Brenda Stichter, artist

As Seen Along the Back Roads 'Is this "readable"?', I asked my family. Since I have been working on a large diptych for the last several weeks, and doing some plein air painting, this is the first small studio work in a while for me. I took the photo that I referenced for this painting several years ago, on an evening when my Beloved Husband and I were meandering home after watching the harness racing up in Amish country. 6" x 6" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on cradled wood panel Edges painted black Click here to view on my website. Lately, it has been a little tricky finding a good rhythm for painting, between lots of plein air events, new places to display my work, new work schedules, and miscellaneous summer activities. Maybe the craziness will actually help me as I have to squeeze painting in between other things - maybe I will get better at painting faster. Or, maybe not...  One of the last plein air events I participated in ...

Village Art Fair en plein air   Somehow or other, I always find it challenging to get started at a plein air event. I am not sure what it is that makes me hesitant to get going, but usually a good bit of time has passed before I am actually painting! This time was no different for me.  8" x 16" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Framed in simple, natural wood frame Click here to view on my website. Our weekend paint out coincided with the Village Art Fair, and also with the Farmers' Market that happen in the quaint community of Winona Lake, IN. The art fair has long been an event I enjoy in the summer, and I participated for many years by having my own booth there. The farmers' market draws my Beloved Husband and me for breakfast many Saturday mornings. The Northern Indiana Plein Air Painters had a booth at the fair, and we members were encouraged to attend and participate by doing plein air paintings in the area, so for my first ...

Winona Lake Bike Trails en plein air, framed Day one, painting number two, and I was hot and tired! Can you tell? I hope you can't, but I sure can tell when I look at this one. Probably it is more that I remember being so shot by this time.  7" x 5" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Simple white frame Click here to view on my website. One of the huge benefits of painting near home is that I already know some of the beautiful places nearby. This is a very popular area for walking and biking in the area. The walking trail is paved and slightly hilly, and there are sculptures along the way. It is also wooded, so it stays cooler than some areas. I especially like the welcoming gateway from earlier days when the property belonged to a boys club from Chicago - I think it is very picturesque.  I am not sure whether it is cheating or not, but I painted from our van for this plein air work. It was only sort of outdoors -  it was not in my stu...

Happy 250th Birthday USA! en plein air At the end of the plein air painting event, those of us who were participating were to be at our tent at the art fair in order to turn in our final paintings and have them judged, though it was a very unstructured and laid back event. The days had gotten progressively hotter and more humid, so when we found a good parking spot near the tent area, and a bit of decent shade there, we took a lunchtime break there. I decided to try to find something that I wanted to paint right there.  7" x 5" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Simple white frame Click here to view on my website. All weekend I had had the idea to commemorate the birthday of our nation in some way, but had not found anything I wanted to paint along those lines. Well actually, I had found something - there was a military plane fly-over that was SO COOL, but it did not sit still long enough for me to paint, of course. Finally, while collaps...

Morning Light en plein air   Morning Light en plein air was by far my favorite painting from this most recent plein air adventure, and it was also the most fun to paint. And, of course, it didn't hurt any that it won a merit award at the event!  14" x 11" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Simple natural wood frame Painting is currently available through a gallery - contact me if you are interested in purchasing.  Click here to view on my website. Painted on the second day of the paint out, it was inspired by gorgeous color in the wooded bike trail area, with the sun backlighting a good part of the view. A stone and concrete edged stream passed in front of me, and I had a little area of flat ground to stand on as I painted.  I was so grateful that my Beloved Husband came with me for the entire weekend of painting this time! E ven though he is always willing to be my "artist support staff",  I usually encourage him to do othe...

View in the Rain Now this one... this one was the most challenging painting of the weekend. I had found a view I loved after much driving around, though I passed it by the first time. It took far too long getting back to it, since I was lost! It was another public access site along one of the conservancy trails, but it was pretty far out from where everyone else was painting.  11" x 14" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on canvas panel Framed in simple black frame Click here to view or purchase on my website.  I had a slow start on Saturday morning, and I guess all of us who were painting did. It was raining on my way to the paint out, but was predicted to stop soon. As it turns out, the weather people are not exactly 100% accurate, in case you have been wondering. It either drizzled, sprinkled, or outright rained until around 3:30 in the afternoon, and then was just... damp. And chilly. Well, in spite of the morning weather, I got back to my site and g...

Ancient Oak The last painting of the weekend (I will get back to the third one in a little while) started out as a bit of a dilemma for me. I had found a great parking spot, and did not want to move my car, so I wanted to find something that inspired me nearby.  8" x 16" Painted with the finest quality heavy-body acrylic paint on panel Framed in simple, natural wood frame Click here to see or purchase on my website.  I did find this beautiful old oak tree, but it was hiding amidst lots of landscaping and structures. The tree was very tall, and had evidently had branches trimmed for many years, because the naked trunk was much taller than I would have expected it to be. But the upper part of the tree was just beautiful. I decided I wanted to paint the tree, but give it back some of its dignity! So I took away the long trunk, the structures, and the busy landscaping around it.  Some teenaged girls came along as I was working and asked if they could see what I was painting. ...