Plein Air Artists Brave Ephraim Ban

Doesn't look hostile -- not a submarine in sight

Despite warnings that Ephraim

 might be hostile territory and kick out artists painting on village property, a few Plein Air festival artists braved the place on Tuesday, 

Visitors who had been looking for the Plein Artists were relieved to finally find a couple

although most apparently chose to pitch their easels on private property where they had permission. 

Convoluted story about the convoluted controversy is below.

Ephraim Bans [Only Some] Outdoor Painting

        Plein Air Artists Leave Town 

Tuesday, which is traditionally the day Plein Air artists participating in the Peninsula School of Art’s week-long festival are working in the Ephraim, saw only a handful painting in the village. A village decision to limit the functions of a painting and sales program linked to the summer-long concert series had spawned a warning letter from the art school director to the Plein Air artists who stayed away from Ephraim.  

Kathy Hoke was protecting her artists and her events, based on Ephraim town board discussions and her understanding of board attitudes. 

She gave a letter to the Plein Air artists saying:


"Recently the Village of Ephraim Board has made some decisions, which appear to impact the Door County Plein Air Festival. There is some question whether painters are permitted to paint on public property (parks, beaches, Anderson Dock, etc.).  Ephraim officials, who have faced a number of calls complaining about the absence of painters in the village, said the controversy had been manufactured by people trying to stir up trouble. Others with close understanding of the local politics, said the village officials were backpedalling furiously after public outcry over the restrictions. 

Even in its most draconian interpretation, the ordinance didn't have any effect on the gallery grounds artists have set up their easels in past years, and they are always free to ask hotels, restaurants and churches to work on their property.

But for some artists, the idea that they might be asked to leave was enough for them to take Ephraim off their plans. One told me that when she is working on a painting, she wants to be completely focused on her work, without worrying that someone might tell her to leave or even to move partway through a scene. 

The school had cautioned artists that they may be in violation of a local ordinance if they painted on Village property and warned them that if they did paint on public property they shouldn’t wear their Plein Air t-shirts and badges. Judging from the few easels in sight throughout the village, most just stayed away and found other places to work. Fine Line Designs Gallery, on the north end of town, had an empty front yard -- except for its wonderful flowers and sculpture, where last year two dozen artists were working away. 

Shari Gransee, the gallery director, said about 300 people came to watch the artists last year, and while they didn’t buy large art (galleries across the county say most Plein Air spectators are waiting for the weekend auctions and significant sales almost dry up during the week) they did purchase some smaller items like jewelry. Today there were only occasional visitors asking if they had the right day, and where the artists were. The three major Door County galleries -- Edgewood Orchard, Fine LIne and Woodwalk -- all host painting days for the Plein Air festival, events that attract hundreds of people to watch the artists on the gallery grounds. Many smaller galleries also open their grounds to the Plein Air participants.

Cox, the village president, said the Ephraim Business Council, which has sponsored the Monday night concert series in Harborside Park from mid-June to mid -August,  this year added a painting event in collaboration with the Hardy Gallery. The EBC printed up the concert series, with the addition of painting for the entire concert season, in a calendar it released in March. It then went to the Village Planning Committee just before the filing deadline for the agenda to reauthorize the concerts.

The concerts were permitted, but objections from two local village art galleries led the committee to deny permission for the sale of open air paintings made on public property during the series. Eventually they decided the artists could demonstrate their skills but not sell or even promote their sales. 

“We have had a village policy for decades that anybody using village property such as a public park for profit could be competing with village taxpayers, like galleries,” said Cox. “The planning committee and the village board are not in the business to say no to people. If we can find a way to work with groups, especially nonprofits, we endeavor to do that. The EBC, in collaboration with the Hardy Gallery, decided to do this way in advance of coming to the village.”

The decision would appear to cover any artist on public property who plans to sell the work, including selling through the Peninsula School of Art which essentially splits the sale price with the artists. 

Cox said the village board is examining the ordinance and plans a revision to give the village more latitude.

