Late Afternoon Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

Monumental Pepper Oil on board, 7"x5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. Even a small painting can have a sense of "scale," which is something apart from size. With the low eye level and swelling forms it seems like this pepper could be 10 feet tall. Georgia O'Keefe (http://www.artst.org/okeefe/)was a painter who was wonderful at creating a feeling of scale in her work.

Mixed Fruit Oil on board, 5"x7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US.

Memory 2 Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

Here’s an update on the Lincoln/Douglas mural progress (see the June 12 post.) We had a deal with the farmers here in Ottawa, Illinois. We let it rain at night to help the corn grow and they let the sun shine during the day so we could paint our mural. The deal fell apart on Saturday, when rain kept us off the wall until mid-afternoon. Still, I think we’ve made pretty good headway after 2 ½ weeks of painting.

An overall view, with Jared at the far end talking with Tom, an Ottawa native and frequent visitor. Lots of people sit in the beautiful park across the road from the mural and watch us work. I guess you could call it performance art.

Another angle on the mural. Trying to portray an energetic crowd.

I figure if there were trees in the park during the debate in 1858, there had to be kids in them. You can see some of the underlying line drawing on the unpainted part at lower left.

A closeup of some of the figures in process.

I sneak up on Jared with the camera.

Garden Statue Oil on board, 7"x5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD

Memory 9 Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD A late sun on the tawny hills near Pendleton, Oregon.

Memory 4 Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Another in my "Memory" series. A cattle path leads to this remnant of a fence. The cows would rub their sides on the post, polishing it to a beautiful russet sheen. The shovel was used to break ice in the ditches during the winter so the cattle could get to water.

Flat Rock Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US.

Cimarron Oil on board, 5"x7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD This is the Cimarron River in a beautiful part of Oklahoma I had the pleasure of visiting a few years back. I painted a mural in the charming little town of Alva, up near the Panhandle.

Red Rock, Blue Sky Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. Sedona country again, always one of our favorite places to visit when we lived in Flagstaff. It can be dizzying to gaze up those sheer canyon walls and watch cotton clouds drift across the intense blue sky.

Hello from Ottawa, Illinois! I decided to post some work in progress photos of the mural my son Jared and I are painting here. Ottawa is a pretty little town of about 18,000, located southwest of Chicago at the junction of the Fox and Illinois Rivers. It was here, in August of 1858, that the first of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen O. Douglas was held. Douglas at this time was a widely popular Senator, while Lincoln was a relative unknown. Though Lincoln lost the Senate race, the debates made him famous and launched his political career. Our mural is right across the street from Washington Square Park, where the debate took place. It was a raucous affair with a carnival atmosphere, an estimated 12,000 people crowded into the small park.

Here we are up on the scaffold for the first day of painting. That’s Jared in the foreground (in case you couldn’t tell which one was older :) You can click on the images to enlarge.

The right side of the mural after four days. I know what you’re thinking, “Where’s Lincoln’s beard?” Well he didn’t have one in 1858…read your history!

The wall is 92 feet long. Here’s the left side after Jared rough-blocked in the tree shapes. Lots to do…sigh.

Jared in front of the high wall gives a sense of scale. I’ll post some more shots in a few days.

Morning Fog Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD A light fog just beginning to burn off and reveal the hills.

/TD>

Memory 5 Oil on board, 6"x6" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD This old Border Collie was a cowdog for a rancher neighbor of ours many years ago. He was a very sweet-natured fellow who shuffled around like an old bow-legged cowhand.

Last Light, Sedona Oil on board, 5"x7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD Colors in the red-rock country of Arizona can knock your eyes out--especially at sunset.

Evening Sky Oil on board, 5"x7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD I'll be posting fewer paintings for the next few weeks, as my son Jared and I leave today for a large mural project in Ottawa, Illinois. It's a big outdoor painting (20'x90')depicting the first Lincoln/Douglas debate, which took place in Ottawa in 1858. An estimated 12,000 people crowded into a small park in downtown Ottawa to witness the debate. By all accounts it was a carnival atmosphere. The mural is complex...cast of thousands...what was I thinking!? If you're anywhere near Ottawa in June, come see us. But be warned: you might be put to work! I'll try to post every other day or so. Thanks to all who are following and supporting my dailies, it is very gratifying to me.

From the Studio Wall:

"Life is the art of drawing without an eraser."

--John Gardner


"We don’t see things as they are,
we see them as we are."

--Anais Nin


"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

--Native American Proverb


"As the light changed from red to green to yellow and back to red again, I sat there thinking about life. Was it nothing more than a bunch of honking and yelling? Sometimes it seemed that way."

--Jack Handey

Two Bananas Oil on board, 7"x5" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US.

Three Amigos Oil on board, 5"x7" $125.00 + $6.00 shipping in US. SOLD These three colorful fellows brightened up my studio for awhile.