I’ve roughed out a painting of a cow in a quilt pattern. I like the result … in concept, but it’s not quite there yet. I’m mulling over a number of changes. Different cow. Different colors. … jvacreate.com/2025/10/24/q...

My painting of Kirkjufell (literally “church mountain”) near Grundarfjörður, #Iceland. I worked from a sketch I had made while boating past the mountain last summer. A remarkable sight.
12 x 9 inch, acrylic on wood.

#acryllic #landscape #painting #paletteknife

jvacreate.com/2025/06/15/i...

My latest painting (a mini mural) is now on display as part of a summer scavenger hunt for art in downtown Antigo, Wisconsin. “Nice to Meet Blue”, 24 x 24 inch, acrylic on wood. jvacreate.com

The end of informed #GreatLakes Fish Mgmnt is at hand. My heart aches 4 former colleagues, the future of the GL, & all the small businesses that depend on GL fishing: hotels, restaurants, marinas, charter & commercial fishers, fish shops, vibrant small towns that dot the shoreline. shorturl.at/Wilzt

I'm donating two paintings to the annual fundraising auction for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail. They will be available for bidding on-line starting Sunday April 6 (I'll post again when the auction opens up).

I've got three pieces hanging in the Antigo Visual Arts gallery right now. The first one was selected to go to the Association of Wisconsin Artists’ statewide exhibit! Woohoo!

#art #landscape #acrylic #paletteknife #mixedmedia #collage

I saw a pair of short-eared owls yesterday! I spotted one at the top of a conifer. After 20 minutes of watching the one, another one suddenly flew out of the same tree! Then they both started flying their circuits over the fields, hunting. So cool!

#birding #owl Wisconsin

That's right. I'm looking at YOU. :)

I think I'm going to ditch Instagram and start posting my art here instead. So, brace yourself. :)

I started painting in late 2022, a few months before I retired, and absolutely love it. Here are the highlights from 2023 and 2024, to give you some idea of my work.

Whiskey Tender. Touching coming-of-age memoir by Deborah Jackson Taffa, raised by a #NativeAmerican father and a Hispanic mother on and off the rez. Particularly moving is her relationship with her father, a tough philosopher, with reflections on family and community. #bookreview #nonfiction

My favorite read of 2024, Erik Larson's "The Splendid and the Vile," absolutely captivated me. I couldn't put it down. It's a narrative spun from letters/diaries of Winston Churchill's inner circle as well as the general public during his first year as PM, while Germany bombed Britain in WWII.

Just finished an amazing workshop, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, with Brian Bomeisler, son of the author of the book by the same name, Betty Edwards. Super fun and empowering. Here’s my self portrait.
#artshare #pencil-drawing

A poem by M. R. Defibaugh.

Love this excerpt from Keisha N. Blain’s book “Until I Am Free”. It’s a description of activist Fannie Lou Hamer by Essence magazine’s editor in chief Marcia Gillespie after meeting Hamer in 1971. “I met a woman who defied any little platform or pedestal I might have wished to place her on. I met …”

I enjoyed Dani Shapiro’s “Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.” An unusual discovery leads her to dig into her family history. She reflects on clues of not belonging while growing up and struggles to understand her late parents. Wonderfully written.