The wages of sin is death (by mosquitoes).

This summer I set up right by the ridge of trees that usually have been featured so prominently in my park paintings. What I hadn't anticipated was the high rise apartment for a zillion mosquitoes.

I don't remember ever having a more tortuous time with the bugs. I made the mistake for the first few days of going in shorts. Since I really hate to put on bug poison, I have usually just wait and the wave of the little devils just go away. But here, they come out wave after wave. It has been a wet summer and clear bug overpopulation. One would never think about how hard it is to concentrate when there are mosquitoes on your eye lids, behind your ears and on your hands. It is hard enough just trying to figure out how to paint the light and what you are seeing let alone see and swat, and paint and swat. I may have to give in to some bug spray.

Finally back to the park!

For the sixth summer I have returned to Sibley Park to paint from life.

This is day one of painting from 8:30-12:00.

I found a spot in the shade and the light changes were noted.

This is a 30" X 40" canvas with some medium sized brushes.

It is very exhilarating to watch the light in the garden and I literally had to slow down my pace.

I've noticed that they haven't taken as good of care of the garden this year and maybe the recent severe weather has beaten down on it. July is the month to work and the flowers are coming .....

bukowskipainting.com

Landscape for Godard

Landscape for Godard

3 canvases oil on linen

(in progress)

Just for fun, I did a three panel landscape and decided to follow a famous quote by Jean-Luc Godard, "a story should have a beginning, middle and end, but not necessarily in that order". I did each panel separately from the same image. When I came closer to finishing the work, I put the panels together out of the normal order and the results were kind of interesting. It still needs the final touches and framing but the patterns and space that result reinforce a kind of abstraction (tame by cubist standards).

Bukowskipainting.com

I have a new website: bukowskipainting.com

This photo is the header for the website but due to auto-editing you don't get the whole picture. Dave Norris took this shot in my office at Bethany Lutheran College for an upcoming issue of the Bethany Report. I like the image because there are some nice details that add more to the story. It also shows my office and the collection of junk that keeps me inspired. The website is a stripped down model based on templates and in house design formulas, but it is super easy to update and change. I hope to use it for more to feature my newest collection of available paintings.

Waiting....

Recently, I have been working on designs for possible images for the Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. I came across this image from the past. Julia was drying off from swimming and sitting in the sun with her little friend. This is only a watercolor study for a possible oil painting, but it would make a nice work for kids who are at the hospital. I have 6 or 7 other possibilities. I am waiting for the green light on this and other works.... We will see.....

In Christ Alone at Martin Luther College.

William Bukowski

oil on linen

He Died In Our Place

and

Jesus Is Among Us.

I have a couple of paintings on display at Martin

Luther College in New Ulm, MN. There is a show going on for the dedication of the new chapel on

campus. The show is a fund raiser for artwork to

decorate some rooms on campus. I did one painting with Christ standing on the campus of MLC. It is in the library and will be until the end of May.

Fun to find a few oldies.

When preparing to put out 37 years of painting in a show recently I had the fun of looking at some of my older works with a renewed interest.

What was I trying for here?

How did this turn out?

or maybe the most important:

Why do I still own this?

But it is all a part of the "short journey" as I called the exhibition. The top picture is a painting from my old office in the late 80s. The next one is from Greenville, PA a spot on the campus of Thiel College called, "East Acres" and lastly, Jenna at the cottage. They still hold up.