After the Fair

"Discovery Garden," wc/ink on paper

In years past I went to the Iowa State Fair every year (sometimes every day) to sketch, and then posted them here, until the pandemic in 2020. After that I have occasionally gone to the Fair but more often my visits have been after the exhibition. 

This year the Saturday sketchers went to the fairgrounds after the livestock, food vendors, kitchen appliance hucksters and all the other exhibitors left. The quiet was lovely, the weather hospitable, and the Master Gardeners' Discovery Garden was still in full flower. 

I sat on a shady bench and sketched a corner of the garden, its foliage masking a service barn in the background.  

Shadows

Sometimes a painting needs rest. That is, I complete a piece but find it unsatisfying. Something needs to be added or subtracted, but what? So I put the work away, behind something else or in a stack of dry works. Eventually it comes back to light, having rested wherever, and I discover somethng to try out.  

"Bike Trail, Gray's Lake," oil on panel, 9x12

This small painting was initially made outdoors along a bicycle trail not far from my home studio. There is a city thoroughfare beside the park--that level green edge just below mid-painting. The walking/biking trail winds around the lake, to the rear of the viewer. The near-abstract patterns and how to evoke multiple layers of depth were a couple of my considerations. So I finished a literal rendering, took it home and then sent it away to rest. Not long ago I came across it and added brighter and more saturated lights and even a few scattered bright dots. I like this result.

Off the Easel

"Behind the Art Center," wc/ink on paper (cropped)

This freshly-finished oil painting is based on previous watercolor sketchwork, including this one, from a Saturday excursion in July. 

Watercolor has so many advantages--portability, ease of use and cleanup, vivid colors--that I've begun to use it as my outdoor medium of choice. This view is a corner of the IM. Pei  Building, a 1968 addition to the Des Moines Art Center. Its Brutalist boxiness was an interesting counter to the many surrounding natural forms. 

"Behind the Art Center," oil on panel, 12x16

After some thought I cropped the watercolor to the size posted here and based this new oil painting on the resulting composition. This is the first public release; the painting will be on my website very soon. 

 

A Trip to Provence

Some years ago we traveled through southern France for a few days, through vineyards and villages along the Rhone River. Then, as now, I did small watercolors on postcards during the trip and mailed a number home to friends and family. It's fun to get something with a foreign stamp. 

These three postcards went home, one a view of the city of Avignon, one a look at a place made famous by van Gogh, and one the namesake of a favorite wine. 

Avignon was the seat of the papacy for most of the 14th century, and what remains of the period, including its famous bridge, much of which was destroyed a century or so earlier. This view of Avignon is from the Rhone River, where we were passing. The four arches are all that remain of the bridge. Beyond you can see a crenelated wall and a couple of medieval towers. Avignon is a beautiful place now, though once decried (14th century) as defiled and foul.

The cafe in Arles which was immortalized by Viucent van Gogh is still in operation, though mostly one supposes as a tourist attraction. Still, I sat nearby with virtually the same viewpoint as Vincent, with the small remains of the Roman town--a column you see on the right, part of a building wall, shows where the forum of that town once was. 

The last  postcard in this small collection is a view of the ruins of a famous castle, built a few miles out in the more healthful countryside north of Avignon. Chateau neuf du Pape was literally the Pope's new chateau, up in the clear sweet mountain air. Today the chateau remains only as a ruined tower, but with the village of the same name at its foot, below the brow of the slope at the left. The vineyard contributes grapes to wines that are justifiably famous, delicious and memorable. Far in the distance a stripe of light shows the location of the Rhone River. 

"A View of Avignon"

 

"The Yellow Cafe, Arles"

"Chateau neuf du Pape"

Saturday

Last Saturday our sketch group met at a member's home to draw and paint. Her gardens and deck are beautifully covered in flowers and plants. Despite a stormy morning downpour we were able to sandwich some work in between. 
 

Monochrome

 

Upstream

"Upstream," oil on panel, 9x12

Today's image is a plein air painting of the creek that runs behind my studio. The western bank is much higher than the near bank where I stood to do this particular work, a result of the way water courses meander, The heavy foliage blocks a lot of sunlight, but golden flecks penetrate to the surface of the water. This is 9x12 on panel.