Doug Osa
4/1/2020 - 4/30/2020
11th and Mulberry
Doug Osa
Etching
5.75 x 8.75 inches (L x W)
This etching was done as a gift print to the Greater Kansas City Print Society. The view is from the West Bottoms, an old industrial area near the confluence of the Kansas and Missouri rivers. Not realizing at the time, I was capturing the area at about its low point interns of economic viability. It has since seen a revival with new businesses making use of the old warehouses and the gentrifying of the area. It's not nearly as interesting as is was several decades ago.
A Summer Past
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
36 x 34 inches (L x W)
This painting came out of a summer in which my wife and I had two of our grandkids stay with us for about a month. The plastic gardening tools and watering can were used with much vigor by our grandson.
Afternoon into Spring
Doug Osa
Watercolor
21 x 28.5 inches (L x W)
I've done several paintings from my back deck and yard over the years. The rust colored neutral colors contrasted with the bright blue sky and our neighbor's house in this late afternoon light one March day. It's one of the few watercolors I've done in recent years.
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Backyard, Early March
Doug Osa
Acrylic on Paper
13 x 21.25 inches (L x W)
This painting is of an early spring morning looking past our arbor and through our neighbors' backyards. The early morning sun promises warm days ahead and gardening to be done.
Boundary Line
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
24 x 30 inches (L x W)
This is from the area north of Weston, MO in which I worked for about twenty years. I was captivated the first day I drove around a loop of gravel roads that twisted and crossed over the hills that characterize the area. It was such a rich area for finding new painting ideas.
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Early Light, Blue Heron
Doug Osa
Acrylic on Paper
23 x 38 inches (L x W)
The Great Blue Heron is a common sight along waterways year round in the Kansas City area. This is from Shawnee Mission Park along Mill Creek which has been a painting destination of mine for years. It's fascinating watching these birds hunt in shallow water. Very stealthy.
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Eighth Street, January
Doug Osa
Etching
11.75 x 17.75 inches (L x W)
Eighth Street is at the north end of the West Bottoms industrial area of Kansas City. I was working from the loading dock of the building on the left when a Mobile Cafeteria truck stopped to serve hot coffee and mid morning snacks to the workers in the area. Steam from the Faultless Linen laundry building filled the air in the background. A very common sight at the time. Some years later this entire block of buildings was ravaged by fire. The print was done as a gift print for the Greater Kansas City Print Society.
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Essentials
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
14 x 28 inches (L x W)
This painting came out of a time when I was grinding my own paints. It depicts the basic ingredients for grinding pigments as well as depicting the three primary colors that are essential for painting: red, yellow and blue. The tools for grinding the pigments have been arranged across the picture plane nearly as I use them in the grinding process.
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Grendel's Mere
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
36 x 48 inches (L x W)
This was a really exciting painting to do. I had been in Colorado one fall and was hiking the trail to Lake Haiyaha in Rocky Mountain National Park when a light snow began to fall. By the time I arrived at the lake much of the distant peaks were fading from view leaving the lake and its surroundings in stark contrast. The idea came from the story of "Beowulf" and the vivid description of the mere. The lines from the poem came to mind as I sat at the lake by myself working on a couple of studies and persisted as this painting was completed in the studio.
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Mill Creek
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
38 x 30 inches (L x W)
One of the last paintings from this vantage point along Mill Creek before heavy overnight rains flooded the creek sweeping away or burying the foreground rocks and washing out all but one of the trees centrally located in the painting. The aftermath was stunning.
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Relic
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
18 x 34 inches (L x W)
The last painting of this farm along highway 45 near Weston, MO. The structures were demolished several years ago.
Salem Road, 8pm
Doug Osa
Oil on Panel
18 x 24 inches (L x W)
This painting is from an area north of Weston, MO. Wooded hills and terraced fields are common in this glaciated region of northwest Missouri. It has been a favorite painting location of mine for many years.
Skyline
Doug Osa
Oil on Panel
16 x 20 inches (L x W)
A painting done while working on a commission for a client in Atchison, KS.
Spring Creek Road
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
26 x 32 inches (L x W)
The Flint Hills in Kansas contain the largest remaining unbroken prairie in the US. This is from the Skyline Drive scenic byway route south of Manhattan, KS. From here south the land opens up into some incredible views of grasslands and sky.
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The Okanagan Valley
Doug Osa
Oil on Linen
29 x 24 inches (L x W)
The Okanagan Valley in south central British Columbia is home to many orchards and vineyards. This view is from near Oliver, BC at a winery that my wife and I stopped at to have lunch. The handrail on the outside eating area is designed after the winery's name. The painting has fruit a piece of grape vine and a vase of Arrowleaf Balsam Root, the official flower of Kelowna which is at the north end of the valley.
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Tuckel's Farm
Doug Osa
Etching
8.75 x 11.75 inches (L x W)
This farm, southwest of Lawrence, KS, was the subject of the ongoing theme in art depicting the four seasons. The lay of the land and the serpentine gravel driveway leading back to a classic farmhouse caught my attention one day while out searching for new locations to work. I returned over the course of about 11/2 years to draw and paint this scene which evolved into the four seasons.
Union and Hickory
Doug Osa
Etching
5.75 x 8.75 inches (L x W)
A companion print done at the same time as 11th and Mulberry. These buildings are at what might be considered one of the main intersections in the West Bottoms industrial area of Kansas City. It's also where one of the few sets of railroad tracks cross through. I've had a lifelong interest in railroads which have been the subject of many paintings and prints.
Walnuts and Sunflowers
Doug Osa
Etching
10 x 13.5 inches (L x W)
This etching, along with several paintings, developed from of a fall outing with my grandson. We gathered walnuts and walked the banks of Mill Creek in Shawnee Mission Park, north of my home several miles. The work for this print was done over several weeks during which time the walnut hulls blackened and shriveled and the old sunflower heads continued to dry and curl. In some ways it could symbolize that day where, now about 6 years later, my memory of that outing is beginning to fade.