Last Year

"Raccoon River," wc/ink on paper

The winter just fading was unseasonably warm--possibly the warmest in history. Even so, the look of the countryside hasn't changed much. My sketchbooks are a kind of visual journal, and most of the sketches are watercolor. This particular work was done just over a year ago. Like now, the grasses are a series ochres, the trees loom grey against the grey-blue and distant clouds.

Abstract Selfie

"Self Portrait," oil on panel 14x11

This self portrait was an attempt to make an abstract image. It owes a certain amount to Cubism, but unlike the works by Picasso, Gris and others this one is considerably more colorful.
 

Domes

Last Saturday the sketch group decided to take a look at the Iowa state capitol grounds for subject matter. Owing to unusual circumstances--gridlock near the capitol--my time sketching was limited. It was a beautifully sunny day but the wind was brisk and cold. Even so, the best vantage point for sketching this view of the Iowa Capitol was on foot and out of my car. So I spent about 45 minutes drawing and painting this limited view. 

This was one of those times when nature works against you. The wind was so strong it kept blowing my watercolor box closed. My sketchbook would only be still if I held it in one hand, which was fairly limiting, too. Nonetheless, there was enough time to draw and paint the golden dome and one of the smaller subsidiaries.

"Capitol Domes," wc/ink ~3x5

Silver Study

Here's a digital painting I recently retouched. The original work was done four or five years ago intended as a study of digital art programs. I used Sketchbook (a digital art program) and tried out a number of different tools it contains. The program can emulate actual paint pretty well, in my opinion, but will never take the place of real world paint. 

The Yellow Umbrella

"The Yellow Umbrella," oil on panel, 11x14, private collection

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"The Yellow Umbrella" is a studio work exploring very limited use of color in a near-monotone painting. The street view is toward the New York Stock Exchange building. A vending cart stands in shadow but a ray of light from somewhere illuminates the yellow of one of its umbrellas. This was sold many years ago.

Winter Watercolor

"January, Druid Hill Creek," wc/ink postcard

As anyone who reads these postings knows, most of my watercolors are small, relatively loose, and washy. A lot are enhanced with ink. And sometimes work that I'd forgotten surfaces after being misplaced. 

This little watercolor was done from my studio window using a very limited palette--ochre and umber with touches here and there of cobalt blue. This painting is more realistic than many of my creek studies because more of the trees are included, even the very near huge cottonwood that I usually edit out of the picture.
 

Along the Bluff

Spring is coming very soon now, especially with the warming temperatures of climate change. Bigger studio works, based on references and experiences last fall, have come into being. This one is the largest of all at 18x36. It's the completion of a study started last October of changing foliage, land formations and the Middle Raccoon River. 

A few months back I posted the study of the same area, although that work is considerably smaller. This one shows the trees and undergrowth just as the autumn season was starting to produce bright, saturated color. The painting posted previously is about the left half of the scene you see below. This one will be available via my website in the next few days.

"Along the Bluff," oil on canvas

Winter Casein

"Winter on the Creek," casein on panel, 6x8

Although I'm primarily an oil painter, I've done work in quite a few different media--digital, watercolor, pen an ink, and casein. Casein is actually a casein-oil emulsion paint that's available in tubes, like oils. It has a nice creamy consistency, dries like lightning and becomes waterproof afterward. For some illustrators it was an important tool before the advent of acrylic paint in the 1960s. 

This particular painting is yet another of my views of Druid Hill Creek, looking north. I changed the point of view slightly, but this was finished in late winter when the skies had cleared after a light snow.
 

The Seasons Change

 

These two watercolor sketches, done this time of year a while back, show how the advancing season used to look. There was snow but despite the cold weather the colors of the trees and undergrowth along the lake seemed to absorb sunlight, their colors becoming warmer, more golden. This year the snow fled weeks ago and the temperature today, March 1, is in the middle 50s F.   (Click to enlarge each image.)