Landscape of Virginia

Working with pen and ink has always been an enjoyment for me, I loved the effect of the ink line on paper. There is something of the 'fine' in 'fine art' with it. Ink is a strong color of black, one of the strongest colors when seen against the whiteness of a good drawing paper. I can sit for hours and entertain myself using it. I use to think I had to get loaded in order to do a good job but I've found out that using only dulls the senses and my abilities wane, so I don't do that anymore. Now I sit and enjoy the effort of getting a good vision of what I want to do and where I want to go with a drawing while I draw it. I can perform at such a better rate and be aware and enjoy the creative process rather than go through ' the creative struggle'. It is a joy. This particular drawing is one that is of a few different trees, some older trees near my home and others miles away in West Virginia. I just happen to bring my drawing notebook al

As Eric Clapton mentioned in his last interview with Rolling Stone; "sometimes one has to simply do what's in front of him" (I'm paraphrasing him because I just through out the mag due to finishing it) and this past week I did simply that with my pen and paper pad. The results were enjoyable. In the studies I produced I found myself going back to the basic hand-eye coordination techniques I learned as a student of the arts in Philadelphia. I got into a groove with it. Since I was in the country for few days visiting some longtime friends I chose to draw trees and there were plenty of them around outside our windows from which I had my choice. I also had the advantage of good weather, large pane-glass windows sitting in air conditioning in a comfortable chair while drawing. I picked a conifer with some twisting branches and then also the trunks of a variety of these wooden giants. My enjoyment came when I freed up myself to 'get into it' and

One has to admire a town where putting in the first stoplight is seen as the beginnings of the coming collapse of the western world and independence as we know it. The small spot on the map is now in the throws of having at least doubled itself in both population and size with the recent addition of a few housing developments. Its a picturesque place one must admit. Its snug right up against the Blue Ridge range of mountains and one merely has to look to the west and one need to peer upwards to see the sky from any vantage point. The mountains rule for certain backgrounds, in this vantagepoint of my art I picked a spot that looks away from the Blue Ridge and towards the east. I am right at the intersection where the stoplight in question was put in a few years ago. The reason for picking this spot wasn't to get away from the mountain view (but that is ok) but rather to have a look at the Crozet Pizza. Its a landmark of a store. All who have grown up within fifty miles o