I finally get around to painting the Lees Summit Train Depot...

MISSOURI LANDSCAPE ART • TRAIN ART • TRACKS • SUMMER • SUNSET

"Coming Home" 12 x 24, oil on canvas

Over ten years ago, my wife Gina told me that I ought to do a painting of the local train station. She worked part time for a local gallery and said that people come in regularly asking for paintings of it. Sounded like an easy sale so I went over and checked the place out, came home and said "It's boring." A few years later Gina and my youngest daughter were riding home from St Louis on the Amtrac so I was there to pick them up. It was a hot August evening right about sunset and I was struck by the look and feel of the midwest mugginess. It had a timeless quality that took me back to childhood. There was something unique about the color of the sky and the foliage that I hoped to someday be able to capture in paint. Fast forward to this past June. I was driving through town and looked north up the tracks. There was my composition. I went back a few days later to photograph the place at sunset and was blessed with a bonus train plus a mother and daughter that were walking by at the same time. I decided to add both elements to the painting. I did the piece in the studio from my photos but kept trying to remember the subtle colors that cameras can't capture.

STEMS Plein Air 2011

OVERLAND PARK • KANSAS CITY • ARBORETUM • JOHNSON COUNTY • PLEIN AIR • MISSOURI


It's hard to describe the three weeks that encompass the STEMS Plein Air Event. I was off to a great start by winning the opening night sunset paint out. This was a $500 purchase award by Peggy Rice of the Rice Gallery. The celebration would be short lived.

Before the Storm, 8 x 14, oils

The next day an EF5 tornado devastated my home town of Joplin, MO. From Monday through Wednesday I was in a STEMS workshop led by Phil Starke. Phil is both a great artist and teacher and I took lots of notes, unfortunately the weather was very unstable and on Wednesday we had to run for a tornado shelter as a small tornado touched down south of us and the funnel went right over our heads. I was done.

The View from Aunt Twyla's Apartment

I spent the rest of the week in Joplin supporting family and friends as well as helping an aunt salvage whatever we could from her heavily damaged apartment. I was eventually able to get back to painting and was able to submit three paintings to the STEMS event. All three made it in the feature show, "The Journey Begins" won third place in oils and "Inside Out" sold. This is funny because I felt that "Hanging  On" was the best of the bunch. There is nothing more subjective than judging art.

Hanging On, 9 x 12, oils

Inside Out, 11 x 14, oils

The Journey Begins, 11 x 14, oils

Step-by-Step Ozark Creek Scene

MISSOURI LANDSCAPE ART • OZARK • STREAM • AUGUSTA • SYCAMORE

In May I did several small studies at Femme Osage Creek, two which included this impressive sycamore.  I also took photos for future reference which is what this painting is based on. I grew up swimming, fishing and floating clear streams like this one. After a spring filled with plein air painting it was nice to come back to the studio for this one.

I started by tinting a 16"x 16" canvas a cool and warm yellow and then knocked it back with a paper towel. I then did my underdrawing in brown with a #8 flat. I don't normally do such detailed starts but the root system was very complex and the whole painting depends on it.

 I then layed in all of my midtone shadows, covering up most of my initial drawing. I could still see it well enough to proceed. I saved the highlights on the roots.

At this point I restated all my accent shadows, this time much darker. I then took the tree to near completion and added the highlight through the trees. This gave me a complete value range.

After that it was just going around the painting taking each area to the level of detail desired while trying not to overwork it. 

Joshua Been Workshop

MISSOURI PLEIN AIR • LANDSCAPE ART • OZARK

After the Augusta Plein Air Event I was home for a few days and turned around and went back for a three day workshop with an artist on the rise. I've competed with him at five plein air events since 2008 and always been impressed with his work. He had me rethinking everything about the way I paint through discussions, demos and guidance on the small timed studies we did (he would usually give us a 30 minutes to one hour per piece.) I ended up doing 7 paintings and would have done more but I opted to watch him do demos instead. The four pieces reproduced here were each done in an hour.

 Bamboo Path, 6" x 8", oils

I love exotic gardening and bamboo can actually do well here if you can handle how invasive it is. The Augusta Brewery has a nice grove started and has cut an inviting path through it.

 Ancient Roots, 6" x 8", oils

This piece and the next were painted at a lovely section of Femme Osage Creek. This massive sycamore will probably show up in some future paintings. Make that definitely.

 Looking Upstream, 6"x 8", oils

I was spoiled to grow up surrounded by Ozark creeks like this. In KC they are all muddy gray.

Tree Skeleton, 6" x 8", oils

This was painted in the backyard of my host family, Jan and Jim Rohfling (thanks again.) They have a beautiful home and a great view of the Missouri River valley. The subject is probably something only another artist will appreciate (i.e. not very sellable.) I learned way more than I was able to process during the workshop, am still putting all the pieces together and expect upcoming paintings will really show what I got out of it.