I take a stand on the one that fell right after I got home from work ready to just relax and sit out the storm that came through town today. Little did I know I was about to hear a rather surprising sound of a treefall and be in for a workout helping to cut and carry it out of our way.
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What Has Worked;

The Town of Shenandoah Virginia

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We rode up the Shenandoah valley hugging the eastern side northward from Afton and Waynesboro, when we came upon an old railroad stopover town that was pretty much deserted. The town is just south of Luray and it's called "Shenandoah". The town was a layover town on the railroad line that went up and down the valley and the engineers and many workers of the trains would stop in here for there nighttime rest spot. Since the trains no longer spend time on an overnight layover here the small town has died out. It's deserted and lay barren but some trains do hang out on the tracks which still run between it's "First St." and the river nearby. It's got a nice feel to it, it's got a wide not so long lay of the land, and it's gott'n a grant that improved the streets and facades of it's remaining buildings. It just doesn't have any people save a few holdouts. We ran into one man who had simply bought ...
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Hut for a Blue Tractor and a Red Grass-Cutter

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     Many of these farm structures that I live around out here in Central Virginia near Lovingston are made from wood that has been recycled from earlier farm buildings.   I am almost certain that a lot if it may just go back to the early days of European settlers locating here in Schuyler.   One can just take a quick look and even without carbon-dating one can see that the wood is old and weathered by the elements.   It is very heavy older hardwood that these folks used in making their farm structures.   One can also see how the buildings were shaped for the needs of the farm at a time and then torn down but not discarded but reused again for another purpose..   The sizes of the buildings are small.   They may house one farm implement or two but they are not like those northern Atlantic barns that have lofts and large areas for animals, these buildings are built to suite a single purpose and generally aren'...
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Walton Home 'n Schuyler, Va.

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The proverbial home of Earl Hammner called to me to be painted. He was the author of the Americana book "The Waltons" and also the script writer for the TV show that followed. The TV show was widely seen during the 1980's. In this town of Schuyler where I now live E. Hammner is an icon and a museum has been established out of what was the elementary school in Schuyler. The museum is devoted to that TV show and its actors, memorabilia, plus a WWII museum added on to it. Folks who own the house now give tours to the Hammer home 9am to 5pm daily with only Sundays off. Schuyler is just off Rt 6 on Rt 800 (or Schuyler Rd) which is just east of Rt 29 and 30 miles south of Charlottesville (the home of The University of Virginia). I felt like I had been ignoring painting this home long enough and when I stopped into Ike's General Store to buy the local paper (the Daily Progress) some asked me if I ever painted it. Then it hit me: "I ought to do so, and ...
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Dehumanization or Understanding w Respect

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Another two weeks and I will put away my easel and paints for my jobsite clipboard and such other teaching equipment because classes begin then. Before heading back to school I have had time to paint this summer and such is the result: it's titled :" Personal Dehumanization or Understanding Relationship: It's Up To You" it's an oil painting that is about three foot square and it's new. My work this summer has been an off and on affair but they do come into being occasionally this being one of those times when it clicked pretty well. I enjoy the "crispness" as one person put it to me last night when showed it to him. I think the quality of the painted surface has improved a great deal with the more time I've put into the making of my canvases. With more time comes a better understanding of what techniques work and which don't so I have better control in getting the effects I am looking for when I paint. The character with the wei...
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Trees 2012

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Sometimes it pays to simply wait and let the clouds part from our view. They have to evaporate ya know and it's not something one can force. So sometimes when one is stuck from having subjects to paint one falls back upon old subject matter, that's where this painting comes from, it's a tried and true subject matter for me. I think I'm getting a little better at it now. If one compares it to some older tree paintings I do think this one is a little better. But I'll leave that to history to judge, that is if history wishes to remember me and my art in the first place. It's kind of pompous of me to think that people would but people have been very kind and they do surprise me from the perspective of who and how they like my artwork. So I'll stand aside when it comes time for those who appreciate my art to talk about it.
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