"County Fair" has been delivered to a happy customer

I have just delivered the "County Fair." The customer appears very happy. As I have mentioned before, it has been a commissioned project for a client who wished to document his boyhood memories.

The 16 x 32 inch oil painting on canvas, is a recreation of a 1940's County Fair at the small Kansas, USA, town of Burden. To start project, I asked him to prepare a sketch map of the fairground area as he remembered. Then together we decided on a viewpoint. From this beginning the finished painting was developed, and now includes: the home stretch of a horse race in progress; a packed grandstand; a judges' tower; horse barns; a Ferris Wheel; a busy carousel; picnic grounds; crowds of people; and many details of a fairground midway.

The project was exciting because it required research as to conditions and styles in the late 1930's and early 1940's. Such things as clothing, dress lengths, hats, jockey clothing, horse tack, automobiles, trucks, and many other details required investigation, often using Google Images. As the painting developed, my client was able to add guidance from his memory.

Such paintings, memorializing a time period or event, are both challenging and interesting. Let us discuss such a painting for you.

Morning News - Another Painting Finished!

My latest painting "Morning News" (24 x 30 inches) has been finished and scanned. There seems to have been a host of events that have delayed its completion.

Among many things, we have had some work done in and around the house which has needed my attention away from painting. Also, I twice took the partially finished painting to my critique group who each time gave me good advice in steering the painting along more interesting lines of composition.

It is based upon some photographs I took along the streets of France, last spring. The three men are fairly close to the original situation, but the background, the wall and window signs, and the newspapers all came from imagination or other places.

I am happy with the outcome.