Summer's End Is In Sight


Summer has but a few days left for me before it's back to work at Post High. I have seven new paintings to photograph and then I need to post those painting"s photos on both my website and blogs etc...
One thing for sure, this summer I must have done something right because it's been a very productive and enjoyable summer for me. I got more paintings finished (worked on smaller sizes...well there you go) than I did last summer and met some people I really do value (old classmates up in Philadelphia on a trip up their) plus I saw a whole lot of artwork in both DC and Philly with my friend Dave Barrett. It's been a much more satisfying summer. The art I've done is much better, it's just painted better than previous work. And I've been able to link up with a group in Philly so that I will have six small paintings shown up their in Sept 8th thru Oct 8th at Benna's Cafe at 8th and Wharton Street in Center City with a group of Academy Alumni. It's a benefit show for the Linda Creed Foundation where half of the proceeds raised from all sales will go towards that charity.
Then I got some good Recovery time in at two NA Campouts, and I hit plenty of meetings this summer too all of which have been very rewarding. I haven't been able to connect with my sponsor because of his work situation which is just too too complicated to go into here so I will spare you the details. But it's going to workout so I can get on with my stepwork, just not right now. I've learned that patience is a character asset afterall, so I'm putting it into work in my life right now with my stepwork.
I also have had a good chance to network with other artists in this area so I can get some of this artwork I've been working so hard on up onto some walls. There will be a group show for the benefit of the care of children in this area where I will have my work featured, which I am very happy to do and I am on 'the short list" in showing my work this coming year at a popular eatery at Barracks Road Shopping Center. I also have had a chance to paint, and that alone has made it a good summer.
Pretty soon, I will be going for my last summer swim at a local hole in the cement. So I'm going to have fun doing that this week too before we head back into the breach.

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What Has Worked;

Wyant's Store in Whitehall,Va.

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  It is noted that Whitehall Virginia is a throwback to an earlier time, a time when people knew who you were whenever one was to shop in the store such as this....its something found in the rural areas of this state and not so much in the cities of Virginia. This is one of my paintings of such a place, where the guys inside it are all gathered talking about what's news in the area over some snack food of one kind or another. They were all very kind to me once I stopped in to see the inside of this store once I was done painting for the day. I enjoyed working on this one...it is the second of the same subject, the store was interesting to work on so I took a second look as it were and painted it again. It's wasn't so much that I didn't like the first painting of this country store it was more that I enjoyed working on it so I thought I would prolong the joyfullness by doing it a second time. I'm sure you have no idea what I am talking about..well just have a
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Walking Along W. Main St.

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I found the scene along West Main is soon to change into an newer style cityscape of brick and glass with less ornamentation to its buildings. With this in mind I photographed some West Main Street buildings in the hopes of finding interesting scenes to paint. The signage is all a part of West Main and in that thought I painted this one with its graphic street crossing signage featured prominently in the picture plane. I highlighted the bricks in intense reds and developed the windows in a bizarre abstract display for each one of them. Each featuring one color being themed inside its frame as if each window display had its own abstract painting going on inside its area. Its all for the fun of it, I play with what is being viable to the view when I can. Nothing ventured nothing gained. It was nice how this one came together piece by piece with each painting session. Intense color came about as I developed its' scene on the sidewalk windows. I was going to bring in
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Firecycle in Kamahura: 1954 or So

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Its been a long time coming but I finished another in my Japanese style paintings this past weekend. It's of a fire cycle, they didn't have enough money to build a fire truck although they did have a few in the station instead they made a cycle which could fight fires. I thought it was kind of unique and looked very different that anything I'd seen before so I painted it. Using one of my Dad's black and white photos I did a rendering of it. I enjoyed working with the strong red colors even though the photo is in Black and White I could remember some of the colors involved in this vehicle so I went ahead and played with it. It took a good deal of work, but I continued on with it until it was completed. I just couldn't let go of it very long while I was painting it. I guess I did another marathon painting session last weekend. I know I felt it after I was done.
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Painting in the Public Domain

I've been busy painting outdoors. Yesterday, I packed up my easel and paints put on my backpack with the easel on it and walked to the downtown mall. I arrived about nine thirty am and got to work after setting it all up. Many people stopped to comment and offer supportive comments about the start of the painting. I was working on the Miller's bar and buildings headed westward from their on, I included a couple of people in it too boot, the thing was I was filmed by some group that came back later and had me sign a release form and I was photographed by tourist and others who just happened upon me while I was working on my painting. My work progressed to a good stopping point and I plan to finish what I've done at home. Some people to whom I talked I never saw because I was paying attention to what I was painting not to whom I was talking to at the time. I was looking at the buildings and what I was doing on the canvas so I have very little idea as to what or who the
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The County of Nelson's Courthouse

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Life's interest often takes us to the law and where the law is practiced. Recently there was a trial where it drew statewide interest due to the unusual manner in which the prosecution held its case. They didn't have the right of habeas corpus to carry on a conviction with yet the trail went on, and in the end the man was convicted of capital murder. There seems to have been enough evidence to convince the jury of the man's guilt. It was only the second time in Virginia criminal law cases that this has happened and it happened here in Nelson County. The Courthouse where this trial took place stands alone on top of a hill (the highest point in the city of Lovingston, Va.) The courthouse has a newer extension put onto its northside but if one sees it from one spot where I painted this canvas you can't see it. But what you do see is the old structure in all its grandeur. Such was the place from which I chose to paint this rather unremarkable yet noticeable b
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