Landscape of Virginia

What the nice surrounding land does for a person often goes unmentioned but when one paints one can show others the beauty and enjoyment one feels for the surrounding landscape. All that said (in poetic terms I suppose) how does a person portray it to others is the question for an artist. I've decided to just go out and find spots that bring up my wonderment of the raw unique power of nothing more than trees and what man has done to live among them. Here is a painting of a simple road but to see how this road bends and twist to lay upon the land is stunning to me. It's almost like a carnival ride in it's scope of bending to the landscape. True I think I must have exaggerated it some but I've gone back to this place and I must say that if it is exaggerated it isn't done so by much. Here is where I can enjoy the flow of my paint. When the territory lends itself to depicting features unique unto this place such as a fingerprint lends itself only to that...

Art takes time, and time takes devoting oneself to the task of creation of it, drawing prepares one for the making of a painting. Needless to say, I've been drawing lately. I did get out and paint today which was useful and rewarding. I finished a small canvas and it is drying as I write this post. But I have been spending time drawing inbetween canvas painting. It's a good thing to not be committed to a 'serious work' and just be free to explore one's own imagination which is what I do when drawing in a notebook. Its' a playful thing to draw and I try to get one done everyday when the paper is available and it is. The meaning of these drawings is entirely up to the viewer. Don't let this bother you, it's all for the fun of free association of our collective imagination.

I can't just hop outside and paint thesedays with this weather, I enjoy it but it's been just downright cold for a good while now during the days which prevents me from going outside to paint. It's not stopping me from building some new canvases because I plan to paint indoors then later on in the coming month I'm thinking of venturing outside to an area on an old country road between Keene, and Esmont Va. to paint some old fences and wooded areas. For today though we had this snow to deal with, not much to do except to pray for the power to stay on and so far it has and I've been very grateful for that fact. Tomorrow I will finish up those two new large canvases then read some and rest, cuz soon I will be headed back to work again once they've decided that the roads are passible again. I'm hoping that won't be too long in coming because we have to make up this time we miss during the summer days when it's hot and humid. If you know any...

I've been working on this painting for a few weeks, it's right outside my back window but its' been somekind of effort and a half to get it done. Today I suffer with the leftovers of a short bout with the flue but I had enough energy to pick up my brush and get to work on this. These two trees are lumbering outside and dominate my backyard and view of the Rockfish River in so much as someone whom I repect said that "they had to be painted". Of coures I was resistant to the hilt but then I recanted once winter set in and I was needing something to paint without setting up outside, then the memory of what was suggested came to mind. I had the canvas prepared and ready to go. Since these tress are so large it took a big canvas to do the job and that is exactly what I had: the task became obvious..."do what one is told to do" and so I did. I put down some dropclothes and got to work. I've forgotten how long it took me but it was a longer...

At this time, I can only work on days off from work (ironic isn't it?) which are becoming frequent with the threat of snow having our schools hit the panic button and closing for the day...that's when I can work and I do. I am currently working out my back window of the view of trees on the riverside. The trees are focused on this one pair of Sycamore trees on the riverbank with the river flowing behind it. The opposite shore runs upward with a varying display of foliage upward to the background of faraway mountains and high trees. It's a challenge that I am going to and am enjoying painting. I will be taking my time with it and so this statement comes about just to say "hold on" my caricatures are on hold and my landscapes from my new found country life are on the way....ya just gott'a wait a while.

This new painting is done in the plein air manner where one sets up his easel and paints outdoors and works from what one sees out in the wild. This road that I painted is one that is very enjoyable to drive on. I am somewhat new to this part of the countryside, I lived here about thirty five years ago and only recently moved back. So although it's a new place for me to live in it still has some place in my memory. Its just that they are very old memories for me. But all that aside, this road is particularly lovely in the winter when some of the leaveless trees allow one to see through the spaces that are usually blocked by the foliage. In this painting I focused upon the sunlight that shines inbetween the trucks and upon the ground and road. Plus the colors are so different in the winter out here, the color of wood seems to shine forth so well in this scene. I hope you enjoy it, it was fun to paint.

Painting can sometimes be a lot like making chocolate chip cookies in that the batter can be more satisfying than the finished product: and so are my paintings to some of my viewers. If I could only count the number of times I've heard people comment that they enjoyed my painting when I had just begun it (when I had painted the underpainting in brown monochromatic colors that is)meaning that I aught to have stopped back then. I feel like a small mouse then who ruined a nice cake of the house owner who is providing me a warm home. Point being, sometimes one can't provide what people are looking for in the artist quest for a finished painting. But an artist can record his progress of his creative act with photographic snapshots after each painting period. I did just that. I painted for eleven sessions and set up my camera and snapped away after each one. So here to satisfy those folks who like my beginnings much better than my endings...well I aim to please.