"Although I have never lived on a farm I have always been drawn to the rural life of small towns and farms. As a child growing up in Iowa I remember vividly running around my uncles farm with my cousins, or fishing and swimming with friends along a river. As a family we would head out to farms to pick mushrooms on a weekend every April and May. Now, as an artist, I want to invoke feelings of the serenity and happiness I felt from these times. Capturing a quiet and reflective moment of the sun setting on a farm or melting snow along a gravel road as winter begins to give way to spring are some of the things I'm after. For me the graineries and farm buildings are monuments to the hard working and humble people that built them. By painting such scenes I feel it's just my small way of helping to preserve our American heritage."

 

You can view and purchase my work on my website; bholmespaintings.com 

 

I was born and raised in Newton, Iowa. I attended the University of Northern Iowa where I received a Bachelors of Science in Art Education. Upon graduation in 1981 I moved to Illinois to teach middle school art in Geneva. I also coached several sports as well served as athletic director for a number of years. While at Geneva I earned a Masters of Science in Art Education and a Masters of Art in Studio Art with an emphasis in Painting. Both degrees were from Northern Illinois University. I also served in the Illinois National Guard for six years while teaching. I retired from teaching in 2015 after 34 years.

I have always had an interest in landscape painting, especially the rural farmlands of Iowa and Illinois and have attended workshops with, Jeanne McKenzie, Phil Starke, Tom Lynch, Tony Couch, Tony VanHasselt, and Andy Evenson. I work in both oils and watercolor with my current focus on the latter.