News Archives

View From East Village, Downtown Des Moines

This is a more recent view of downtown Des Moines from a photo I took last summer (2009) while visiting the city. What impressed me was the skyline with the taller buildings set against the shorter ones and the lampposts leading the eye into the city. You can see the perspective of the rounded bridge [...]

Polk County Courthouse, Des Moines

This design was inspired by the architecture of the big city, reminiscent of growing up in the environment surrounded by tall buildings, different windows shapes, rooftops, bricks and other building details. It is exciting to have so many varieties of architectural elements crammed into a large metropolis; such a contrast from the quiet country life [...]

Heliotropes at Midnight

This vertical composition of sunflowers continues to fascinate me. It is my favorite flower — a showy, bright flower, in endless varieties! These blooms are from my garden last year, teamed up with a striped cloth bought at the farmers market. For the sake of design, the cloth is altered, emphasizing the flowers. The textured [...]

Stucco Barn, Exline, Iowa

This structure has intrigued me because of the shapes and the gnarled tree. I have painted it a number of times and found the sun and shadow patterns interesting. The bright white fence contributed to its character and the textured field beyond. It also has numerous small window opening, probably to dry the hay stored [...]

Casting A Shadow

I am still interested in these old barn structures — their shapes and details fascinate me. And they are fast disappearing from the landscape. I feel they best describe Iowa because agriculture is the top priority here. This barn is located in Mahaska County, Iowa.
Then manner in which I approach painting them is different from [...]