Landscape of Virginia

One must begin somewhere and for me well I began because I had to. Our teachers asked me if I would work with our students on another canvas as I have done in the past. Its sort of a fund raiser when we sell a painting made by myself and our students. The work is completed by our students under my direction while we are in session. I will bring it home and leave it alone as best I can but I may straighten up some small matters but leave as much as possible alone. This painting I am working on came from a photo I took during the spring a few years ago while living in Belmont which is part of Charlottesville, Va. The flowers bloom plentiful in that section of town so one spring I went out with my camera and photographed a good number of them. I took those photos and selected one to work from. On Monday I will bring this under painting that I did in Burnt Umber into school for the students to complete. I will work with them in order to put in the various color tones while ...

Finding time to visit Scottsville, Va. again I brought along my paints w my easel, water and a nice straw hat to shield me from the sun. But I didn't know where I would be painting or what. I drove to downtown Scottesville and simply parked right where I found the first open space. I got out. I looked across the street and voila my subject was their. I pulled my equipment out, set it all up and got to work. Some passersby tried to sell me an easel they had no use for anymore while others simply said a nice 'Hello' and moved on. All the while the sun shone and I got my work done. Within two and a half hours of standing up I needed a break. I brought along a three legged portable stool and I set it up under a shade tree right next to my canvas and I sat down. I saw where I need to go, and beside being tired I saw where I could make a few painterly notes on the canvas and I could finish it up at home. So I did just that and I closed up shop. Then...

Working with pen and ink has always been an enjoyment for me, I loved the effect of the ink line on paper. There is something of the 'fine' in 'fine art' with it. Ink is a strong color of black, one of the strongest colors when seen against the whiteness of a good drawing paper. I can sit for hours and entertain myself using it. I use to think I had to get loaded in order to do a good job but I've found out that using only dulls the senses and my abilities wane, so I don't do that anymore. Now I sit and enjoy the effort of getting a good vision of what I want to do and where I want to go with a drawing while I draw it. I can perform at such a better rate and be aware and enjoy the creative process rather than go through ' the creative struggle'. It is a joy. This particular drawing is one that is of a few different trees, some older trees near my home and others miles away in West Virginia. I just happen to bring my drawing notebook al...

As Eric Clapton mentioned in his last interview with Rolling Stone; "sometimes one has to simply do what's in front of him" (I'm paraphrasing him because I just through out the mag due to finishing it) and this past week I did simply that with my pen and paper pad. The results were enjoyable. In the studies I produced I found myself going back to the basic hand-eye coordination techniques I learned as a student of the arts in Philadelphia. I got into a groove with it. Since I was in the country for few days visiting some longtime friends I chose to draw trees and there were plenty of them around outside our windows from which I had my choice. I also had the advantage of good weather, large pane-glass windows sitting in air conditioning in a comfortable chair while drawing. I picked a conifer with some twisting branches and then also the trunks of a variety of these wooden giants. My enjoyment came when I freed up myself to 'get into it' and ...

One has to admire a town where putting in the first stoplight is seen as the beginnings of the coming collapse of the western world and independence as we know it. The small spot on the map is now in the throws of having at least doubled itself in both population and size with the recent addition of a few housing developments. Its a picturesque place one must admit. Its snug right up against the Blue Ridge range of mountains and one merely has to look to the west and one need to peer upwards to see the sky from any vantage point. The mountains rule for certain backgrounds, in this vantagepoint of my art I picked a spot that looks away from the Blue Ridge and towards the east. I am right at the intersection where the stoplight in question was put in a few years ago. The reason for picking this spot wasn't to get away from the mountain view (but that is ok) but rather to have a look at the Crozet Pizza. Its a landmark of a store. All who have grown up within fifty miles o...

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...

In Virginia there are many rivers that run across the Commonwealth. One of them is the James River which runs far into the mountains for its origin and down past where I am at Howardsville and then on past Scottsville and on to Richmond, Gochland and finally into the Chesapeake Bay. Before roads where maintained other than for being horse trails rivers were the major means of transporting large amounts of drygoods. To do this there were a fleet of 'longboats' that traveled up and down the James River moving these goods along to the early settlers here in Central Virginia. In order to understand this some locals have refurbished and renewed a few of these old 'longboats' into operating with the help of some hearty volunteers. Once a year now, people man the longboats and a group of them float on downstream to Gochland from up near Lynchburg, Virginia. They come into Scottsville every June and I happen to catch site of them this year as they pulled into shore...