Friendly Goats on Red Zinnia Farm
I am inspired to paint the old weathered barns in the Midwest. They are full of character. They are perched on hills or tucked into the landscape just waiting to be sketched and painted. more »
I am inspired to paint the old weathered barns in the Midwest. They are full of character. They are perched on hills or tucked into the landscape just waiting to be sketched and painted. more »
Over the years I have created many barn collages, and the first four collages I painted were of barns with a variety of farm animals. I fell in love with the old, rustic barn structures. My love of animals inspired me to add these whimsical creatures to the barn shapes that attract people of all ages. more »
It all started back in 1985, when a customer told me about a cool barn to see and possibly do a painting of it. So I grabbed my Minolta camera, the old film kind, and took off. The adventure led to traveling down many southern Iowa country roads without a plan or map — just […] more »
I am continuing my Iowa barn series with this old structure with rustic barn boards, ragged roof, cupelo and windmill. It is very characteristic of Midwestern life, but largely disappearing from the landscape. This one is still standing, at least it was the last time I traveled in that direction. more »
These old structures are fascinating and almost completely disappeared from the countryside where we live. This one is gone, but I used a photo taken years ago. The gaps in the roof and uneven barn boards have interesting abstract designs which attracted me in the first place. I used artistic license with the color — […] more »
This collage is part of my Iowa Series started way back in ’85. My first collages were a small square format of barns and farm animals. Over the years these have evolved to include other elements of farm life. I love the patterns of spots on the dairy cows and the interesting shapes of barn […] more »
For this piece, I used one of my reference photos taken many years ago of a barn down the road. I added a windmill from another neighbor’s farm, as it’s a popular agricultural icon. I used artistic license for the barn’s colors. Another favorite element of my farmscapes is using an Iowa map for the […] more »
This design took a complete 180 from what I thought would be a perfect flower garden. At the start I chose a dark burnt sienna background — a different color for me, and I added the bold sunflower on top. Then I was at a standstill for many weeks. Last week I envisioned a much different composition […] more »
A Daily Painting of one of my famous Iowa barns. Although the barn has disappeared from the landscape, it is still full of character in this piece, with its raggedy roof and weathered boards. Using artistic license, I added bits of bright color to give it more life. It was quite drab and plain. The […] more »
I enjoy working on larger collages, and this is an old barn in southeast Iowa. As always, I worked from my photo and edited the shapes. This is a close-up of just part of the barn. The shapes are simple and I try not to get too detailed — which is one of the reasons […] more »