Afternoon Haze

Afternoon Haze, 8x10

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One of the many barns on the outskirts of Malvern, Ohio, this one sits just south of U.S. Highway 30 as it heads east from town. U.S. 30 in this part of the country is known as the Lincoln Highway, and follows the route that for two hundred years has been perhaps the country's most heavily traveled land route for immigrant settlers heading west from New York and Philadelphia. The first of my Ohio ancestors arrived there from Germany in 1825.

Michaelis Live Oaks

Michaelis Live Oaks, 5x7

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Last spring PAA had a paintout at the Michaelis Ranch outside Kyle, Texas, which is about twenty miles south of Austin. My brother, Paul, was visiting from the east coast and I was able to talk him into coming with me to take pictures while I painted. This piece was painted from one of the many he took that day.  Thank you, older brother.

Back Entrance, Revisited

Back Entrance, Revisited, 12 x 16
$300
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Happy Holidays, everyone. I hope you are enjoying your families and friends, and are looking forward to much painting in 2010. Today's post is my first in three weeks, thanks to shopping, overeating, and all the other critical holiday activities. The image above may look familiar, as it is an enlarged attempt from one of my very first posts back at the beginning of June. I worked primarily on improving the brushstrokes and enhancing the values and colors of the background. I enjoyed this subject when we painted it en plein air last spring, and was glad to go back this week and explore it anew.

Best wishes in the new year!

Back Entrance, 8 x 10
plein air study

Green Pastures

Back Entrance, 8 x 10

This painting was also done in Laurel Daniel's plein air class. Green Pastures is a beautiful old restaurant in south Austin. With a Shakeresque exterior set on a sprawling property reminiscent of an antebellum southern plantation, I found this location uniquely beautiful. There was plenty to paint there, but I was struck by the workmanship and design of the eaves off the back porch.

—Stephen