Homestead Interior Canvas Print

This interior was one of the few times I painted from an actual photo, mostly as an exercise in light and shading. As it progressed, it turned into something more than an exercise, and I found the layering to be quite meditative. The soft, hot-press Fabriano paper lent itself to digging in a bit, and to sucking paint off with a dry brush. The subtle poetry of decay has always attracted me to buildings anywhere, but especially in the plains, which make them seem even more forlorn.

Visions of the Great Plains consists of drawings and watercolor paintings inspired by the American Great Plains, by Scott Kirby. Referred to as an accidental artist by Sandpoint Magazine, Kirby began painting in 2005, after 9 months of drawing with dual-tip brush pens. Although the attempts to capture these mostly imagined visions are quite intentional, the origins of Kirby's transition from music to art was, in a way, accidental, and unexpected. While drawing with his daughter Sara one afternoon, Kirby was suddenly compelled to continue into the night and following days, being bombarded by mental images which demanded expression. Weeks turned into months, and drawing turned into painting, all scenes rooted in a long relationship with...