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Showing posts from 2017

Whiting Oil Company on W. Main St. C'ville, Va.

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On a walk to my day job in the 1980's I would pass this non-important gas station on the main drag of West Main Street. Today its a new and different event taking such a meandering in Charlottesville, the buildings are all redone and new ten story hotels are being placed on that street. The old has been made new. I believe the term is re-gentrification. Such a change happened to this former gas station. It was a building I passed by and never really took a good look at because there wasn't anything 'noteworthy' for me to see in it. It was your average gas station with mechanics working on cars inside of its portals. But then came the changes and renewal occurred. While I don't like change for change sake, the re-gentrification of West Main Street has added some taste to that street's structures, such was what I saw in 'Whiting Oil Co.' It has had some new walls added, outdoor tables and new glass windows that made it somewhat unique to ot

A Non-Ordinary World

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The realm of abstraction is an open ended place. My mind enjoys it. Its relaxing, a relaxing change from working on people and places in this world. An abstraction defies the physical laws of reality and thus is a fictional place with fictional people and object that done obey the laws of physics. This painting is one of such. I played with what we see in order to see what we normally don't. Its both a deep and surface treatment of what can be pictured on the picture plain. It is both meaningful and non-such in equal quantities. Its titled " A Non-Ordinary World" in an attempt to speak in an ecstatic manner about this life we live in the beginnings of the twenty first century.

Sometimes I am abstract: "Clothesline Abstract"

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The nature of art is expression for me, and for me to be expressive is to have another look at canvases I find dull. Such is was for this "Clothesline Abstract" painting done over the past week that sat around for months. It seemed to always be calling on me to do more whenever I took a look at it. Then after finishing an rather lifeless painting of a city street I took it up onto my easel. The canvas told me what it wanted me to do and so I got to it. The soul of this work of course can be seen on an earlier posting, but when I had the older painting on my easel it sat lifeless and bare. I applied what I knew about colors that work together to form a ribbon and put them on making a contour over some rather obnoxious lengthy forms. I'd like to say it made the painting all new and good but I think what it did was change it. It is a much different work now, it seems to me to be an altogether different painting now, one that I rather like. It will hang in the lo

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

Brushes in a Glass Jar

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Sometimes I am at a loss as to what to use as subject matter for my creative juices but then I happen upon my truest love, my art equipment as my muses fixation. And so it is that I did this drawing of my brushes out on my art table. I do this to take a break from the worktime using my oils. One needs a change of pace I believe don't you think?

Pushing Away the Sun

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Moving the sun further away is sometimes wish of mine. Here I stretch towards it moving upward cursing the withered branch that gives no shade while my friend covers the eyes of a laughing sun. Meaning; "Its hot, calm down sun."

Airplane Plumes

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The roads today are full of unusual cars and jets just spewing their gaseous plumes overhead.

Trump Found Rose's Tapedeck in the Oval Office

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Trump has found Evalen Wood's (Pres Nixon's secretary) tapedeck in the Oval Office in memory of good old Tricky Dick and he's quoted here saying "Nixon used this for his now famous missing eighteen minutes; now I can use it!" A joke it is said needs no explanation or it just isn't worth sharing it with you.

People added to "The Tavern"

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I was asked ever so politely to add some people and cars to my painting of The Tavern, and so I did. I began with a 50's Chevy and some guys dressed like oldtime detectives pointing out something or another. Then I added a Zap Comics sort of androgenic character, I don't know what the complete story is with these guys, you'll have to use your imagination to figure it out. This restaurant has been in Charlottesville since before my time (which was 1977)'a townspeople's favorite' and it really was. Hope u like what I did to it. '

"The Tavern" but with a little more added

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This is "The Tavern" painting taken a few steps further along in its development with my oils.

