Landscape of Virginia

A small work I put together in the last few days is coming from a photo taken in Scottsville, Va. I am working moreso on photos this summer indoors to see if I can convincingly operate on oils out of my front living-room. So far so good. I think I've overcome what happens to too many 'photo realist' (and I don't count myself as one I am simply using a photograph to work from) in that there final product has a very flat quality to its depth as a painting. I'm not against photo realist, by no means I like there work and the clarity that some achieve is unbeatable : not including someone such as Vermeer who's brilliance outshines us even today with his clarity of his images in oil. The thing I want to avoid in painting from a photograph is not seeing around the angle or missing an items volume as an object in space. An item with volume is one that has the intent of roundness or a 3-dimensional shape implied in its rendering, that is what visual work I wa...

Older buildings can often be unkempt however if they are given a coat of paint once in a while it can sometimes be enough to preserve them enough them as a legacy. Such was the situation with the unique structures in Lovingston. These three ( I include the one is shadow on the left in blue) were once vibrant shops and the center point of the town. The one on the left in shadow of blue was a drug store years ago but now stands unoccupied and delinquent. Sure the taxes on it are being paid but in all honesty it would take a lot of work before someone could live in it or run a gainful enterprising shop within its walls. Sure it could be done but these buildings are on there way down. I painted them because of the designs within them and how the simple look of the three floors with their wood trim work truly is 'good aesthetics' and because of that I wanted them to be remembered in an oil of mine. With that said, I present my work on 'Front Street' of Lovingsto...