Across from Dayton's Bluff

Evening Across Dayton's Bluff, study, 10 x 8" oil on canvas board.

This got started last Friday evening while I was out with my friend, Tom Winterstein, hunting for things to paint (the usual problem there is that you find too much, not too little). I loved the way the evening sunlight was hitting the nearby overpass and the path closer to my feet, and then making a beautiful contrast with the violet shadows on the buildings downtown.

We lost our light completely before we could finish, but the thing about standing there and painting a while is that it fixes a lot of things in your memory that you'd otherwise forget.

If you don't have a travel sketchbook, this is a reason to get one, even if you are sure you can't draw. Anything you do draw, no matter how poorly or cartoonishly, you'll remember with a clarity that your camera can't offer. Something about the process makes connections that last.

Frameworks Gallery, St. Paul

I'm part of a six-artist show at Frameworks Gallery on Ford Parkway right now. It's a nice place; good art, low-key staff, relaxing, open until 7 most nights -- and you can get food from the Chatterbox, Leeann Chin, Panera, or the Highland Bakery Cafe, all in the same plaza! Or walk across the street to Barnes & Noble for books and/or coffee.

Come out and have a look if you're going through the Highland Park area. Tell 'em Tracie sent you.

Island Station Power Plant, St. Paul

This evening was exploration-time. I was certain this building was a brewery; not until I got home and looked it up did I learn that it was a power plant.  It even has a Wikipedia page.

 

St. Paul Skyline

A view out the window at Old Town Artists, where I have my studio space:

Skyline from the Studio Window, oil on panel, 9 x 12", by Tracie Thompson

Sometimes, it's worth just stopping to notice the way sunlight falls on buildings.