“Understand, we are not against this kind of stuff.” The ordinance was designed years ago to protect village businesses which pay taxes and have the overhead of buildings from competition with individuals who want to profit from the free use of village parks to conduct their business. 

“One application as denied; we never went up to artists and said you shouldn’t be here,” added Cox, who said the village is already looking how to revise the ordinance. 


A local arts insider said that one artist painting in the village on Monday was asked to leave. More on that if I can find the artist. 

“We rewrite ordinances all the time when we find problems. I think if there were clear collaboration and most people were on the same page the village would feel a lot better about it. The problem was with an EBC summer-long event that was declined.”


Artists have been painting in Ephraim as long as the village has been lovely. That two local gallery owners to block painting on village property, activity which probably brings a lot of free-spending art lovers to Ephraim, should prompt the boards to look at the overall village interests.

Cox was dismayed about how much bad publicity Ephraim has had over this.


But it's a little late now.

Tom Nachreiner on Painting Plein Air -- Why and How

Tom Nachreiner is consistently one of the most honored painters at the Door County Plein Air Festival. When I asked him to do a phone interiew, he suggested I send hm questions and he would respond on writing. As I mention below, this was originally for the Peninsula Pulse, and as often is the case, I was half-way into my interviewing before I reviewed the assignment and realized I was asking the wrong questions, at least from my editor’s point of view. 

Tom’s answered in great depth and combines autobiography with deep thought about art and some useful advice for anyone working in an artistic, relatively unstructured field.

Why do Plein Air?

I have so much to learn. For me, Plein Air is all about drawing, and getting back to basics, with out the aid of photography. It's being young again, back in school when I first learned how to draw from life, and had others around me learning the same thing. It's absolutely the best way to learn how to draw, and see things I have never been sensitive to before. It gets me out of the house and studio, away from my comfort zone which can inhibit me and keep me less outgoing socially too. Schools don't teach how to draw from photos for good reason. It's not the best way to learn how to draw or paint. It's not the best way to find my unique, individual expression within. When painting outdoors I have several important factors to deal with that helps me to see better and to grow as an artist.

1. Plein Air is more specifically about capturing the light and shadow on the subject that gives it dimension and volume. It's also about trying to capture the mood, personality, energy, and the abstract, dynamic composition that we can respond to emotionally. My most successful paintings show the light and form to be convincing, without looking photographic, by using lively, confident brushwork.

(2) Plein Air gives me a deadline of approximately 3 hours to capture the fleeting, moving light outdoors. This forces me to paint quickly and efficiently and therefore, naturally and honestly spontaneous. It forces me to draw all the way through my painting making continual adjustments along the way, as opposed to filling in carefully drawn lines from a traced photograph. I find my paintings done in this manner look much more lush, juicy, alive, harmonious, energetic and less predictable.

(3.) Nothing in nature is white or black. I can see into shadows and catch the subtleties of value and color temperature, unlike painting from photo reference that show shadows as black, and show skies as white or an extremely bright blue.I see the warm and cool colors more easily outdoors, and by squinting I can see the hard and soft edges more clearly, along with the lightest light and the darkest dark. There's so much more information than what a photo can bring, and by observing nature this way, I learn the science of how light and color works as it goes back in space and how light reflects back into the subject.

(4) Experiencing the sounds, smells, the wind, and most important, the people and their energy and the story they tell in the environment I am painting, adds another dimension of information to a painting. I also benefit from people's interest on the street in what I am doing and have a chance to meet, and learn from others

Finally, when I paint outdoors my wife comes with me and reads and does crafts, so I have companionship, and we can share in the daily adventures, 

and maybe on occasion share a beer or glass of wine with friends doing the same thing.

Compare it with studio work?

