The Colors Of The Prairie

                                                          An original mixed-media on toned, Strathmore paper
                                                          18x24" unframed, ( mat size, 24x30")
                                                           $1,800.00,  ( plus $24.00, pack and ship )

     Visitors to the Kansas City area are sometimes surprised to learn that the growing
of tobacco was a long standing part of the local, agricultural economy.  We tend to
think of the heart of America as being the bread-basket of the nation, growing our
important food-grains such as corn and wheat, while crops such as tobacco and
cotton are thought of as the more traditional harvests of the deep south.  But some of
the earliest settlers in this area came from the plantation culture of the old south,
well before the civil-war, and they brought their tobacco seeds with them.  The annual
tobacco auctions became a staple of life in this part of the mid-west, for many decades,
with the booming voices of the auctioneers calling for bids on the bundled, dried leaves.

     Now, here and there, dotted among the fields north of the city, any remaining of the
huge, old tobacco-barns, may still echo with the auctioneer's calls.

                                                         ( Click on image to enlarge.)

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     The composition of this piece is loosely based on a spiral design, focusing in on the
center-of-attention in the upper right quadrant.

In The Fading Light

                                              An original oil painting, on gesso primed, Masonite panel
                                              12x18", unframed
                                               $950.00, - ( plus $20.00, pack and ship)


     I recently found another of the paintings from the old days on Mount Adams,
which I have mentioned before in previous postings, such as Ten Ten Celestial,
and Dawn Over Mount Adams.  In this case, the subject was a small house on
the eastern flank of the hill, which someone had completely remodeled.  The false,
rectangular facade had been removed to reveal the peaked roof, which extended
over the recessed entryway at the side of the house, and nice, brick retaining-walls
had been constructed to create tidy, little gardens in front and back.  However, I
was not concerned with creating a detailed image of a specific place at the time.
I  was more interested in using the basic shapes of the scene in simplified forms,
letting all the details be diffused under the faceted gleam and extended planes of
the fading, evening light.


                                                         (Click on image to enlarge.)