Kuhr-Norris Studio & Gallery

Yesterday was Guerneville's 1st Friday Art Walk and it was also a busy day for Suzy Kuhr and me. I finished the school year (and turned in grades for 150 students), then headed to see Suzy's show at Betty Spaghetti restaurant. Afterwards, to our gallery to host visitors for Art Walk. It was HOT, so fewer people than usual climbed the stairs to our space. Still, it was lovely to have guests in the gallery talking about art!

Art Walk is coming up

Art Walk is June 3rd....just 4 days from now! I will have a full studio, with new works hanging, plus some paintings coming back to me from Betty Spaghetti restaurant. It will be a busy week of prepping, plus it's my last week of school and grades are due! Can't wait to have time for some serious plein air painting!!

Spring Clouds

This is a painting of a view in Duncan's Mills (done from my memory of a day when the sky was a sort of stormy blue-gray).

Work in progress

"Stormy Sky" 10 in. by 10 in. on cradled wood panel. 

Paintings to wine labels

My wife is a "garagista"---she built a winery in our garage and makes incredible wines. Our winery (run with the dedicated help of a group of dear friends) is called TKO. Here are 2 of her latest wines...which feature my paintings on the labels!

Studio Challenge

The Kuhr-Norris Studio & Gallery is located on the 2nd floor of a building on Main Street in Guerneville, CA. I have been surprised at how difficult it is to get visitors to the town to notice that we are here. This is disappointing, and we are trying to come up with creative solutions to this. One thing I do on weekends is put one of my paintings and one of Suzy's photos in the windows and illuminate both.

Hanging the Show at Studio Blomster

"I love to hang a show," David Blomster of Studio Blomster in Guerneville once said to me. I never understood the creativity that went into hanging a show until I watched him do the work. Over a three-hour period, I observed him carefully consider the placement of twenty nine of my paintings of all different shapes and sizes. Then he measured each painting individually before hanging since each framed piece was in a unique frame, and the pieces on stretched canvases were of different sizes and shapes. He was patient and persistent throughout. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to have a show at his gallery.

"River Nest"

This tiny cottage is in the tiny town of Rio Nido, which means "river nest" in Spanish. I've been planning to paint it for awhile, but wasn't sure at what hour the light would be best. Yesterday, had only about an hour to paint, so I decided to go check it out. Got there around 12:40pm and began the painting in the light you see above. I was so happy for the patterns of the shadows. Tried to quickly get down the light and shadows as it was changing rapidly. An hour later, the house was in total shade. I needed to see the lighting more, so went back today at around 11:30 and painted for about another hour. Not sure why my photo is so fuzzy; couldn't seem to get a good one today. I will probably work some more on the foliage, but the house is done, I think.

On the easel today....

Still have a ways to go on this painting....colors and values need adjusting, and the grass & sky need work. Painted from a photo I took years ago of the Russian River under stormy skies. The river did look an interesting aqua color on that day. 

Finally, a day to paint

Yesterday, I set aside time to paint. I completed this canvas, a study of a work by Santa Rosa artist Brooks Anderson entitled "Terra Lumina no.3." His work can be seen on the cover of the latest Art Trails catalogue. I've been to his studio in Santa Rosa; it's a lovely space and I love his landscapes. My version of his composition has brighter colors than his. I was excited to do this study because I have taken photos around the Russian River Valley in the fall that have these same colors and I have been wanting to paint them. Yesterday, rather than spend time digging through my photos to find one, I decided to just use his composition as a practice. It was blissful to be painting again!