Marybeth Heikes recently received a Merit Award at the Polk County Heritage Gallery on October 18, during the artists reception. Her winning entry, RAGBRAI, is an acrylic collage of a bicycle wheel with pieces of an Iowa map included in the background. The juror was Barb Vaske, Director of the Ankeny Art Center. She commented […] more »
I have been inspired by bicycles and decided to begin a fourth design in early August. It’s been a busy summer and taken me almost a month to complete this. Drawing is the foundation of all my work and I love doing loose, contour drawings to begin my piece. I believe contour drawing provides a […] 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 »
This is one of my Daily Paintings which was done in one sitting. I enjoy painting Iowa landscapes with all the typical elements of farm life. This one includes a tractor, silos, shed, old tire, and hay bale. I like the casual composition — nothing too orderly with the random placement of things. 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 »
I have continued my rusted wheels series of the old threshing machine. I love the details! I was interested in how the parts interconnected with each other. It is only a small section of the whole shebang. I used a limited palette and focused on a strong design and value pattern. This watercolor took me […] more »
Due to the disappearance of old barns in Iowa, I have decided to paint a few more of these relics. These structures are dilapidated and full of great character. This particular barn is located in northwest Iowa near the Spencer area. I worked from a photo given to me by a friend. There is a […] more »
This painting is done from a photo of the old Zephyr engine located in Albia, Iowa. Currently I am working on a series of different train engines in collage. I find these old engines fascinating and love painting them using my acrylic hand-painted papers. All the details on the engines add interest: the bell, railing, […] more »
This collage is a continuation of my popular train engine series. I have been doing engines for a number of years now. This one is a close-up of a Union Pacific. I used one of my reference photos for this. The details of the engine caught my eye: the shadow shapes, the numerals and flag, […] more »
This collage painting is one of my Engine Series. It is the Appanoose County Red engine, circa 1952. It has been recently repainted a bright red with white stripes. I worked from my photographs, and designed a vertical format which accentuates the dynamic bulk of the engine. Some of the foreground papers have oil pastel […] more »