WendieThompson instagram

Wendie Thompson: Capturing the Fleeting Light of Wisconsin and Indiana Heartland

Wendie Thompson is a celebrated Wisconsin impressionist painter whose vibrant canvases breathe life into the ephemeral beauty of the Midwest landscape, blending the immediacy of plein air tradition with a profound emotional resonance that evokes joy, peace, and serenity. Raised in Wisconsin, Thompson's artistic journey began in her 40’s when she picked up a brush for the first time. As the former acting president and instigator of the Wisconsin Plein Air Painters Association, the state's largest organization championing outdoor painting, she has become a pivotal force in revitalizing the genre across the region. "Getting artists to move together can be like herding butterflies," she once quipped in a 2015 interview with the Door County Pulse, yet under her leadership, the association  flourished, fostering events that honor both the art and its creators while documenting Wisconsin's evolving vistas—from bustling cityscapes and serene waterscapes to intimate backyard gardens and rural expanses.

Thompson's impressionistic style is a masterful orchestration of color and form, where fragmented hues dance across the canvas to suggest rather than define, echoing the light-dappled influences of Claude Monet while rooting deeply in Wisconsin's seasonal rhythms. She reveres the line as an artist's essential ally—"boundaries, divisions of spaces, keepers of form, and enticements to the other side," as she poetically describes using it to draw viewers into realms of awe, tears, or laughter, each interpretation as unique as the beholder. Her works often emerge from spontaneous en plein air sessions, like *Before the Wind Kicked Up* (2012), a brisk 20-minute oil sketch painted amid the delicate aftermath of a Wisconsin blizzard, where snow-kissed branches gleam against a pale sky, only to be whisked away by an impending gust moments later. This piece exemplifies her affinity for the transient: the crunch of frost underfoot, the hush of a fairground at dawn, or the golden haze of a Door County autumn. In 2017, she brought her portable easel to the Wisconsin State Fair, immortalizing the chaotic vibrancy of livestock barns and midway lights in a contest entry that pulsed with the event's unfiltered energy, underscoring her belief in art's power to honor everyday spectacles.

Beyond the canvas, Thompson's influence ripples through Wisconsin's art community. As president of the Plein Air Painters Association since at least 2015, she had shepherded workshops, exhibitions, and collector outreach, demystifying the "beauty, immediacy, and freshness" of plein air works for a growing audience. Her pieces grace galleries and private collections across the Midwest extend her serene visions to new homes. Thompson thrives on collaboration, cherishing events where artists emerge from seclusion to share stories and strokes—spaces that, like her paintings, weave isolation into communal harmony. Though she occasionally draws from travels, her heart remains tethered to Wisconsin's understated drama: the way a Rock River bend catches the equinox sun or a state fair crowd blurs into impressionistic joy. In an era of digital haste, Wendie Thompson's art stands as a gentle reminder to pause, to let color evoke feeling, and to find form in the fleeting. As she continues to paint and lead from her Oconomowoc base, her legacy unfolds not just in oils on linen, but in the inspired hands of the next generation of Badger State impressionists, proving that even butterflies, when herded with passion, can paint the sky.