Birch With Magenta, 10 x 10 oil on canvas

I liked the idea of adding some brighter foreground colors, and these are some of my favorites. Cadmium reds and permanent rose permeate the foreground and capture the eye. Most of the birch paintings that I do, are done without reference, so they exist nowhere except in my thoughts.

Blue Sky Birches, 12 x 16 oil on canvas

I finished this painting in early summer, and now that we have so much snow on the ground, I miss the blue blue skies of summer, among other things. Winter has it's positive points too and I am doing my best to appreciate all the seasons.

Each time someone purchases one of these abstracts, they tell me they get lost in the painting, or that looking at it makes them happy. I hear these comments again and again. What more could an artist ask for?

I've been asked about the term "plein air" many times. It does seem to get thrown around alot. I must clench when someone requests a "plein air frame." It's an incorrect use of the term.

En plein air is a French expression which means "in the open air", and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors. So next time I blog or facebook about plein air painting, you can most likely find me out on a hillside, or down by the lake with my easel and paints. Quite simply put, painting outside.

This small but colorful birch was finished in August. The sky was blue and the late summer colors were blazing.

Panoramic Birch. This painting was meant to encompass a range of colors and the feeling of distance.

Okay, so I learned something today. Someone made reference to my paintings as "kiss ass paintings". It put a shock wave through me and I just couldn't figure out what they meant by that. So after some sweating and searching the new age description was this: "All kiss ass paintings are of the highest best quality and standards".

That's nice to know, but I have a time keeping up with these new age phrasings! Thank goodness for Wikipedia!