Other Places

The general development of my work is represented by the slowly expanding territory from which I draw ideas for my paintings. It is important for me to get to know a place, feel a connection to it, to try to understand what makes it unique and to discover what in it speaks to me in such a way that I am compelled to respond. My aesthetic eye has been shaped by the gently former prairie where I have lived nearly all my life. However, opportunities have occurred which have taken me out of my familiar environment.

An opportunity to help a friend conserve a WPA mural in the post office ion the town of Mt. Ayr in southwest Iowa allowed quite a few days to explore that area.

In 2005 I was commissioned to create a large painting for a civic center under construction in southeast Iowa. The parameters for the commission were largely unrestricted other than that the painting needed to include the Des Moines River upon whose banks the center was cited. I made several drives to the area over several months scouting for a site from which to develop the painting. The resulting painting is my largest canvas to date and it is installed in the Bridgeview Center in Ottumwa. Other paintings resulted from my time along that river.

A surprise 2010 invitation to come to Maine from a former Iowan who had purchased a small painting of mine more than ten years earlier allowed my wife and I several days to explore the coastline around Bar Harbor.

My son and his family live in Colorado and after several trips exploring the area with him over the years, in 2014 I was inspired by the mountains and they have now affected how I think about my Iowa paintings. Over time I expect other paintings than those shown here to appear.

     

     

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