Millstream Gardens

Oil on Panel
12 x 9

Missouri isn't exactly known for it's whitewater, but if you know where to look there are a couple good places. This is one of them, Millstream Gardens or Tiemann Shut-Ins. I've never figured out why it needs two names or what, if any, the difference is. What I do know is that is a very cool spot. Every spring they have whitewater races that attract a pretty big crowd of paddlers and spectators. Just imagine a nice, warm spring day after being stuck inside for a long, cold and snowy (this year) winter, and you're out on the rocks watching the races. Or if you're more the adventurous type maybe racing yourself. I had thought about inserting a video here, but couldn't decide on just one, so feel free to google Millstream Gardens and see what you come up with. If it looks good and you're close the races should be coming up in a few weeks, usually early March. Of course the shut-ins are always there and maybe you'd prefer to do without the crowds. Nothing wrong with that either. So much for the travel log. If the Missouri Department of Conservation wants more they'll have to send a little something my way. I've got to give them their due though, for a government agency they do a pretty good job.

And now for the painting, nothing much to say about it. I think it came out rather well.

The Glades

Watercolor
22 x 30

This is an older piece that I never got around to putting up for some reason. I rather like it though. It's pretty much made up, no reference pictures, no actual place, but I think it is fairly representative of a glades landscape. That's glades in the sense of an open area in an otherwise wooded area. Around here glades have a quite thin layer of topsoil over rock. Usually not a real flashy landscape unless the wildflowers are in bloom. Hopefully that will be happening soon.

Early Autumn at the Wetlands

Oil on Panel
6 x 12

Here it is, a cold winter day with an ice storm just getting underway. i thought I'd get this out before the power lines go down and the electricity goes out. Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll just have snow, lots and lots of snow. This has turned out to be a rough winter. Never mind, I've got plenty of dry firewood.

As a contrast to what's going on outside here's beautiful, warm fall day. This may look familiar. If not, it soon will because there are quite a few pictures coming from this day at this place. I love the wetlands. No idea why, maybe it's because of all the little hidden things just waiting out there. There's also a quiet kind of beauty there that can change drastically with the time of year, time of day and lighting conditions. Or maybe it's just home. At any rate I think I could spend the next few years painting nothing but wetland scenes. There's plenty of other things I want to get done too though.

View from the Bluffs

OIl on Panel
9 1/4 x 16

This is one of my favorite places. It's out on the Lewis & Clark hiking trail, also one of my favorites. A couple hundred years ago Lewis & Clark were making their way up the Missouri River right past this spot. That's kind of a big deal if you're into American history. If not, well that's all I got so don't worry about an unwanted history lesson today.

A few years ago now I was out there on the bluffs just looking around and clearing my mind a bit. While I was there I noticed some clouds on the western horizon coming down the river. It was really pretty impressive. So I just sat there and watched it coming. After a while I realized it was coming right at me, but I realized that a little late. It was coming fast, and I was a good two miles away from the car. I got really wet that day.

One problem I have with painting favorite places is that since they are favorites I obviously like them. So the problem becomes, do I like the painting because it's a good piece of work or do I just like the subject matter? The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, but personal feelings do tend to get in the way of critical thinking. So what do you think, is it a good painting or just a good place?

Green Cathedral

Watercolor
22 x 15

As a painter I often ask myself what exactly am I trying to do. I guess I could go into artspeak mode and talk about the need for intrinsic elements to come together in a chaotic society to form a whatever. Yada, yada, yada. I could play that game but honestly it bores me. My work has been called no nonsense and unpretentious. I suppose in some circles that could be taken as an insult. I'm not in those circles and actually consider it a compliment. At the very least I think it's the truth. What you see is what you get so I better give you something worth seeing.

At one time Camie Davis had a blog on narrative painting. She's since combined all her blogs into one. See the link if you're interested. One of her last posts on the narrative blog started with a quote from Anthony de Mello:

"You have to understand, my dears, that the shortest distance between truth and a human being is a story."

And that is basically what I'm trying to do with my art. I'm a story teller. I'm much better with images than with words so I paint and draw. Figurative painting lends itself best to story telling, but landscapes also can tell a story of a specific place at a specific time of year and a specific time of day under specific weather conditions. If a landscape is done correctly (by my standards) it will take you to that certain spot at that time.

So what's the story with this painting? Well, there is no literary text portrayed, but the story is still there. I'll leave you to come up with it this time. After all, what you take from a story often depends on what you bring to it.

One final word here. Do your preliminary drawings!!!!! I had a lot of trouble painting the bottom of the drapery. Strangely enough, when I did the study for the figure I didn't do the bottom of the robe, too anxious to get started with the painting.



