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The Face
Five eyes wide
And seven tall
Pupils at the midline
Mouth one third to chin
Ears from brow to nose
It’s standard
Yet we see each other
Facial recognition scans a crowd
To find a felon in flight
Parents find their child
Lovers their love
It’s easy to draw a face
But not so easy
for that face.
TV faces 
TV faces 
Coffee shop 
At Panera 
TV faces
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Rainier
This is the third installment of Fun with Bob. The reference photo is Mt. Rainier over Lake Washington.
Process The snow on the mountain is part of the overall wash of blue, it only looks white by contrast.
The mist was worth the workshop. I have tried and failed before.
I’m happy with the result.
Rainier in the Mist -
Fun with Bob
I’m joining Bob Witte on Tuesdays at Studio Gallery 1311 for collective painting.
Bob Paint often, listen to others and try things. There is nothing gained by timidity. You only lose paper at the worst.
With reflection 
In process 
Bob’s -
Grasslands
Leaving Edgemont,
passing Mule Junction
And nearing Signature Rock
We stopped for a golden moment
In the Grasslands.
The sun rising over the trees
And warming the awakening
Slope of dried grasses.
An image,
A moment that remains
On my mind.
It takes several tries to recreate
What the Maker shaped
Over geological time.
For what end?
For me to see along with
How many others?
Or perhaps for the
Joy of the Maker
In making
Dave Carlson 11/20/25
Grasslands -
Back Home
I’ve been told that when I visit my hometown, Port Orchard, Washington, that I get lost in the view.
The view Dad must have taken hundreds of pictures of sunsets, so I’m not alone.
We were visiting my brother’s house, a new build which takes advantage of The View, so my symptoms have only gotten worse.
Here is a sunset with hidden mountains in the clouds.
Sunset Here is my try to recreate it in guache on a gesso panel.
Resting before tweaking -
Grasslands Reflections
We drove through S Dakota into Wyoming and entered an area of grasslands that glowed with the gold of fall. We pulled over for a picture.
Grasslands I’ve been pondering this as a painting. It is defined by yellow and gold tones. The features of the land are marked by grasses.
Here are my first three stages, sky, tree lines and undertones of the grassland.
Stage 3 Stay tuned for the rest.
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Celebration
The La Crosse Society of Arts has its feature wall.for members this December.
My contribution is last year’s Christmas Cactus which put on a show.
Celebration Check it out at the River City Gallery all December.
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Leading Lines
The train
The trees
The roof
The walk
Lead to a single
Point
Passengers
Forming a line
Leading to points
Unknown.
Process I tried this as a Plein Air watercolor, and was not satisfied with the result. I returned to it with gouache and a photo reference.
Plein Air -
A Lone Tree
A lone tree
By the river
Across from a sunset
In the few days
Before Winter
Lone Tree In late October I was taking pictures of Green Island, La Crosse, at sunset. I wanted to capture the late light of a Fall evening in my watercolor.
I thank the police officer who warned me about parking in the area as it was a pay only spot for boaters.
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Working Member
River City Gallery is an art market for local artist members. I’ve started as a working member, which has me at the store twice monthly. Today is my first shift. So far I’ve found the light switches and turned on the equipment. We’ll see how it goes with handling the register.
My wall space has expanded as a result. I’ve added recent works from the Between the Bluffs Plein Air event that just concluded.
My Wall As of now I’ll be here on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays each month.
Stop by, look around, have a chat and possibly buy something.
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Two Book Reflections 