The Tavern Breakfast Restaurant of Charlottesville

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The Tavern no longer exist, sorry if this is breaking news for you but its gone. It closed last year to make way for a new shopping building of one kind or another. One always has to make way for the wrecking ball after a while in our 21st Century lifestyle of Charlottesville. This city is in a boomtown mood, new hotels and shopping malls are coming into being left and right. And so I snapped a few photos of 'the Tavern' building before its gone for good. That restaurant was a staple for many a U.Va. student on any given Sunday morning for a breakfast to kill for, sometimes I was even at there tables awaiting pancakes and sausage. The food was good and always worth the short wait it took to get fed. It is missed. The restaurant was around for decades. I'd say unofficially that it might have been established in the 1960's but I am not sure. I do know that it was suggested that I had to paint it. To which I often responded, "not now, the building is

Abstract #17

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Many times one gets a look into one's soul from writing what one does or experiences in life. Art on the other hand is a time when one responds to life with color, shape and form when one is making an abstract painting. Seldom do I go into an abstract canvas with a preconceive thought or notion of what I want to do. I do best when not 'thinking ahead' unlike most of my time being alive in this thing called 'the twenty-first century living'. My enjoyment as I have stated in previous posts is 'getting lost in the moment' with my work being the very vehicle of that bliss. This particular painting is one that I stopped and restarted again and again in as much as I felt it needed a little more, and then again a little more, and so on. Before I stopped completely, I took a good look and saw where the canvas need nothing more in order to be 'complete in itself'. Abstract #17 is one in many times during this summer of experimenting where I went ov

A Little Bit; Abstract 16

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This is a fun work of art, it was not preconceived. It happened entirely as I sat behind the easel and 'gave myself the problem'. I had a good time making it, and it wasn't complete until I had 'finished it' and framed it, then pondered what I had done only to discover an imbalance which shouted out that more work was needed. So back on the easel it went and I put those touches that 'just made it so right'.

Wild Abstract 15

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Here in my home I work on a lot of different things, today it was humus: humus with halopinas and lime to be exact. It turned out quite well. I followed the receipt. Then I worked on my next canvas. It went fast. I worked with the color of the rays and got them just that way I wanted it. Then I worked on them a little more. All in all it seemed to be an ok painting with only one exception; the line up of the screw was off kilter between being inside the circle with an internal square and being outside the square. I would be bothered but I didn't see that much wrong with it that way. I would suppose some finicky guy might have a cow over it but hey its art. We have license to break the rules if we want to and here I did 'want to' so I'm leaving it 'as is' Hope you like it. It was fun to make with all the bright colors and all. Let me think for a while as to just what I wish to call this canvas.

Abstract 11 redux

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It needed some more, or so I decided upon the state of midsleep last night in bed. So, I got to it today. Its more defined with what I added.

Abstract Eleven

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I enjoy playing around, as it has been stated in this blog on earlier dates, I use the canvas to imagine what logically comes in a sequence of shapes. I have nothing in mind when I begin and let it unfold one shape at a time. Then add color as an aferthought to the drawing placed upon the surface one shape following its persecutor in a sequence of blended objects. I enjoy its' progressive development as I work on it. Toward its endpoint, I feel disappointed that it must come to its completion because I want it to go on and on in a never-ending development, but it can't.

Beautiful Moment in the Evening Sky

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Sometimes I just like taking an image that one sees only once in a long time, like this one selected for view on this page. Seen from my home, the light hit those clouds at about the best possible angle and moment to my taste. Its been a long time indeed since something as beautiful as that has happened here in my community. I felt God's artistic hand was being shown and His anonymity was being shown as the Great Artist that He is.

Murry's Steak Building on E. Market St.

