Finally back to painting. It's chilly outside, and this view of the close of day at the end of the harbor in Choptank represents the feel perfectly. Choptank is a tiny little waterfront town in southern Caroline County.  Just a road or two, but a beautiful old enclosed harbor, mostly used by watermen. The ramp there is popular with day fishermen, but this place still evokes the feel of the Eastern Shore of years past.  

Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops and shows and of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

Creek Chub Baby Plunker, 1930's - 1940's vintage
original transparent watercolor
Arches 140 lb CP
8" x 10" 

Spent most of the day in the yard today. No rain for a change led to a long day cutting grass and pulling weeds. But still, I really have wanted to paint this old Creek Chub lure that I found at a yard sale a while back. This is a 1930's vintage, perhaps as late as 1940. I sat the old lure down on my studio table and imagined the bucket-mouths that have been reeled in with this classic old lure.

​If you would like to purchase this piece, contact [email protected] for information. 
Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops and shows and of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

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This is another of my cat paintings. I seem to do a lot of them. There are at least three more that I've sketched up in the last few days. Weird thing is, I'm a dog person. As a matter of fact, there are four dogs in the studio here with me as I finished painting this. No cats.  This is actually one of Larry's barns, from his farm down the road. I've painted his cats before.  

I'm pretty sure this one is finished, but I might tinker with it some more in a few days. 
If you would like to purchase this piece, contact [email protected] for information. 
Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops and shows and of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

I have not painting much that I've been happy with in a while. In fact, I haven't painted much at all in quite some time. Too many distractions... teaching school being the main one. It seems I just haven't made the time to finish anything. The less I paint, the less I like what I do manage to paint.

This one is an exception though and has me motivated to paint more and more.  I guess that is my Summer-Off Resolution. Paint more, and paint every day. Let's see how it goes.

A little about the actual painting: This is a painting of my wife as she walks a farm lane near our house. I was far behind her, and loved the way her pink jacket contrasted with the dark pthalo green trees across the field.  

If you would like to purchase this piece, contact [email protected] for information. 
Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops and shows, and, of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

"Badly Stacked Bales" 
by Kurt Plinke
waxed watercolor
​arches 140 lb cp
11" x 19" image size









This is another transparent watercolor that I completed a number of weeks ago, but neglected to post on Today's Painting, Finished or Not.  So here it is today. I've also worked on a second version of the garden tools and skink painting today, but nothing worth posting at this point.

I gotta say, I really liked painting this one. The sky feels voluminous, the ground recedes well, the color palette is muted but there, and the image itself, in my eyes, is hilarious. Having grown up at least for a time on a farm, and having baled a little hay, (I was a mite young up on the farm to have been a big bale-tosser) I can appreciate well-stacked bales. The hayloft in the big barn up on the farm was carefully stacked, and the bales were so tight I can remember running around on the top of a fifteen bale high stack, with nary a wobble.

But this poor stack, after a short storm outside of Easton, collapsed in the middle, spilling bales out into the field. As a country-raised boy, I have to smile. And as an artist who sometimes likes to tell stories and inject humor into his work, I have to paint it.

When I finished this watercolor, rather than matting and putting it behind glass, I mounted on a board and coated it with a well-rubbed layer of wax. This protects the paper from moisture and dirt as well as the glass would have, but avoids the distraction of mats and the glare of glass.

If you would like to purchase this piece, contact [email protected] for information. 
Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops, classes and shows, and, of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.
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"Blue Tail, Blue Handle", by Kurt Plinke
11" x 14", Arches 140 lb cold press
Watercolor

This one is not finished. In fact, I may start a second board using a different style, one that incorporates a much more sparsely populated color palette. As I sit at the edge of my garden shed and look through the doorway, I see all of these hues of blues, oranges, browns and violets. But when I paint these colors as I see them, they feel a little contrived and overworked and in need of editing.

On the other hand, I like this painting in many respects.  I think I managed to get the feel of light coming through the doorway, and I like the series of varied verticals that are the doorway and tool handles. I like the brushwork in places. I like how the repetition of shovel-shapes feels.

Pretty sure the next attempt will be much looser, quicker, and closer to monochromatic, but with a similar sort of composition. (I used a lot of the tools today out in the garden, and they are in different places now. The composition will have to change.) I may wait a few days, too.

And yes, I do have a hoe with a handle being held together with electrician's tape. Lots of it.

Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops, classes and shows, and, of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.
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"Dogtooth," 4 1/2" x 7" (image size)
by Kurt Plinke
waxed watercolor, framed

This little painting was actually completed several weeks ago, but I didn't post it here on Today's Painting Finished or Not, so here it is. I have a few more of these that I'll be posting from time to time.

This is a watercolor painting of a small plant called Dogtooth Violet. It grows down near the riverbanks along the Choptank. I found this one tucked up along a fallen log.  I like the contrast between the flower and the dark shadow cast by the log.

I started this painting with a value study in pencil down by the river. When I went back up to the studio, I completed the watercolor. 

Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops, classes and shows, and, of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

"Old Blue Bus", by Kurt Plinke
transparent watercolor
Arches 140 lb cp

Plein Air study, 6" x 10"

About a mile from the studio, across a field sits an old blue school bus in the back of a farm yard.  I've always liked the play of light and shadow on the old bus as it sits behind a row of Loblolly Pines. I sketched it quickly in watercolor, thinking it may eventually become a bigger painting. Sometimes small paintings plow the row for larger works, either as a color experiment, a compositional play or as a glorified thumbnail sketch. I bet this one will be a little of all three. In any case, I really like the simplicity of this little painting.

​Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops, classes and shows, and, of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

​I'm about three-fourths finished with this painting. It is a transparent watercolor, meaning that the pigments are transparent, and colors are layered upon colors to develop depth and variety. No white paint is traditionally used in a transparent watercolor. I expect that I'll finish this painting in the studio this evening.  When finished, I would like to see more warmth in the foreground, as well as, of course, a black-and-white cat on the steps.​

Visit www.kurtplinke.com to see more of my paintings, read my blog, find out about upcoming workshops, classes and shows, and, of course, to pick out and purchase your favorite paintings.

"Fern Shadow," waxed transparent watercolor by Kurt Plinke
140 lb Arches CP, mounted on board

At Plein Air Easton! this weekend, my entry in the Quick Draw competition was this little painting of a fern hanging in front of a shop across from the Tidewater Inn.  This painting took a little over an hour and a half of the two hours allowed in the competition.

I was looking at shadows and diagonal lines as I painted this, although I would up looking at a plain brick wall by the time I had finished the piece. Before I began, I sketched what I wanted to see, based upon the conditions at 10:00 am.

I think this is my best Quick Draw entry so far, and I've entered a few. I usually am too ambitious, and wind up with a less-than-satisfactory piece. However, I'm happy with this painting.