Ken Marsden Art

Northcountry Hollyhock
I once watched an oil painting demo on TV in which we were told that if we were going to paint a rose to paint the most beautiful rose that ever could be. This Hollyhock certainly wasn't the most beautiful ever but, after being eaten by a deer in my backyard and struggling to come back, I thought it had lot's of character that deserved to be painted.
Ken

Ken Marsden Art

This "Aunt Emma" wasn't really my Aunt Emma, but I did have several Aunt Emmas. There were so many Emmas in my relations that the family referred to them as "Fred's Emma or Charlie's Emma or Art's Emma, etc. I did this one for display purposes to encourage commissions for ancestoral portraits. Portrait anyone?

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

One of many "Hard Life" paintings I've done of a dairy farm near where I live in northern Wisconsin. The first one I did won Honorable Mention at the Hardy Gallery Exhibit in Door County Wisconsin some years ago. There is an Artist Statement about "Hard Life" on my web site www.kenmarsden.com.

Ken Marsden Art

...another watercolor painting based upon an Old Master. This is as much of the nude as my wife will allow me to exhibit. My photography was terrible but the actual painting had better skin tones than shown here-also out of focus a little-Oh well-you can get an idea of what I'm doing. I'll get a better digital image and do another blog of this one some day.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

...just a reminder to locals that the Healing Art Art Walk & High Tea will be held at Bay Area Medical Center in Marinette, WI, Sunday November 2 at 3:30-6:30 with an Artists Reception 4:30-6:30PM...hope to see you there.

Also, East Ludington Gallery, Escanaba, MI will have it's Holiday Open House November 7 & 8 during the normal 11:00 t0 5:00 business hours. In addition I will be at the ELG Gallery Monday, November 10. As usual during my work days at the gallery I will be doing watercolor painting demonstrations.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

This morning as I walked in the backyard drinking my coffee and discussing things with the cat I was reminded of my latest yard project failure. As usual I had decided to put up the Christmas decoration before the cold weather makes things miserable. It was to be Mary riding a donkey led by Joseph. I used white twinkie lights strung on some wire mesh to outline the imagery. It looks like it should be good when viewed in daylight but a nighttime trial showed it to be a failur - just looks like a bunch of lights- back to the drawing board.
Ken

Ken Marsden Art

"Late Arrival"
Lighthouses aren't required in these days of high technology and GPS systems but I trust most will be around for a long time to come. They certainly are a favorite subject for artists. This lighthouse is at the mouth of the Menominee River which is the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin.
Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Bad, Bad Corn
You can read my Artist Statement about this painting at my web site, www.kenmarsden.com. The thought I had today about painting was prompted by this painting I did some time ago. Recently I have seen a number of Internet writings talking about how the discipline of doing a painting a day will keep you painting and therefore be beneficial to your creativity. So you plop down at your easel or drawing board in your studio and--paint what? I guess those practicing this notion would say "It doesn't matter." I think it does matter what you paint. My practice is
to put the emphasis on finding an inspiring subject. When I find an inspiring subject everything takes care of itself. The urge to paint is there naturally and I have no need to force myself to crank out some work.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Lately I have been doing watercolors based on old Master works. This one was from Frans Hals Gypsy Girl, 1628-30. Attempts such as this provides lessons in humility as one realizes how great the old Masters really were. Still, much can be learned from these exercises.

As a member of a coop gallery I am expected to decorate the gallery window from time to time. These paintings based on famous works were started as part of my layout for my next window.
Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Marinette County, Wisconsin is noted for it's waterfalls. Naturally I have done paintings of them. I find them to be a difficult subject. This painting is of Dave's Falls and I was almost satisfied with it.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Different Points of View
This past week we made another delightful visit to Galena, Illinois. On the way home we luckily by chance stopped in an antique store with a 3rd floor art gallery and met Bruce Fortney, a talented oil painter. Go to www.brucefortney.com and you will see I kid you not.

One thing about looking at another artist's work is that it sparks the drive to get to the studio and start painting.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

"Gotcha"

I was introduced to this stretch of stream almost 40 years ago by my friend Ed. It has been the inspiration for a number of paintings. This is my most recent. I think my feeling for the stream comes through in the painting. I will be adding it to my web site soon, along with an accompanying Artist Statement.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

"OUT of MY WAY"
I'm searching for one or two additional galleries to handle my work. Being an old fella (I've cleaned up my language) I'm being told over and over that my work isn't "edgy enough". So, I m looking for non edgy galleries. Any ideas??

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Has technology changed the artist's studio? I was talking with a group of painters a few days ago and they were considering locations where they could meet to paint together. The topic of natural lighting, preferably north light, came up. It made me wonder. I've been forced to do most of my painting with artificial lighting for sometime now and with modern "daylight" bulbs I seem to get along just fine. Perhaps I'm not critical enough about my own work. There is something wonderful about painting outdoors in wonderful lighting but for studio work I think the times have changed.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

More and more I find myself trying to simplify my paintings. Yet, what seems popular with the public is more and more crammed into the subject matter of the pictures being marketed by the "Fine Art" marketing crowd. I called this one "Down River".

