A small color pallet of acrylic paints, chirps of birds, the buzz of bugs and the sounds of nature surround Carlos Maldonado as he unpacks his backpack and fills a bucket of water for his painting along the Iowa River.
Maldonado is an artist through and through, be it in parks painting, working in the snow sculpting viral sharks or from his art and tattoo studio to make picturesque landscapes of Iowa City landmarks and pet portraits full of personality.
He grew up in West Liberty, Iowa, watching an uncle and grandmother who both always seemed to be painting.
His brothers constantly would be drawing at home and in kindergarten he won an award for artwork he had created.
Maldonado’s speciality nowadays is in plein air paintings, which is French for in the open air.
“It’s tough being out there, you have to deal with the changing light, the bugs and then yourself too,” he said about working in the challenging conditions. “It’s a lot different painting outside than when you’re in the studio.”
The season for the plein air painting in typically runs from May to October for Maldonado where he averages making two paintings outdoors per month.
His art doesn’t stop once the weather turns cold though, one January when over a foot of snow fell, Iowa City soon was transformed into a seabed of creativity.
Maldonado worked with his children to sculpt a shark, over 20 feet long out of the mounds of snow that had accumulated.
The family sculpted the toothy fish out of snow and then used a sprayer with diluted acrylic paint to add color and detail throughout the body.
Photographers soon came by from the local newspapers and television stations.
Maldonado also has a nocturne painting series of local businesses – often taking suggestions for restaurants or bars from social media commenters.
CRANDIC Park along the Iowa River between Iowa City and Coralville is one of his favorite locations to paint and is the scene depicted in a bench he worked on in the Pedestrian Mall.
He’s done more than 30 paintings of the park, that he calls a “hidden gem” ranging from daytime scenes to vibrant sunsets reflecting off the river.
“Even though it’s the same exact scene that I go to paint, all the time it’s different,” Maldonado said, “I love it.”
Joseph Cress is the Digital Media Manager at Think Iowa City.
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