Latest work    Oil on canvas by David S. Hoornstra

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Thin Ice

22 x 28 inches
Completed August 4, 2017

This painting came about because of the immense popularity of Delhi Rapids in Winter, (2014) in a private collection. That painting was horizontal in aspect, but another image from the same day's below-zero photography intrigued me with its vertical flow and the contrast between the hot sunlight color and cold blues.
In addition, I wanted to  achieve a higher standard of detail and rendering of the water.
I also wanted to experiment with glaze effects such as I had seen in a New York studio in 1970. The crust of ice in many places is painted over a dark-water underpainting to attempt to capture some of the transparency of the actual ice. So this ice is very thin.
Now in a private collection; prints available.

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Incentive

24 x 18 inches
Completed September 14, 2017

To celebrate their wedding anniversary, Barbara Henk of Shelby Township, Michigan, commissioned this for her husband. She provided a wealth of excellent reference photos including the sunset that appears in the painting. Incentive is a 36-foot Tiara cruising motor yacht whose name signifies its role in the couple’s happy life together including many hours on Lake Erie.

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Latest Work: Graphic Design & Illustration

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Poster for Iolanthe

Gilbert and Sullivan Society, University of Michigan. November 2017

It’s been quite some time since I’ve done much graphic design. The Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s budget is tiny, but this commission gave me a chance to stretch out and challenge myself. 
My first involvement with G & S was coaching a swordfight for Pirates of Penzance in the early eighties. This time it happened via a member of the Ann Arbor Sword Club also on the Society’s board. 
The earlier, very-vertical G & S posters reminded me of Alphonse Mucha’s posters for Sarah Bernhardt. He’s one of my faves; the “father of Art Deco.” 
This assignment called for fairies in little black dresses. I created this one in pencil. 
The setting being in and around the House of Lords, I borrowed the Consort’s throne designed by Auguste Pugin. I’ve long been a fan of his Gothic research and design. 
I created the lettering and graphic surround à la Mucha in Illustrator and sweetened it in Photoshop. I had a ghosted-back print of the fairy and chair made and worked it back up in dense water-color.
The scene of fairies and lords behind the Houses of Parliament was created with a bit of research and a lot of fussing around in Photoshop. More details in the link below.