View from the Porch

16x20 Acrylic on canvas, © 2019

Collection of the Artist

We moved to Utah after a 40-year absence. Finding a house had become a problem—the housing market was off. We found a home in Springville, Utah; across the street was a vacant lot and beyond a vacant field and the mountains seemed to surround us. In the valley from time to time was a head of about 20 deer grazing and running to and fro. 

    One morning, after a stormy night, was a beautiful sunrise, and with the wet environment it deepened the saturation of the colors. The "ghost clouds" were down on the mountains and beauty abounded. As I walked out to check the weather for the day, this is what I saw from the porch, so I took a picture and thought that it would make a good painting. 

    It was a couple of years later and the valley turned into a sprawling middle school and my mind thought of what used to be. So I retrieved the picture that I had taken, cropped it, drew it, and painted—a view from the front porch.

Wardsworth Trail, Hobble Creek Canyon

 

20x16 acrylic on canvas, © 2019

Collection of the Artist

I painted this painting, with permission, from a friend's FaceBook post. I thought that it was a lovely scene and that I could interpret it well. I think that I did that, and I finished the painting and entered it in an exhibit. After two months of the exhibit I went to retrieve the painting and looked at the image with horror. It had straight RED lines in the work. What were they and why did they ruin my painting? 

    Well, when I started the work, I used an "archival" India Ink marker for the "square-up" lines. They really weren't squares but they were used for the same purpose. I believed archival to mean they would be inert. Big mistake, for the "India ink" interacted with the acrylic paint and turned red.

    My intent is to take alcohol and take the acrylic paint down to the gesso and then rebuild the layers of paint—maybe, maybe not—it's been a couple of years and it still has red lines. I don't think paint on top even with gesso would work. It would not be a pleasant task, so right now it is a reminder to use pastel or graphite to square up. I can't bring myself to discard it—I really, really like it.

8-Mile Fishing Trip

21x25.75 acrylic on silk canvas, © 2019

Collection of the Artist

For several years I've been asked to paint a "family history" picture, and they may be seen as you peruse the Blog. This is the last one that was requested by my wife's sister, who passed shortly after its completion. It is a composite of an old photograph and discussions with my brother-in-law (seen behind his father) near the beaver dams along the 8-mile stream. This was a frequent location for the family to go on a fishing outing.

  As I walked the stream looking for a spot that might serve as an appropriate location, I came upon this area where I could imagine a father and son fishing—water, crystal clear and cold as it came out of the mountains above. The small black and white photo of a similar event was not  as clear or as telling as what I would wish, but I believe that the result of the interpretation of, research of place, and attire helped make it a successful painting.

 

Waiting for the Shepherd

16x20 acrylic on panel, © 2019

Private Collection

On a trip to Idaho we were on some back roads when a pastoral scene struck me. It was sheep grazing with their heads down tending to the moment. I thought of the metaphor of us who are working everyday with our heads down doing the best we can at the moment. The title came to me of waiting for the shepherd to come and take His sheep into the sheep fold for the night.

    A friend saw the painting in an exhibit and said that it reminded him of his grandfather who ran some sheep. He wanted an alteration to make it even more meaningful. So I adjusted the composition to incorporate the head of his grandfather. I drew a picture of his grandfather and made a copy of it and lifted the pigment from the paper, painted the back like you would a cartoon cell, and pasted it on the painting and integrated it into the composition. I'll look for a picture of that finished piece, so check back, and I'll see if I can post that also.

Sketch of Grandpa © 2020

Private Collection

Since I addressed some of what went on to obtain the completed work, I thought I would share the drawing that I did for the finished work.

 

Inspiration of Inness

Inspired by Summer, Montclair (New Jersey Landscape) by George Inness
8x10, Acrylic on canvas panel, © 2018
Collection of the Artist

I've always admired the ethereal nature of the Tonalists and in particular George Inness, so I thought I'd like to "paint like Inness." I didn't really try to copy Inness but to channel him and to learn from the master. I once attended a workshop from a Nebraska regional artist, Judy Greff, who told me if it isn't working just, "...spatter the 'heck' out of it." I like this corollary—just glaze the "heck out of it." I think that works better for me.