Studio work, mostly in the winter, affords me solitude and more focused time and maybe more comfort to paint, with the ability to set up a controlled atmosphere with everything I want around me. However, this comfort can be a double edged sword, and sometimes not as motivating as a more competitive, unpredictable atmosphere, with energy in the air all around. Too comfortable and too much time sometimes can lead to less spontaneity and energy, I find. So in the winter, I try to paint one day plein air, one day a still life or from a model and one day from photo reference. I also try each winter to spend some time painting indoors and out down south. My studio time is more successful when mixing it with painting loosely plein air.I work hard making up deadlines so I don't lose my energy and passion and spontaneity. I also set challenging goals for each painting I work on to try something different and new. 

The studio is a wonderful place to create a still life environment or pose a figure and control lighting, All that can add to the creativity of the painting. It's a good place to paint cool North light and warm shadows to switch it up from painting sunny days with warm light and cool shadows. Painting in this fashion,"from life", is the most similar to plein air because of all the information I have, without any use of photography. 

With a still life or figure, I can find the same amount of vast information and achieve convincing light even though they are indoor subjects. Photos are also important and can be a very helpful and successful tool. I just prefer not copying photographs. When I do paint from a photo I will usually work upside down so I see only abstract big and little shapes. In that way I can maintain my energy and spontaneity and can work more quickly because I'm not getting bogged down from the fussy detail of the subject matter, and it's easier to see and improve the composition by simplifying. 

The computer can be a helpful tool to improve the photo's composition, color, or placement of objects. My years of being a digital illustrator come in handy here, and all my observation of nature helps me know how far to go with those changes.

What do you like to paint?

Mostly I like to just paint the light and shadow, and form, as I enjoy the experience of painting outdoors. I am drawn to water in many of my paintings. 

To me it's less about what I paint and more about how I paint it and the feeling I feel.InstinctivelyI look for a strong composition, and look for a strong sense of light with a noticeable center of interest, and let the rest fall where it may. I especially like painting ballet dancers when I can find ballet models. I also love to challenge myself to paint everything, everywhere that I find beauty.

Importance of nature?

Pure nature is harder for me to paint, because by instict, I usually like to break up all of the soft nature forms and all those greens that are so similar in the summers of Wisconsin, with water, clouds, architecture or people. So the last couple of years I have concentrated on painting just pure landscapes, to try to improve.

At one time I painted nothing but cityscapes. Nature gets me away from all the straight lines of the city and God's curved, graceful lines have opened up a new variety and discipline in my work. I find myself simplifying to make compositions work better for me. 

Painting the figure is also all about those curved lines and shapes.

How do you avoid sentimentality in your work? (I like the bright storefront with a stop light in the left foreground at Edgwood Orchard.)

The painting you refer to is a night scene in a small town, with people outside, and a good example of getting away from typical subjects by also painting some at night. I work with loose brushwork, and use big brushes, so I think that helps my work look less typical or cliche. I think what can make a subjest less typical is to find the abstract composition within. 

But I don't always feel successful in this effort. Some people dismiss plein air because it's based on traditional art and painting what you see, and some think art should be more revolutionary. I search during each painting to find that something that makes my work contemporary and have a strong composition, even though it is based on reality.

I work hard towards my goals, to paint each paintings from my heart, to try to create my best work to date, work that makes me happy, and shows my inner spirit, and ultimately becomes a painting that I would be proud to have on a prominent wall in my home. I've found when I accomplish this, others seem to want it in their home too.

Finances - how long did it take you to make a living at this?

My background is as follows: I studied fine art my first year in college at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. I then switched to a private art school and studied illustration and design. In my first year at Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, I was hired part time by an advertising studio, after they saw my work in a student show. I have been a professional artist ever since. (Very Lucky) I was employed there through graduation and after for 10 years. Then I started Art Factory Ltd,, my own Illustration and design studio with 25 employees in all at its peak, I ran the studio but was a hands-on illustrator along with 11 other illustrators, all nationally known. Later as a personal creative outlet to paint just for myself instead of clients, I started to slowly get into fine art and plein air painting as more less just a hobby for the shear love of it. 

