Bottom Land

7.25 x 18
Oil on Canvas

There's a lot of good farm land around here, good bottom land in the river valleys. This particular spot is probably under water right now with all the rain we've been having. Hopefully it will dry out before the planting season is over. It's already late.
A few years back a rails to trails project created the Katy Trail, a hiking/biking trail that goes most of the way across the state. This painting is from there. For the most part, if not entirely, it follows the Missouri River. So as you go along you have the river on one side and some pretty impressive river bluffs on the other. You can't see the river in this, but it's just on the other side of the trees. You also go through some of the river towns, many of which have wineries where you can catch your breath.
This is a very simple painting, just a few horizontal bands in effect. Hopefully it gives you a feeling of peace and stability, that's where I was going this time. Personally I like to keep things simple and create a space where one can stop and get away from the daily problems for a moment. Farm land is good for that. Maybe it's the Antaeus factor at work.

Sunflower Field

Oil on Canvas
15 x 36

As much as I love to draw let's break the string of drawings. This one was finished up not too long ago. It's a scene I wandered across last summer at a local wildlife reserve. I've been going to this place for as long as I can remember, at all times of the year, but I don't remember ever seeing fields of sunflowers like this. They always planted smallish fields of corn and other things that were mainly used as feed plots for the deer, geese and other assorted critters, but this was totally unexpected. Judging by the number of people that slowed down or stopped completely when they saw this field I wasn't the only one surprised.