Loess Hills, East of Logan, Iowa

8.5x11 Acrylic on panel, © 2011

Private Collection

One thing I like about painting—observation. Once you start the process of painting, your heightened awareness kicks in, and you see things differently. This doesn't just happen when you have a brush in your hand, but before and after. Subtle color changes and the value shifts used to create depth become beautiful in and of themselves. Marge and I struck out to find beauty on a late autumn day. We came across a back road—dirt, of course. Who knows where, but there it was—beauty of place. The moment is memorable as you see the beauty of color, value, line, and stroke. I can never go back to that place except in the painting. Photographs never seem to capture what is really there. Sure they are good for details of shape, but not color, value nor finding it again. Maybe a camera with a GPS would be good, but I don't know why; I have a painting.

Little Sioux Sunset

11x14, acrylic on panel, © 2007
Private Collection

Marge and I went to Little Sioux for Young Women's Camp parents night. We don't have a girl that age, but we did have Young Women from the congregation there. On the way back through Little Sioux, the light struck me, and I backed up a country road to the place I saw the light. It wasn't quite the same as it was seconds earlier—light disappears quickly at that time of day. I snapped a photo. Then at the Judy Greff workshop I painted this piece. I didn't quite get it finished in the two-day workshop. At the daily critique Judy said that she did not know what advice to give me to complete the work other than "spatter the 'Heck' out of it." I did that and several other things until I arrived at a solution that pleased me. The tree on the right was painted first and worked wonderfully well. The left part of the composition became my battleground.

Little Sioux Scout Ranch

11x14, acrylic on panel, © 2007
Private Collection

I went as a security person to the Young Women's Camp—this time during the day. Walking up to the lake I saw this light and took a photo.

I later attended a 2-day workshop with Judy Greff. I have admired her work for some time, and the opportunity presented itself to attend. I have been experimenting with painting on black-gessoed panels, and so this is one example. Judy asked that I paint it this way as a demonstration of another technique for those attending the workshop.

Mo Valley Tree

16x20, acrylic on canvas, © 2007

Private Collection

From one direction on Interstate 29 I took a photo that resulted in "Morning on the Missouri River Flood Plain." From the other direction was the "Mo Valley Tree." When I painted the scene, there was something missing. I found that it was the white farm house so prevalent in the Heart Land. I saw the house hidden in the tree and just made it come out. It added an element of human domination.

Loess Hills

18x24, acrylic on panel, © 2007
Collection of the Artist

Loess Hills were created from glacial action during the last ice age. The glacier would push soil before it as it progressed, and then it would retract—and the next season push more material up. There is no rock here, just clay. Hence there are only two places in the world where this phenomenon exists. Loess Hill of Iowa and somewhere in China. They are are a beautiful place to drive through. This was near Little Sioux on a magical morning in June.

Recognition: Exhibited in the 2007 Omaha Artist's Fall Show where it received an Honorable Mention.

Judge's Comments:

• Painting technique is excellent, and the brush strokes are free.
• It has nice contrast and use of atmospheric perspective.
• Subtle details in the tree rather than making it a black silhouette.
  
• The asymmetrical composition makes it work.

It reminds me of an early group of New England artists—part of the American Impressionist school—artists like William Merritt Chase.

Loess Hills Sunrise

16x20, acrylic on panel, © 2007 

Private Collection

That magical morning returning from the Loess Hills became the source for various paintings. 

Recognition: This one was painted to be displayed at the 2007 Omaha Artists Desoto Bend Nature/Wildlife Show where it received an Honorable Mention.

Judge's Critique

Design & Composition: !

Technique & Use of Media: Excellent

Use of Color or Value: Subtle

Judges comments: Excellent paint handling—sensitive, subtle. Very physically deep composition. I enjoy the way that the strokes in the sky refer to those in the trees. “Half and Half” composition—very effective—pulls one through the composition.

Morning on the Missouri River Flood Plain

11x14, acrylic on panel, © 2007
Private Collections

I went to Little Sioux, Iowa as an overnight security person for Young Women's camp—over 100 girls 12-18. On the drive back the next morning at sunrise the light was so beautiful that everywhere I looked I saw paintings. I had already taken some pictures coming out of the Loess Hills, and when I was on Interstate 29 at 75 mph, I saw this one and could not deny it.

I have also found that I like painting on panels more that canvas. I gesso them myself, and the smooth-toothed texture and firmness of the panel appeals to me.

White Iowa Church

20x16, acrylic on panel, © 1983
Collection of the Artist

Marge and I went to visit a friend, Lu, whom we had met while in graduate school at Iowa City. She had moved to Maquoketa, Iowa. After our visit we drove around a bit, and I saw this small white church and took a photo which became this painting.

The concept was to have a triptych of our Midwest experience. This and the previous two are part of that experience.