Shipman's McGinnis Building and its Red Tree

This painting is one of a small business building in Shipman, Va. Shipman is a railroad town that has seen its better days a while ago. Now there is little activity yet its buildings still are holding up. This particular building is right next to the tracks and also the Post Office. It is a business building of some sort, the owner is retired and it sits alone. I don't know if it is being used today but it is still in good shape. It really stands out among those in Shipman mainly for its distinctive coloring and shape. Its not like many other buildings in this part of Central Virginia. It has that very unique porch underneath the second story that covers it by jutting outward with a Red Leaf tree growing upward. Its unique. One seldom sees a tree being an important visual part of a covered porch but here it is part of the composition. And a very important part of this painting.

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What Has Worked;

Penn Academy of the Fine Art Visit in Philly

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I made it up to Sinking Springs Pennsylvania and then into Philadelphia the next day, what a great city! The city was really alive with people and new stores and buildings that I had never seen before. It was really a treat for me. My friends (Mike and Annson) took me to the new school building for PAFA and then into our old classrooms in the Museum building. It was nice to see the classrooms where I worked so hard to "get it right" but I never felt like I did "get it right". But no matter I had the desire to keep working and the teachers were encouraging none-the-less no matter how "bad" I felt my artwork was coming out. I was carefully brought into the creative world during those formative years in the Old Museum Building. I did practice and work everyday I could when I was a student in the certificate program at the Academy. After working on casts, it seemed like I improved in my abilities to bring out something worthwhile because of...
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Hut for a Blue Tractor and a Red Grass-Cutter

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Remains of an Early Virginian Church

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Whiting Oil Company on W. Main St. C'ville, Va.

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On a walk to my day job in the 1980's I would pass this non-important gas station on the main drag of West Main Street. Today its a new and different event taking such a meandering in Charlottesville, the buildings are all redone and new ten story hotels are being placed on that street. The old has been made new. I believe the term is re-gentrification. Such a change happened to this former gas station. It was a building I passed by and never really took a good look at because there wasn't anything 'noteworthy' for me to see in it. It was your average gas station with mechanics working on cars inside of its portals. But then came the changes and renewal occurred. While I don't like change for change sake, the re-gentrification of West Main Street has added some taste to that street's structures, such was what I saw in 'Whiting Oil Co.' It has had some new walls added, outdoor tables and new glass windows that made it somewhat unique to ot...
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