The Family Has Gone Away

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The Family Has Gone Away  11x14  Oils on masonite panel

A deserted house with an weed-choked yard. Blank windows stare into an empty landscape. The family might have hit hard times and had to quit the house.  OR maybe they found another, better place to live and prosper.

The magnolia tree is in bloom maybe there is life and some hope left here after all?

Grain Elevator With Red Door

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Grain Elevator With Red Door  12x16  Oils on masonite panel

This started out as painting of "just a grain elevator" but then I decided that since it wasn't going to actually rain here that I would make a rain storm in a painting. And I'll pretend that it will rain any day now. (I also get up early for the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.)

This painting captures the grain elevator a few minutes after the rain storm has moved on.

I note that in the photo the building seems to be leaning to the left. I measured (with a ruler) the painting and the building really isn't crooked. I'll blame this on my camera! :-)

Cropduster dusting

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Cropduster Duster  17x24  Oils on masonite

I've done farming scenes before but when I saw a photo of a cropduster, well I had to make a painting. I don't particularly enjoy making landscapes (everybody does landscapes) so I hedged a bit and put in an airplane.

Still some work to do on the airplane itself then make the suggestion of spray coming from the sprayer doo-dads under the plane wings.

The unusual size (17x24) is a result of measuring three times and still getting it wrong at the saw. "Only" an inch off!  I could have been more wrong - and have.

 April 21, 2010 - update.


I gave the airplane a propeller - it isn't a jet after all!  I also put a light cerulean blue glaze on the mountains and the far edge of the field..

 April 24, 2010 - update


I put rows of crops in the field that the plane is dusting. It wasn't a lawn, for crying out loud! The rows are neatly done - Farmer Brown saved some money on the plowing so that she/he could have the field sprayed today. :-) Isn't art fun?

House on Smith Ridge Rd

House on Smith Ridge Rd 18x24 Oil on Masonite

Nov 9, 2009 - updated the photo. I (tried to) added more fall colors into the trees and leaves on the road. Also put more shadow here & there. The photo appears lighter than the painting. Go figger!

This is an (apparently) abandonded house on Smith Ridge Road, properly called County Road 80) not far from my home. Smith Ridge Road is not often used anymore as there now is a paved road called Smith Ridge Turn Off.

But Smith Ridge Road is (for a transplanted city guy) very pretty with trees hanging over the dirt road. The road is very muddy after a rain and very dusty until it rains. Take your pick!

I really LIKE masonite!

This is one of many reasons that I like to use masonite rather than canvas or other "soft" painting supports. Lots of people don't like masonite for their good reasons. But when something heavy fell on this finished piece (it was framed and signed) and poked a hole in it all I had to do was use my table saw and cut off six inches. Granted, I was lucky that the hole was in a place where I could do that.

The "new" piece measures 12x24

The "old" piece measured 12x30

"THE HOLE" The hole measures about 6 inches by 3 inches.

The hole sort of looks cool in a photograph. A big bird flying by? Note the smudged signature! Oh well! What the - - - - ?

Old Tree

Old Tree 18x24 Oil on Masonite

This is an old tree down the street from our house. I don't know anything about trees but like it's shape and that it's (I guess) so old. The land belonged to a family for several generations and was used as pastures and raising hay. Now it's in the beginnings of being a subdivision. That's progress - at least for us!

Once again my digital camera (or the software) is having a tantrum and won't represent the colors in the painting. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. :-)

Pennsylvania Farm #2

Pennsylvania Farm #2 12x30 Oil on Masonite

This is a larger painting suggested by the Week 35-36 Challenge on Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF). The painting that I submitted was posted earlier. Karen Jurick posts a photo on her DSFDF blog and "challenges" artists to make their art based on this photo.

I saw this photo as almost an abstract and tried to render it as such - ALMOST an abstract. The buildings and silos in the foreground have some shading but the fields have no detail.

Pennsylvania Farms

Pennsylvania Farms 8x10 Oil on Masonite

This is my interpretation of Karin Jurick's challenge in her Different Strokes From Different Folks (DSFDF) challenge.

For this challenge Karin posted a black & white photo of a farm and the responding artists were to make a color painting.

Excuses: In the painting the silos are light grey. My rude camera and/or photo software adjusted the grey silos to blue silos and I had to leave the silos blue else the foreground green went reddish! Or radish or whatever the crops are. :-) Rule #1 - the problem is always the camera.

Red Barn No. 1 - WIP

Red Barn No. 1 - WIP 8x24 Oil on Masonite

Another WIP (work in progress)! This was suggested by a photo my wife took on a recent auto trip from our house to Mountain Home, Arkansas.

This needs some drying time and I need to look at it a while then "clean it up", add some details and blah blah blah. One thing I'm going to try is adding some cattle near the barn. My cattle usually look like anything but cattle. I also need to put a stock pen to the right of the barn. I don't really NEED to, but the real barn had one and it added some interest. The little shed to the right needs to be straightened or propped up - it looks like it's falling down. Maybe it is?

My camera was sorry it acted up last time and will begin behaving. We'll see.

Two Dollars An Hour

Two Dollars An Hour 24x30 Oil on masonite.

5/1/2009 - - Photo of the painting was updated I can't seem to get the painting in focus!!!!
5/3/2009 - - Photo of the painting was updated
5/8/2009 - - corrected the title 2 dollars an HOUR, not 2 dollars a day.

I'm done with this - just a few thing that I needed to "fix" e.g. their feet/shoes for one thing. See the April 20 post to see two preliminary sketches.

All in all I'm satisfied with this piece. The idea came from a photo in the National Archives. The folks in the photo hoed sugar beets in fields sunup to sundown for two dollars an hour.

Now I'm in one of those "be careful what you wish for" situations - sort of similar to a dog chasing a car. Now that you have it, what are you going to do with it? :-)

5/1/2009 - As two of my friends pointed out, the feet of the person to the viewers left needed "fixing" so I tried to get that done. I'm going to stare at the painting for a while making a list of things that I think need tweaking. Then I'll study that list and decide which "fixes", if any, will be done.

5/3/2009 - I fiddled with a couple of things. The "major" change was adding color to the shirt of the third guy from the right. I'm pondering (big word) whether or not to suggest trees and/or buildings in the far background.

5/8/2009 - Original photo by Bill Gilette, near Fort Collins, Colorado, June 1972. National Archives, Records of the Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/way-we-worked/way-we-worked-photos.html

Sketch #2 for "Two Dollars A Day"

Two Dollars A Day #2 8x10 Oil on masonite

This is my second try at water soluble oils and another quick study for a 24x30 painting of field hands hoeing sugar beets for two dollars a day - hence the title.

I moved the person on the right a little closer to the rest of the folks and reversed the person on the left.

I think that I like this composition more better. I'll work on their clothes in the larger painting - I'll do it with "real" oil paints! :-) I don't like this "pretend" oil paint very much.