It was raining so a still life set up works.

10" x 8" oil on canvas

Shade on Summer Day

Black and white and black and white that seems to flow together and confuse me. Reminds me of how zebra patterns confuse predators. I couldn't resist trying to organize the scene. 

This is the reference photo. I liked the cow in the front against the backdrop of the tree trunk as a center of interest, still a lot of editing.

12" x 6" oil on canvas

Storm Clouds Threatening

Too cold to go outside and paint. I pulled this up and painted the "bare trees" but they ended up looking a little more dressed.

I used an art store brand of hard panel from Blick. It had a dinged corner so I marked off the 8" x 10 corner or the 12" x 9" panel.  The surface was a slick like melamine wall panels. I had to adjust to it, but I would buy it again. For covering the surface fast and an easy wipe off it worked well, sometimes too well.  

10" x 8" oil on gessoed board

Kayaking on the Skunk River

I was painting on the banks of the Skunk River when this woman showed up. A great opportunity to paint more that just water. There are great views on the river without public access and painting from a kayak may be a good idea or at least sketching. 

8" x 16" oil on Ampersand board.

Early Spring at Wilson Lake

Early spring plein air painting at Wilson Lake. The clouds were great Wednesday afternoon.

9" x 12" oil on canvas

Wilson Lake in Early Spring

I went plein air painting to work on my neutrals. I had some paint left over from my portrait and they are a nice tan color. 

9" x 12" oil on canvas

52 Faces final image

As the final image for the 52 Faces of Volunteerism I did a self portrait. I set up the lighting to show my wrinkles and imperfections. I originally wanted to paint like Lucien Freud but just could not pull it off. When I take a photo of myself I Photoshop the wrinkles out and wear a turtleneck (see photo at right).  I could tweak this some more but I procrastinated until yesterday and it needs to be turned in today. The Art Center had a lunch ala art which included a talk or demo from the monthly feature artist. I started this at that event and needed to finish it later. 

The show is going to Mount Pleasant Iowa on the Iowa Wesleyan University's art gallery in the PEO building for the next two weeks. The PEO building is located on North Main Street. 

11" x 14" oil on mdf board

Hydrangeas

Playing with my acrylics using airbrush medium and acrylic flow release medium. "Flow release is a surfactant. A surfactant is a concentrated surface-active liquid which reduces surface tension, thus improving wetting and increasing the flow of acrylic waterborne paints." It reduces the surface tension between the staining(paint/water) and the canvas/ Golden Acrylic website

8' x 8" acrylic on canvas

Early Spring at Ely Landing

I did not get a chance to go out this weekend. The best I could do was pull up a photo from last spring around this time of year.

12" x 6" oil on canvas

Chiweenie

A long haired Chiweenie; a mix of Chihauhau and Dashhund cute but independent. This one is a one person dog.

8" x 8" oil on canvas  

He uses his cuteness to get away with a lot, including jumping on the chairs.

Limestone Bluffs Again

While some friends went plein air painting I was nursing a cold that kept me inside yesterday. I pulled up the limestone bluffs photos to give it another shot. It is not just the bare trees that get me but the brush. This photo had dead warm gray brush hanging on the side of the cliff. 

 8" x 8" oil on canvas

Maybe cropping it may improve the composition.

6" x 8" oil on canvas

Winter Sunset in the Cornfield

I went plein air painting with Jessica. So wanting to paint plein air after several winter scenes from photos. My painting did not go so well so I wiped it off and painted this from a photo I had. 

9" x 12" oil on canvas

This is or was the plein air painting. The river was frozen with a few spots of open water. Beautiful scene, but tough for me. I did get some practice with greys.

Snow Fall at Wilson Lake

Waiting to get out in the snow and paint the shadows. The weather was tolerable but the sun was not out. Back to the photos it is. Around sunset the sun did come out just long enough to get photos. This is another painting using the same colors as the last two.

