Scottsville Intersection; Rt. 20 w Rt. 6

A small work I put together in the last few days is coming from a photo taken in Scottsville, Va. I am working moreso on photos this summer indoors to see if I can convincingly operate on oils out of my front living-room. So far so good. I think I've overcome what happens to too many 'photo realist' (and I don't count myself as one I am simply using a photograph to work from) in that there final product has a very flat quality to its depth as a painting. I'm not against photo realist, by no means I like there work and the clarity that some achieve is unbeatable : not including someone such as Vermeer who's brilliance outshines us even today with his clarity of his images in oil. The thing I want to avoid in painting from a photograph is not seeing around the angle or missing an items volume as an object in space. An item with volume is one that has the intent of roundness or a 3-dimensional shape implied in its rendering, that is what visual work I want to achieve in my art from my living-room. Many of us simply fall short on that mark, but I am going intend to lend that quality to my paintings this summer. Or I will brave the elements and head on out into that dismal steam bath that we in the South go through every summer.

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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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Front Street Study

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Front Street in Lovingston is a smaller almost deserted community on the main highway north and south down the middle of Central Virginia. There is no reason why these streets aught to be without many people taking a stroll or riding bicycles except there just isn't that much business going on. So its like that in Lovingston, and that leaves me plenty of undisturbed time to paint the scenes and buildings in this little town. It has some buildings that were once stores that now sit in need of repair, such is this building which was not so long ago a Drugstore. Its in a prime location right in front of the County Courthouse and other Nelson County government buildings which are active. But still with all that said, there still aren't that many people around on foot. At least that I noticed in the few hours I've spent drawing and photographing its buildings, I wish I could say different but the few signs of life I saw were all inside a metal and plastic bubble calle
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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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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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