I had an opening show that made a big impact. (Very Lucky) I then became involved with galleries, and later switched over, full time in 2000, as I restructured the Art Factory. I've made my living as an artist all my life and have professionally done nothing else. For me it was all a natural transition and progression, and I've worked relentlessly toward my goals, although luck was a big contributor. 

Benefits from my business ventures were that it gave me the understanding of marketing, mass appeal, and understanding human nature. That all helps now, as I teach workshops, judge art competitions, am a frame distributor to other artists, and still do some digital illustration. I am represented in galleries and sell some of my work on my own. I paint almost every day. I spend a percentage of my time giving back in appreciation for what I feel I was given.

Any advice for beginning artists who want to stop waiting tables in Brooklyn and spend more time doing art?

This is a tough one. Today is so different. I was lucky, but through real hard work and a vision, I was able to get a job drawing everyday, when advertising was in its "hey-day".Most important is to define what your realistic attainable goal or vision is, that comes from inside your heart. To have vision this is areal gift in itself.

Find a knowledgeable mentor through school or someone you know and admire, to get good solid positive advice. In what I do, the most important thing for growth is drawing, and one can draw in pencil or charcoal anywhere. Carry a sketch book everywhere. Draw alone, but also find friends who share common interests and get together after work to draw together. On vacations or weekends take a workshop from an artist that you most admire. Get most of your inspiration by visiting the masters as often as you can in art museums. Don't try to skip the basics, there are no shortcuts to success. Use your time wisely and efficiently, set goals, create a vision board and don't give up. Stay away from negative people. and find a partner who reinforces your dreams and goals. Realize "if it's meant to happen, it will."

Stay open minded and keep adjusting your approach and your goals, and never stop working hard. if you can, follow your heart rather than the money. For example, take a job that won't take you in the wrong direction and won't cause you regrets later. (I know today that's real hard, with fewer jobs.) College teaches you how to learn, but during the rest of your life, your education is in your own hands. Finally,if there are delays in achieving some of your goals, it's still never "too late" to grow as an artist and to have fun painting, no matter what stage of learning you are at.

Talking About Art -- Plein Air Participants Discuss Their Work

The Peninsula School of Art Plein Air Festival begins Sunday July 22 when artists register, pick up their badges and have their canvases stamped (to prevent them from getting a head start by painting days ahead of time) and head out to paint Door County.

I am doing a piece about the artists and what they think of the show and working together in the field for the Peninsula Pulse, which will run on July 20.

Before I went back and read the note from my editor about what she wanted, I had already interviewed several artists for their thoughts about Plein Air painting. I found their comments, by phone and on their Web sites, pretty interesting and didn’t want to lose them, so I have written them up here.

Comments are welcome.

Marc Hanson, of Taylors Fall, MN, is pushing himself beyond the usual subjects in Plein Air, and the usual approaches. Working on Cape Cod, recently he made some paintings at night, and did one, Tangerine, that shows a beach scene with tiny figures distant in the scene.

On his Web site, he writes that “My most recent work has been to create large landscape paintings, as large in scale as those painted in the studio, entirely on location.  Some of these paintings are completed in one session, others are completed over a longer period of time lasting several sessions.  The challenge that working from life in this way presents is overridden by the benefit to my understanding of light and color on the landscape, and the authenticity that it brings to my paintings.  I foresee my art continuing to move in this direction, major works mostly completed on site.”

In a phone conversation recently, he said that he mixed Plein Air and studio work, most often based on painting outdoors.

“The Plein Air is where the truth is, where the best observation is. Every time you move a step away with a photo, you are not able to see as much into the subject. Plein Air is  where I get the most information.”

Painting at Sister Bay

He might spend 45 minutes doing a study outside, or 2 or 3 hours working on a painting. 

“The Plein Air work is a starting point for what you end up within a studio. When you go into a studio and work up a 30 x 40-inch painting using the studies, you are much more deeply involved in the painting; you can slow down and process.” He teaches a course in Field to Studio painting.

