Bukowski Painting- Beginning and End

William Bukowski

Summer at Sibley Park

oil on linen

30" X 40"

Painting in the garden in the morning has been hot, but it has provided me with some great images and the conditions have been nearly perfect.  I finally finished a summer painting from life, and I started another this morning.  So here they are:  beginning and end.   I really like the beginning and with this painting I am hoping to keep it looser and bolder.  With the end,  you can see my typical finished Sibley Park painting.   Eventually I'll be somewhere in between these paintings.

Bukowski Painting- One Fine Day!

Fresh Start

Today was one of those days.  I started a new painting around 10:30 am and when I quit at 12:00 I had this painting.  Of course it isn't done, but it is a great start.  The flowers are finally in.  

It was one of those days the brush worked like you think it will and the paint went on easy.  I didn't quite cover the canvas, but what fun!  If everyday could go so easy and natural....

Bukowski Painting- Finally, it's summer!

The summer is finally here.  Erik made his pilgrimage to Sibley Park for his annual painting trip.  It was hot and the flowers are still a little behind, but it is like going into another century.  After ipods, imacs, high speed internet, and the virtual world, it is really refreshing to stand in the hot sun and listen to birds and fountains.  You see real light, feel real heat, real bugs and smell real oil paint.  The effort it takes to perceive the world sometimes feels like a lost art or at least a unique experience.  Everything is from secondary source.

Bukowski Painting- New Face at Sibley

Finally, summer is here and I managed to get to Sibley Park to see the new face of the gardens.  Each year it seems to progress with more complicated groupings and old favorites departed.

This is my 4th summer standing in the garden.

The weather has been reasonable, the bugs tolerable and all is well in Mankato.  My hope is to do some smaller paintings from life in hopes of enlarging the subjects at the studio.  It's all paint on canvas.

Bukowski Painting- or not painting?

Sibley Mural -Summer 2008

Bukowski design

When Ruth called and said she wanted a mural on the side of the Dutler Bowling Alley Building, the wheels started turning. Maybe I could design the mural and lend one of my signature images without really painting it. Two of my best painters had recently graduated from Bethany and were available to work on the project. So Malia and Laura are painting up a storm on an exterior wall for a new outdoor facility in Mankato, Minnesota.

Bukowski Painting- Another Brushstoke Bouquet

William Bukowski

oil on linen

18" X 24"

Brushstroke Bouquet

This is a smaller work that has some of the key ingredients of my current imagery.  It has the natural light of summer, it has full blooming gardens and it has a nice vocabulary of brushstrokes.  I have be patient for the real garden to bloom but the weather in Mankato has been horrible and I think the full summer bloom may be a little late this year.

Bukowski Painting- Threesome

Bukowski Painting

3 vertical paintings of Sibley

 4' X 2'  oil on linen

Much of the spring was spent working these 3 paintings into a consistent experience of light and color.  I like the vertical format and putting all three together creates an interesting effect.  I am looking forward getting outside again.  The garden is still a compelling image for me and don't feel that I have exhausted it yet.