In Van Buren Co.

My plein air painting buddy, Jessica Kirby, gave me permission to use some of the photos she had taken on a painting trip I missed.   Here's the set up...looking on my computer screen at one of the photos she took while in Lacey Keosauqua State Park, Van Buren Co., Iowa.

Quick sketch in to lay out my composition

Starting to block in some color (and I have to say, I rather like the abstract look going on here too. Hmmmmm......this may be a direction I go in the future.)

and the finished work below.

~ click on images to enlarge ~

9"x 12"  Soft Pastel on Wallis paper.

I believe the time of year in the photo was Fall.  I need to visit this spot now (early Spring) and check it out.    

Tony's Medicine Shield

Click on image to enlarge

8ft. x 8ft.  Acrylic

Here's what I've been working on for several months now.  I can finally say the painting part is finished.  Now on to several coats of varnish. 

I've been working on these two 4' x 8' panels in my studio space on the main floor of our home. (I took over the dining room....moved the rectangle table over to the opposite wall that you see here.  It has a shelf unit on it that holds art supplies.)  

The varnish job will happen in the basement where I can lay the panels out flat.   That area is laundry / food storage / art show display storage / furnace / glass kiln area.  Yes.....we tend to "multi task" and use most the house for different projects.

Tony's Medicine Shield is to hang on the outside of the Indian Artifact Museum in Bentonsport, IA.  The business District will be considered "officially" open for the 2015 season on April 18th.   All the B & B's stay open year around.