“The attraction of Plein Air is they are all instantaneous impressions. They are really raw and maybe the most authentic impressions. As soon as you get to the studio everything changes. You can’t make a three-inch stroke in an instant because you saw in on site; painting becomes something altogether different. 

“That is what is unique about Plein Air -- you are seeing the artists in all their abilities and frailties, and I think that makes it real. It’s like jazz -- you are empathizing the whole way along. You don’t know what will happen, the weather is changing, the light is changing.”

At Plein Air in Door County this year he plans to slow down, paint fewer canvases and paint them bigger. He sometimes wonders if the patrons of Plein Air events have homes filled with 8 x 10 and 11 x 14 paintings These Plein Air events, and they occur across the country, have become something of a race, but he thinks some of the participants are slowing down and tackling more complicated subjects in more depth. (Not all participants think that way -- see Lawrence Rudolech below).

“I have decided this year not to drive the entire county to get paintings, to do less running around. Some people thrive on BOOM!, get another painting, BOOM! get another.”

He thinks painting should be a contemplative effort. 

“I like Door County  because it is a not a high tension, competitive event like some Plein Airs. It is quieter and moves at a slower pace.”

One of the problems with Plein Air painting, and Plein Air events in particular, is that the work tends to be in one scenic location and often the paintings look a lot alike. One Door County gallerist (love that word, I think...when did it come into widespread use?) sniffed that she had no respect for Plein Air and all those lighthouse pictures.

Point taken, and it’s one that the painters are aware of.

Is he pushing in new directions?

“Yes, always,” said Hanson who had been particularly aware of the postcard danger when working in Cape Cod recently.

“I don’t like to get too repetitive. One of the things I did out there -- I am not from there and while I have been there half a dozen times I don’t live there and breathe it. For me to paint authentic paintings about the place, it was better for for me to go toward the nocturnes. I could still capture some of the feeling, but daytime with its light and color considerations -- you need to be around.” The nocturnes are a bit  unusual, he added. 

Sister Bay gets busy with Plein Air work

Bonnie Paruch, who lives in Ellison Bay and is represented by Edgewood Orchard Gallery in Fish Creek, is an active painter, teacher and writer about art. The recently posted some thoughts about preparing for a week of Plein Air on her home turf on her blog.

But before that, she took time to talk with me about her painting, which started when her parents gave her a set of paints at age 12. 

“I would take them outside to paint because that seemed the most natural thing to do. I enjoy looking for a story in the landscape, something that strikes me and makes me ask a question like why is that boat there, or why is that building there, who might be working there. I am touched with emotion when I work with certain things in the landscape. I try to go a little deeper than a post card and share what touched me.”

Like other Plein Air painters, she has to contend with a landscape that, in Door County at least, is always changing. In a still life, the painter has control of the objects and the lighting.

But in the landscape there is surprise and sudden insight because of changes in the light or looking at something from a different direction or point of view. Landscape lures me back because there is always something new.”

Plein Air events take some getting used to, said Paruch, who expects to prepare herself mentally and physically for the week head. 

“You are in a competition. There is a healthy energy that develops, camaraderie among the artists and also energy that you want to put your best foot forward, do your best work within a certain timeframe. That is the point of the plein air events. You can either dislike the competitive aspect or embrace it.”

She thinks it makes her step up more.

“It can be intimidating. You are standing next to 10 people standing in the same spot with the same time constraints and the same light. I just try to do my best in my own little world in front of my easel. It is intense.

“You have to prepare both emotionally and physically. What am I going to paint depends on weather, light and sky, and the event’s requirements that you have to be at certain places at certain times. I bought canvases and I bought a whole array from little ones to 20 x 16, so I am probably going to try to do more. I am a solid painter in a short period of time, so I won’t work on a painting that size for more than 2-3 hours, will use my normal way of approaching the landscape...will do whatever size and shape fits.”

Unlike some Plein Air painters, she can’t talk while she paints. She will take a break and hold her brushes and discuss her work for a few minutes and then tell people she has to get back to work. 

