Old Lovers, Good Solid Hindsight


Enjoying this cool morning is very much a good time for me. The apartment house is quite from all the present occupants being asleep from their partying last night, see it's Sunday morning and well I just didn't fall asleep so....I'm up and you can hear a pin drop, or a cat lick itself clean. I have my favorite Radio Paradise on my headphones right now and they're playing some really good Squire Nut Zippers "In the Afterlife" it's some really funny stuff. Today I get to rest for a good while with the extra hour of time to waste, I might take a easy finally but who knows. As I've aged, its become a little easier to deal with missed sleep than it was in my younger years. I use to hate missing sleep. I hated having my girlfriend, even if she was one of the most beautiful scenes I ever woke up to, get me up early on a weekend morning just to watch the sunrise. Hell I hated that, my eyes were bleary, my mouth was always real dry and my cigarette habit just did do it. But I lied and said "I had a good time" to her and she seemed to believe it, afterall I didn't lie about much so it didn't seem incredulous to her. Or so it seemed, but what did I know, we didn't communicate much. She moved out shortly after that to be more independent and have her own space. That need was news to me, as I said we didn't talk much.
Life changed after she moved, we did live again in another place after that surprise but well, she did keep her thoughts mostly to herself. When she finally shared some later on in life, I wasn't too pleased with what she said to me. I guess the old saying "don't open your mouth and prove your stupidity to everyone" has it's points. She wasn't actually stupid, no it's more that we just didn't see eye to eye but had never bothered to look at one another in the eye and talk. She was intelligent and capable, and she believed in me. That in itself me in awe of her. A friend recently mentioned her to me in a manner that told me that she was very caring of me and only wanted good for me. I am thankful for that, because when I look at old photos of me or an old portrait done of me, I don't see much to love about me. She was very generous to be so loving towards me. I just wonder, "what was she thinking". But lets let it continue to be a natural mystery of life for me.

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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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