"Queen Anne's Lace Country" (watercolor on paper, 12" x 9") sold

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While driving along the St Croix River in Minnesota a few years ago, we saw this lovely view of the summer country dotted with delicate and elegant Queen Anne's Lace. My job was to recreate the sensation in watercolor. Do you think I succeeded?

"Enchanted Harbor" (oil on stretched canvas; 18" x 18") sold

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As my husband is from Minnesota and has lots of relatives there, we often visit Minnesota.  We spent a pleasant day in Grand Marais on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota during one of our visits a few years ago.  It is a picturesque artist community with two harbors and lighthouses.  The reference photo for the painting was backlit and pretty much black and white.  But I loved the composition and wanted to make a painting out of it.

I transformed a bleached-out, afternoon scene into a romantic twilight moment.  I went wild with dots in the water, sky and everywhere.  I hope you like my pointillist style as much as I do!

"Crossing the Mississippi, Minnesota" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

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I love Minnesota so much that I married a Minnesotan!  He has many relatives there, so we try to visit it as often as we can, which is not often enough.  During the last visit two summers ago, we went to Itasca State Park, the headwaters of the Mississippi River, in north central Minnesota.  The kids of all ages can cross the mighty river and feel mighty themselves.  You can walk across the small wooden foot bridge, like the family with a dog in my painting.  Or, if you feel particularly brave, you can wade the river barefoot, like those in the picture below. What would you do, if you were there?

My daughter had a lot of fun crossing the Mississippi!

If you send me your pictures to kimstenbergart@gmail.com, I may make paintings out of them.  How fun is that!  At the end of September, I will do a drawing and one lucky person wins a free painting.  You can buy the painting anytime, but there is no obligation.  Thanks!

Today is Day Twelve of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge.  18 more paintings to go!

"Wolf on the Prowl" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

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No, this is not a pet.  It is a wolf on the prowl.  I saw it at the International Wolf Center in Ely, MN several years ago.  As you may know, wolves are back in North America, which is thrilling to some and alarming to others.  The center is one of the world's leading organizations dedicated to educating the public about wolves.

We were safely behind the glass barrier; all the wolves out for the visitors to admire appeared pretty darn friendly.  I don't remember the name of this "ambassador wolf".  In another picture it looks like smiling!  I did my best to make the wolf look menacing, on the prowl in the moonlight.  I must say it was fun!

If you send me your pictures to kimstenbergart@gmail.com, I may make paintings out of them.  How fun is that!  At the end of September, I will do a drawing and one lucky person wins a free painting.  You can buy the painting anytime, but there is no obligation.  Thanks!

Oh, by the way, it's Day Five of Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge.  Only 25 more to go!

"By the Lake" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

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It was one of those vacations you always remember with fondness during which I took the reference photo for "By the Lake".  A couple of years ago, my husband's family rented a cabin on Gunflint Lake in northern Minnesota, and three generations--two brothers and their wives, four cousins and daughter-in-law, and a baby--spent a happy week together.  We canoed, rode horses, picked wild blueberries, played board games, cooked and ate in a cramped kitchen.  The only thing that was not so fun was the short hot water supply; we had to take turns and take very short showers.

My husband sprained his ankle on the flight to the Twin Cities and didn't get to participate in physical activities.  He also had work to do on his laptop.  Poor guy.  He ended up spending much time in one of the Adirondack chairs you see in the painting.  I sometimes kept him company, but he seemed content.  On the holiday weekend that celebrates the nation's birthday, it seems fitting to share with my readers this painting of a relaxing family vacation.

Happy Independence Day!

"Miss Daisy and Lambs" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

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Oliver H. Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota is a historic working farm that grows oats, hay, sorghum, and animals.  We saw oxen, horses, Miss Daily (one-year-old heifer), chickens, lambs, three piglets, and their mom.  On this hot, hot August day, Miss Daisy and two lambs were huddled together trying to find shade, although there wasn't much.  The scene was so funny that I just had to paint it.

I have a thing for animals; my favorites are sheep and giraffes.  I have painted cows, sheep, elephants, giraffes, polar bears, zebras, pandas, ostriches, ducks, geese, etc., although I don't consider myself an animal painter.  It must be their endlessly beautiful forms. 

"Tropical Water Lily" (oil on linen; 6" x 8") sold

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There is a beautiful conservatory at Como Park in St. Paul, Minnesota.  It is landscaped outside with a floating garden of water lilies.  A sign that reads "Tropical Water Lily" that stood among the flower stems gave the painting its title.  They look like lotuses to me. 

The lotus plant has a great symbolic meaning in Buddhism.  These sculptural flowers grow in a standing water, which is usually muddy, algoid, and not pretty looking--just as you can find peace and nirvana wherever you are.  I grew up in a Buddhist family in Korea.  On the birthday celebration of the Enlightened One (April 8th in the Lunar Calendar), thousands of Buddhists made a colorful procession holding lanterns shaped like lotuses, with candles glowing inside in the evening streets in downtown Seoul.  Ah, sweet memories of my dear mother, excited like a little girl, dressed up in a Korean traditional dress, getting ready for the annual procession ....

I am happy with the way the painting turned out--lyrical and watery.  It may be the best painting of water lilies I have ever done so far.  I am sure I will be painting many more.  Not because of Monet, but for my mother.  With love.