“I used to feel somewhat stressed by that and now I just step back and figure it gives me a chance to look at my painting with a fresh eye. I also expect to have some time painting by myself. I will do the events during the week but I will also have some time when it is just me, that is how I find my balance. You can work that out, you really can.”

Shawn Cornell, a painter from Missouri who has become a regular in Door County, described painting at night on his Web site:

“The difficult thing about painting in the dark is painting in the dark. My eyes must have adjusted themselves at least several dozen times in the hour it took to paint it. My wife, Elizabeth would shine the flashlight on the canvas and panel so I could see what I was doing and then she would shut it off so that I could see my subject. Each time she did this it took our eyes about 20 seconds to adjust. A fun challenge. Beautiful night with a cool breeze and temps in the 50s.”

Actually, most of the people coming to the event have pretty interesting Web sites...Browsing through them is a good way to become acquainted, or wait for the event and then research the people you find most interesting. Cornell said that he writes a note about the conditions, including the temperature and weather, on the back of each painting. He has a wonderful picture of water rushing over a rock that he writes about:

“Upstream I'd just wiped down a fairly tight painting I'd spent several hours working on. Looking for a scene that would motivate me, I spotted this rock and rushing water. Such energy, motion and colors. I quickly set my easel, grabbed my two largest brushes and tried to paint at the same pace and vigor as the running river. What a fun painting and a great way to let loose. Watch out Jackson Pollock. Sunny with big, big gusts of wind and temps in the mid 60s.”

You will notice during the event that a full roll of paper towels is always hanging somewhere around the easel -- wiping down paintings is one of the fast corrections that painters take in the field. Come to think of it, the art school ought to seek sponsorship from Bounty.

Cornell said he likes to work outdoors and enjoys the challenge of changing weather, not to mention working while people are coming up to ask questions which he says pretty much makes it a form of performance art.

“If you want to know a place, look at it for 20 minutes to 4 hours and you get to know it. there is truth in Plein Air...you are capturing the moment, dealing with objects that are out there.”

He too knows the danger of painting similar scenes too often -- in St. Louis the subject often includes prairies and tall grasses.

“You try to indicate, not duplicate,” he explained. “So when you draw a flow, you give a suggestion so you are telling people what it is without giving them all the details, allow them to put some of their ideas into it. To me there is a fine line between being too loose and too detailed.”

When he got to the rock in the stream, which he described on his Web site, he had been painting too tight, he said. 

“It was irritating me and I wasn’t having fun, so I wiped it down, walked a bit and saw that rushing water. It provided a sense of relaxation, freedom so I got the big brush strokes out there and let the paint do the description for me rather than noodle on it.”

Like several of the Plein Air painters, he started out as a graphic designer, a good way for someone with a degree in art to earn money, but one that several painters said eventually became too constraining.

“It pays and it is creative, but at some point you get tired of clients telling you what they want.”

The work can provide a consistent paycheck. Fine art isn’t necessarily provide that immediately, but it leads toward that. It is people wanting to find their own voice and not have someone say to make the logo larger.”

Shelby Keefe

This Milwaukee painter is another example of someone who has moved from graphic arts to fine art. A long-time visitor to Door County, she is enthusiastic about the scenery -- water, maritime themes, boats and sweet little cottages along the bay.

She is also a skilled painter of urban landscapes, very different from the Door County scene.

“Generally speaking I specialize in architecture. I look for buildings and cottages. I love doing buildings because the way the light will hit the side of a building and the light and shadow. I even go so far as to put in the wires and poles because it helps in line and texture.” Her work is in Edgewood Orchard.

“I was in graphic design and illustration before this, and in 2005 I retired from graphic design and started painting full-time. It is not easy, but it is the only way I want to live now. I don’t want to be tied down by deadlines; even as a freelancer you are your own boss, but you have deadlines.” Of course in the Plein Air event she will be facing deadlines all week, but apparently that is different.

