Posted on by — Leave a comment

Stone City, Iowa 1 June 2021

photo of stone city iowa
Greetings from Stone City, Iowa.
Almost 100 years ago, Grant Wood made some famous paintings in this tiny town. It hasn’t changed much, I’m going to try and make a “soon to be famous” Ken Swinson painting of the same view. Stay tuned!
sketch of stone city iowa
Here is my sketch. I love the way the lines in the grass show off the contour of the land…and the road that goes up the hill. Lets start painting!
oil painting underpainting of stone city iowa
Here’s my underpainting! There’s a lot happening in this scene. Let’s hope I am able to hold it all together. Time for color!
oil painting first colors of stone city iowa
I have a little bit of color started. I hope you all like the color green, because this scene is 50 shades of GREEN!
oil painting of stone city iowa by ken swinson
was so into figuring the painting out, i didnt take any inbetween step photos. ill admit, it was a little bit intimidating to paint a view that was painted by a world famous artist. i know better than to compare my work to anyone else…im on my journey. here is the finished painting from that trip.

Leave a Reply