Another highlight of our visit was a lone male mallard duck that was hanging around outside by the entrance, greeting people. He didn’t appear to be injured, only muddy. He was hanging out there and wasn’t afraid of anyone. He walked right up to us. He didn’t behave aggressively, as if he was protecting a nest nearby. He just stood there calmy among our group as if he was participating in the conversation. After a few minutes of us talking to him, he walked away back to the flower beds. The museum is right on the lakefront, by the way. He didn’t appear like he was in distress or needed help. Maybe he was used to being fed and was expecting something to eat? It was nice meeting him, anyway.

I have finished at least three pieces of art since that show. I posted a blog entry a couple of days ago called “There’s A Place…” That post is about one of those pieces. And I have created two graphite drawings which I will write about shortly. I’ve also added several new prints to my web store. One is a limited-edition print of 10. You can check it out here.

Thanks for stopping by and taking time to read this! I hope you enjoy the photos. I enjoyed this show very much. I enjoyed the previous one and I’m sure I’m going to enjoy the next one as well.

I’ve made several new paintings over the past few weeks. I began filming timelapse videos showing the creation of these paintings. My first painting was a garden gnome standing next to some black eyed susans. I painted it with gouache paints on paper and named the piece “The Gardener”.

The next one, also gouache on paper, was a grasshopper.

And the painting after that was some bleeding heart flowers, which I painted on a larger stretched canvas with acrylic paints.

The bleeding hearts was a painting that I had started about a year ago, but I lost interest in it as I instead got into a different painting. So I decided to break it out and finish it finally, and I made a timelapse video of it, and started a YouTube channel to collect the footage and more timelapse videos of my paintings, for people that like that sort of thing. I think it’s interesting to watch a piece develop and morph in fast motion. I try to put nice music to the videos or some pleasant ambient background noise. You can watch the full videos from beginning to end on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/@marjasallproductions. Subscribe to my channel and you’ll receive notifications of when I post new videos.

These new paintings I just mentioned, “The Gardener”, “A Grasshopper”, and “Bleeding Hearts” are now available as archival prints in my store.

I put together a slide show several weeks ago of most of my current collection of artworks. I think it’s an entertaining way to view the collection quickly in one place. Enjoy!

I’m about to begin work on another yet-unfinished painting and time-lapse video. I want to keep the creative momentum going. It’s another painting that I started about a year ago and I’ll reveal what it is when I release the video.

April is the time when nature gets creative. It’s planting season and nature comes back to life. Summer will be here before we know it. The warm weather gets me outdoors more, which means more energy, and that I will be surrounded by inspiration and new things to paint.

That’s all the news I have for the month of April. Peace to you and have a blessed day! Thank you for reading my blog!

Over the summer I attended some really great art events in Racine, Wisconsin. The 16^th Street Studios held another open house event which was just as fun, interesting, and inspiring as the first time my wife and I went, back in April of 2023. I saw several new studio spaces which I did not see before. I even came home with a free book. One artist was making room for fresh books on her studio shelves by telling her visitors to take one. So I selected a hardcover biography about J.R.R. Tolkien and thanked her.

Not only are there artists’ studios and shops at the 16^th Street Studios, but there is a museum. In suite 2500 is the “Spirit of Racine Entrepreneurs” exhibit, which is a museum dedicated to “the innovative spirit and business acumen of those who contributed to Racine’s economic growth and development”. I saw many interesting items, like old world carriages manufactured in Racine, steamer trunks, a vintage Golden Books collection, and many other products and items that were manufactured in Racine. There were turn of the century maps displayed, showing the neighborhoods and street names in Racine in those times. Much has changed, and much has stayed the same. I learned something about my house. It was all very interesting stuff. Another open house event will take place on April 27, 2024.

My wife and I also attended the 58^th Racine Starving Artist Fair at the DeKoven Center, near the lakefront, in Racine. It was a really fun and inspiring event. The weather cooperated with overcast skies and pleasant temperatures. The grounds there are really beautiful.

The DeKoven Center website describes the grounds best: “Set along Lake Michigan’s bluffs in Racine, Wisconsin, The DeKoven Center’s 11-acre campus is a unique and versatile setting offering nationally-recognized architectural treasures, gorgeous gardens, serene wooded areas and distinctive spaces — ideal for everything from personal reflection to community celebration”.

It was my first time attending this art fair and I could not believe the size of this event. I had no idea it was so large. There were over 120 artists displaying and selling their work, live music (I saw an acoustic performer and a cellist), the aroma of different foods, and all kinds of colorful art – paintings, woodwork, metalwork, jewelry, clothing, sculpture, glass-work… you name it. All of this in the midst of the beautiful gardens of DeKoven Center. I bought a stained glass piece from an artist, and my wife purchased a blown glass piece. The event inspired me to paint Kings Way Gardens, at St. John’s Chapel, which is on the DeKoven grounds. You can view the painting in my gallery. The Fair was impressive and has made me consider trying to rent a space there, possibly next year. The 59th Racine Starving Artist Fair is August 4, 2024.

I’ve created a lot of new art over the past several months. I completed eight paintings and have three other new paintings started as I type this. I jump around between pieces, and work on whichever one excites me at the moment.

The eight paintings that I completed are called:

• “Moon Peeking Around A Chimney”
• “Looking At You”
• “Halloween Tree”
• “Autumn Trail”
• “Morning Light”
• “At The Easel”
• “Danny”
• “October Snow”

They are all displayed in my gallery.

I painted “Danny” after a childhood friend of mine passed away unexpectedly in November 2023. He was a year older than me and we used to play music together when we were teenagers. We started out together, you could say, me getting my first electric guitar and amplifier at the same time he acquired a set of drums. His Dad allowed us to make our noise in their garage, and we started learning songs together. We lost touch with each other in the early-1990s and reconnected only two or three years ago on social media. We never managed to hook up face-to-face though. And then one day he passed away. I painted “Danny” how I remember him – young, long ago in the 1980s, in that garage. We had many great times. I think my painting reflects the fuzziness of those increasingly distant memories.

I will discuss other paintings in future blog entries.

I’m starting to print in-house, rather than outsourcing. We bought a large printer, and it prints with water resistant archival pigment inks. I’ve also been researching and testing out new archival fine art papers. I worked professionally in the printing industry for 15 years, before I began taking my artwork more seriously, and the knowledge and experience I gained from those jobs has paid off. I am not intimidated by printing in-house. I like the control that it gives me over the quality of my prints.

That is all that I can think to report, for now. I’m working on new paintings and I will share them here soon. Thank you for reading this. I will seriously try to write more often.

~ Mark Allen