Hilltop Barn

Hilltop Barn, oil on canvas, 36x24"

This is one of the largest paintings I have done in years, and I love working this size again.  I feel like I may need to do away with the tiny paintings for a while, and regain my footing a bit larger.  I've been working slowly towards one of the cliches that are thrown around a lot, "emotional color palette" within my work, without being overly emotional!?!  But with that for me comes expansive space.   The combination is actually where the emotion lies. 

Illinois

Illinois, oil on gessoed hardboard, 8x10"

I've been wanting, for my own knowledge and ability, to start pushing to the abstract end of the spectrum of painting, without abruptly changing immediately. I don't think that would be good for the thought process that goes into each work.  I found a reference photo that I took while driving through Illinois on the way to St. Louis, that is geometry all the way. As I told my son, the artist, I used a palette knife, not to apply paint (brushes only at this juncture) but to take it off exposing other color underneath, or to manipulate texture in other areas. 

This painting is dedicated to my friend Shawn, who left this world on Tuesday. He had been living in Iowa for a few months. These fields reminded me of the Iowan heartland. 

After the Harvest, Kansas

"After the Harvest, Kansas", oil on gessobord, 18x24"

I finally finished this landscape over the weekend. Was fun to paint larger with this one. My next landscape attempt will (hopefully) drift to more abstraction...I have tinkered with this lately on oil paper, but may use these as the references for a larger work. Stay tuned!