Painting La Crosse: Original Oil Paintings of the City and Driftless Region
A quiet afternoon stroll along the river’s edge. This painting captures the brilliant glow of the Riverwalk, and two figures walking side by side under shifting clouds.
Painted in oil on birch panel, signed on the front, framed and ready to hang. This 8×10 piece is part of my ongoing thread of La Crosse landscapes and river scenes — moments I’ve seen and wanted to keep.
Size: 8 × 10 inches
Medium: Oil on birch panel
Date Painted: September 29, 2025
Framed: Yes — framed and ready to hang
La Crosse has a way of changing with the light. Downtown brick glows after rain, the Mississippi River opens the horizon, and the bluffs hold the city in a landscape that never feels quite still. These original La Crosse paintings bring together the places I have returned to with a brush—from familiar streets and neighborhood landmarks to riverfront gatherings and quiet seasonal moments.
A Painter’s View of La Crosse, Wisconsin
I paint La Crosse and the surrounding Driftless region in a loose, post-impressionist style: bold color, visible brushwork, and enough detail to make a place recognizable without polishing away its character. The collection moves through downtown La Crosse, Pearl Street, Main Street, the Riverwalk, Riverside Park, Mormon Creek, the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman, Moon Tunes, Rotary Lights, the International Friendship Gardens, and the La Crosse Queen.
Downtown La Crosse and Pearl Street
Several paintings focus on the historic center of La Crosse. Snowy Afternoon on Main Street catches the city in winter, when warm shop windows and brick facades stand against the blue-gray street. 2nd and Pearl and Downtown La Crosse explore the rhythm of the buildings and traffic, while Outside The Pearl looks at one of the city’s most recognizable local corners.
A winter afternoon in downtown La Crosse. Snow piled along the sidewalks, slush underfoot, and people moving through the cold like it’s just another day — because it is.
Snowy Afternoon on Main Street, La Crosse looks down the street toward the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman, its tower rising quietly in the distance. Streetlamps, storefronts, and bundled figures create a familiar rhythm — the kind you only notice when you stop long enough to paint it.
This piece is less about spectacle and more about place. About being there.
Oil on birch panel. Signed on the front. Framed and ready to hang.
Size: 11 × 14 inches
Medium: Oil on panel
Date Painted: Dec. 2025
Framed: Yes — framed and ready to hang
River, Parks, and the Driftless Landscape
The Mississippi River shapes both the geography and the mood of La Crosse. Sunny Afternoon on the La Crosse Riverwalk follows that meeting point between city and water. La Crosse Queen celebrates the riverboat tradition, while International Gardens La Crosse brings color and movement to Riverside Park. Anticipating Fall at Mormon Creek shifts outward toward the quieter landscape of the La Crosse region, where wooded valleys and changing seasons reveal the Driftless terrain.
Size: 11x14 inches
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date Painted: September 2022
Framed and ready to hang
Painted on site during the Between the Bluffs plein air event, this old barn sits tucked into the hills near Mormon Creek, just south of La Crosse. I was chasing the light that day, but it kept slipping away behind clouds.
The trees were still holding onto green, but the air already felt like fall. You could feel the change coming.
Anticipating Fall captures that in-between moment — before the leaves turn, before the cold sets in, before everything goes quiet again.
Oil on canvas. Signed on the front. Framed and ready to hang.
Prints available right here: Anticipating Fall at Mormon Creek, La Crosse
Music, Traditions, and La Crosse Landmarks
La Crosse is more than its scenery. Moon Tunes captures the energy of live music beside the river. Carriage Ride at Rotary Lights turns a beloved winter tradition into a glowing night scene. The Renovation of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman records a moment in the life of an enduring downtown landmark. Together, these paintings are a visual diary of the places where the La Crosse community gathers.
Original 11 x 14 Oil on Canvas panel
Signed Certificate of Authenticity
Ready to hang
Painted December 2022
Explore the La Crosse Painting Collection
Each painting shown below links directly to its individual listing, where you can see dimensions, availability, pricing, and additional details. Some originals have sold, but they remain part of this visual record of La Crosse, Wisconsin. Available works can be purchased through the listing pages.
If La Crosse or the wider Driftless region holds a personal memory for you, I also accept commissions inspired by meaningful streets, homes, landscapes, and local landmarks. An original painting can preserve a place as it felt—not merely as it looked.
Browse the La Crosse paintings below and follow any image to view the individual artwork.
Size: 11x14 inches
Medium: Oil on canvas
Date Painted: September 2022
Framed and ready to hang
Painted on site during the Between the Bluffs plein air event, this old barn sits tucked into the hills near Mormon Creek, just south of La Crosse. I was chasing the light that day, but it kept slipping away behind clouds.
The trees were still holding onto green, but the air already felt like fall. You could feel the change coming.
Anticipating Fall captures that in-between moment — before the leaves turn, before the cold sets in, before everything goes quiet again.
Oil on canvas. Signed on the front. Framed and ready to hang.
Prints available right here: Anticipating Fall at Mormon Creek, La Crosse
Original 16 x 20 Oil on Canvas
Signed Certificate of Authenticity
Ready to hang
Painted July 2021
I painted 2nd and Pearl, La Crosse after taking about a month away from painting. I’d been working through a lot of commissions and needed a bit of a reset. This scene had been sitting in my sketchbook for a couple of months, waiting its turn.
Downtown La Crosse is full of the sort of buildings I like to paint — old brick storefronts, odd rooflines, awnings, signs and plenty of little details that make the street feel lived in. When I finally came back to the easel, this felt like the right one to start with.
I kept the warm red and orange brickwork doing most of the heavy lifting, then pushed cooler blues and grays through the windows, awnings, street and big summer sky. The people, cars and umbrellas keep the bottom half busy. It isn’t a tidy architectural study. It’s downtown doing what downtown does.
I painted this in July 2021, when it was particularly good to see people filling the sidewalks and supporting local businesses again after a very strange year.
Want a print instead? You can find prints of this piece here: 2nd and Pearl, La Crosse.
