Inspiration of Inness

Inspired by Summer, Montclair (New Jersey Landscape) by George Inness
8x10, Acrylic on canvas panel, © 2018
Collection of the Artist

I've always admired the ethereal nature of the Tonalists and in particular George Inness, so I thought I'd like to "paint like Inness." I didn't really try to copy Inness but to channel him and to learn from the master. I once attended a workshop from a Nebraska regional artist, Judy Greff, who told me if it isn't working just, "...spatter the 'heck' out of it." I like this corollary—just glaze the "heck out of it." I think that works better for me.

Pete's Plane—Hawaii

11x14, Acrylic on Linen Panel, © 2018

Private Collection

It's been some time since I've posted some work. This is a painting of a young man training to be a pilot in Hawaii between the wars, about 1935. I'd never painted a plane before and this was a challenge for that reason. The research for an historical painting is immense. It was from a black and white photograph and had to be recognizable as to the person.

View from the Window

 8x10 acrylic on canvas panel, © 2018

Collection of the Artist

This is a painting of the area where my instructor from college lived after I left Utah, and he had left the college. It is in the Hyrum Dam area. 

    I remember the significance of the area because when I was in pottery, the instructor had a slip that was called Hyrum Dam. She had dug up the clay to make the slip herself. That stuck with me; this moody painting reflects a distant past that cannot be visited again except in our memory.