick to 32 strokes but lost count after I reached 40. I had fun with this challenge though and will try again.

Turning Red

"Turning Red"

6x6 oil on canvas

The larger tomato was literally turning red while I was painting. That is how slow I was with this painting. I kept changing the colors which was not a smart thing to do. Hopefully I will speed up on my next tomato painting.

Tomato Studies

"Tomato Studies"

6x6 oil on canvas

Instead of 10 minute studies, I took my time and focused on trying to make these tomatoes look round and heavy like they are. The stems started drying under the light but I liked how they curled up. This year I have a lot of tomatoes growing in my garden and hope to paint more before the frost.

Garden Study

"Garden Study"

6x8 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa

In late summer there is only a short span of time where I have sun in my garden. My Impatiens don't seem to mind though. I did manage to finish most of my painting before returning to the studio.

My garden is growing a bit wild, almost covering the watering can but I find it more interesting than a manicured garden.

Bay Furnace III

"Bay Furnace"

oil on canvas 6x8
Carol Horzempa

This is my 3rd painting of this bay on Lake Superior in the Hiawatha National Forest, Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Every year on our annual family camping trip I bring my paints and plan to do some plein air painting at Bay Furnace Campground. Instead of painting I always ended up taking pictures and painting from photos in my studio. This year I finally pushed myself to make an attempt at painting on the beach under a shade tree and found it was actually fun!

Sanctuary

"Sanctuary"

6x8 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa
NFS

Yesterday I decided to go out to my backyard to see what I could paint. I love how the evening sun creates dramatic light and shadows across my yard. My hosta plant always stands out with it's bright yellow-green leaves at this time of day. I almost didn't paint the bench swing since I wasn't sure how to paint it. I found it was easier to paint as long as I didn't focus on details. I started losing my sun so I finished this painting from memory in my studio.

I used a limited palette of cad. yellow medium, cad. red light, ultramarine blue plus white.

Geranium Study

"Geranium Study"

6x6 oil on canvas
Carol Horzempa

This has been a draining week trying to plein air paint flowers in my back yard. With the rain for two days, inhaling mosquitos, getting stung by bees and finally the leg on my good easel falling apart, I headed back to my studio (again). Today, round 7 pm I decided to try again, on my deck this time. I set my old reliable French easel next to a Geranium plant that was looking a bit wilted. I thought the touch of orange on a few dry leaves would add color.

This time I really enjoyed the experience of painting fast and even had time to put in a few details and get it done in one hour flat! The sun was setting and I was losing my light so the values are a little off. Now I would like to try painting this plant in sunlight. By the way I love decks, no mosquitos!

Be sure to check all the floral paintings on The Nature's Arrangement Challenge in Daily Paintworks here.

Wildflower Study

"Wildflower Study"

5x6 oil on canvas

Carol Horzempa

I decided to practice painting flowers from a photo in my studio today before another attempt at plein air painting in my garden. After struggling way too long I was tempted to wipe the paint off and start over. In one last attempt I found adding a little red and warm browns seemed to work and will try to use this color scheme in this weeks DWP Challenge. I used the same limited palette of cad. red light, cad. yellow med, and ultra blue plus white.

Begonia Study

5x6 oil on canvas

Carol Horzempa

This was intended for James Coulter's Nature Arrangement Challenge on Daily Paintworks. He challenged artists to stand between one to six feet away from flowers on the ground and paint them in one hour, (no cheating). A limited palette of Cad. Yellow Med. or light, Cad. Red Light, Ultra Blue and White was also part of this challenge.

To start off I noticed my timer kept stopping and I lost track of my time. I also realized I broke one of the rules of not using white except with blues and purples. My flowers were peach so just red and yellow wasn't working.

After not sticking to the rules I decided to take a picture and finish the painting in my air conditioned studio. Next time I will try Cad. Yellow Light, buy a new timer and not sneak back to my studio with a photo before the painting is done.

This is really a fun challenge but I'm finding flowers are really hard to paint!

Neglected Tools

"Neglected Tools"

oil on canvas 6x6

Carol Horzempa

I've always wanted to paint my painting tools and finally found time to join Carol Marine's "Paint What You Paint With Challenge," on Daily Paintworks. This was a fun challenge but I really struggled with the tube of paint and especially the cap. Finally I scraped the cap off and tried again. If I don't look too close I'm actually pleased with the whole painting.

I feel rather guilty about the care of my tools as you can see but manage to paint with them the way they are.

Old Mill House Challenge

Old Mill House

6x6 oil on canvas

Carol Horzempa

This is my submission to the Daily Paintworks Challenge. Jean Nelson submitted a photo of an old mill for this challenge.

I see so many scenes like this in Northern Wisconsin and I have always wanted to paint one. I found this one especially challenging since I have been suffering from a serious case of "Artist's Block" for quite a while. I actually had fun painting though and hope this will get me back to the studio or even some Plein Air painting this summer.

Okruszek

"Okruszek"

oil on canvas 6x6
Carol Horzempa
NFS

This is a little homeless dog that was found tied to the inside of a trash can in Poland. A wonderful woman named Ori has a rescue home for homeless cats and dogs that have been abandoned, abused or found in the forests of Poland. Not only does she find homes for them but she takes beautiful pictures of them and has given me permission to paint from her photos.

Okruszek, which means crumb in Polish, is a fitting name for him since he was thrown in the trash like nothing other than a piece of crumb. He is an old dog with health problems but will be taken care of by kind caregivers to enjoy his last days with good food, medicine and a warm bed.

My granddaughter fell in love with this painting so I plan to surprise her with it for her birthday next week.

This painting has been submitted to the DPW Challenge on Color sponsored by Carol Marine.

Update: On April 28th Ori (the woman in Poland that rescued Okruszek) wrote this on her blog about Okruszek (Crumb):

Crumb died yesterday evening.

We had him for three weeks and three days.
I guess I have never met anyone who would be at the bottom of this misery, so incredibly battered by fate, so lonely and helpless.
We tried for three weeks to give him as much love as he should get through his long life. We believed, or rather, I naively believed that in this way manage to outwit the disease, banish it from the Heavens and bargain a few months.
Crumb rewarded us well-being and attempt to return to health, but the forces he was able to very briefly.
He died as someone very dear, important, deplorable as Someone's dog, nestling, farewell, and was buried with great respect.

(This has been translated from Polish to English by Google Translate)