Allendorf Elevator #3

Allendorf Elevator #3 | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

Allendorf Elevator #1 and #2

I just returned from a quick trip to Charlotte, NC. Travel always stimulates my creative juices. It's great to see new things and experience life in another part of the country. When we were driving home from the airport today, my love for good ole Iowa was renewed as I gazed at the fields, farms and small towns.

I posted Allendorf Elevator #1 in October, and Allendorf Elevator #2 in November so figured it was time to move to variation #3. This one starts bending those straight lines and starts to flatten some of the planes.

Iowa. Home, sweet home.

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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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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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Maurice Elevator at Dusk

Maurice Elevator at Dusk | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

This elevator is the one that stands right here in Maurice, just a few blocks from our house. It has of course been around for a very long time and the old tin siding has a beautiful tarnished silver finish. I have always admired the way the sun lights the building at different times of the day–particularly late in the day when the warm sunlight creates dramatic geometric panels of light and shadow.

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Trosky Elevator

Trosky Elevator| 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

Back to the midwestern skyline. This was based on a photo shot from the car as we drove past Trosky, Minnesota last year. I know nothing about Trosky, but imagine it to be like Maurice in most ways. A small railroad town with the elevator dominating the skyline.

I have some other elevator paintings that will be coming up. I've heard them referred to as the cathedrals of the prairie, and I find that fitting. These old wooden elevators are a dying breed, but there are still many to be enjoyed and I believe most of the remaining ones are still being used for their original purpose. They store a small portion of the harvest, often positioned beside their much larger concrete elevator counterparts.

Available for $100

Carnes Elevator

Carnes Elevator | 5"x7" | oil on hardboard

The harvest is in full swing and so another elevator painting seems to be in order. As I look back, it is exactly a month ago today that I posted Shades of Gray, which features this same elevator from a different angle.

I think my favorite part of this one is the rusty roof.

Thanks to all of you who signed up this past week to receive e-mail updates. I appreciate it.

NFS

Shades of Gray

I painted this last night and thought I'd get it posted tonight. This is the Carnes elevator. Carnes is a couple houses, and the elevator. My original thought was that I liked the composition of the photo, but that the shot was gray and dismal. I figured I'd punch up the color. Then as I began painting, I began to change my mind.

I have an affection for gray. I think it comes from my Grandfather. He was a gray lover. An oil painter too, but when he'd paint objects (like for instance a chair, bench or a shelf) he often used gray. His favorite color.

So anyway, I decided that I'd use the shades of gray, increase the contrast in the values of gray and then punched up just the green at the bottom. I think I like that.

It's going to be tough to post some of the things I paint for this. In my mind I want to work at it, refine it. Fuss over it. That's not what I want to do here. Well, at least not all the time.

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