Hidden 330

Hidden, 11"x14", oil on RayMar panel, $200

Painted this from an old photo I found. The town I used to live in was too abundant in painting inspiration and I took a great deal of reference material. Some I painted on location, some, like this, I had to do from photographs.

Meriwether Field, Evening 327 SOLD

Meriwether Field, Evening, 11"x14", oil on RayMar panel,  $200

This one reminds me of our old farmhouse. Good memories of all the early evening strolls with the dog and cat in tow... not to mention all that sky.

Tin Gin 292

Some open air buddies of mine came down for a visit and an afternoon of painting. I have been trying to get people to come to my neck of the woods before all the cool old stuff is gone... although I don't think things are going to be cleared to bring in new industry or business, but because at the rate of decay, some of this will not stand for long. We drove around for a bit before settling on the Cotton Pickin' Fair Grounds. I did a quick 6"x8" color sketch and that night, did a larger 11"x14" piece of the whole building.

Chandler Road Hay Bales 290

Field study from the final day of Roger Dale Brown's workshop last week.

Autumn Lake 289

One of the larger plein air pieces I have done. Roger Dale Brown gave me some great pointers on painting water... reflections are vertical and light is horiZontal... and no hard edges in the reflections. This one tipped over in a wind gust and had Gamsol spilled on it. That's what I get for stepping away from the easel in a wind. I took it home after cleaning up and fixed the ruined areas. Gotta love oils!

Good News Flowers 278

My wife put these together for the alter of our little country church. The timing was nice as her father had gotten some good news about his fight against cancer. I wish I could have done them justice. I took several pictures and hope to correct this one soon.

Sunflower 2 271

Lower Field, Morning 241

Wanted to get back to the palette knife when out doors and doing plein air work. I want to work bigger and faster and more expressively... like I used to! It is amaZing how quickly become lost in doing something else before we come back to who we are.

Red Tractor, 222

I am loving doing these smaller pieces. I should have done them before I did the larger pieces, but it is just as fun and half the pain! They are much more free and take a LOT less time to complete. I know that big may not be "In" at the moment, but I really hope to do some larger scale pieces of these tractors and trucks. I think it would be really cool to have an almost life siZe painting of a junk car on your wall.

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy burning up these smaller linen panels I have.

Red Ford, Green Field 221

Going a bit off the reservation with this one. Weird siZe for me... 11"x14", and on a linen panel. I must say that I love working on panels. I love the spring of the canvas, but there is something I find very appealing about the hardness of the wood on the linen panel. I normally work very small or very large, hitting something in the middle was fun and I hope to do a few more of these before the show. I really like the freedom of this piece, from an artist stand. It is not plein air, but i approached that was and did not spend any time on the drawing... unlike the larger pieces. I really like the look of the drawing aspects of this piece, I will have to apply that to a larger piece if i ever have the guts!

Marlboro, 212

"Hey, smoke up Johnny..."

John Bender