Coincidence? I don't think so.

High Water

Sorry I left y'all hanging there. Small technical difficulty on this end. Well, I'm all upgraded and updated and ready to carry on. The really good news is I can now set up that online store I've been planning for a while. I hope somebody thinks that's a good idea. More on that later.

Now I've got to go back and see where I left off. I need to take some pictures too as soon as the sun comes out. I think this was the next one I was going to show.


Oil on panel
12 x 9

This started out as a plein aire piece. Unfortunately it wasn't particularly good. For an on site study I suppose it was alright, but still not really worth looking at twice. So like on an earlier post I thought it would just be used as a starting point for a bigger piece. Then it occurred to me that while it didn't work as a finished piece it was a pretty good full color block-in. So another layer of paint, and some further development of the forms and this is what resulted. Not too bad, captures the day fairly well I think.

Which reminds me about that day. I got out to the river petty early and was surprised at how high the water was. I'd planned on painting on a sandy shoreline looking the other direction, but considering that sandy shoreline was under a couple feet of water plan B seemed like a better option. You'll note that there is no shoreline in this painting. Just trees coming right down to the water line. While I was there three different guys came by to do some fishing. Each pronounced the water to be high and left. That's where the title comes from.

Dry Stream Bed

Oil on Panel
14 x 12

I refuse to let autumn come to an end just yet. This is from one of my favorite hiking spots. The stream bed itself is about at the half way mark 2 1/2 miles in. With the exception of a couple little puddles I've never seen any water in it. That's not entirely bad, it's still a really pretty and quiet spot. But, I think it was last spring, I was there and there was water running in it, not much but still enough to be called a stream again. With all the rocks, getting across with dry feet was no problem. Since it was a different look I thought I'd stay for a while and look around. After a few minutes some more people came strolling by. Apparently they'd never seen water before because it took a good five minutes of planning to cross this little trickle. Dude, there's plenty of good solid rocks to step on, and worst case it's only two inches deep at most.

Split Rail

Watercolor
6 1/2 x 5 3/4

I wasn't totally happy with the painting I was planning on posting today. I like the actual painting fine, but the picture doesn't do it justice. Just as I was about to bite the bullet and post it anyway I found this little watercolor that has slipped through the cracks for quite a while now. New plan.

This is an older piece, but it still holds up pretty well. I'm older after all, and I still haven't reached my expiration date just yet. Besides it fits into the whole seasonal thing. We haven't really had much fall color this year, the weather didn't completely cooperate. Just have to make do, and get ready for winter.

Over the Horizon

Silverpoint heightened with white gouache
14 x 11

Is there room in the world for another picture of a woman looking at some unseen thing? Hope so.

I'd meant to put this up a couple weeks ago, but something just didn't feel right. It seems I'd forgotten the cast shadow. Who was it that lost his shadow, Peter Pan? Wendy had to sew it back on for him. I guess I've sewed her shadow back on now so it's ready to be seen. Strangely enough that's about all I have to say about it. Hope that enough.

Lifting Fog

Where is the time going? I didn't mean to skip two weeks without a post. I've got plenty of things to show but something always seems to come up. On the up side this piece hadn't been started two weeks ago so you get something brand new.

I'm going to show you something a bit different today, a plein air piece.

Oil on panel
6 x 12

I don't usually show these for two reasons. First I don't do very many so there just aren't many to see. Second they're not very good. I have a lot of trouble getting comfortable painting outside. I like it, I just can't get used to it. I really need to do more though, and I plan to continue at an increased rate. We'll see how those plans work out. There might be a third reason too. These little on location pieces aren't meant as an end in themselves usually. They're mainly just quick sketches that will grow up into something bigger and hopefully much better.

On to this particular piece. I got up early one day and headed out to the wetlands. As it turned out it was a really foggy day which I personally think is a great thing. By the time I got there the fog was already lifting, not too much of it left. It really didn't seem to be hanging over the wetlands too much to start with surprisingly enough. But the atmosphere was still pretty soft early on. To make things even better wildflowers were blooming all along the shorelines. So I set up real quick, painted as fast as possible and by the time I was done the fog had been replace by a clear blue sky. You can decide how well I captured the moment. My question was, did I have enough information to do a more finished studio piece? Well let's see.


Oil on canvas
9 x 18

Personally I think this worked out fairly well. There seems to be that early morning fog with the sun just burning through. The wildflowers make a nice focal point in the midgrounds and the water leads the eye into the space. I think I like it, should frame up nicely.

I really would like to do more plein air painting especially more detailed, studied out pieces. Yeah, that's a must do.