A Buckskinner's favorites!

18"x24" Oil on board + frame

I'll post another straight on shot of this work when I have one.  For now, this shows the finished work on the easel at the Iron & Lace store.

You can see the edge of the photo I was using as reference.  Again, I prefer working from life, but that isn't always a convenient thing for me to do.  So, I'm soooooooo thankful for the digital camera.  I'm discovering my new phone can take some pretty decent shots too.  ( I have a Nikon L830 I carry around too)

"Awaiting Orders"

Mixed Medium - 24"x20" stretched canvas

For future reference, I may have to take pictures of the acrylic wash I apply on the board or canvas before adding the oil painted subject matter.  The strokes of Burnt Umber color in the background aren't all visible here.  They help create the illusion of movement in the painting.  

I rarely paint on a pure white canvas.  I create some color wash and usually paint over the entire surface to cover it.  More  of my work of late seems to include the initial underpainted wash of acrylic or oil showing in the final piece.  Because this one was done with acrylic, and just as much surface shows as the oil paint applied after, I thought I should consider it a "mixed medium" work.

Subject? :  Another photo I took of the Civil War re-enactment in Keokuk, IA this past April.

Among the Smoke

Oil on board and frame....18"x 26"

I'm not very good at "centering" a painting when photoing it.  This is obvious to see when I add the frame as part of the composition.  So, I apologize for the distraction of not getting straight lines here.

That out of the way...... as most my students and friends know, I like adding the frame to be part of the over all composition.  The next several works I'll be showing here will be done in this manner.

In April, I traveled to Keokuk, IA and was able to witness the last Civil War re-enactment  (after 28 years)  and was amazed with the numbers of  participants and size of the audience to this event.  The BOOM of the cannons was phenomenal.  I didn't know what to expect but now I see the draw to recreating a part of history.  I have abundant respect for those that are passionate about doing so.

This month, I'm scrambling to paint as many works with the Civil War theme as possible.  They will be part of the one person show in December at the Keokuk Art Center...hanging in the round room just off from the public library.

Working from Home.....

I thought I'd share where I'm working this weekend.  I've taken my wood easel over to Bentonsport to be in the studio there in the Herman Greef House so, I've gone back to my old metal Standrite to work off of at home.  Because I like to have my easel level upright or leaning slightly forward, I use a 12 lb dumbbell sitting on the back leg to "balance" the easel.  Keeps it from tipping on forward.

I never lack for company either when working in this space.  There's usually all 3 cats occupying the chairs. So far, I'm lucky they don't try and walk across my paints or pastels.

Here you can sorta glimpse at how I've arranged my pastels in my Lammert Paint Box.  I have so many boxes from pastel sets that I've purchased over the years that I decided to  modify a few to create my set up as you see here.

  These are the lids to a couple of Terry Ludwig boxes.  Plastic inserts are from another set of pastels and in the center of the box, I'm leaving my 120 half stick Sennelier box in place.  I've glued the foam covers to a foamboard cut to lay directly on top when packing.

I then place the pastel boxes at the sides on top,,,,,centered so the doors will close.  Everything sits firmly in place when I travel holding the box vertically.

I had thought of creating dividers and laying my pastels next to each other (a set up I had in my easyl plein air box), which would allow for more pastels being with me at all times, but softer pastels tend to break easier then the semi-soft and I like to have the variety of hard to very soft and hand made pastels with me at all times.  I use them all when creating a painting.

In case you're wondering about the orange bungee straps, they're fastened on the box and I can carry my pastel pencils in a canvas brush holder on the back side .  It's an option to strap on my tripod and canvas holder on the top.  I couldn't find straps the exact length I needed to keep everything snug when fastened, so I tied knots in the chords to shorten them.

I've become so used to working from the tripod, I now prefer setting it up like this instead of using my side table, you see here, to lay out a palette.  AND....depending on the size of a work (this one pictured here works fine on the tripod canvas holder) and light source, I set up the tripod as close to being directly under the metal or wood easel I'm using in the studio.

"Wabbles at Play"

10"x 8" watercolor

I've been hanging on to pics I've taken of my cats playing and napping to use as study references.  It's about time I start creating something with them and here's a quick watercolor sketch of our oldest kitty Wabbles.

She was born with no sense of balance so she spreads her back legs out to catch herself.  She is so much fun to play with and sooooooooooo happy.  Our vet is amazed she's still going strong at 11 years old.  She's banged her head a few times where we thought of inventing a "nerf" helmet for her.  

Now she spends more time watching the 2 young boys, Obie & Zeus, chase each other around the house.

I did this sketch on matboard covered with Clear AS Colourfix Mult-media Primer.

Plein air in Amana, IA

8"x10" Oil on board

Above is one of 7 paintings I was able to complete during the "Catiri's Fresh Paint" paint out during labor day weekend.  I'm not exact on numbers, but I believe around 35 artists participated this year. We were literally  treated as celebrities with the red carpet rolled out and photo shots as we entered for the revealing of finished works/awards banquet.

Temperatures soared in the 90's all 3 days of the event.  It was definitely a learning experience for me. WATER! WATER! WATER!  I hate to admit it but my body took a day and half to recover from the pace.  Soooooooooooo out of shape!

 

View of the Iron Bridge

Oil on panel 8"x10"   SOLD

This is the second oil I've created with having the old iron bridge in Bentonsport, IA as the focal point.  It's a view from the front porch of the Iron & Lace store.

Here you can see how I like to create works sized 8x10 and smaller on a support made out of foamboard.  I glue and tape layers of board together to give it strength.  It's much lighter to carry then something made out of wood.  Lately, I've been using cardboard instead of the black foamboard shown here.

Using black or the "brown" cardboard creates a neutral middle value tone that surrounds  a work.  Working on a surface like this helps me keep my easel clean from paint.  A support panel like this also provides a means for me to transport a finished painting without worrying about smearing the wet paint.