Pete's Plane—Hawaii

11" x 14", Acrylic on Linen Panel, © 2018

Private Collection

It's been some time since I've posted some work. This is a painting of a young man training to be a pilot in Hawaii between the wars, about 1935. I'd never painted a plane before and this was a challenge for that reason. The research for an historical painting is immense. It was from a black and white photograph and had to be recognizable as to the person.

View from the Window

 8" x 10" acrylic on canvas panel, © 2018

Collection of the Artist

This is a painting of the area where my instructor from college lived after I left Utah, and he had left the college. It is in the Hyrum Dam area. 

    I remember the significance of the area because when I was in pottery, the instructor had a slip that was called Hyrum Dam. She had dug up the clay to make the slip herself. That stuck with me; this moody painting reflects a distant past that cannot be visited again except in our memory.

Springville Strang House

12" x 12" oil on panel © 2017

Collection of the Artist

Nostalgia has a fascination as we can look at a scene, seeing how it was over 100 years before. Well, maybe that vision is only on the screen of our mind—at least until we put it in paint on a wooden panel. I have spoken before of taking a class and being productive. It was only once a week, and I had plenty of time to work on projects in between the class times. This was one such project. I had admired the home on 4th North in Springville and did some research as to the owner and construction, 1898. It stands as proud now as when it was new basking in the afternoon, fall light. It was fun to be carried back if only for a while to when there were not houses next door, and the street could be rutted by rain water and wagon wheels.

 

Edward Oliver and Susannah Lord

10" x 8", oil on canvas panel, © 2017

7" x 5", oil on canvas panel, © 2017

I've written about an oil painting class taken at UVU. Here are two more portraits completed during that productive time—my wife's great-great grand parents. They came from England and crossed the plains; and when their wagon axel broke on the plains of Nebraska, they wintered there—Edward's first wife Sarah, a family of seven children, and Susannah, the nanny. 

    In the Spring of 1861 they were to resume their trip west; however, Sarah and their seven children decided to stay in Nebraska and farm. After Edward and Susannah arrived in Utah, he settled in Sessions (currently Bountiful, Utah). Edward subsequently married Susannah, and they had seven children also. My wife is descended through one of these children.

    The paintings were done from small photos of the couple. Edward's was very high contrast. I made a polymer lift from the photo and painted the back, like a cartoon cell, and then finished the portrait in oil. Susannah's was done more the old fashioned way through brute force and awkwardness. 

 

Mardean with Izatt Homestead Cabin, Thatcher

8x10 oil on canvas panel, © 2017

Collection of the Artist

One summer day in 1970 I went on an excursion with Mardean Izatt to Charles Izatt's homestead cabin in Thatcher, Idaho. I painted the larger work of the cabin on the spot, but years later I painted this from a photo of Mardean in front of her father's cabin. It was a special time and a moment for both of us. She never saw this painting, but her daughter wanted it for her posterity.

Mardean and the Big White House

5x7 oil on canvas panel © 2017

Collection of the Artist

Mardean Izatt as a two year old in front of the Big White House by the Side of the Road, in Thatcher, Idaho. Wind was blowing her tunic up.

 

Olive Tree, Study

11x14, oil on panel © 2017

Collection of the Artist

I like taking a class after I've been away from painting for a while, and in 2017 I took an adult Ed class at Utah Valley University. It was a very productive time for me, as I painted four other paintings in addition to this one. My focus was on getting the:

1. color right for the leaves, 

2. leaf texture right, 

3. gnarly wood,

4. atmospheric perspective in the background, and

5. ground color and grasses.

I like to challenge myself when I don't paint much just to see how I can perform.

Colorado Spring

 

10x8, oil on canvas board, © 2017

Collection of the Artist

When painting, sometimes everything works in your favor—and that is what happened with this painting. It was an adult education class at Utah Valley University, and I was using oil. I put a wash on the canvas. I mixed a dark with UM blue and Alizarin Crimson and put on the dark brush at the top and used a color shaper to manipulate the paint to look like canes. Then I used a brush and odorless mineral spirits to remove and draw into the wash of paint. I was surprised at how easily the paint began to reveal rock, and I added some thinned blue and opaque tans to solidify the rock formations. I finally added the wild flowers that were growing up through the painting.