“I have a degree in fine art. We realize we need to make a living in something related to art which is why a lot of us start out in commercial art. Then as we approach 40 going into 50 consider if not now, when. Everyone has a different story, but I know a lot of folks who started in graphic design and illustration and turned their back on it to do what they really love. Mostly graphic designers become painters; that is why we all get along so well. We all desire to paint Plein Air and capture the beauty of what is out there.”

Larry Rudolech from Indiana is another graduate of graphic design and a fast worker -- he did 27 paintings at a Plein Art event in Wayne, PA and about 24 here last year.

and working

Larry Rudolech talking


“Last year at Wayne I did 27 and the most anyone else did was six. This year there were more than 100 paintings on the walls because all the artists kicked it into high gear a little more. If you are going to sell paintings you have to give the public a variety.”

Door County is good for painters because most of the visitors have come by car and have plenty of space to take a painting home with them, unlike the festival in Telluride where most of the visitors had flown in and worried about whether they could get a painting onto the plane. 

Pamela Murphy -- Painting Linked To The Past

Walking into Pamela Murphy’s show at Fine Line Designs gallery in Ephraim is a little like waking up in the middle of your grandmother’s photo album with pictures of her sisters on vacation in demure bathing costumes, her uncle rowing a boat in the middle of a lake, and snapshot after snapshot of kids doing somewhat goofy things, and occasionally improbable things, like a young girl walking along with a sprinkling can which causes flowers to rise in a line behind her. 

Murphy has been making these images for several years now, and she almost invites charges of sentimentality. Nostalgia and reminiscence, yes; sentimentality no. 

Three aspects of her work keep it fresh, intriguing, sometimes amusing, and occasionally provocative. In no particular order:

The painting itself. I don’t recall all the details and you can probably find the definitive information on her Web site, but Murphy’s paintings have layers of paint, some of it scraped off, that enhance the feeling that this of an old, and not necessarily archivally preserved, image. Her work is a world away from the sentimental painters whose images should never move beyond greeting cards. Spend some time and study the surface of her works. 

The people. My favorites  are quite different. Some are of youngsters totally absorbed in what they are doing, lost to the world. Hmm, second thought, maybe this doesn’t happen all that often in actual family photographs where the father, usually, is asking the kids to look at the camera. But many of Murphy’s paintings give the sense of watching kids examine their own worlds without a care about anyone else. On the other hand, the three women in bathing costumes, arms lined around each other as they face the image-maker,  display a total, and not necessarily comfortable, awareness of the photographer -- presumably. 

Warm humor. Ok, this might be condensing four points to three, but the girl with the watering can growing flowers, a young boy riding a pig, and a boy making the acquaintance of a bird are examples. The paintings often have a lot of foreground detail which is separate from the activity of the people depicted. Oh wait, that may be the first point, about the paintings themselves. A little boy sits with his head in his hands, and across the surface of the painting are several very intimidating mathematical equations.

Check the Web site, and go to the gallery. This is strong, interesting work. 

Sandra Place Pastels at Base Camp

Pastel works well in depicting rural Wisconsin’s tall grasses and the sides of weathered barns when Sandra Place is using it. Originally from Door County, the artist now lives in Santa Fe; her work is on display at Base Camp Coffee Bar in Sister Bay with an opening starting at 4 p.m. July 13.

My favorite of the works is a barn where the texture of the pastel mimics the texture of the wood. She does an impressive turn with winter scenes and blue-tinted snow and the unsubdued grasses rising through it.

On her web site she writes:

“I paint primarily in pastels and acrylics. Pastels are a very spontaneous and expressive medium, allowing many different working styles and an immediacy not found in other mediums. They are also one of the most permanent of all painting mediums. Because the sticks are dry, colors are not mixed on a palette but are applied directly on the paper. I work on sanded paper, which allows the use of many different colors and layers to achieve the desired effect. Acrylics afford me the opportunity to work "wet", mixing colors and painting with brushes, more in the manner of oil painting, which provides a nice balance to the dry medium of pastel.” 

The work, which is priced from $700 to $1,400, is well worth seeing.