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Murry's use to be a wholesale meats outlet on E. Market Street in Charlottesville,Va. but they went out of business back in the nineteen eighties but there brick painted sign is still standing firm. How about the power of paint for ya? Its been their quite a few years past its' business's demise. I use to walk by it all the time, and I have to admit I knew one of these days I would have to paint it. Its so iconic for that part of the town of Charlottesville, and so here is my rendering of it. I know, I feel I could have done it so much differently, of course I mean I could and should have done it in so much of a better way than the way it turned out. We're (we artist) so bad about criticizing our own work, and I am no different than anyone else with this defect. But here is my entire feeling for that stretch of sidewalk viewing, its beyond just painting the Murry's building. Its about a lot more than just that, there are many memories locked away in the b

No U Go

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I suppose a lot of people are going to be heading out for their family vacation, if they already haven't done so, well I came up with a memory of the time I was across this land at 'Half-Dome' in Yosemite Monument State Park. I flashed on it, so I did a quick character drawing of some men, a family of them taking in the view. There mostly saying ,"No you go, I'll wait here"

Murrey Steaks Building on West Main St. C'ville, Va.

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I've been thinking again in ink. I've got an idea of what I want to do next and I am playing around with it in an ink and paper motif. I might do this and perhaps not, because I wonder,"Who afterall wants to see these buildings in oil afterall?" But I enjoy them and have done them before in watercolor which is a big help due to having a prior knowledge of what lye ahead.

Greenberry's Coffee Shop

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A coffee shop is usually a spot where one can find the pulse of the city. It is that way with this coffee shop "Greenberry's" that I have painted. It has been in existence a very long time. Its a simple spot, one that serves a few pastries and a number of coffees' as any coffee shop would. It is also where many of the University's students hang their hats. And many of my own friends have as well over the many years. I wanted to remember it with some paint and doing so it took some painstaking time and attention to detail in order to make it 'right with my sight'. I think I got it even with some of the flaws in color not being an exact match to those of the shopping center's paneling on its buildings. I hope you can get over that issue for the sake of showing what one of this town's meeting places appears as in the city scenery of Barracks Road. This is a small canvas, however it is a wide or long canvas. I used mostly sun thicke

418 South 45 th St. On the Porch n da Summer

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My friends and I were avid TV watchers back in the day. At one time we set up the couch and portable TV out on the porch and we watched from that vantage point during the hot city afternoons. Many people would pass by and we would pause and strike up a conversation with them and sometimes they would come up off the city sidewalk and join us. Other times they would simply hold a brief deeply felt communicative moment with us and walk on. It was a memorable occasion none the less and I really enjoyed it. That all went on for a good while until the landlord got wind of it and made us move back inside the townhouse turned apartment-house. I did this drawing simply by my memory as best I could remember what our set up looked like from that townhouse porch in the West Philly part of the city.

Belmont Market: Pen and Ink

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I used to live in Belmont and the iconic spot when I first moved to Lennard Street I had to walk by or bike right by the local convenience store called the Belmont Market almost everyday. It is in the heart of that small district of Charlottesville but it has much deeper ties to those who grew up in C'ville (as its affectionately known)....we who have spent time traversing those streets have all stopped into 'The Belmont Market' at one time or another. The building has the look of one that might collapse right around you if you spent too much time their, but it never has. Serving the public of C'ville for many many years the Market has gone through a few different hands of ownership. Right now the Vorah family owns it. I know because their son was a student at our school just a few years ago and it was then that I would check up on him sitting in his father's store stocking its shelves with assorted items. They are a wholesome new age American immigrants

Thoughts on Creativity and "clinical madness"

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Sitting within my own dreams as I draw I allow my consciousness drift as I draw and I came upon this idea of the crying clouds in suites holding a flower. I like to be creative and I like to make sense but the two don't add up when I am drawing. I've heard a very boring doctor state how creative people are madmen due to having exhibited madness in simply being able to be very much above the bar when it comes to creativity. Perhaps, but if I'm not hurting anyone and people are enjoying my images then where is the harm and why be a "name caller". Today putting that kind of label on people merely because they can draw better than you forces many younger people in art school to doubt themselves and if they say off drugs then more power to them and their creative ideas and artwork. Oneself is the best person to say if one is not able to handle what the world puts in front of us. So if you wondering if one must be crazy in order to be creative, well of cou

Mythological Point of Light

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All through life I have had a love of land formations and the very fact that we are made of this stuff we call 'earth'. Then we get to live this thing called 'life' plus in doing so we get to witness that very earth we are made of in all various states of its' being. Then in comes the sunlight to give us a look at the earth in all kinds of different shades and states. Today I saw what I like 'rocks' lite in a unique way due to the shades of light after a storm ran by us. It lite these rocks in my yard in a surreal and almost mythological manner. I might not be in the mainstream of growth here in my little acre but I am in the place where I like to be.

