Painting at Coffee House

Next week our Church is having a "Coffee House" night. We invite high schoolers and middle schoolers for a fun night of music, games and talk. The stage is usually open for any of the kids to play music, and we usually have someone to sing as well. It's a great time! My role is to do some live artwork on the side of the stage as the evening progresses. While I paint kids will sit down and talk. It's a great experience!

Below is what I painted last Coffee House. The fella with me is Eli. My wife and I have known Eli since we've gotten involved with the Junior High kids. It's great to watch them grow, mature, and become powerful examples for their peers and the children after them.

Darlington Covered Bridge

I Love to fish, especially creeks. Most of my inspiration for my paintings come when I am out on the water. The painting below is a covered bridge I fish near on Sugar Creek around Darlington, IN. I have always wanted to paint this bridge and I began to do so a few months ago. I put the painting down for a while until last night. I finally finished :) Sometimes I need to put a piece of work down for a while, which helps me not get in a hurry, and also allows me to lay layers downs more effectively.

Old and Weathered

Here are a few pencil sketches. One of a well, mailbox, and a cabin.

I have always loved to portray things that are old and weathered.
Old things always grab my attention...if they could talk I am sure
they would have great stories to tell.

My Rural Influence

Night Time, Oil on Canvas

Farm Down the Fence Row, Pen


Small Creek, Pen n Ink

Indiana Farm, Oil Pastels

All my life I have loved creating art, whether it be pencil, pen, oils, acrylic, etc. The ability to recreate memories or express myself through art mediums has driven me from day one. Growing up in rural Indiana, a lot of my influence in my artwork came and continues to come from the beautiful landscapes that Indiana is blessed with. Above is a couple examples of my artwork. A lot of the landscapes I create actually come from my imagination of which this one did. As I continue to learn more and sharpen my skills it excites me to use tools like this blog to get feedback from folks like you.

I am back. Now let me take my jacket off.

It has been too long since my first and only post here. I had all kinds of problems logging back in, so I created a Ning account. Ning is great although I just realized what a punk I am for asking people to see my site...but when they do they have to create an account, login name, and password. As if we all don't have enough of them around... eh? Soo. I will continue my blog and will begin to post artwork here that you can find at my Ning site. See you soon. Now where is my jacket??