Mug

"Mugshot (glasses)," oil on panel 16x12

Police mugshots are fascinating and often overlooked images. Some years ago I made a number of portraits based on mugshots, some of them of relatively famous criminals, some of unknown miscreants with memorable faces. The crimes of this particular person are now unknown because I've lost the source. Still, there is something in the face that seems maimed and enraged so my suspicion is that he was a violent person. 

 

Iowa State Fairgrounds

One of  my favorite spots for sketching is the Iowa State Fairgrounds, on the east side of Des Moines. Every year the Fair generates more than a million in attendance over it's 10 day run, the crowds topping a hundred thousand most days. But the rest of the year the old fairgrounds are peaceful and shady under hundreds of old trees surrounding huge exhibition buildings. One of my particular favorites is the Agriculture Building, which hosts all manner of exhibitions from flowers to enormous pumpkins. It's a giant two-story masonry affair, and on it's south side is a wonderful demonstration garden run by the local Master Gardeners. 

"Discovery Garden," wc/ink on paper

Last Saturday the sketchers went nearly en masse to scout spots to draw and paint. I chose a shady spot with a decent breeze and did a corner of the garden. As ever, I did a modified version of the background building and surrounding garden in graphite, then painted the scene, trying to capture both color and value. Showing three-dimensional volume is difficult for me in watercolor unless I manage to pay sufficient attention to my darks. 

Behind the Museum

The Des Moines Art Center has three connected buildings surrounding a courtyard. The first building was designed by Eliel Saarinen, a well-known Finnish architect, in the 1940s. About twenty years later, the Art Center commissioned I.M. Pei, who would later become world famous for his work, which includes the pyramidal entrance to the Louvre. The third building was designed by Richard Meier, famed for designing the Getty Museum in California as well as many other buildings.

"Behind the Museum," oil on panel, 12x16

The Pei Building is in the brutalist style--angular, unpainted concrete, unusual shapes, and so on, with an array of enormous windows facing south down the slope of Greenwood Park and its rose garden. My Saturday sketch group meets there weekly before dispersing, and sometimes we stay in the garden behind the museum. This painting is a studio version of a watercolor sketch I did there one Saturday last year. The Pei Building is the angular, pale ochre building in the background.  

Pei did something clever with the poured concrete. Concrete is composed of cement, sand, and aggregrate (commonly called gravel); Pei used aggregrate identical to the midwestern limestone of the first building, which gives the concrete a warm yellowish tone.  

Sketch Outing

"Toward Downtown," wc/ink on paper, 5x8

As we always do, the Saturday sketchers met at the Des Moines Art Center last weekend, then spent time sketching around the city. Sometimes most of us go to the same location but other times we disperse. This time I was planning on working among the taller buildings downtown. But as I drove toward the city center the view above seemed inviting, so I pulled over and did yet another Des Moines skyline, The site was a busy thoroughfare but I changed it somewhat, making the street seem quieter. This particular angle on the skyline is somewhat different than some others I've done. 
 

Spire

"Spire," wc/ink on paper, ~8x3.5

As readers of this blog might imagine, the subject of this watercolor sketch dominates the skyline in Des Moines. It's the 801 Grand Building, sometimes called the Principal Building, situated in the center of the cluster of downtown high rises. Being the tallest building in the state, it's not surprising that you can see it from nearly any place nearby. A while back I wanted to visit a downtown garden but found it closed, so I sat in a convenient spot and did a small study of the 801 building in my pocket sketchbook. 

The paper in this tiny book is a bit lighter than I usually employ for watercolor. The color muddiness of the skyscraper is likely the result.

Imagination

"Fall," wc/ink on paper, 3.5x5

Sometimes, when no obvious subject for drawing or sketching is available, imagination serves. One day, while between oil paintings, I was casting about for a subject but none came. So I did this little study of autumn from memories. I fiddled about and added color swatches here and there with watercolor, then realized it resembled a traditional landscape, and the warmth of the toned paper suggested autumn. After some thought I added the trees and figures in ink. 
 

Summer Garden

"Summer Garden," wc/ink on paper ~8x5

This small watercolor is a quick sketch of a corner of one of my flower gardens at home. The black-eye susans and lillies bud and flower at nearly the same time every summer--around now. This was done in a small pocket sketchbook, using my standard techniques.

Downstream

"Downsteam," oil on panel, 9x12

This springtime view of the streambed of Druid Hill Creek was done during the early days when foliage on the honeysuckle undergrowth was just emerging. I set up my pochade box just above, on the bank. The rock in the stream has fallen from rip rap that was used along the banks for erosion control. The stream is maybe six inches deep.

Outdoor Oil

Painting outdoors ("en plein aire" if you want to be fancy) is a great way practice careful observation. A session of studying the world in all its myriad shapes, colors, arrangements and more gives an artist the opportunity to not only see the world but also to translate it, to make it attractive or at least acceptable to the eventual observers. Plein air painting forces the artist to confront the world, as a teacher of mine used to say. 