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

One of the ideas I try to get across when teaching watercolor is you don't have to paint everything in the scene you are viewing. These three chickens were a small part of the total number. Not only that, I didn't paint each feather. I had fun with this one.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

These days I do mostly watercolor paintings. This is an oil painting from 1966. It is Smallpox Creek. I was working in Chicago when I found out my mother had cancer. I went to Galena to spend a week with her. I took a break one day and did this painting. I think she liked it.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

I will soon get some of my new paintings on this blog but I just had to put this up. It is from a painting for a little booklet I self published about Galena, Illinois. I wont repeat all of the story here but it was painted from a real Hollyhock that survived deer and storms in our backyard. I once watched a fine lady painter on TV paint a rose as a demonstration. She made the point that one didn't have to paint a flower exactly as it was but rather one should paint the most beautiful flower, in her case rose, that ever existed. That may be but I thought this poor fellow deserved to be painted.

Watercolor Painting

Here is another painting from my web site, www.kenmarsden.com. You can read my Artist Statement about this painting on that site.

Ken Marsden Art

This is the view in front of our home in winter. It has inspired a number of paintings.
Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Our view of the Bay of Green Bay includes a strip of land jutting out into the Bay. It is known as Seagull Bar. There are many seagulls there but it could just as well been called Canada Goose Bar. Yesterday at daylight the guns were popping-must have been opening of hunting season. Autumn is on its way and this painting seems appropriate. The title is "Time to Head South."

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

We had company this week and conversation included "what's the hardest part of what you do?" I answered "Coming up with titles for finished paintings." I paint a lot of dogs. Those titles are easy- just the name of the dog. This is Tucker.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

I did this painting several years ago. We were at a rodeo and I noticed this youngster intently watching a bull riding event. It seemed to me that he must be dreaming in his mind of some day being such a bull rider but in reality he would probably grow up to be something entirely different. I titled the painting "Someday".

Ken Marsden Art

I usually paint in a fairly realistic manner but from time to time I get a little crazy and try to satisfy those who want my work to be a little more "edgy". If you go to my web site www.kenmarsden.com you can read more about my thoughts about that subject under the painting titled"Edge", which by the way is not an "edgy" painting at all. On this one I stuck to traditional watercolor technique, i.e., I used no white paint but let the white of the paper unpainted where appropriate. On this painting,"White Water Rafting", that was quite time consuming.

The scene is from one of the rapids here in Marinette County, Wisconsin where white water rafting is popular.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

I love to fish, especially fly fishing. Unfortunately I usually have to fish alone. That's not bad but it is fun to fish with a buddy. I get a big thrill when my son cathes the Big One. I titled this painting "Fishing Buddies"

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

My previous blog contained a painting of a road in Marinette county, Wisconsin. This painting is of a scene along the same road. It was a lonely drive to my cabin on cold winter mornings and I always got a warm comfortable feeling when I passed this barn with a warm orange glow coming from the windows as an unseen farmer milked his cows. I decided to paint the scene in all four seasons. This is "Comfortable Spring."

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

I called this "Road to Town". It is highway X in Marinette county, Wisconsin. I used to travel this road to and from my cabin. It could be pretty lonely during a winter storm. I sold the cabin many years ago but the memories linger.

I liked the painting and made it into one of my business cards.
Ken

Different Points of View

I guess it takes awhile to get a blog going. I'm not getting posts or comments but I'll keep plugging away, hopeful that readership will expand. A patron emailed me and said that he didn't feel knowledgeable enough to comment but that he loved art. His comments would probably be the most meaningful of all. It's the emotional response to paintings that I care about. When I read some of the verbal garbage written about paintings and/or a painter's view of their art I think to myself, if you have to rely on such B.S. to tell us what the painting should communicate by viewing there is something definitely wrong. I usually write a little something about my paintings but I try to keep it light hearted and sometimes, hopefully a little humorous.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

My trip to Galena Illinois was a reminder that the architecture and scenery there provides inspiration for painting at every turn. Here in northeast Wisconsin there are limitations in that regard. We do have our beautiful woods, waterfalls and streams. I painted this scene of our local lighthouse as part of the instruction for a watercolor painting class

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

We're back from our much too short trip to Galena, Illinois. Accomodations and hospitality at The Grandview B&B were everything we had been told about and more. Rates are terrific too.
This painting is of the view from Grant Park.
Ken

Ken Marsden Art

I'm headed to Galena, IL, my hometown. We will be staying at Grandview B&B. That's the home shown above. Below is the Galena Train Depot. I painted that in 1976 but it remains the same, as it was when Galena's most famous citizen, U.S. Grant, lived there. If you haven't been to Galena you should.

Different Points of View

The different points of view page is my attempt to engage in ideas and thoughts about art and painting. For example I have been reading lately about a popular notion that a painting a day is a good idea. Because I have always said to students that they will learn more from actually doing (painting) than from my teaching, then I suppose the painting time required by "a painting a day" would be a good thing. However, I like to teach that the time spent thinking about what is to be painted and pre-deciding things like mood and composition are too important to put on a timetable. I do think a discipline of painting daily is good.

Perhaps you'd like to express your ideas on this or other aspects of painting.

Ken

Ken Marsden Art

Hi and welcome to my Blog! I will be adding paintings to my blog frequently but in the meantime check out www.kenmarsden.com.

I'd like to hear from you so...

Ken