Mennonite Church in Schuyler: A Stone Building That Sits Above Most Others

   This building sits on a hilltop overlooking the Walton's home in Schuyler.   It is a wonderful addition to this small community and is attended to by but a few remaining members of its congregation that live nearbly.   I wanted to paint it with the thought of it being a really beautiful building that once housed many ceremonies for those minors who were devout in their faith and prayed within its walls.


  



   

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What Has Worked;

Graffiti in Our Little Town

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Such a good day for summertime pictures that I went out and walked around Belmont yesterday taking photos of whatever caught my eye. I didn't do this activity when I had a film SLR. I was always concerned,"will it come out?" Today, I can take whatever I want and not worry about wasting film. So I head out just to see what there is to take photos of more often. Yesterday, I happened upon a wall that is used for graffiti. In this town, the street artist stick to this one wall and don't pollute other walls nearby. This wall has been getting "tagged" more often and for a longer time than any other location that I have noticed. I'm grateful for those same artist using just this one wall. Northern cities suffered from overuse of "tagging" and the graffiti was an eyesore and it was everywhere, it was a nuisance up in those northern cities. So, I found that these street artist put a lot of time and energy into painting their im
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The Blood Red House on Belmont Ave

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A new painting of what I dubbed "the Blood Red House" is a view of a really nice looking porch on a house that caught my eye. As it turns out, it is a new purchase by the farming cultural community of disabled Americans known as Innisfree, it is a housing unit for clients who will live in town. I enjoyed a good view of it in the way that the trees still haven't bloomed with their leaves yet, so I got a really unobstructed view of it to paint it. I stood across the street as the flower pedals dropped onto my palette while I was working. The wind was stiff. The colors were grand that day and the sky was clear of clouds so the sun shown brightly down on me. I got a small amount of sun that day, but it was all worth it because of the result. I might even go back and create an even larger painting just to do this view justice.
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Hamner Crossing: The Oil

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Sometimes as an artist one will come across a scenic place that is just calling out to be put into an oil painting. Such was this spot in Nelson County right where the railroad tracks going North and South pass through the County. It has plenty of space, and visual impact one might expect from a railroad crossing. From as far back as Edward Hopper (which isn't that far of a stretch) the railroad scenes have been a real draw for we visual artist. Rails have such great and large visual props. This crossing caught my attention with its two crossing guards and lights. It is so structured and its contrasted by the chaos of mother nature all around it. So here we have order surrounded by chaos, what a site of novelty and the promise of good subject matter for my canvases. I started by photographing the scene. I took perhaps thirty or so photos from one side of the tracks but doing it from all angles. I simply walked far down the road and then walked back towards the g
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"Hopes for the Sycamores"

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Looking at a painting for a year or so one can see that so much more could be done with it. In this vein, I took a brush and palette up to work on "Cloven Sycamores" which had been sitting in a blind alley (or my storage room for artwork) for some time. I began this one in my bedroom just looking out over the river below (it's not the James but the Rockfish River which does flow into the James River)me as I look out from the back of my house. A good friend said that I needed to do a painting of those two trees. I said "No way man!!" I felt it would be just too big of an object to fit into any canvas of mine. Then a year when by n I was simply pulled into that view when I was just gazing on afternoon upon that pair. I began it in 2013. I had the drop cloth bought simply for the reason of protecting the bedroom carpet from my easel's drippings. I set up on a sunny day and when to work. The start didn't take long I think in five hours I had
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Faber Rd View Southward

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This is one of the most beautiful spots in the lower 48 states or such is my own belief about my home area. In driving back and forth to work I often will take a short cut even if it is a slower way home. Reason being; its just nice to see the countryside with many of the roadside views looking like they belong on a postcard. This painting is the result of taking one of those shortcuts home. It is back off the beaten path somewhat, but it is not a hidden view it is simply not a view many people see. It is in southern Albemarle County just north or around Nelson County in Central Virginia but it is on a back road. The farm shown has two owners. These two elderly women still live their, working on the farm even in their eighties. One can see that this spot has some history although not to the extent European farms might but enough for us around here. In the background is Walton's Mountain, yes the same one mentioned in Earl Hammner's book "the Wal
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