Every painting tells a story, and I love a good story.

Are the good old days happening right now?

A portrait of my daughter started in 2012 sat waiting to be finished.
Ten years later, I was finally ready.

My goal was to paint a simple landscape.
What I ended up capturing was unexpected… and far more meaningful.

In 1947, Stan Marlow received a $5 gift that would change his life forever.

‘Plein Air at the Fair’ was a transcendent experience. I did my best to capture it all on canvas.

There are moments in your life when you see something, and you just know you have to paint it.

During challenging times, we often go back in time, to seek the familiarity of happier days.
However, this is nostalgia that comes with a warning…

The sign on the door read: “We have moved to the house south of here”

Painting in a different style is like speaking a different language. Why not be multi-lingual?

Turns out Frytown is an actual place, and
it doesn’t get more ‘Iowa’ than this.

Derecho Rhapsody, August 10, 2020 is an allegory on character of America—bruised and beaten, but still standing. Until it wasn’t.

Hopper: Nighthawks was meant to be about ‘predators in the night’, not loneliness.

I wanted to capture the character of the oldest state park in Iowa. And this was no “happy little tree”…

In a very real sense, these are among the most personal works of art I have ever created.

Two paintings—one in oils and the other in acrylics—won first prize at the 2020 Iowa State Fair Fine Arts competition. This is the story behind their creation.

A young man was interested in two of my paintings. I asked him what he liked about them. I was not expecting the answer he gave.

When we challenge ourselves to do something outside our comfort zone, we get better.
I swam in the big race and didn’t drown.

At The YMCA of the Rockies, I left a painting above the fireplace. It was an interesting experience to paint something, and give it up.

My daughter Betsy has created a wonderful tradition. I am a very fortunate man to have such an amazing daughter.

Fritz Viering arrived at Ellis Island with $25 in his pocket, and the unfulfilled dream of his father to go to America. His father’s dream became his own.

Winning first place in the same competition that Grant Wood did, almost a century earlier, comes with a certain level of satisfaction.

There is something quite magical that happens when you sing with people from foreign lands—A bond is created. Souls are uplifted and perceptions change.

"Please dad, no! You're going to embarrass me!" Turns out my daughter has an amazing group of friends who didn't mind sharing how they feel about her.

The feeling of personal satisfaction when you finish RAGBRAI is uplifting and emotionally powerful. Many people cry when their journey is complete.

Center Point, Iowa had the only school I know where every day, as seniors, we would walk by the room we attended kindergarten. Growing up with that kind of community is priceless.