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 design started horizontal, but I decided to change the format and the initial sketch. I thought it would be more dramatic as a vertical composition. I took the photo of this old dairy barn many years ago on a trip to the historic barn in Cantril, Iowa. On the way home, the sky turned […] 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 »
For this painting, I picked a single blossom and put it in a drinking glass. This is part of my daffodil series; maybe I should have titled it Endless Daffodils. more »
I can’t seem to get daffodils out of my mind — their subtle coloring and their ruffled petals draws my attention this year. This painting was done combining a couple of my photographs and is the fifth one in this series. more »
These irises are smaller than the bearded irises, and the blossoms don’t last very long. What attracts me to these flowers is the color — a very intense purple. They also are early spring flowers, and I take lots of photos of them outside and also as a cut flower in vases. I used dioxazine […] more »