"Grays Lake North Shore," oil on panel, 12x9

This oil is a good example of my outdoor work. The trees on the opposite bank were lush and very dark green. The challenge for me working outside is the million hue and shade of green, complicated by the infinite variety of tree shapes, leaf shapes, and more. I did this one standing on the northern shore of Grays Lake, near my studio. I've painted there many times, often choosing to focus narrowly on a small portion of the shore. This was late summer so that the surrounding woods and trees are fully leafed.  

Skyline

"Rooflines," wc/ink on paper, 

Last Saturday the sketch group splintered into smaller groups. Some of us went to the Botanical Center, on the east bank of the Des Moines River. Some painted in other spots. I went to the park next to the river, just downstream from the dome of the Botanical Center, where I could sketch the downtown Des Moines skyline, The tallest building houses the home of Principal Insurance, a locally-based firm. The dark brown building is the Ruan Center, named for a trucking firm that built it nearly 50 years ago. The Asian roof is the top of a pavilion in the Robert Ray Park on the river bank. The graceful arch is actually the top of a pedestrian bridge you can take to go to the opposite bank. 

 

Veterans

Although I do watercolors of automobile subjects, they rarely figure in my oil paintings. Nonetheless, over the years I've done quite a few watercolor sketches of pickups and cars. This particular work was done one Friday while I sat in the shade across the street from a local antique car dealer. The two cars in the sketch were both painted and accessorized as police cars. 

"Veterans" wc/ink on paper 5x11

"Veterans" is two late 1950s Chevrolets. One is a '57 and the other a "55. Long ago I actually owned a 1957 BelAir that resembled this one. Antique cars of that vintage now sell for enormous prices, depending on condition. 

 

The Dock

"Grays Lake Dock," wc/ink on paper, ~5x15

Last weekend we selected Grays Lake for a visit from the sketch group. As always, of course, people chose other venues too. I set up on a picnic table near the parking lot, by a floating dock they put out every summer. Two guys were on the dock but weren't fishing. In the distance across the lake you could just see a pedestrian walkway that skirts the opposite shore. 

This began as a graphite sketch, after which I added watercolor. The two fishermen on the dock and the dock itself were accented with ink. 
 

Goldsworthy Group

Andy Goldsworthy has a piece in the garden surrounding the Des Moines Art Center entitled Three Cairns. Materials used in Goldsworthy's art include natural materials, from flowers, leaves, and twigs to stone. This is because of his intense commitment to nature and an intent to work with its entirety. The piece is just south of the Art Center buildings, situated just by rose garden that's currently in full flower.  The three large cairns are perhaps 8 feet tall while a central, pear-shaped cairn is perhaps five feet. The pieces are limestone, carefully dressed and laid without mortar. The Art Center's original building is clad in a similar limestone. There are two other cairns, one in New York and one in San Diego, which with this one form a nation-wide sculptural group. 

"Goldsworthy Group[," wc/ink on paper ~5x14"

Our sketch group elected to stay on the grounds of Greenwood Park, which contains the Art Center, rose garden and a number of outdoor sculptures, including works by Richard Serra and Henry Moore, among others. I sat at the edge of the rose garden on a stone bench to draw Three Cairns in the wooded area they occupy. Built in 2002, these have become popular as backgrounds for wedding photos and other significant events, as happened Saturday. A bride and groom in full dress were posing among the cairns while several of us worked away. 

Because I enjoy a panoramic view I started on the left side of the open sketchbook with a fairly detailed graphite sketch then proceeded directly to full-bodied watercolor, sometimes trying for translucent or transparent effects, sometimes trying for opacity by loading thicker, nearly dry pigment for dark values. After I was mostly satisfied with the colors and values I accentuated parts of the cairns to emphasize the center of interest.

 

Sculpture Park Panorama

"Sculpture Park View," wc/ink on paper, 5x16

Last week I stopped at the Pappajohn Sculpture Park downtown and spent a couple of hours on a view of one of the sculptures and the contemporary buildings across the street. The sculpture is T-8, a huge work (28.6 × 24 × 37 ft.) by Mark di Suvero, an abstract expressionist whose sculptures reside in U.S. collections and worldwide. The artist is well-known for having made cranes and heavy equipment part of his sculptural tools. He takes great pride in making and assembling is art on-site. This particular work was one of the group originally donated to the city by John and Mary Pappajohn. The long building across the street was designed by Renzo Piano (famous for the Pompidou Center in Paris) as headquarters for the Krause Group, based here.  

As ever this watercolor began as a graphite sketch, then watercolor and ink were applied to finish.  

Grays Lake Sketch

"Grays Lake," wc/ink on paper, 5x10

As a personal exercise in keeping sketches loose and not overwork them, I did the sketch above in perhaps forty minutes, sitting a shady parking spot at Grays Lake in the park not far from my studio. It was a wonderful late spring day with a soft south breeze. The lake was smooth, placid, the color of polished pewter. I was drawn by the old, v-shaped tree and the rocky bank. The work was a standard graphite sketch followed by watercolor, then inked details here and there. 

