on july 25 and 26 we will have an outdoor painting session at emmerts farm (which i used for my studio for 28 years) the location is about 45 minutes west of rockford. we have 8 artist that will be participating. we have room for 2 more so let me know if you would like to join us. i think you might find it interesting to see the actual location where most of my paintings originated from. subject matter will include outbuildings that are a hundred years old and fields of long grasses over 6 foot tall and 10 acres of woods and a small spring fed stream.
one fly in the ointment....outdoor outhouse.  if that is beyond your indurance the town of lena is only 5 miles away.
 
summer has come and we in the midwest are happy to see it even though a few days this week have been rather hot. everything is green and flowers are blooming everywhere. as far as painting goes the green of summer can be a challenge. the trees are so full of leaves that they look like great stands of broccoli. cant see any limbs and very little trunks. so one has to take some artistic liberties and vary the shades of green and add a few limbs. another approach is to focus on the sky, if it is dramatic, and drop the landscape further down in the composition.

i' m including a couple of pictures of my gallery and studio so you can see how lush the trees are in the month of june in illinois.......tom heflin