Volunteer

I also painted his wife for volunteering for another group. He came in looking for her finished portrait which I am still working on. I don't know why some come easier than others. I guess as an artist I am also a work in progress.

11" x 14" oil on panel

volunteer community foundation

This is the final I think. I thought I was finished but decided it needed more.  

Another volunteer from the Community Foundation. I knew him prior to this sitting. I was set up as the plein air painter in his place during the garden tour. 

This is one of the paintings that he purchased of his garden. A watercolor painting as most of my artwork at that time was.

Volunteer no 25

One of the volunteers for the community foundation. An organization to help make it easier for others to donate to causes. You can designate which organization you wish to donate to one year then change the next, they make the contacts and distribute the funds. While painting I talk to the volunteers and hear interesting stories. Merlin was the winning bidder for a family portrait to be painted by John Bybee, a professor at SCC. I don't think that Bybee expected the winning bidder to have 13 kids. 

11" x 14" oil on panel

Reminder of Spring

I have an animal related exhibit coming up in Normal, Illinois at the McLean County Arts in November. Besides myself the exhibit includes a fiber artist and a ceramic artist. I have just enough time to do small paintings. This painting does not seem to have the same impact as the cow painting, I am wondering if it is the rule of using odd numbers. The cow shows three legs with the front legs together. My daughter has a three legged cat, maybe I should paint her. Although the negative spaces are an odd number.

8" x 8" oil on canvas.

Portrait of a Cow in her Winter Coat

I wiped this panel of the image from the previous post and started over. This was what I wanted to paint in the first place, so it is just as well that the other one didn't turn out.  The heavy winter coat on this Hereford showed interesting shades of rusty brown. The white fur in shadow against the white snow in sunlight begged to be painted and the contrast of the grayed distant trees promised to give me depth. 

12" x 6" oil on stretched canvas

Herefords Heading to the Barn

This was from a photo I took last year. I loved the reddish brown against the blue shadows.

12" x 6" oil on canvas

Paint Horse

This is the exercise of painting white in shadow. I think I may go back in. 

8" x 6" oil on canvas panel

The last of the Summer Grass

I spent this weekend studio painting with friends. This was the Southeast Iowa Artists Studio Tour weekend. Saturday was spent touring the various studios and Sunday I was at Gin Lammert's studio. The studio tour is a great way to enjoy the fall scenery and see the artists at work in their studios. This gives me a reprieve from all the greens of summer.

8" x 6" oil on canvas

Rabbits in the Garden

Sold

I took several rabbit photos and rearranged them to create this composition. This is the final for now. I created this 11" x 14" as a study for a 16" x 20" but that will have to wait. 

I gray scaled it to better see where it is weak. The background contrasts are too strong compared to the front where you want to pull the viewer into the composition. This is the top painting gray scaled after I made a few adjustments. 

This was the rough in. Notice the one rabbit on the left was deleted. After I stepped back I noticed the five on the top looked like a polka dot pattern, uniform and boring. I felt that taking him out also made the rabbit on the lower left stand out more. This was pushing myself to try something more complicated.

This was the Photoshopped image I was working from. The problem was right before my eyes but I did not see it til I was farther into the painting process. This seemed a little weak but I thought I could work it out in the painting,.. bad idea. I had a customer remark about my rabbit running paintings that she liked to see that in her garden, which is what prompted me to try this.

Still playing with this. I edited the current painting in Photoshop... will need a day or two to think about this. 

Sketching in the Park

Just a quick sketch. I was sitting with a friend at Art in the Park. This lady was holding the pose for quite a while but someone eventually pulled up a chair and sat it between her and me.  

Volunteer for the Lulac Club

This is the volunteer for the local chapter of lulac. Their mission statement is: "The Mission of the League of United Latin American Citizens is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, housing, health and civil rights of the Hispanic population of the United States." They have a long tradition in Fort Madison, Iowa.

11" x 14" oil on panel

Percheron Pasture with a River View

I think this will be the final painting. It is cropped to 12" x 9".

This is the painting as a 14" x 11".

I edited this photo to show more of the river view. I image the horses don't appreciate the great view. I liked the way the horse has a dappled coat and the dappled effect of the sunlight on him.

12" x 12" oil on canvas

This was the painting in progress. I took out the dappled sunlight on the hind leg and increased the dark shadows.