Landscape of Virginia

Sometimes I have a good feeling about doing a painting even before I begin one, such was the case with this oil. I was commissioned by the couple to paint their new home in Charlottesville. They had just moved here from up north somewhere, somewhere like Baltimore or DC, anyway they wanted a painting from me because they were fans. I was very happy to take on the project of painting their house. It is a 'fixer upper' and they gave me an inside look at the remodeling they had done on the kitchen. Excellent stuff! I was impressed on the craftsmanship Jon had shown in doing the shelves, the pantry and all the woodwork. He wanted my painting to show all the work on the outside of the house, the garage, the stairway down off the side...and the gate. It was a lot to put into the small canvas I had but I thought I could do it. Its taken about a week or so to get it done. I am grateful for doing it. It was an extraordinary project in the use of color on the s...

The dilapidated homes just off the roadside are fascinating, they are gathering dust and imploding as we paint them. I am stunned home much they lend themselves to my eye for being interpreted into color on a canvas. Its often the case that they aren't going to last much longer. So I photograph them while I can and then transfer them into paint in both line and color. I use color to define the object, in this case a house that once was a home to earlier Virginians. Its a matter of history that I be as disciplined as I can in painting them in order for them to be remembered accurately. I am not the best at it, I'm certainly no NC Wyeth. I"m not so great that I can't be told "that's not right!" because maybe its not but I am working on getting it down as it looks to me. Painting is an interpretive process. My hope is that what I do works for the viewers that take a look.

It often the case that people who live near and even far from the DC area summer in the woods. The woods are often in the mountains of the Blue Ridge. I've summered in Front Royal and Goochland County among others during my lifetime. This painting is a commission. Someone, a old classmate from High School of Bishop Ireton asked me to paint his own 'hogan' cabin in the woods. Which I was glad to do. But it sure took me back to all those summers I spent with my own Dad and the Cub Scouts in the woods sleeping in a 'hogan' like this one. In our gifted life this was called 'ruffing it', or 'camping out' for the weekend or longer. Its kind of funny but all those times including times of late I've 'camped out' with enjoyment because it was no problem to do so since we were indoors for the most part. This painting reminded me that how often I've had the gift of sleeping indoors protected from the elements. What a mem...

A friend asked me to repaint his place of fixing cars. He moved his garage. I had painted his earlier manifestation and so now he wanted a redux on his new spot. I said "sure'. This is his new spot with added baydoors and newly hired mechanics. He moving up.

Many times I cross these tracks to see what the postmaster has done to her little PO out near the tracks. The tracks go all the way down to Orlando Florida where the train stops and goes through switching cars. I always wonder what this PO looked like in its heyday with the 3,000 or so residents who worked the soapstone quarry. For now it doesn't see much usefulness other than its quaint beauty and oddity. This is the oil I did of it with a visitor from Germany of all places who stopped in for a look. He was taken with it, and had a look around and through the windows. He was a hiker and he asked what lay beyond. I let him know about Schuyler and the Waltons. He had no idea what I was talking about but decided to take the six mile hike to the home of 'John-boy' just the same. The oil is small in size. Perhaps 14 inches by 22 inches, but it holds up.

This painting is an oil and 30/30/30 medium on gessoed cotton duck canvas. I build it and prepared the surface w gesso. Gesso was developed in the 1950's as a mixture of titanium paint and rabbit skin glue to seal the surface so the oils done destroy the material of cotton over time. Earlier painters had to do mush more work to prepare a canvas for painting with more work of applying glue and a primer paint. Today its all in one. I tend to put three layers of gesso on to really seal the surface from any leaks over time. The painting here is one of a country dwelling that is now abandoned. It just off of Rt.29 which is a main north/south highway just above the town of Lovingston Va. Many homes are abandoned here in Central Virginia. I have had no problem finding them alongside the roads that twist through the back roads here in Central Virginia. I like painting them due to the fact that they are the history of those souls who once lived here and have moved ...

This truck was on the side of a barn near Rio road and JW Parkway just outside of the Charlottesville city line in the shadow of an old farm building. Charlottesville had a ruff countryside really close to the cityline and the County of Albemarle. This truck was simply abandoned on farmland owned by a family that had a farm where the extended city just grew up around it. The truck must have just broke down and been abandoned and as country people seem to do just leave their trash (big pieces at least) right in place. The eyesore of it is simple to be ignored as country people seem to do, mostly due to the cost of putting such large items into the landfill being so high. I'm sure this GMC saw much use but now 'its toast'. It sits still and rusting slowly. Just great as a subject for a still life. I used my camera though so I could work on it in the comfort of my home's frontroom.