Resting after a day's work; I am in the middle of making a new painting dealing with mixing an abstract idea of balloons and a figure on a cell phone with blending in a setting sun with shadows added. I like giving myself problems then getting to work solving those very same problems in paint. Soon to be working on a daily basis my summer break is only two weeks away and I am planning to get outdoors to show the great countryside of Nelson County to the world. (or whomever takes a look at this blog) So stay tuned, and be patient with me the work will be coming fast and furious
soon.

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What Has Worked;

A Smaller Painting on the Same Theme

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I finished what I was working on during Thanksgiving here at home just a few hours ago. It is an acrylic painting. A smaller one that took some work to complete but it is nice just the same. The subject is one that is repeated from the one I just finished. That larger one of "Mincer's" is a rather more significant painting on. I wanted to work on this painting in a plastic based paint (acrylics) just to see if I could do it. I needed to test myself in this newer medium in order to know just how does this paint hold up doing the things I usually do in oils. It handled differently yet it was better in working with varying colors on a flat plain. In varying colors it worked such that one can alter one color with many others in order to produce "bright changes" from spot to spot on the same area of the canvas. I was glad to see how this could be worked out. There were other abilities acrylics have that are unique to this medium but I won't ...
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Plans of Mice and Men Sooner Can Go Astray

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Upon our early springlike weather I popped out and put up my easel with canvas upon a local avenue that is titled :"Belmont Ave", it is here where I did a preliminary drawing before rendering it in oils this past Sunday. I have yet to photograph the oil painting but I did have this pen and ink which I will post. It's going to be a pleasure to get out once again into the elements with my equipment and in such accommodating weather it is very pleasurable to work in the outdoor air, and sun here in Charlottesville. I am hoping to get something done this spring break or the very first week in April, but we will wait and see....one never knows in this ever changing world with all the problems we have, have had, and will be having that are not even known about now. I know that the truth is always subject to revision when it comes to making plans for my future. I've learned to just put somethings aside of my own self interest for the sake of the common good of ...
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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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Poolside

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On a lazy summer day, what better thing to do than relax at poolside. My elbow was hurting from all the paintings I've been doing. As of yesterday, I finished fourteen of them in one month of summer relaxation. A bit more than I could expect to have done when I was planning this summer break from work. I will have them posted soon on my website . Today, I was at poolside at a local club, what a beautiful day to be out and about. Nothing but clear blue above me as I swam the backstroke across the ever so wide pool. I was in and out three times before it was time for me to go. Swimming is such a true joy for me. Thankfully, my parents had me learn how to swim at a summer camp on the Chesapeake Bay way long ago and today you can't get me out of the water until I hear the car engine start in the car I came in. Tomorrow it's back to the humdrum of my life here in town. Nothing wrong with it, I'm enjoying my painting and going to the gym is just great, but i...
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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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