Last Saturday

This time of year, with the riot of flowering trees lighting up a significant part of the Waterworks arboretum,. the sketch group goes there every weekend. Last Saturday was delightful, warm and sunny, and I chose to sketch an old gazebo at the southern end of the flowering grove. The gazebo is tucked into a less-trafficked corner, shaded by old trees. 

"The Gazebo," wc/ink on paper, 8x10

I sat on a bench nearby and sketched the scene before me.

Bottle

"Bottle," oil on panel, 6x8

This small still life was part of a much larger group of works done about fifteen years ago. My intent was to simplify by limiting the palette while observing the subject minutely. That is, there are tiny reflections, color shifts, value changes that describe contours and edges, and a lot more to observe in this simple setup. 

For me, this kind of deliberate simplification is a useful way to advance the skill of seeing. 

 

Exploding Flowers

This time of year, rain and a bit of warmth come along and bam! all of the flowering trees in town burst into bloom. In Waterworks Park there is an arboretum that's been planted with flowering trees--crabapple, plum, etc--mostly in shades of red and pink but also some beautiful whites and others. It's in full flower now, and the park is crowded with folks strolling, snapping pictures, and (in our case) sketching. 

"Arboretum View," wc/ink on paper, 8x10

This is just one of the dozens of trees in full flower. The right side, if finished, would show you a backdrop of trees that either haven't flowered yet or don't have showy flowers the way many of these do.

On the Raccoon

"Early Spring on the Raccoon," wc/ink on paper, 8x10

Last weekend was warm enough to work outdoors. The sketch group found locations in Waterworks Park. Mine was a spot I'd never essayed before, on a bend of the Raccoon. Unlike only a few days earlier, there was a fine hazy green in some of the trees lining the banks, and the honeysuckle undergrowth was bursting into full leaf. The river was running free and showing its usual silty color.

Life Portrait

"Portrait of Hugh," oil on panel

Although many portraits are done from life, these days a lot are done differently, using perhaps a color sketch from life plus a number of reference photos so that the subject isn't required to return to the studio time after time for life sessions. Busy people often don't want to take time from their daily routines to sit. But I think you lose something--a kind of essence that you can't see in photos--when not working from the person in front of you. 

This portrait is from a workshop maybe two decades ago. I was give a head-on position and good if diffuse lighting. The image is a result of about twelve hours of work over four or five life sessions. 

This one hasn't been shown before. 

The Courtyard

Last week some of the sketch group ventured into the Des Moines Art Center galleries to sketch. In the museum (as it is in many) you can only use graphite and paper--no paint, markers, etc. However, the courtyard in the middle of the galleries, accessed from the front lobby, is not restricted. So I sat outside in the sun and sketched the confluence of the three buildings that comprise the Art Center. 

"In the Courtyard," wc/ink on paper

The buildings were designed by three internationally famous architects, though obviously in different eras. The first permanent building was designed in the late 1940s by the Finnish master Eero Saarinen, assisted by his son Elio, who later designed the Gateway Arch. That original building was purposely made horizontal and low to conform with the Iowa geography and clad in limestone. Unlike many, this building's entrance is human sized rather than grand (think: Metropolitan Museum in New York). The second building was added about twenty years later during the era of brutalist architecture, designed by the now-famous I.M. Pei at the outset of his career. Made of concrete, it was added to provide large exhibition space for sculpture and large-format paintings. The last building, opened in the early 1980s, was designed by Richard Meier, who designed the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. These three buildings are, each in its own way, architectural gems.

Spring Sale

This painting sold last Thursday in the Salmagundi Members Spring Auction, an annual event limited to fellow members of the Salmagundi Club, in Manhattan. Numbering about 1200 members worldwide, the Club is one of the oldest art clubs in the United States, founded in the 1870s. 

"Wading," oil on panel, 9x12

This particular painting is a culmination of several months of landscape painting. It does have a basis in reality, a stretch of river in southwest Virginia, but is very much altered and idealized. Thank you to my new collector.

Here Comes the Sun

"Early Spring, Druid Hill Creek, wc/ink on paper

This time of year in the midwest, as the season advances, we begin to long for the return of the sun. After the equinox, days lengthen and the sun is truly on its way to warmer, brighter days. Those of us who watch trees and the rest of the countryside, the coming season is easy to spot. 

Along Druid Hill Creek, there is a haze of spring green that seems to hove about two feet above the ground. If you look close, before long that spring haze becomes honeysuckle undergrowth, a harbinger of even more leaves. Before long, redbuds will light up the woods. 

I did this sketch of "my" creek from my studio window. Druid Hill Creek flows north from here into Grays Lake. I use this little sketchbook as a visual journal to record the days and seasons as they change. This little book dates back into 2024 and is a useful record.

Saturday

"The Underpass," wc/ink on paper

Weather here is moderating, though we still get a spot of snow now and again. The outdoor temperatures have risen a lot, though trees have yet to show leaves and the grass in most spots is barely green,

Last Saturday the sketch group actually worked outdoors without caps, gloves and mufflers. I sat outside on the eastern edge of Waterworks Park and did an 8x10 watercolor of the bike/pedestrian underpass that connects the park with Grays Lake, passing under a major thoroughfare.