I have been inspired by skyscrapers lately. For this piece, I worked from a photo taken in 2000 of Minneapolis. The design got a bit complicated, so I edited and kept adding shapes while working. My initial design was bare-bones. I attempted to harmonize the colors, but that kept changing too. I’m pleased with the […] more »
This painting of two pugs, named Winston and Henry, was a commissioned piece. It is to be a wedding gift. Basically, I worked from the provided photo and tried to capture the very expressive faces of the dogs. more »
I read about artists completing a painting every day and wanted to try it. Although, since I had other things going on, it took a couple of days instead of one. This design is a smaller section of the Minneapolis cityscape I’m presently working on. I’m finding it’s a challenge to work this small with […] more »
Continued inspiration of the urban landscapes. I used a photo take many years ago and loved the view from the parking ramp with all the intricacies of the city — the sky walk, rooftops, capitol dome — all the geometric shapes and shadows. more »
In this view, I used a photo taken of downtown Des Moines a few years ago from the top of a parking garage. The architecture and building forms interested me. The panoramic view from above was inspiring! Of course, I took artistic liberty with most of the building colors and used a strong value pattern […] more »
This piece was inspired by an old bicycle I saw at Bradley Hall. I took a variety of pictures, including the interesting shadow shapes, and then did a preliminary watercolor painting. After this, I did some loosely sketched contour drawings of this bike and didn’t plan a design to work with, as I usually do. […] more »
I began demonstration painting at Bradley Hall in early June. The area where I paint is next to my rented spot on the second floor. I decided to paint a recognizable local scene of the Centerville square — just a small section of it. After doing a fairly exact sketch, I have been working on […] more »
I was inspired by the shapes of the classical and electric guitar taken many years ago. I previously completed a realistic drawing of these and decided it would be fun to do one using abstract shapes. I began with a very loose contour drawing and no previous design — just arranged shapes and let things […] more »
Recently I participated in the Octagon Center for the Art’s monthly Art Walk in Ames. This is a great way to interact with customers, and people love watching an artist at work. I am also painting weekly at Bradley Hall in Centerville [...] more »
I took a photo of this interesting house about ten years ago, so it has been in the back of mind for a long time. It’s hard to explain what triggers the emotional need to paint old structures like this. Previously, I have complete a drawing of the completed image, which was sold. When looking […] more »