[Kohlsdorf] We're following the byway into Council Bluffs for a visit to the Hoff Family Arts and Culture Center, the home of PACE, Pottawattamie Arts Culture and Entertainment, a non-profit organization dedicated to building community with the arts.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Built in 1894, this warehouse was once home to McCormick Harvesting Machine Company.

Today, it serves as the center for Council Bluffs art and culture offering everything from performing arts to cooking classes.

I've signed up for a painting lesson that offers a new way to look at the Loess Hills.

♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] We are here with Kathy at the Hoff Center today.

And you're going to be my coach, my instructor I guess you could say.

[Kathy Fiscus] Yes, you bet.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, so tell us a little bit about your experience here at the center.

[Kathy Fiscus] Well, I started here by being a representative in their speaker series.

After that, they said oh, could you teach?

Would you like to teach adults?

And I said, sure.

[Kohlsdorf] So, that's what we're going to do today.

We're going to paint one of these canvases of the Loess Hills.

[Kathy Fiscus] You and I.

You bet.

♪♪ [Kathy Fiscus] This is our inspiration painting right here.

We hope to end up with this particular look.

But I will guide you through the entire process.

We'll begin with our single canvas here.

And this represents the background, the foreground and the middle ground.

Those three elements are part of any photograph, any painting.

So, the background has already been done for us.

In this particular painting it's not of a specific location.

Notice this shape.

We'll talk about shapes.

But this particular shape is really important because it is seen all over the Loess Hills.

The Loess Hills in our area are actually dunes.

And so, when you think about blowing sand or blowing snow, we have a lot of history with blowing snow in Iowa, you can see these rounded areas.

Also, you can see these peaks.

I've seen this in my driveway a lot.

What happens is the wind comes up over, goes down into those valleys, and then it comes up again on the other side.

♪♪ [Kathy Fiscus] Brooke, here we are.

We're ready to do our painting now.

This particular canvas I have taken and added much of the detail to bring this much closer to our inspiration painting here.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, so I'll kind of be filling in some of the details at the end.

[Kathy Fiscus] Absolutely.

So, I will begin with the highlights.

I'll take my palate here and I'll begin with the yellow.

And I'll be adding some of the highlights here.

♪♪ [Kathy Fiscus] So, one of the things we want to show is how indeed this area is almost straight up and down.

And I'm going to take a little bit of gray and add this curved part because these curves are very important in showing the direction of the wind.

[Kohlsdorf] That it goes over the hill.

[Kathy Fiscus] It goes over the hill.

So, now it's your turn.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

So, we've got some green paint here.

[Kathy Fiscus] And what I would suggest, you put your left thumb through the hole of the palate.

And what I would like to have you do is dab, dab, dab on the green paint and then perpendicular to the surface of the canvas dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab and follow these suggested areas where there has been erosion.

In those valleys it's moisture, which allows for more vegetation here.

There's vegetation all over, just like there's loess all over the world.

The next highest is in China.

But we are higher, deeper, weirder, odder and that makes the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway a famous place.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay, so that is my role today.

So, I'm going to dab and then dab on the canvas.

[Kathy Fiscus] Dab on the canvas.

[Kohlsdorf] Dab, dab, dab.

[Kathy Fiscus] Right, and follow that curve.

Yes.

Good.

Excellent.

Excellent.

Excellent.

[Kohlsdorf] Who knew.

[Kathy Fiscus] Yes.

And notice, you can leave some little gaps, which shows okay, it's not necessarily a hedge, it's plants, separate plants going down.

[Kohlsdorf] Okay.

♪♪ ♪♪ [Kohlsdorf] Kathy, you've been a great instructor today.

This has been a lot of fun.

Thank you.

[Kathy Fiscus] Well, you did a great job, Brooke.

That looks exactly like vegetation.

[Kohlsdorf] Well, this has been so much fun.

And maybe not everyone who goes out to do some hiking is going to come home and create a picture of their own of the Loess Hills, but for you this seems to be a natural connection, doesn't it?

[Kathy Fiscus] I think there's a lot of inspiration in nature.

There is a lot of art in the area.

But just going outside, you feel better.

You feel inspired.

There's nothing like nature to help you feel like it's a good day.

♪♪