OXBOW, SAUGATUCK, MICHIGAN

Oxbow Coke Machine, Saugatuck, Michigan, 24 x 20 inch pencil drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

Several times I have been to the summer art workshops at the old artists' colony Oxbow, which now belongs to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, my alma mater.  It occupies the site of a 19th Century lumbering camp around an oxbow lake near Saugatuck, Michigan.  I did this drawing there of one of the outbuildings and a gnarly old pine tree back in the days when carbonated drinks were vended in glass bottles.

NIGHT ON THE LEVEE AT ST. LOUIS

Steam (Levee at St. Louis), Oil and colored pencil on paper painting by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

One night in St. Louis, Missouri, I drove out on the Mississippi River levee where the excursion boats are docked.  The last cruises of the day were over and one of the boats was shutting down its boilers and vented a long stream of white steam against the night sky.  I thought the scene would make a painting and I went back the next day and took photos of the boats and floating dock, but I painted the scene as it had looked at night.  

THE SIGN OF THE KING'S HEAD, KETTLEWELL, NORTH YORKSHIRE

King's Head Sign, 6 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

   

The Sign of the King's Head, Kettlewell, North Yorkshire, 14 x 10 inch watercolor by George C. Clark    SOLD

I painted this on a sleepy Sunday morning sitting on a bench on a traffic island in the middle of the intersection of the two main roads in the village of Kettlewell.  The King's Head is one of three pubs in town.  It's in the white building a little recessed from its neighbors.  I walked down and made a close-up drawing of the pub's sign in my sketchbook before I painted it.

BROWN COUNTY CATBIRD

Catbird at the Suet Feeder, Brown County State Park, Indiana, 5 x 6 inch ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I went to the opening of the Kinsey Institute Juried Show at Indiana University that I have a figure painting in last weekend.  You can see a NOT SAFE FOR WORK posting about that show at whatsnewfromgeorgecclark.tumblr.com.  I arrived the night before the opening and stayed in Nashville, Indiana, about 16 miles from the campus in Bloomington.  Nashville is the gateway to Brown County State Park, which preserves the beautiful highlands of south central Indiana that have been attracting artists since the Nineteenth Century.  The Abe Martin Lodge there is named after the newspaper comic character created by cartoonist and humorist Kin Hubbard, and features many examples of his art.  I spent most of Friday hiking and sketching in the park.  At the Nature Center they have an observation room where you can watch birds and small forest creatures feeding through a big one-way glass window.  I sketched this catbird feeding upside-down on the suet feeder.

LOUISIANA BOATYARD

Boatyard, Bayou LaFourche, Louisiana, 18 x 24 oil and pencil on paper by George C. Clark     SOLD

I painted these fishing boats on the same trip that I painted the steamboat Natchez on.  I posted the painting of the Natchez back in April of 2011.

BIRDS OF PREY AUDUBON CENTER, MAITLAND, FLORIDA

Birds of Prey, Audubon Center, Maitland, Florida, 9 x 12 inch print from an ink drawing by George C. Clark    AVAILABLE

I sketched two hawks, a buzzard, and an owl from life at the Audubon Center near Orlando, Florida.  The owl's name is Owen.  This is one of two drawings I will have in Avram Eisen's "The Birds," the Spring exhibition at AVRAM EISEN GALLERY, 5204 N. Damen, Chicago, IL 60625.  The show opens with a brunch reception on Saturday, May 5, 2012 from 11am to 2pm and runs through the end of May.  Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday 11am to 6pm, Saturday noon to 5pm, and Sunday noon to 4pm.

SNAILSHELL HARBOR ON LAKE MICHIGAN

Snailshell Harbor, Fayette State Park, Michigan, 12 x 16 inch watercolor bt George C. Clark    SOLD

I painted this harbor scene in Fayette State Park on the Lake Michigan shore of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.