Spring Draw-Out                by Karl Marxhausen  April 2007

      After a week of working with my students, I was ready to kick back,
  gather up my gear and head down to Waverly, MO. Herman Peters had given me
  permission to draw and paint on his property, on a hill that looked out over the
  Missouri River. (I find it helpful to get permission to be on another person's property.)
  I swung by to pick up my painting friend Joe Tonnar. He loaded the truck
  with an homemade outdoor easel and his drawing supplies.

    

        Ten miles later, and two miles east of Waverly, we arrived at our destination.
  Apple orchards dotted the neighboring hills.
        

       The air was breezy and warm. Joe and I walked around to consider potential
  set-up sites. The green leaves had not yet come out, so one could still see the wide
  river through the branches. The flat cultivated fields stretched for miles into Carroll
  County, on the other side of the river.  Further up the hill I could see the sillouette
  of the watertower and the new bridge, as well as rooftops tucked among barren
  trees. Joe said he would like to be able to do a location during different seasons
  of the year.
          I had brought my painting gear, but decided
 it was too windy, the paints would have dried faster than I wanted to deal with.
 I wanted to ease into this first spring outting gently. I was more interested in being
 out in the elements, seeing what I could see, than producing work. There would
 be other times after school got out, when time was freed up. This was one
 thing I enjoyed about my line of work. With teacher's hours I could work nine
 months and have three months off with pay. After walking and looking, I decided
 to work down the hill from Joe with my soft oil pastels.
      To get some altitude, I parked the pickup close to my scene, skampered up
 on top of the cab, and was able to get the foreground (grass tufts and dirt),
 the tops of trees, down the the river, and on towards the bluish horzon. I worked
 until my bottom numbed.
       View of River
                                                      by Karl Marxhausen
                                                      11" x 14"  Craypas on Paper
                                                      April 2007

     View of River
                                                                     by Joe Tonnar
                                                                     18" x 24"  pastel on paper
                                                                     April 2007

      We had worked from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm. After which I was too wind blown to
  begin again, so he tore down and packed up, and then we drove around the
  outskirts of Waverly with the windows rolled down. The temperature was in the
  pleasant 70s.

      I tried to find Casner's Landing, a place Herman told me was down on the
  Missouri River on the Carroll County side. It was hot and dusty and I could not
  find the right road.  So I gave up trying, and as we rumbled down the gravel road
  past Joe's cousin's house, he told me, "It's good for artists to bond." I  nodded in
  agreement. "To getting together and exchange ideas," he continued.

     
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