The River

The River view is terrific and very calming as I mentioned. It is scenic where I've chosen to place myself. It is what it is. It's new for me, yet in truth I've been here before, I just didn't know how to stay and work here. Now I feel I am ready to give it a "go". This river is just below my home and it is something else.

Comments

Post a Comment

What Has Worked;

Hut for a Blue Tractor and a Red Grass-Cutter

Image
     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'...
Read more

U.Va. did there best but with injuries we fell short

Image
We at Post High were treated to a U.Va. baseball game with our students, it was the NCAA regional game with hosting U.Va. playing Oregon (last years champs). It was a well fought game but in the end we did have it to take the cake. With two important players out from injuries from the first of two games with Oregon we fell short. I hope for the speedy recovery for those two injured players (Milcat and another player but I'm not sure exactly who-was it B. Gyer?) , they are both champs for helping the team take us to the highest point yet for our baseball team of the University in our hometown of Charlottesville, Va.. All of our students had a really great time cheering on the Cav's . Goo Hoo's Goooo ....until next year. I personally have enjoyed there state of the art stadium for the last three years, it's a hell of an improvement for we fans of baseball. Before it's existence we sat in aluminium bleachers that might have held between fifty and a hundr...
Read more

Walking Along W. Main St.

Image
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...
Read more

The New Art Building at U.Va.

Image
Then I went to U.Va. to see their exhibit of modern European art such as some Picasso prints and others from that era, I had a good time and stopped in to see if my good friend Phil was at home. He's in a new building over their at the art school, it's going by the name of Ruffin Hall. It's nice. I had a guided tour of the four or more story building. The art showing was inventive and fresh. It was a welcome change from what it was before they had the room to move their arms around so they didn't bump into each other as they painted. One can see the new exhibit areas are wonderfully big and roomy. I saw some huge portraits of street people that must have been ten feet in height all done with pastel, charcoal and some tempera or acrylic paints. The thing about it was that it was street people painted upon cardboard which is very appropriate due to the fact that many homeless sleep on such material and make signs with it...it was impressive to see thes...
Read more

Walton Home 'n Schuyler, Va.

Image
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 ...
Read more