The brown building in this yard seemed quite out of place being too close to the house and closer to the road than it should be. But the only thing it could be was an outhouse! 
This is a painting that I gave to my son Nathan and his wife Heather. It is a representation of the farmstead we lived in Michigan when my four children were young.
This painting conveys the idea that winter has been a little too long and everyone on the farm is waiting for the snow to melt and spring to burst forth.
It has been quite a while since I last posted but I just got back from a mini vacation to Iowa to see my son and his wife and child. We also drove just sort of Omaha to visit my daughter and her husband and two boys. What a week! There is farm land on top of farm land in Iowa. 
This painting came out just as I had hoped. The sky and the snow in the foreground set the mood for this lonely house on Lorie Road. It had sat vacant for so many years that the paint was beginning to peal and wood trim was falling off. Today it looks well taken care of by its new owners.
This is another look at the same farm house from the previous post. I'm going to change the season of the year and the time of day for this painting.
This house was abandoned and run down but about ten years ago was purchased and refurbished with all of it's beautifull style. The owners' had me paint a large size commission for them but there are still a lot of views that I never got around to painting. This is one of them.
I've had a head cold for most of the week which has prevented me from performing my blogging duties but finally here is the beginning of my latest painting. The goal here is to have a glow from the morning sun coming from behind the house leaving the house itself cast in a shadow.
Last week several tornadoes spun across a couple of states and did a lot of damage. That got me thinking about tornado season and the dark, moody skies that come with a dangerous thunder storm. Sometimes the whole sky is nothing but black, purplish clouds ready to drop a twister. 
I'm trying to make this sky look like it is ready to blow in a tornado at any minute.
This is how a painting starts out for me. I draw a pencil sketch for composition
These two barns sit a mile or two north of Port Sanilac, MI with a great view of Lake Huron as you look to the east. I was told these barns actually sat in town because the little town grew around them but where bought and moved out of town so they could be used to milk cows. I've worked on these barns before and have recieved some critical reviews so I come back to it to try to improve on the composition. (My camera shoots blury sometimes and that is why some photos like this one seem a little fuzzy.)
Several years ago my wife and I spent some time in the Amish country of Indiana eating at Amish dinners and visiting some farms. I did a lot of sketching and took many photo's as we drove around the countryside. This painting reflects the family involvement in farm life as the viewer looks past the porch to the barns. 