"Albemarle Hotel" retouched

The painting wasn't quite "right" for me. I retouched some of the Hotel's portico overhang to be more in line with its actual color. Perhaps one wouldn't notice it but it mattered to me. I think its a little bit better but who knows....

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What Has Worked;

Hut for a Blue Tractor and a Red Grass-Cutter

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     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'...
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Downtown to Read at the Library I Saw....

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A day at the downtown local library was truly an eye opener. I went to look up the newest issue of American Artist magazine which I truly love but just don't have the warewithall to have a subscription. The stay at the table I was at was quiet and truly comfortable for my pursuing my magazine but upon finishing it I saw an unusual site at the tables beside me. Those men who were sitting had books open but were simply sitting still and quiet but they were also staring off into a far away wide open space. It was eerie and I took a long second look to see it in a perceptive manner as to not miss anything, then I got up and because I was done with my article I left the library. It was later on at home I picked up my pen and drawing tablet to render the image of what I had just experienced at the downtown library. How unique and eerie yet very moving in a manner that Potemkin was a moving film. That is what I have posted as my drawing for this article. Life is what it is...
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Ending for a While; But I'll Be Back!!

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Many paintings have been posted this past year of 2016 as I completed them, but that time has come to a new vista, I am putting away the oils for a while so I can concentrate on my other job of working with students with various degrees of disabilities. Or what's better known in the trade as my 'day job' that's the one that pays the bills and is meaningful in other ways as well. But I'll be back with more as the time get closer to some Holiday times when I am here all by myself with plenty of spare time to use for art. I will be drawing in the meantime and don't fret I will be back, just not right away. In the meantime here is a photo of my path to my river down below my home, a place of solitude and thanks for all the good the God of my Understanding has allowed me to participate in.
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Lost Mid-Alantic Church in Nelson County

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     This painting was conceptualized once I saw this Church or what remains of it on the side of a country road around here near my home.   It's presence was impressive with its clean white clay brick towers where windows once stood.   One could easily tell that its walls once held a congregation in prayer on any particular Sunday a century ago or so.   Bringing it onto a canvas was a chore.   It had to be painted with care and granted it was an interpretation and hopefully mistakes were forgivable for the sake of memorializing it as a home for the southern culture held within its walls.   I played with the color of it and its fictional background.  It was all for the sake of conveying the spiritual nature of this lost building of worship. 
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The Barn on the Holland Farm

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    This building had been painted earlier, just not from this angle.   I took a top downward look in this composition in oil.    I liked the perspective of the fence running downhill and swooping around into the back of the barn.   I was thinking that I had made an error in judgement when I painted the one side of the barn in shadow, but after working moreso I saw that it seemed to work since the shade is marked with details of the wooden doors, and other details worked out in blues and dark browns.   As they say, getting some distance by letting it sit for a while without me looking at it allowed me to really see that what I had done was ok in fact it worked pretty well.       I feel that this canvas is successful, but its one that a person needs to take a good look at what one is seeing before deciding if it works as a work of art or not.   You don't want to just gloss over it with a quick ...
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