Steven Greenwall says his mission as an artist is to reveal his heart and soul.
Greenwall hopes to impart that intimate philosophy to adult students Wednesday evenings at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Classes start at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The two-hour sessions run each Wednesday, except June 27 and July 4, until the end of July. A couple of spaces remain open; cost is $20.
Greenwall, 62, retired last year after 24 years of instructing art at Allen Community College. He has no plans to give up teaching altogether.
“I really enjoy teaching night classes for adults,” he said.
AS A YOUNGSTER in Salt Lake City, Greenwall was drawing from the time he was able to grasp a pencil.
An event when he was in grade school was precursor of his career.
“There was a cartoon show for kids that had an art contest,” he said.
He didn’t win first place in the contest, a bicycle, but he did come in second and won a Kenner Building Set, which fit his creative interests just fine.
Winning contests has become common for Greenwall in his professional life, including first place with a watercolor in a Kansans Painting Kansas contest. The winning entry was of a scene on Deer Creek.
The creek and its environs, as well as Coal Creek east of Humboldt, have become primary sources of material for Greenwall.
One of his favorite paintings is of the renowned Seven-Arch Bridge, a structure made of rock laid up without mortar with a keystone at the top of each arch over Slacker’s Branch, a tributary of Coal Creek. The old bridge was replaced with a sterile-looking concrete span several years ago, but the original lives on in a Greenwall painting.
A favorite activity of Greenwall’s is to explore along creek bottoms and carry home sketches and photographs that he uses as the basis for paintings.
“I merge the two, but don’t follow the photos really close,” he said, in taking artistic license.
GREENWALL’S early art was done with pencil.
In his adult life, watercolors and pastels are his favorites, and he also uses oil and Conté crayons, which produce images similar to charcoal but without the dust.
