This painting was inspired by a trip we made many years ago to the Airpower Museum in Blakesburg, Iowa. It is a very large museum with vintage airplanes from the 1920s and 1930s.

I made some preliminary sketches to get my creative juices flowing. I worked from the many photographs I took of the different varieties of planes. In this composition, I combined three different photos. I began the design with the red biplane, overlapping the blue “route survey plane” next and continuing the composition with the small, yellow Cessna on the bottom.

The shapes of the cockpits, wings and wheels contribute to the interesting design. I added a couple clouds on the top of the composition and a sunset at the bottom to move the viewer’s eye around the design. I also enjoyed adding the details of the zig-zags, numerals and contrasting colors on the planes.