Landscape of Virginia

I haven't had the time to do much lately I must confess, I've either been sick with the flue or dealing with the move to a new house. The house is the good part, south of town about thirty miles, far enough away to be remote yet close enough to still make use of the cultural benefits of the city. It's a wish I had long ago when I lived in this part of the world but I didn't have the knowledge, resources or skills to live in the country. Then I moved into the little city that Charlottesville is and have stayed for many years but now it's time to move back. And now I have the ability to be successful in the world of the Walton's hometown. I hope they welcome me. I will be on my best behavior.

Preparing to take a much needed vacation from the ongoing work done here in Charlottesville...I'm leaving it all behind for a little while to head up to see some friends in Berkeley Springs and then onto Philadelphia to visit someone important in my life. It should be a real joy to do all this in the next week. I'm thankful to have gott'n a good number of paintings done already in the first half of my summer break. I am hopeful about getting some more done once I return. I have some larger canvases that are ready to be painted upon and it maybe that I might feel like heading back to the comic supermarket with my brushes and paint. That's my feeling today, and I'm going to take my time driving, no need to get their five minutes faster because there is a slower truck in front of me that I've got to pass...no wwaaayyy baby!! I'll just slow it down. The painting I'm showing today was a little afterthought of whimsy due to painting houses with nothi...

Back years ago there was a place on the downtown bricked over mall which was the Main drag there is a store which was a restaurant. It was quite a nice wooden structure that housed a burger and sandwich joint plus some upper balcony art galleries and such. My favorite was the chocolate shop that came in and would always make my mouth water whenever I walked in for lunch with a friend. The chocolates were right at eye level and I could never leave that place without a sample of them on my person. Having said that, a few years ago they closed up and the building was sold and turned into a clothing shop for some trendy wares of one kind or another. Now whenever the name of that restaurant comes up people wane nostalgically; one person who is the daughter of a former co-worker had a prom date in it and just the name brings up regret towards its' demise. And so I painted an oil of it because of her request for me to do so. It turned out I had some drawings of it in the ...

Getting my art on today, I finished my latest painting of a local hangout from back in the day, or so the locals tell me. I've been here over thirty years but I'm still 'from the north' but that's ok I still feel welcome and a part of this place. The painting was started on location painted from a hillside with the permission of one of the neighbors, it is of "the Jak and Jil" restaurant and it's big. Working on it a number of times with my watercolors it has turned out rather well in oils. I enjoyed painting moreso with a 'painterly effect' of brushwork, I left finishing the surface so paint strokes did show off this one. A painter friend said I should let people see how I have painted a painting so with this one I am attempting to make that so. I rather enjoy the effect and when one is in the presence of the actual canvas one can really see 'how he did it'. I have yet to photograph it but I will get to it before too muc...

I've been looking through some older drawings . I really didn't get a lot from them that I can show with confidence but there are a few. One has to go through a process in order to get to "the good stuff" but I did do the footwork to get to where I am today. This drawing is one I did only a few years ago as I was living near the downtown area and a section known as "Fifeville". It's housed both the working class, African Americans and otherwise has had to have much of it torn down due to street changes and old dwelling becoming just too old to stand. One was a house I lived in and painted in, it was located on King Street. I lived their from 1979 or so ( I remember the new Pope was named the day I moved in which was Pope John Paul II at the time) until I was hospitalized for my addiction and usage of drugs until I went off. I don't do that anymore but I did and it was a part and parcel of my existence during my active days of my addictio...

It's been an interesting and somewhat busy, productive day. I finished on painting of Belmont BBQ, got a preliminary drawing of a new restaurant opening in this area by the name of "Tavola" and then pulled out a canvas and got the start of a new painting underway. There is still daylight left to do more if I so choose, but I think just kick'n back for a while aught to work. I was down in the heart of Belmont, which has become my favorite place to set up and paint this summer. I've gott'n some good work out of all the new buildings that have a new home in Belmont, but I also enjoy some of the older ones too. I can say, the work still is look'n good to me. But now it's time to celebrate the Fourth with some friends I haven't seen in a while but with whom I feel a fondness for none the less. I am thankful for a country where I can paint as I please wherever I please without fear of retribution of any kind for what I love doing. Ma...