8" x 8" oil on canvas

Snow Melt

I painted this using the same paint colors as the last post, Pthalo blue, Ultramarine, burnt sienna, cad yellow, yellow ochre and quinocridone rose. 

10" x 8" oil on canvas 

Snow in Sunlight and Shadow

This was first wiped off. I failed to capture the feeling of sunlight and tried again. I am just not ready to give it up. We had snow this weekend but no sunshine. This was from a photo of Wilson Lake a couple of years ago.

8" x 8" oil on canvas panel

Herefords at the Grey Barn

I did something like this is a smaller format 12" x 6". This is not much larger, but I believe in baby steps. I switched the cattle to Herefords because I liked the contrast of the reddish fur against the blue. I did add one mixed breed, not sure if that was a good idea. This is oil and I can wipe that off and make another Hereford.

8" x 16" oil on canvas

When the Gnats Feast

I painted plein air yesterday and had I great time. My fellow painters did some very nice watercolors. I did an oil painting of rocks and water that was wiped off  to paint this. Anyway I had fun and enjoyed the weather. 

12" x 9" oil on canvas 

Tree on the Bluff

I started this with a lavender ground which is pretty much covered up. This is the same view from previous posts without the stream. Trying to focus on the tree more. I am still too preoccupied with the rocks. Trying to repeat the pattern of cracks in the rocks with the tree branches. 

6" x 12" oil on canvas

White Barn

Another cloud study. I saw this barn outside Iowa City and found the roof shape and the shadow from the cupola interesting. This was one of those photos I liked but was not sure how to handle it with the centered barn. Experience told me not to try it but I painted it because I wanted to.

9" x 12" oil on canvas

52 Faces of Volunteerism

A year ago I started this project painting portraits of local volunteers. My first volunteer was Janice Feany a volunteer from the local art center.

52 Faces of Volunteerism is a tip of the hat to those who give service, freely and gladly. In January of 2015, I began donating my time to painting oil portraits of local Samaritans, at the rate of one a week, for one year. Each model was a volunteer in good standing with, at least, one of Lee County's non-profit organizations. They also had to be willing to sit through a two hour portrait session.

The idea for "Faces" was an evolving epiphany. I became interested in doing live portraits after setting up for the Artist's Studio Tour. The challenges of meeting new people (I'm a bit of an introvert) and doing live portraiture was addicting. After viewing Rose Frantzen’s Portrait of Maquoketa Project, I got the notion to set up at the local art center, more or less, once a week and paint whomever she could persuade to pose. While talking with the art center's own volunteer, it occurred to me to pay homage to those among us who give so much to others. In other words, "I've always believed that art can and should be a positive force." At the end of February, when the exhibit is over, each volunteer will be given his or her oil portrait, to do with as they will.

From the beginning the participants were encouraged to talk; so they would look directly at me (and stay awake) while sitting in one spot for two hours (no small feat for these human dynamos.) What quickly became apparent was that these are not normal people; many of them are serial do-gooders, some with forty plus years of service to several organizations. Their reasons for having their picture done vary from person to person (one gentleman posed because he was absent from the meeting when the "volunteer" was nominated.) Many are vivacious and outgoing; some are introspective, and were uncomfortable with being studied. They are as different as the entities they represent, and as alike as the ideals they pursue.

"What a man does for himself dies with him. What a man does for his community lives long after he’s gone." Theodore Roosevelt

As the the months flew by, the paintings and stories amassed; another thing became obvious: The good accomplished by volunteers cannot be overstated. These fifty two people are just the tip of the ice-berg. Of the dozens of non-profits, from the largest to the smallest, no service or event gets done without sneakers on the ground to make it happen. There's no way to tell exactly how many volunteers there are in any given community, but they are manifold, and their impact is beyond measure.

The exhibit will run til the end of February at the art gallery in Fort Madison, Iowa. The opening reception will be Saturday February the 13th from 2 to 4.