    What I'm really saying is that in a matter of an hour and a half it had painted itself. Telling me what it wanted, which I did to reveal the composition. 

Recognition: It was awarded an Honorable Mention at the Spring Salon of the Utah Valley Artist Guild. The judge told me that was how oil painting was made to be. 

Mom's Wedding Dress

 

10x8 oil on canvas panel, © 2017

Collection of the Artist

I believe this to have been taken to commemorate the marriage to my father in 1935. I painted it in a class on oil painting. I like to get back into painting by participating in a class or some structured event when I've not been actively painting. The photo reference was black and white and the instructor, when he saw it, said good luck with the dress—the collar. Well when I finished it, he said, "genius." I think he liked it.

Fletcher Cosmos

 

11x16 acrylic on canvas, © 2016

Collection of the Artist

A family up the street was one of the first to come into our new home and meet with us. They became special friends. When they left the city for a warmer climate, I passed their house and the Cosmos were in bloom. This struck me as the Cosmos, a galactic flower, bloomed in array as if in the heavens. We too are orbiting in the Cosmos. Are we as beautiful as these—thank you, friends, for being in our universe if only for a little time.

Deep Forest Fall

6x6 acrylic on panel, © 2016

Private Collection

I happened upon an image of a scene and interpreted it to be this small painting. In the fall of 2016 I exhibited it in a show. A friend who was helping with the installation saw the painting from across the room and told me she thought it was "stunning." That is not a word I often hear in conversation and was very meaningful to me. It was a work that came together rather easily and I believe that the freshness is what she related to. It must have been something that others related to as it was purchased. I sold two paintings in that exhibit—a novelty for me. I loved the painting and hope that whomever bought it loves it as much as I do.

New Mexico Chimesa

 

5x7 acrylic on canvas panel, © 2016

Private Collection

In 2012 we moved to Utah and made a journey to New Mexico to visit a relative. They were very gracious and took us around to see the sights. It was fall, and the Chimesa (Rabbit Grass) was in bloom. They were very striking to my eye. I didn't recall ever having seen them before, but I returned to Utah and they were all over in my neighborhood. It's funny that you can take for granted something close and have to make a trip to find that what you have next door is as beautiful as the same thing that you found in a far off place—the trip and its setting allowed you to have the sensitivity to see what is next door.

Forgotten Farm: Maple Street, Omaha

8x6 acrylic on panel © 2016

Private Collection

Sometimes you may drive down a street that you have done many 100s of times before, and you notice something out of the corner of your eye—a house nestled in the trees. You stop and take a picture of the event. Then years later you drive down that same street and there is a parking lot and stores where you once saw something terrific that stopped you in your path. So it was with this scene from Nebraska—an old farmstead forgotten by time. I painted it many years after the original event and took it to an exhibit and it sold. I didn't anticipate that someone might interpret the painting back to their reality and want it.

Mowing the Yard

16x20 acrylic on canvas, © 2015
 Private Collection

The man is resolved to accomplish a menial task. It is early afternoon, and the day’s work started with milking at 5 a.m. Now there is a moment to relax and let the horses do their job.

    Mowing the yard is a thankless task that must be done. Tired from the day, the man slumps on the mowing machine and lets the cleats of the wheels jostle him as they hit the hard ground and his thoughts turn to family and the supper that awaits at the end of the day. …or he may think of nothing at all, numbed by the forward movement of the mower and the relentless noise of the cutters—just relax and get this job done.

    The man is Charles Izatt; the place is his ranch in Thatcher, Idaho. The connection is that he is my wife's grandfather.

Rio Grande Gorge

24x36 acrylic on canvas © 2014

Collection of the Artist

My wife and I road tripped to New Mexico to visit her brother in White Rock. They were the most gracious of hosts and escorted us around to the sites that they had become accustomed to in the years of living in the area. Taos, Santa Fe, and Chaco Canyon were among those that we saw. We stopped for a vista of the Rio Grande Gorge that had been cut into the floor of the desert. It was fall, and the Chemesa were blooming. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful vista, and paint cannot not do it justice.