Texas Elevators

Texas Elevators__6x8 oil on linen panel_ for Passing America: The Great Plains

Saturday I posted a "drive-by" painting from my April plains trip...this one is from my late-February Plains Trip. it is a different view of the same location, not far from my home. I just realized this and am fascinated by the differences. The paintings were completed a month apart, so the change of seasons is noticeable. All the "art words" can be used to describe the differences: The COLOR, VALUE, CONTRAST, TEXTURE, EDGES, INTENSITY, Warm colors, Cool colors, COMPLEMENTS...ALL of these are DIFFERENT in each painting, giving each one it's personality, and specific "voice"...this is why a student artist should never have a formula! Rather, the artist needs to OBSERVE and simply match their paint with what they see! If you can match the color of something, and its relationship to the things around it, your painting will give the IMPRESSION of what you are seeing: its mood, season, temperature and all!
Happy Easter, everyone...I hope your weekend was blessed!

Near Home on the Plains

Near Home on the Plains__8x10 oil on linen__for Passing America: The Great Plains

The landscape from my home on the southern reaches of the Great Plains to the middle of our American Heartland does not change much, superficially: pastures alternate with wooded fence lines, horizons punctuated with water towers or grain elevators, and the distant "line" where plain meets sky. The main difference I observed on my early April trip was the progressive change from spring in Texas to Late Winter in Nebraska. Careful observation tells a story of uniqueness of the regions from state to state, though. I notice subtle differences in crops, architecture, wild places between the farms and even the attire of the farmers! Things that Lady Bird Johnson once described in her book as each region "speaking in its own accent". I agree with her that each area of the country has a story to tell and it ought to "speak" and retain its personality...

Meridian Highway

Tracks Out of Enid___8x10 oil on linen panel__for Passing America...but available!

Leaving Enid we had a spectacular sunrise, and I was able to start several canvases for "drive- by" paintings...this one is about the sky. As we drove I snapped photos between brush strokes, and this rail yard was my favorite foreground. I imagine the cars will be full of farm products in a few months, but this day things looked quiet there.
The route for this leg of my recent plains trip a few weeks ago was the Meridian Highway. We call it US 81, now, and it was EXACTLY what I'd hoped it would be: A BIG ROAD FOR FARMS! It passed through MANY towns, and unlike to towns in the Texas Panhandle Plains, these towns were ALIVE with commerce, mostly driven by agriculture. This Meridian Highway has a great history and even its own web site.

http://www.drivetheost.com/meridianhighway.html This web site says:

As the only primary north-south highway girding America’s heartland, the Meridian intersected with dozens of named trails, including the Old Spanish Trail at San Antonio; the Bankead Highway at Fort Worth; the Ozark Trails at Oklahoma City; the National Old Trails at Wichita; the Santa Fe Trail at Newton, Kansas; the Victory Highway at Salina, Kansas; the Lincoln Highway at Columbus, Nebraska; and the Yellowstone Trail, at Millbank, South Dakota.
In 1926 most of the 2,400-mile-long Meridian Road was converted into U.S. 81, an improved two-lane highway connecting Laredo to Joliette, North Dakota.

Rush Hour__grain elevators,

(#3)Rush Hour in Bruno, NE__6x8 oil on linen panel__for Passing America...exhibit in 2011
Bruno. There are high rise buildings here, catching the morning sunshine thatalso makes the long shadows on the fields in town..Just after sunrise Allen drove me through Bruno, declaring that it was "Rush Hour" there. One of many small farm towns in Butler County that are dedicated to agriculture...America's heartland and breadbasket. I have a lot of thoughts on this, from THOUSANDS of miles spent on the road this summer. I will be updating my project blog as soon as I can! ...will let you know!

Yanka, Nebraska and V street

(#1)Yanka, NE___6x8 oil "Passing America..."___for exhibit 2011
Yesterday began before sun-up and we drove east from David City, so I could paint the sunrise....above is my first "drive-by" painting for this leg of my journey across the
Great Plains. Yanka is just a spot on the railroad track, now, but it used to be a small community...I like that it shows the "PASSING" away of a little part of the Great Plains. There is a nice grain elevator there, and a beautiful foggy sunrise to bounce light off of it...note the reflected light on the fog.

As Allen drove me up and down the roads, we came to an intersection that had my name on it!....LITERALLY...see below...and below that is some original art I left on the backroads...my gift to Butler County, Nebraska!...I do not usually do such things, but I could not resist!...shhhh, don't tell anyone!