Raw Winter

"Pink Umbrella," oil on panel, 8x10, private collection

The beginning of this winter has been raw and cold, with occasional sparse rain showers until a few days ago. Grey skies, cold winds, raw ground and bare trees these last days made me think of "Pink Umbrella," a small oil dating to a decade or so ago. Feels like that here.
 

Visitor

I live alongside a spring-fed creek, surrounded by woods, despite being only five minutes from downtown. That means there is always a menagerie outside my home studio--songbirds, squirrels, a groundhog or two, deer in abundance, and the occasional surprise, even in winter.

This is a graphite sketch from a few years ago of a stag heading into the woods across our creek. I drew him quickly with a soft pencil on toned paper, emphasizing a few darks, then added lights with chalk.

Sunshine at Solstice

A couple of years ago I wrote about the winter solstice along with posting a celebratory watercolor. As I mentioned in that post, this time of year with short, darker days and long, cold nights seems to always remind me of George Harrison's famous song, "Here Comes the Sun," an upbeat and optimistic paean celebrating spring. 

Here's another bright watercolor to welcome sunshine's return.

"Schefflera Sunset," wc/ink on paper

 

Centenarian

More than a century old, this Ford Model T truck is still started with a crank instead of a mechanical starter. It's owner kindly brought it out to pose for me one day last summer. I painted it on the spot and took reference shots, then did a larger studio piece afterward. 

"David's T," oil on panel, 11x14

 

Golden Memory

"Woodland Path, Adirondacks," wc/ink on papeer, 5x9

T.his is a sun-dappled path through the Adirondacks, a memory of a summer past. This quick watercolor sketch was done there a few years back.

Antifreeze

When cold weather settles on us--like the past few days--it's useful to think of warmer and sunnier times. It's antifreeze for an Iowa winter. Here's an image to warm up with: Bradenton, Florida in December.

"Florida," wc/ink on paper, ~5x7

Think warming thoughts.

"Savanna" Goes Home

This week I had the honor of delivering "Savanna," one my series of paintings celebrating the Whiterock Conservancy here in central Iowa. This oil is 24x30 on canvas, a view of an area of oak savanna at the Conservancy. Oak savanna, a kind of prairie dotted with burr oaks, is one of the kinds of primeval landscapes being preserved and managed there. 

"Savanna," oil on canvas, 24x30

The idea behind this work was to indicate the vastness of the landscape by drawing the viewer's eye deep into the picture using the trail, standing grasses, and relative sizes of trees. Intended as a celebration and (partly) as a lament for what we've lost. 

With Liz Garst at Whiterock Conservancy

 

Another Favorite

This still life dates from around the time of the last one posted and has a similar subject. This one was an experiment painted on an unusual composite material I was thinking of using. It's a chrome-plated coffee creamer, part of a cream and sugar set.  

The bright reflection and sharp edge of the pouring spout are what make us believe in the dimensionality of the subject.

Something Different

"Breakfast," oil on panel, 8x10

These past few years virtually all of my work has been landscapes. Before the pandemic, the paintings I produced varied across the list of genres--still life, portraits, landscapes, and genres like "vanitas." Once in a while it's fun to post something besides landscapes. 

Here are some different things. "Breakfast," is a limited still life--a coffee cup and spoon on a gessoed panel. I primed the panel with a warm wash then painted the cup and spoon directly, alla prima, in about an hour. This was done some years back when I was trying to do at least one small oil sketch or painting every morning, as a studio warmup.

"Racing," casein on panel, 4x6

The second (above) is not only different is subject, it used a different medium than oil. This is a tiny casein painting on hardboard. The panel was gessoed, then primed thinly with burnt sienna. The scene is a sailboat race on Puget Sound, from a personal snapshot. Casein paint is milk-based and dries almost immediately as it leaves the brush, so I painted small. This tiny painting probably took thirty minutes to finish. It's long since gone to a private collection.