Portrait of an Artist - 2009

Portrait of an Artist 2009 | 8x10" | oil on hardboard

Some of you will remember that a year ago I did a portrait swap which was facilitated by the Different Strokes from Different Folks blog. Artists were asked to submit photos of themselves and in turn, received a photo of another anonymous artist to paint. It was fun last year, in the end discovering that the woman I painted was from Israel.

Once again this year, I do not know who this woman is, but hope to correspond with her after both of our portraits are revealed on the Different Strokes blog. I would encourage you to go there and see the wide variety of styles and interpretations. There are 180 artists participating this year.

I painted this on a little larger panel than my most of my other blog work, and it was a pre-primed panel that I had purchased. The surface was ultra-smooth and I struggled with that more than I thought I would. In the end, I think it came around fairly well.

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth | 4'x8' | oil on Upson board

This painting is another one that my Grandpa painted many years ago. It is just a few doors up the street from us and stands in front of my brother's house this Christmas season.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to check out my work in 2009. I truly appreciate every single comment and email I received. Merry Christmas.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. –Luke 2:14

The First Christmas

The First Christmas | 4'x8' | oil on plywood

I'm sorry to say it has been a busy December with not much time to paint.

This is the scene that we have in front of our house this Christmas season. I painted this quite a number of years ago and store it in my garage the rest of the year. It has seen its share of wind, snow and cold weather but remains pretty bright and colorful.

Maurice is once again decorated with lots of Christmas lights and decorations, so if you're in the neighborhood, please drive through and take a look.

Simply Winter

Simply Winter | 6"x6" | oil on hardboard

Winter has officially arrived. I can hear the wind howl outside the window as I type this and I scooped a bunch of snow this afternoon with more to do in the morning. Luckily my boys have a late start for school Wednesday, so they will be enlisted to grab a shovel in the morning. I'm sure they'll be thrilled.

This is a corn crib and grain bin southeast of town. It sits alone out in the middle of a field. The stark contrasts and simple shapes again got my attention. Not much going on here, but I guess that is the point. Stark, cold and white. Welcome to winter.

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Slice of Life

Slice of Life | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

This is a painting that was commissioned by someone who had seen an earlier cake painting. That slice of cake stirred up memories for her of a special cake that was often baked by a loved one in her family.

Food conjures up memories for people. Do you associate certain foods with particular holidays or events each year? I'm pretty sure most of us do. For our family, this cake is always a birthday dessert created by my Mom and enjoyed by the whole family.

I plan on enjoying some great food at our family Thanksgiving dinner, and hope that you are able to celebrate as well. Thanks for viewing my work on a regular basis. I appreciate it.

SOLD

Wide Open Spaces

Wide Open Spaces | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

This is a loose painting where I had fun laying on generous amounts of paint. Especially in the lower part of the painting. I like the freedom to just push the paint around.


Most of this was painted with brushes, but I also utilized a rubber pointed tool/brush to add texture and actually scrape away portions of the paint.

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Allendorf Elevator #2

Allendorf Elevator #2 | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

If you didn't look carefully, you might assume this is the same painting that I posted a couple weeks ago. This one has been simplified a little bit. I'm going to paint this a few more times, and simplify it with each version.

I am a believer in the saying "Less is more". I have to remind myself frequently of this simple phrase and remove things that are distractions or the things that just really aren't very important. That applies to both my art and other areas of my life as well. Remove the things that aren't important and it gives focus to the things that are.

Often the most elegant, refined and beautiful things are the ones that are simple. I can't say that I like this painting better than the first one, but it does have a different quality to it. I'm looking forward to seeing where this leads.

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America's Prettiest Towns

Forbes Travel.com names America's Prettiest Towns

I've shared this news with some of you, but thought I'd share it with everyone. I was recently invited to be on the "Expert Panel" for Forbes Travel's selection of America's prettiest towns. Why me? Who knows–but the guy who wrote the story found my blog and asked if I'd be interested in helping make the selections.

It was difficult narrowing down America's towns to just a select few. I'm sure you have your favorites as well and of course everyone's definition of pretty is different. Take a look at the list and hopefully you'll agree with some of the choices.

Make sure you watch the slideshow as well if you have the chance, as that has some of my picks and quotes too. You can see the results online by clicking here.

I figure it's not every day that someone asks you to be an expert, right? Thanks for indulging me.

Allendorf Elevator

Allendorf Elevator | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

Allendorf is a tiny town in Osceola County. When I was a kid, my brother and I would spend a few days each summer at my aunt and uncle's farm near there. We would occasionally go to the little cafe that was in town at the time. The cafe is gone now, but the sign was still there when I snapped the photo of this place.

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The Daily Palette

My work was just featured on the University of Iowa's website called The Daily Palette. The Daily Palette's goal is to heighten interest, awareness and appreciation of the visual arts and writing through recognizing the efforts of Iowa-identified artists and communities.

You can view the site by clicking here.