#155 - Lonesome Barn

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

I drove to Mendota, IL to pick up my son from Amtrak the day before Christmas. I left a couple hours early with hopes I'd find something to pull over and paint. Mission Accomplished.

#154 - Rock Chalk

8" x 10" Oil on panel

A Christmas gift for my son, a senior Jayhawk.

#153 - November Dusk

8" x 10" Oil on gesso panel

Another awesome sunset I encountered on a recent commute home.

#152 - Best Beer in America

10" x 8" Oil on canvas panel

Bell's Two Hearted Ale was voted the best beer in America again this year and it's at the top of my list too.

#151 - Bruges Canal

16" x 12" Oil on canvas panel

We went to Luxembourg for a week in October and were able to spend a couple days in Bruges Belgium. Beautiful city.

#150 - Distant Farm

9" x 9" Oil on panel

Another farm from my commute home.

#149 - Sunset Selfie

12" x 16" Oil on canvas panel

I stopped on my commute home from work to snap the picture I painted this from.  I liked the clouds and the foreground line between the sunshine and shadow. I decided to keep my reflection in the painting.

#148 - Rural Route

9" x 12" Oil on canvas panel

Plein Air
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Had an afternoon off work so I drove out to the country looking for something to paint and lost myself in this scene for a couple hours. Beautiful afternoon.

#147 - Corner Coffee

12" x 16" 

Oil on canvas panel

Been working on this one for a while; more detail than I usually paint. Under the awning and thru that door is my favorite new coffee spot in my hometown, Cesaroni's Cafe and Deli. 

#146 - Pleasant Valley Afternoon

9" x 12" oil on canvas panel

Plein Air

I got out to the Pleasant Valley Conservation Area on a beautiful afternoon recently with my plein air rig. The mosquitos were bad so I painted quickly, which turned out to be a good thing!

#145 - Fair-Weather

14" x 11" Oil on panel

The rain in northern Illinois has been epic this spring and summer. It rains every day and everyone yearn for the days when the sun shines uninterrupted. I grabbed my camera during one recent clearing spell and drove out into the county and was drawn to this scene with the backlit clouds and reflective puddles.

#144 - Santa Maria Novella Courtyard

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

We were visiting Santa Maria Novella in Florence and the shadows thrown by Tuscan Cypress in the large cloister caught my eye. I am drawn to the organic shapes of the trees in front of the organized monastic architecture.

#143 - Tuscan Roadtrip

11" x 14" Oil on gessoed panel

One of my favorite experiences during a recent trip to Florence was the day we rented classic 50-year-old Fiat 500s and drove through Tuscany with other like minded souls. Our caravan consisted of 4 classic manual stick Fiats filled with people on vacation - a great time! This painting is from a picture Maureen took through the windshield.

#142 - Solar Glare

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

It has been so rainy here this spring that when the sun came out on a drive home from work I had to stop and take a picture of the glare off this barn's metal roof. I especially liked the contrast with the storm clouds above.

#141 - Florence

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

This is my first attempt at painting something with a lot of small shapes and a lot of depth.

#140 - Purple Rain

16" x 12" Oil on canvas panel
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I was looking for subject matter with some complexity and would be challenging to simplify. I think I found it.  I loved this scene because of the reflections: one the silo and in the water.

#139 - Mud on the Tires

12" x 16"

Oil on canvas panel

I took my camera and drove around the country for a couple hours one recent sunny Saturday morning and came across this old gem. Loved the muddy driveway!

#138 - Variations of White

16" x 12" Oil on canvas panel

I went driving on a sunny Saturday morning looking for pictures to paint. I came across this scene and loved the variations of white.

#137 - Lonely Road

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

This is from a country drive last autumn. I loved the oranges of he fields and purples in the sky.

#136 - Stacked Bales

11" x 14" Oil on canvas panel

Another barn from my way home. I like the stacked bales.

#135 - Weather-Beaten

14" x 11" Oil on canvas panel
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My wife and I were driving down a lonely stretch of road in New Hampshire and came across this scene. Fortunately, we were the only ones on the road when I slammed on the breaks to pull over, roll down the window and take a picture.

#134 - Winter Blues

10" x 8" Oil on canvas panel
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Another scene from my commute home. I'll be glad when I can trade my white tube of paint for green.

#133 - First Snow

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

I found this scene on my phone from an early November commute home. Little did I know the new dusting of snow was foreshadowing of the winter to come!

#132 - Carmel Beach

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel
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I am so tired of February in northern Illinois I escaped to the beach.

#131 - Long Shadows

10" x 8" Oil on canvas panel
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I find great painting material on my drive home from work every night. I like the way the shadows on the field mirror the clouds in the sky.

#130 - Ohio Star

9" x 12" Oil on canvas panel

I was driving home from work on Friday and pulled over to take a picture of this barn. I must have pulled over too far and got stuck in the snow. Two very nice guys stopped and helped dig me out, and wouldn't take anything for their help. Reminded me of a favorite George Eliot quote: "Excellence encourages one about life generally."

#129 - Clear Slot

8" x 10" oil on canvas

Painted from a picture taken on a June evening on a road going west in rural Illinois.

#128 - High Humidity

8"x 10" Oil on canvas

For the two hours I painted this, it was 85F and muggy. #paintcation.

#127 - Two Barns

9" x 12" Oil on canvas panel
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Today it was 8F outside AND 8F on my easel. Painted from a picture snapped this morning west of Route 47 in Illinois.

#126 - Harvest Bales

9" x 12" Oil on canvas panel

It was 15F outside today, but 72F on my easel. I took this someplace in Missouri on the way to visit my son at KU.

#125 - Home Away from Home

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel.

I painted this for my mother-in-law. My wife grew up traveling all over the country every summer seeing countless national parks, and spending evenings in this Apache pop-up. 

#124 - Right or Left

8" x 10" Oil on canvas panel

This was painted from a picture I took on a warm July evening in southern Wisconsin.

#123 - Door County Pine

8" x 10" Oil on board

Happy New Year! Today I celebrated by painting from one of my favorite memories of 2018 when we spent a few days at the Door County Plein Air festival.