North Point Lighthouse, Milwaukee, WI

It started as a pre-rainy autumn day paddle on the Milwaukee River. It was too "warm" not to be outside on a fall day in Wisconsin. After the test of arm strength carrying the kayak farther from and to the car than I put miles into paddling, I headed towards the lakefront to take a few more photos. I stopped at Lake Park and admired the view of the lighthouse from the leaf-covered ground. Snapped a few reference pictures and made it back into the car just before the sky opened up.

A month or two passed and it was time to paint live again, this time for the Young Milwaukee Holiday Gala. Going through my photos I came across the day I went paddling and decided it was time to put it on canvas. The background started out black, rough outlines penciled in, and the negative-space painting began. 3 hours in to it I realized I wasn't going to finish it during the event. A few more hours the following weekend and the painting is complete. Hope everyone who watched me paint enjoyed the evening, and to those of you who wanted to see the finished product, here it is.

Caution: Wet Paint!

For those of you who might be interested in seeing a work of art come to life, I'll be painting live 7-11pm tomorrow (Dec 8) for the 2011 Young Milwaukee Holiday Gala at the Intercontinental Hotel, 139 E. Kilbourn Avenue. For more info and to buy tickets, visit their website at www.youngmilwaukee.org

Holiday Buzz

Unlike August, the rain this weekend may have actually drawn people out of their houses and to the craft fair. It also could have been the fact we're 4 weekends away from Christmas and people wanted to get some shopping done. Whatever their reasons, it was a packed day at Sweet Water Organics on Saturday for HoverCraft. Best sellers at my booth were the sketchbooks and the little block tree paintings. If you weren't able to make it to the fair and are interested in purchasing a handmade item, I've got plenty of goodies left - just click on one of the links on the side to see pictures.