In the Garden

"Lantern," oil on canvas, 20x16

Sometimes a limited perspective is useful. This painting focuses on a metal reproduction of an Asian lantern hanging on a shepherd's crook in one of my gardens. The retaining wall behind and the trees above formed a wonderful backdrop in this shady spot. 

This particular work has been a favorite of mine and remains in my private collection
 

Anthony's Garden Redux

Our Saturday sketch group revisited a favorite spot last weekend--a private garden that welcomed us warmly a couple of weeks ago. The day was delightfully sunny with a faint breeze. Our group scattered through the garden, many finding a place to sketch near the tall central fountain. Although I've drawn this particular feature numerous times, it continues to be a challenge. Giant mature trees and well-maintained hedges and shrubs add to the peaceful atmosphere. Although this is a working fountain and was running at the time I chose to depict it without attempting to render the myriad rivulets and splashes. 

As is my usual practice, I began with a fairly accurate graphite drawing of the fountain. When drawing any vertical object--bottles for example--it's useful to establish a vertical as a center line and draw the symmetrical parts equally distant. In general, when drawing it's useful to draw shapes rather than objects, so I made the bowl shapes match as closely, side to side, as possible. 

After drawing, I added colors in a range of values and chroma. The changing colors of the fountain were the result of reflected sun, since the basin below is painted blue. To bring the fountain forward in the image I added ink lines to show shapes and suggest ornamentation. Distant shapes like the windows were kept looser, with edges considerably less distant. 

 

 

Demo Garden

For the past several years, the gardens downtown that are part of Better Homes and Gardens magazine have been an occasional sketching subject. The gardens are beautiful in concept and execution, and represent outstanding examples of garden design and maintenance. Because the gardens are used for various publications and purposes, they are only open to the public Fridays, noon to 2pm, May through September. 

"Better Homes Test Garden," wc/ink

Last Friday was my first visit to the gardens this year, on a beautiful late spring day. The sun was out and a light breeze played through the branches above. I sat in the central paved area--patio?--at one of several wrought iron tables, next to its central, multi-tier fountain. Others were sitting here and there while more toured the pathways among glowing flower beds. My view was to the north, toward downtown Des Moines but screened by large evergreens and deciduous trees. In front of those were bright red Japanese maples, stuck by mid-day sun and footed by a small green meadow. In front of the green, spiral-trunked crabapples stood like sentinels. The fountain bubbled and frothed just to my left as I tried to capture the multiple layers, colors and textures. This sketch began as a graphite sketch to which watercolor and ink were added.

Plein Air Sketch

This week one of our sketch group members kindly hosted us at her (and her husband's) farm a few dozen miles from Des Moines. Their farm occupies a big patch of rolling prairie east of the city, where they raise cattle and lease much of it to others. Lisa, our host, has a small studio in a converted shed on the farm, which has many subjects for sketching--huge grain bins, barns, farm implements of all sorts (historical and contemporary). They even have a century-old Ford farm truck in running order. 

"At Lisa's Farm," oil on panel, 9x12

When I paint outdoors I'm desperate at first to cover as much of the bright white bareness as I can. For green landscapes--pretty common--I start by washing the surface with burnt sienna or an earth red, thinned to a watery consistency. After that wash-in I sometimes work the red earth monochrome into a relatively detailed underpainting, but sometimes I move on more quickly and loosely. In this case I washed the lower half or so with red earth, leaving the sky area white. Then I laid in the series of conical shapes that constitute the evergreens as simple loose shapes. The shed (her studio) was too red so I wiped out much of the red color with a piece of rag and turp. The brushes I used for those steps were the largest in my roll. 

Next I mixed a series of greens using cerulean blue, sap green, ivory black, cad yellow and y. ochre. and used them to paint the trees and grassland, varying the mixes without premixing, doing all wet-in-wet. The studio building was simplified and horizontals added to suggest distant grassland (left) and tree shadows (right) to provide an illusion of depth. Working with progressively smaller brushes I painted the building carefully to separate values and give it volume and shape. Then working into the foreground I used lighter mixes of green, raising the chroma and enlarging the brush strokes to suggest the more near grassy patches. During the entire painting process I was at pains to keep the vast majority of edges soft and vague, saving sharper shapes for emphasis--note the studio eaves and roof line and the peaks of a limited number of evergreens. The piece is still wet and unsigned, pending a rest and further review. 

Sabasa

"Maria Garcia Perez de Castro, after Goya," oil on gessoed hardboard, 24x18

As I've written in previous posts, copying master paintings has long been a practical way for painters to learn how those masters achieved their effects, particularly with oil paint. Of course copy practice with other media can be very helpful, too. But most of my copying has been oil masterworks, from Goya to Leyendecker to Rembrandt to Rockwell. Recently I unearthed a copy I made more than 20 years ago of a beautiful work by Francisco Goys. It is a portrait of Maria Garcia Perez de Castro, who was known to friends as Sabasa. Goya painted her in 1804, supposedly after he saw her while he was doing her uncle's portrait. Struck by her beauty, he asked permission to portray her as well. The actual portrait was very challenging, particularly, the shawl. If you click the link above you can compare the original to my copy.