The unpublished Wayzata Depot Painting

This is the first Wayzata Depot painting I did. Sometimes I will do a number of views to get the right feel for the completed painting and I usually do not publish the "other" study paintings but I had to publish this one here.

I am not sure when it happened but somewhere in process this view and this painting started not feeling right and well you will have to look at this one and judge for yourself.

Maybe I should have kept going with this painting but I decided to stop. The previous blog post is where I ended up so you can see for yourself where this painting ended up. I have had a lot of comments on this painting as people pass by it.

Wayzata 1800's Rail Road Depot

I recently was in Wayzata Minnesota and looked at the historic railroad depot nestled right in downtown of Wayzata.

This building has existed since the late 1800's and considering the histiry it is in remarkable shape. I wanted to capture the spirit of the building but after reading some of the history to paint it accurately I had to do some research.

This painting is based on photos dating back to the late 1800's and the scenery around the depot has changed dramatically. There were no trees or groomed lakeshore at that time. This painting represents that time with a transport boat "Minnehaha" at the dock waiting for passengers in its yellow and red colors. I still have some finishing touches to this painting but prints are available. Please email me at steve@bergerfinearts.com.

1987 Twins World Series Painting

As the Twins make their way to the playoffs (I hope) I was reminded of the 1987 Twins team that won the world series and how important Kirby Puckett was to that team.

I found my old tickets and looked at the cover of the program for that World Series held in the Metro dome and thought wouldn't it be neat to put Kirby with his hand held high showing that the Twins won the 1987 series and that team finally brought a world championship to the Twin Cities.

What I wanted to do was to create a painting that combines the images from the program cover the 1987 World Series logo and Kirby showing the Twins won the 1987 series. Here is the painting as it stands now and I might add this photo to the right does not do the colors in the original justice but I do feel the painting captures the electricity and emotion that was part of that memorable series between the Twins and the St. Louis Cardinals.

A limited edition of 100 signed Giclee prints are available for $150 each. The original art measures 17" wide by 22" and is also for sale. Contact: steve@bergerfinearts.com for size considerations, payment termas and delivery information.

Fort Snelling 1890

This is a little different view of Fort Snelling. The style of this painting is not as detailed as my other stuff but when I reached this point I just really liked the way the colors and the painting looked so I stopped before I screwed it up.

This is a view from across the fort from the river in the year 1890. The poles you see at the rivers edge are tie ups for river boats to tie up to so they could load and unload. The river current here is very fast. At any rate I am leaving it as is. The original painting is about 24"x30" on canvas. If interested in prints email me at (steve@bergerfinearts.com)

Robbinsdale Downtown Painting

Robbinsdale Minnesota landmarks are hard to come by. This painting is a followup to the Robbinsdale watertower painting I did earlier in the year. Downtown and Wiz Bang Days celebration were the inspiration for this painting. I tried to capture the shadows of a typical summer day in downtown Robbinsdale and of course a robin on top of the clock. This is part of a series of small metro downtown paintings I would like to get done this summer. Wayzata and or Hopkins is next. Prints will be forthcoming and if you are interested in prints please feel free to contact me at (steve@bergerfinearts.com) and I will make sure I can give you the size you want.

Lake Harriet Bandshell

I took a break from history to paint a current landmark the band shell at Lake Harriet.

It has been a while since I painted architecture I use to do a lot of wooden barns in Iowa before they would disappear into rubble. No two barns were created the same. All were unique and that is what made them interesting to paint and draw. The details were amazing.

But this painting was definitely fun to do. Talk about details in buildings this band shell has a bunch of character details. The day at the lake sketching and getting color ideas did not hurt either.

This original painting is 36" wide by 24" tall. I put a lot of purple in the water to show the Vikings colors are everywhere and it will be a part of a three or four painting series about landmarks surrounding the downtown lakes. A giclee print of the lake Harriet band shell will be price at $150.00. The original is still available for purchase