Landscape of Virginia

A friend who was of a great help in my artistic career asked me if I would paint her house for her. She didn't want me to paint the sides of it with a roller, oh no....she was looking for me to do a 'house portrait' of her dwelling. I certainly jumped at the offer due to my enjoyment of painting the buildings of the Belmont section of Charlottesville. I had already painted many of the homes just a block north of her so I certainly said I would be more than glad to do so. It was the second of three nice cool yet sunny days when I set up across the street from her home on Monticello Ave in the Belmont section of town and I got to work. The work when somewhat fast. I had a good view, a view that said "it's just right" to me. It was a view slightly from an angle so I could see both the front and the right side of the home. I like this because adding in the right side gives the image some depth and some volume in space to it. With out the side of th...

It's been 'spring break' for me from my day to day job; because I've had the free time this week I got into my painting. I saw where there were three days of promised sunlight and so I set out on the first day to paint for others. The first painting was of the small Virginia town that hugs the mountains of the Blue Ridge called Crozet, that painting was done in one sitting (or standing since I painted it "plein air") with the view of the mountains in the background. There was an unusual end to my day painting the one of Crozet; a young lovely came out once I was done and packing up my equipment into my car and exclaimed "oh how wonderful, I was able to watch the whole thing" how strange I thought, I'd never been given a comment like that before. It seemed she was sitting in a framing shop right across the street from where I was set up painting the 'Crozet' painting, she sat looking out the large plate glass windows lo...