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madisonsunrise_1.jpg

The Ohio River is the boundary between Indiana and Kentucky. One of the most historic towns along that stretch is Madison, Indiana. It has a lot of very historic mansions and buildings. My wife and I stayed in a hotel overlooking the town. When we got up in the morning, this was the view out of our window. The big hills in the background are actuallly the bluffs of Kentucky across the river. The colors are faded because they are further away, and there is mist coming up from the river. The buildings in the foreground are a bold yellowish color, giving the feeling of the strong, early morning sunrise. It is autumn, as you can tell from the leaves. There is atmospheric perspective because the closer buildings are painted bigger and more detail, while those in the background fade and the detail is much less apparent.

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Skyline.jpg

I love cityscapes. This one is of Indianapolis, Indiana. I was on the top of a parking structure early on a summer morning. It is facing south. The sunlight is coming from the east, or the left hand side of the picture and shines on the buildings with a warm, yellowish tone. You can tell the shadow side. On the building to the far right the windows reflect the color of the sky. This usually happens when something is in the shade.

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construction_1.jpg

A lot of people are frustrated because they can’t all of a sudden do a great representational painting. I try to tell them that they need to develop their drawing skills, after all, painting is drawing with a brush. Then I try to convince them that it is a process like building a house – first, you do the framing. The framing in art would be learning to draw, such as the picture on the left. Next, you hang the sheetrock – learning to do shading and working with value like the picture in the middle (by the way, he’s sure ugly. My wife married him though.) Lastly, the building is finished with the paint, brickwork, carpeting, etc. – see the portrait on the right done in oil. The first two steps have to be taken to achieve the last one.

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Fresh Fudge_1.jpg

My wife and I were visiting an old restored tourist town called Metamora in southern Indiana. We were sitting in a train waiting to move on to another location, when out of the window I saw the cutest old couple sitting on a bench eating ice cream cones. It was so tender. I was touched by the scene.

You will notice that the portion in the shadow area has a blue tint to it, while the sunlit half is yellowish.

I feel like having persons in a painting adds interest.

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3

Dancing.jpg

My wife and I had lived in Indiana for only a short time. I wanted to drive up north to see Notre Dame University in South Bend and the shore of Lake Michigan. She wasn’t interested. I tried to talk her into going up there several times. Finally  I just said we were going, no matter what.

We loved the university. We ate in their very cool cafeteria. Then we headed to Indiana Dunes, the state park right at the lake. There were huge sand dunes. We loved jumping down from them, but the most wonderful thing was the view of Lake Michigan. It was in the late fall and it was cold enough to wear jackets, but Norene just had to take her shoes off and go wading and dancing in the water. She loved it. I did too, and had to paint her enthusiasm.

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poke berries.jpg

As a kid I spent a lot of time crawling around in weeds and other vegetation, looking for grasshoppers and other insects. I remember how it seemed like I was in my own little world. The sun would shine through the leaves. I liked the shadows and light and the shapes and structure of the various plants.

I was driving along a farm road in Indiana. The corn was tall and beautiful. I noticed at the end of one row some interesting growth – I was told later on that it was poke berries. There were little black berries hiding behind the stalks and leaves. I climbed back into them and found the same magic I felt as a child. Here is my interpretation. I hope you like it.

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headlights_1.jpg

The center of Indianapolis is Monument Circle. The Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument is there, with a red brick road going around it. Indianapolis is known as The Circle City because of it.

My painting is of that area. The woman stands next to the road, waiting for cars to go by. It is raining. I have tried to show the wet road with reflections of headlights. I have also used atmospheric perspective – the cars that are closer are portrayed larger, the ones further back are painted smaller.

This is a romantic area. Two of my children were engaged here. Horse carriages take passengers around here and through the city at night.

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Bovine Line_1.jpg

I was taking my wife for a ride in the farm areas. There were a bunch of cows in a field. We pulled our car to the side of the road. I think they thought we were the zoo – they all walked together to stare at us.