GO Paint! Chippewa Valley 2021

Red Cedar Creek, County Y Bridge

Gouache, 12 x 16  | $350

Juror’s Notes: Light, air, space, and color: they’re all here in abundance in this lively piece. The artist used the gouache medium’s full range of transparent and opaque capabilities, deftly varying the paint quality and color temperature to weight areas of the composition whilst allowing the eye to flow easily through others. Such abstraction-informed compositional awareness and confident color use is like the masterfully free watercolors of John Singer Sargent. Unlike Sargent, however, the artist didn’t find ready beauty in a far-off locale but coaxed it out of an unlikely local pocket.

Artist’s Statement: My painting is both realistic and abstract, on the elusive edge between there and not there. On first look, everything is in place, then all dissolves. I want realism and abstraction to take turns. I want a painting to be evocative of time and place, and overwhelming in abstract, structural logic. I look for a surprise, a drama, a different way of seeing. I try not to see anything for itself alone, but as part of a whole. In this context, my subjects take on meanings other than the accustomed ones. They are more than still life and landscape. They are comments on thinking and seeing.

Double "O" Orchard

Oil on linen panel, 8 x 12 | $350

Juror’s Notes: In its motif and its color, this painting says, “Autumn.” The artist’s choice of a limited color palette makes for a harmonious outdoor scene composed of gold, earth green, cool blue-gray, and subdued red. The muted green trees’ alizarin-red color underpainting ties it to the spot of red on the barn, and the parched gold grass is echoed by the centermost trees’ cooler yellow tips. The brushwork is satisfyingly ‘just enough’, with the thin tree branches, looser tree foliage, and bled ground colors. Like the considered color harmonies and brushwork, the detail of the toppled picking ladder is all the viewer needs to see to read this as an apple orchard at peak season.

Artist’s Statement: I see similarities between my painting process and the way people grow. As a blank canvas with an idea, a baby painting has so much potential--it could go in any direction and become anything. As soon as paint starts hitting the canvas it starts down a path and develops its own personality. Some paintings are calm and subdued, while others are wild and rebellious.  My job is to guide the personality of each painting into becoming the best version of itself. My ultimate goal for each painting is that it is capable of giving and receiving love, joy, and good feelings on the wall of its new home. To learn more about me and my work, visit www.tirysalgado.com. 

On the Path (Nocturn)

Pencil on paper, 6 x 8 | $350

Juror’s Notes: his plein air piece’s execution affirms its unusual artistic choices of time of day, medium, and subject matter. Perhaps more than a full-color palette would do, the artist’s range of graphite tones and, crucially, the preservation of white streetlight globes as a light source - give the wistful sense of a nighttime stroll. The mark-making is reminiscent of Winslow Homer’s graphic work: suitably busy in the tree foliage and grass, quieter in the wall’s and stair’s flat planes, hardly present where the light falls on these elements, and softly and perfectly absent in the globe lights. Such careful observational work invites the viewer to gaze upon this unexpected take on an unassuming scene.

Artist’s Statement: The plein air works created in 2021 are all done with a mechanical pencil and eraser alone. I wanted to bring a sense of timelessness and experiment with texture, to see if I could evoke the sense of space and atmosphere through simple mark-making alone. I hope you enjoy these works as much as I enjoyed making them – this experiment has lit a fire in me to continue this practice weekly for the foreseeable future. 

Trevor Knapp is a printmaker and draftsman in the tradition of Old Masters. He also works as a graphic designer in Milwaukee, WI. His work strives to embody the archetypes of existential ponderings, memory, and dreams. Knapp’s work has recently been exhibited with Highpoint Printmaking Center, Manifest Gallery, Aeon Gallery and featured online with HiFructose Magazine and Booooom.com. 

Barbara's Garden

Mixed media, 8 x 12 | $125

Juror’s Notes: This mixed media piece’s freewheeling color and composition teeter enticingly on the edge of chaos. Reined in by some judicious darks, the light-dappled garden’s surfaces bring to mind the windy changeableness of an Autumn day. The eye finds a solid resting place in but two places: the foreground tree and mid-ground white building, providing enough to grasp onto for repeated visual tumbles through the lush plant life.

Artist’s Statement: Plein art painting enriches my larger more complex works. Leonardo DaVinci said that nature is the best teacher. Being outside improves my color and design sense. In addition, I love going outside and enjoying the smells sounds, sights, and spectacular light. 

I am an Emeritus Professor of Art from UWEC. I have been shown in countless shows and exhibitions and have work in numerous museums. 

Reflections: Eau Claire River

Oil on linen panel, 9 x 12 | $300

Juror’s Notes: The shimmering, muted September light upon a River is aptly suggested here by varied paint weight, soft-touch brushwork, and the use of near neighbors on the color wheel. The rock formation’s opaque paint and subdued purples differentiate it from the foliage’s looser treatment and varied greens, as well as from the river’s umber tones thinly painted. This piece speaks of an artist in pursuit of a visual interpretation both subtle and true to what is seen when working from direct observation en plein air.

Artist’s Statement: Randy began his adventure into the world of plein air painting early last year while vacationing in southern New Mexico. The desert landscapes provided an interesting contrast to those of the Midwest. Returning home, he began painting scenes in the Chippewa Valley. He found that art and being outdoors were great combinations-taking the time to enjoy a location, such as soaking up the sounds near a set of rapids, has been a joy.

A Wisconsin native, Randy grew up near Wisconsin Dells in a rural area that overlooked pastures, marshes, and swamps and with views of the Baraboo Bluffs. An early interest in art led to private lessons with a friend of his grandmother who studied under Scottsdale and Jackson Hole artist, Bill Freeman. Randy began painting landscapes in oils at the age of twelve and oils have remained the primary medium for his work. He received an Associate of Arts degree at UWC Baraboo/Sauk County with advanced credits in Art. He wanted to pursue a career that encompassed both the love for nature and the outdoors with art and the field of landscape architecture seemed like a good fit. He completed his Bachelor of Sciences-Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Randy’s work in “three-dimensional landscapes” culminated in a twenty-eight-year career as Grounds Manager/Landscape Architect at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Rivers Confluence

Pastels, 9 x 11 | $400

Graduated from UW-Oshkosh in 1980 with a BFA in Art. Employed as a graphic designer/artist for approx. 20 years in various positions. Painted in oil and acrylics for many years, mostly portrait painting. Photography is my second passion. I've long been interested in the natural world particularly landscapes. I took a class in pastel painting about three years ago and was hooked. The brilliance of color pigment and the medium have kept my attention. I'm a member of the Southwest Pastel Society and participate regularly with the Plein Air group.

My artistic practice is borne of the delights and constraints I experience as a city-dwelling landscape painter. The representational mode in which I work is informed by art history and motivated by a love for nearby nature. In oil on panel, I paint urban parks and preserves from direct observation, and in the studio from drawn sketches aided by memory.

Serene outdoor imagery is activated by visible brushwork, modern compositional choices, and saturated naturalistic color. I contribute to the broader landscape art dialogue as well as local life and culture by depicting in paint my area’s wealth of natural beauty."

Beth Stoddard is a Milwaukee artist who draws and paints from life with a modern sensibility. Working in oils primarily en Plein Air, she recently completed a long-term project to paint all 156 of the Milwaukee County Parks. She’s currently the 2020–2021 ARTservancy artist in residence at the Milwaukee Area Land Conservancy property Fitzsimmons Woods.

Wisconsin-born, she studied art in Philadelphia obtaining degrees from both the University of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her painterly realist pieces are held in private and corporate collections nationwide. When not painting outdoors she serves as a judge/ juror and teaches observational drawing and painting.