Ben Franklin W. Main St.

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Charlottesville's Ben Franklin was still in business when I arrive in this college town back in 1978. That type of store being what it was which was a place for nothing too important or necessary to buy but it was a great way to spend some time. Sometimes one might discover an item that wasn't what one had in mind when one arrived in the store but once found, you couldn't leave without it. That's what 5/10 cent stores use to be like. A place to brows with nothing much in mind and you could find almost anything inside of them. They were packed with junk, cool junk, stuff you loved to see just for the novelty of it. When it came time to paint this store, I couldn't remember just what it actually looked like with its lettering and colors. I search various photo sights and nothing turned up. Although it was a franchise it still varied in design from store to store. So what is left is a building in concrete that has the form of what it use to be but no c

Figures on a Stairway

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To begin I took a figure towards the left here and just drew what came naturally after that; for some reason unknown to me I put all my figures on an elevated train station stairway heading up. Why I don't really know I just know it seemed fitting. These are pen and inks', the pens are plentiful in the stores here so I use them quite often to break from traditional painting. One use to have to labor over those repediographs (forgive the spelling, they are out of circulation now) pens when one was done with the days work. The stem had to be cleaned out and reassembled, and they always seem to get clogged up with dry ink before one could ever get anything useful out of them again. What a pain! But today's while they are disposable they still can make for more than just one drawing per pen. Plus they are a lot more affordable that those old nineteen seventy technology was for me and my wallet.

Battles 'n Abstraction

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When I am tired of doing the same old art expression, I will change my expressions to another medium. Pen and ink are the usual culprits that get my wrath. Here in this pen and ink I played around with the ideas of ships, pirates and abstract shapes of absolutely no relevance. Shapes for shapes sake. I do like making ships though, when in school I often penned a good number of ship to ship battles. Of course I was listening to the teachers the whole time, I mean really I was...there was just this battle that had to happen on my notebook I was taking notes on that's all.

"Lucky 7" After Being Touched Up Some

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I worked a little more on the painting of the "Lucky 7" working on the shadows above the front doors and windows to give the shadows a little more definition. I used dark reds and some Hansa Yellows w Flake White. I believe it changed the whole visual affect of it.

The Waiter's Voice

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The waiter is hidden in many upscale restaurants. Not so if your working in the kitchen of one, their is where one gets to witness the inner beings of those who do our restaurant's catering towards the customers. Its up close and its personal to we who worked in establishments of eating. Personal habits were often worthy of comment to the wait staff in most of those restaurants I worked at, like Martha's Cafe, Zipper's and before that Basin Street, Miller's on the downtown mall plus a few others. It all came down to just how human we were to those who asked "will there be anything else?" or "Would you like something to drink?" Even with the predictability of the questions much more was communicated to the waiter. So much so, there was almost a deathwish that could arise in an unspoken way for those who answered, those who were sitting down at the table. The wait staff usually had a lot to say in the back kitchen area about who they we

Lucky 7

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This painting took some time but in doing it many memories came flooding back into my mind. I believe everyone in C'ville has done business in this store. Its slated for demolition soon. Along with the building right next door to it, it has been a touchstone for locals. I think all of we locals have been inside of its doors to buy cigarettes or beer. Its in a central location, right next to the police station and City Hall where many run over for our daily needs. It has about anything in the way of candy, cigs, beers or sodas inside its' vaults or coolers. They are doing the usual with it, the thing that was sung out by Joanie Michell in that they are "paving paradise and putting up a parkinglot". Here it happens again, this time its for parking for our courts and policemen. Its days are numbered and so I remember it with this canvas. One funny little note is that its widely known that if you want to get a cab all you have to do is go to the "Luck