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