Dave DeArmond rose early Friday, took a short drive around Iola and settled on a spot just east of the courthouse square to do what he has been doing since 2007.
DeArmond, 75 and a retired engineer, is in his fourth series of painting scenes in all 105 Kansas counties.
“The first three times I did the paintings with water color, this time it’s oil,” DeArmond said.
When he retired, DeArmond felt he needed something “to get me away from the TV.” He settled on traveling Kansas and painting a scene from each of its counties.
Usually he’s on the road a few days from his home in Merriam, and has been out as long as two weeks. Married, his wife understands his interest in painting, which dates from boyhood and never went away.
“When I tell her it’s time to go painting, she packs my suitcase,” DeArmond mused. “I’m not sure what that really means.”
His paintings have no central theme. DeArmond paints whatever strikes him as interesting or challenging.
Friday morning he looked for an inviting scene and driving west on Madison Avenue the absence of cars parked south of the courthouse square drew his attention. He parked, pulled easel, a folder of brushes in many sizes, paint and palette from the trunk of his car and went to work.
Street artists seldom are seen in Iola, which led to inquisitive stares from passing motorists. A handful of pedestrians also stopped to watch a few minutes.
Plopping down wherever to paint also makes for adventures, DeArmond observed
Being within almost handshake distance of passing vehicles Friday morning had its downside.
“One cattle truck pulled up right beside me and stopped for the light,” he recounted. “The cows were mooing — maybe tacit approval of his painting — and the smell was pretty bad.”
Thursday he painted a field of flowers, butterflies fluttering about, while rain pelted his canvas.
“I wanted to see what would happen when oil paint mixed with rain,” he said. “I won’t do it again,” although the result had a certain appeal.
During a recent hot afternoon, DeArmond sought refuge under a store-front awning to escape the blazing sun.
Friday’s painting of Madison Avenue west of Jefferson was his fourth of an Allen County scene.
Before the old 54 Drive-In at Gas was dismantled, he painted it, while “Ratatouille,” a Disney animated movie, was playing. But, “I don’t remember the other two I did in Allen County,” he said.
DeARMOND has sold none of his earlier paintings, but has a slide show of many on DVD that is sold at the Kansas Originals market in Wilson and at Kansas Sampler events, most recently in Liberal.
That’s the only logical way to share them with the public, he said, noting that galleries large enough to show a full grouping are hard to find and cost of framing a full series, about $8,000, is prohibitive.
After finishing the Iola scene, DeArmond planned to find a scene in Woodson County.
Information about his paintings and DVD may be found on DeArmond’s website, www.davedearmond.com.
