Chainsaw Massacre-SOLD

Titled so, because a friend and I thought this was the type of place where that kind of horrific tragedy might have occurred.  We were only more convinced of our sick, twisted ideas of this old northern Indiana farmhouse, when the grinding roar of a vacuum started up inside the house, at least we told ourselves it was just a vacuum!  Ha…..certainly added good memories of painting this landscape, as we laughed quite hard at our crazy story.  This was done plein style from the end of the driveway, per the permission from the old lady that dwelled within.  It is watercolor, pen and ink and colored pencil.  I love the old barn in this scene, but it has since completely fell to the ground leaving nothing but old wooden boards and debris…..Good times…..

Sacramento Utopia

While house sitting for my sister for about a month last year, a friend of hers was most accomadating by entertaining me in activities, dinner and spontaneous fun in Sacramento.  Some of those events were at her home, she has a most beautiful, luxurious and tropical back yard, one of the largest I have seen in sacramento, where most yards are a small patch of green, hardly enough to let out your dog to do his business.  This is only a portion of her yard, in which I was prvilidged enough to attend cook outs and hang outs, very relaxing and quiet.  I did this as a gift to her in thanks for her time, kindness and friendship during my stay.   I know this one has been a long time coming, I have been working on this since before Christmas and it was meant to be a present for her before that day arrived, as usual, I am a slave to procrastination and I have just finished,  and now I  have to rush to the framer and get it shipped.   Oh, to have the ambition and drive to complete a task on time.

Sacred Heart

This is Sacred Heart in Garrett, Indiana.   The photo is a little blurry, but it’s all I have.   I believe there was a convent here at one time, then a nursing home, not sure what it serves as now.  I liked the architecture and surrounding area, I painted this from a lovely quiet park across the street.  There is a school adjacent to it and across the street to my right,  and as luck would have it, they had recess in the park while I was painting.  Somehow, I remained undisturbed by them and managed to complete this piece, which, a short time later, sold to a friend’s mother.  As usual, it is watercolor and pen and ink.

CITYSCAPE

Cityscape in watercolor and conte.  This won first place in the landscape category at an art contest for me, the reward was a certificate for art supplies, which was nice to have, since supplies are certainly not cheap.   This is one of the looser pieces I have done, I think it worked for this piece and is a good example of watercolor, when I was in college, an art professor told us that “one in every 500 watercolors is a good example of the medium”, I completely disagree, and Leslie White , is a good example as to why, almost everything she posts is a good example of what this medium is about–thanks Leslie.  My sister hounded me for this one, so I gave her a copy, but eventually, I had to give in and give her the original.

Bev’s Yard

I had forgotten all about this piece I did while sitting in my sister’s back yard in Sacramento, until I got here and saw it on the wall.  That was a fun day, it was beautiful outside, of course, and I did this lazy day ink drawing, she loved it, but I always tell her it is just a “scribble” mostly…I did most of it by just scribbling around with the pen to give the illusion of foliage, that’s what I mean by lazy…didn’t even take the time to draw leaves!  But I will say, this style was fun and moved fast creating good energy.   Good day….

NOTE CARDS BY DISSEN GALLERY

HISTORIC FORT WAYNE

I had this set of “Historic Fort Wayne” (set 1-includes: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, CLub Soda, The Sunbeam Bread Sign and Smith Airfield) notecards made from some of my artwork and was very happy with how they came out.  I am always looking for new ways to express and share my works.

INDIANA LANDSCAPES

I titled this set, “Indiana Landscapes” (set 1–includes:  The Noble County Infirmary Barn, The Spenverville Covered Bridge, Haigg Schoolhouse and a Northern Indiana Landscape) and hope to do two more sets with different works of each of these categories soon.   I think the works  look better reduced onto cards!  I told the printer she actually made it look like I could paint.  These are fun to do and have to share with friends and family.   I hope my month long visit to Sacramento brings me some new and interesting subjects for new works to incorporate into other ventures with art.

Rail Generations

This is a scene on State Road 3 in northern Indiana going towards Avilla and Kendallville.  The owner of the property was kind enough to allow me to take photos as reference for this painting.  It is watercolor and pen & ink.

Infirmary 1872-1957-SOLD

This was done plein air style in Albion, Indiana.  Leslie White and I drove by this while looking for subjects to paint and were complelled to stop.  It is known to be an old “asylum”, but the sign at the far edge of the yard read, “Noble County Infrimary and Farm 1872-1957”.  The colored pencil barn I have posted on this site that is in Albion, is attached to this property as well,  So, this was a beneficial stop for us.  Naturally, we had to make two trips here to do the barn and the infirmary, but,  it was well worth it.  The tubes coming from the top windows are old fire escapes, as I understand it, a matress would have been thrown down under the patient and they would slide down to safety.  Looks fun just to play in to me.   It was these unique old escape routes that first caught my eye to this beautiful brick building.   I would love to paint this again.  The two strips of camera flash  glare on the fire escape are a result of  this piece being wrapped in plastic.

Chappell’s SOLD

This is a seafood restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, there is an art/framing shop right next to it.  While participating in a sidewalk art sale along this area, I painted this plein air style.  It was a fun activity I spent the day doing with  artist friend, Leslile White, who, now owns this piece.  This is watercolor, pen and ink, colored pencil.

Family Home

This was my mother’s family home in Mount Washington, Pittsburgh, PA.  It is my usual mixed media of watercolor, ink and colored pencil. Unfortunately, this is a photo of one of the prints I made for family members, the colors are incredibly more vibrant and green in the original, which, I gave to my uncle as he was the only one still living in this home when I painted it,  but you get the idea.