
This is a new support and a new process I am experimenting with. MJ Harding non-absorbent primer and paint on Rives BFK paper.

This is a new support and a new process I am experimenting with. MJ Harding non-absorbent primer and paint on Rives BFK paper.

This is fifth in a series of large format corn harvest paintings. This one being 2 miles east of Granger, Iowa. The sky all subtle hues of the three primary and three secondary colors from horizon to zenith. Violet, red, orange, yellow, green, and blue.

Love the Iowa Sky in Fall at harvest time.


24×24
New addition to the ethereal Iowa Harvest Landscape Series.

This is a work-in-progress, and fairly large for me. But it’s turned out great so far. I may just do a tiny bit of adjustments. Enjoy!

My 12th painting from the gulf coast area. I’ll soon have representation in the area. Stay tuned!

My painting practice involves attempting to create a rich and prismatic sky of pastels, from horizon to zenith, as often seen in the magical hours of the day both in the morning and at evening time. This, with a knife.

Every now and then I have to paint with a knife to see and feel that very fresh paint. This is the beach on Sanibel.

I continue to be infatuated with my own little happy staycation place, Sanibel, Florida. The Sea Grape tree, plant, bush, shrub really, is of particular interest since the devastating effects of hurricane Ian. Enjoy.

My practice is currently focused on the Ibis, the Seagrape, and the waters edge of the Gulf of Mexico.

My sixth painting in the Southwest Florida Series. This one was so fun, I will be painting more with the Ibis, and in larger formats. Stay tuned!

There is a particular ether to the light at Sanibel Island, Florida. If you know the place, you might be familiar with why this is so. Sanibel is shaped like a shrimp, with Captiva being the tail. The apex of its back, which is exactly where the Casa Ybel property is situated, faces straight south towards Key West and beyond to Havana, Cuba. Therefore, like no other beach, the Sun comes up where the beach meets the water in the East, and goes down where the beach meets the water in the West. Very unique, and very easy to get sun burned there. Stay tuned for more!

Here is my second in a series of the Florida Gulf Coast area in and around Sanibel Island. This is often what it looks like early morning Mid April. Stay tuned for more!

Searching for new Iowa towns to paint. Let me know your ideas!

There is plenty of subject matter in the small towns of Iowa to build a series of paintings reflecting small town charm. this one is turning out pretty well. What do you think?

This piece I deemed finished earlier this year, then decided it needed more foreground. I think the snowy trees turned out pretty well.

Another Steamboat Springs effort from last week’s ski trip.

The new gondola in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Wild Blue!

While still a work-in-progress, this strange painting has got me dreaming of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The mountain “Sleeping Giant” looms in the distance as the horses frolic in the snow covered hills.

I remain hopeful that I have a major announcement in the days to come!


I usually stay on a subject for a series of takes and sketches. I’ve reached the finish line on this one.

Latest works. Colors are just starting to change.


Because I constructed this large painting straight from the imagination, you can count me out as a realist. From the imagination counts as romanticism, and if it’s considered not ugly, it then falls within Romantic Positivism.
It’s a work in progress, as I see a few things, a few values worth fixing. Maybe some telephone poles. This painting is rather big at 4 feet by 5 feet and, I am getting very comfortable with the larger paintings. Stay tuned!

This is a larger version of my last painting. It was an hour later, so the pedestrians have changed!

I consider 10th and Locust, in downtown Des Moines, my neighborhood as it is three blocks from my studio. There is a rather decent Italian restaurant in the building you are looking at, along with the Temple Theater venue for live events. Across the street to the west is a Starbucks, also very convenient for coffee and meetings.

The latest in the Iowa Sheep series which has found a home in a private collection.
The rural Iowa land scape continues to inspire this painter to reap the beautiful and true from the simplicity of eternal forms that surround us.

2021 has come to a close with this last plein air study. Here I now stand, after following the rules of classical form for five years of painting, at the precipice of knowing that what lies ahead is toward the abstract. In order to avoid painting another ho-hum landscape, albeit ones with sound harmony and sensibilities, I’ve realized, from recent in-depth studies of the principles of Cezanne, that true art comes from the corruption and violation of nature. One is otherwise making a replica or a copy of her. The picture is the thing. It is its own thing. A two dimensional thing that must be created in its own right. I’m setting out. Wish me luck.

This is the result of a two-hour plein air excursion in Des Moines. Though it is not finished, I am hesitant to paint on it again to guard against altering its freshness.

I’ve been driving around the surrounding farmlands this summer and fall, taking photos of future paintings. I just got around to facing, and finishing this one, after starting it a month ago, and being intimidated by the light in it.

Farm life subject matter is something not to be overlooked in Iowa. In fact, it’s a challenge not to consider when looking for striking compositions here in the prairie.

I am beginning to drive around the state of Iowa more often, scouting for those special places that may be painted in the early or late light of day. This was a barn just east of Adel, Iowa that I found interesting enough to sketch out. The light, however, is the thing I am after.

