MOTTO FOR 2011

Life is full of magic . . . find some

Thursday, December 31, 2009

"Propane"


5 x 7 postcard series
From the camera while riding down a blue highway in South Georgia. Blue Highway from the book by William Least Heat Moon. Blue highways are those that show up as blue lines on the maps. "Blue Highways" was a great travel book. Check it out.
This is one of my favorite exchanges that is appropriate for the new year.
"What kind of work you in?" he asked.
That question again. "I'm out of work," I said to simplify.
"A man's never out of work if he's worth a damn. It's sometimes he doesn't get paid. I've gone unpaid my share and I've pulled my share of pay. But that's got nothing to do with working. A man's work is doing what he's supposed to do, and that's why he needs a catastrophe now and again to show him a bad turn isn't the end, because a bad stroke never stops a good man's work. Let me show you my philosophy of life."
From his pressed Levi's he took a billfold and handed me a limp business card. "Easy. It's very old."
The card advertised a cafe in Merced when telephones were four digits. In quotation marks was a motto: "Good Home Cooked Meals."
" 'Good Home Cooked Meals' is your philosophy?"
"Turn it over peckerwood."
Imprinted on the back, in tiny faded letters was this:
I've been bawled out, balled up, held up, held down, hung up, bulldozed, blackjacked, walked on, cheated, squeezed, and mooched; stuck for war tax, excess profits tax, sales tax, dog tax, and syntax, Liberty bonds, bady bonds, and the bonds of matrimony, Red Cross, Blue Cross and the double cross; I've worked like hell, worked others like hell, have got drunk and got others drunk, lost all I had, and now because I won't spend or lend what little I earn, beg, borrow or steal, I've been cussed, discussed, boycotted, talked to, talked about, lied to, lied about, worked over, pushed under, robbed and damned near ruined. The only reason I'm sticking around now is to see WHAT THE HELL IS NEXT."
Thanks for looking.

Thursday, December 24, 2009

"Yellow"


5 x 7 (sold)
From Canaveral National Seashore. Yellow is always popular in paintings. Why is that?

Monday, December 21, 2009

"Cloud Forming"


5 x 7 plein air
Another from the end of the dock. (You can tell I like it at the end of the dock, can't you?) One of the things I set out to do this year was paint more clouds. You really need to be able to use clouds for compositional elements in Florida. But clouds are really tough to paint "en plein air". Why? Because painting clouds outdoors is like going to a preschool at recess and trying to do paintings of the preschoolers on the playground. They just don't hold still. For this one I studied the cloud for about 2 minutes. I started with the part that was most dramatic and would likely change first. That was the sun peaking over the top of the cloud. Once I got the value of the cloud I put a spot in the water that corresponded to the correct value for the water at that time and then finished with the things that would not change as quickly. Bottom line you have to paint fast and you have paint from memory. You can't chase the cloud from one formation to another. So before you start, take some time and study what is happening with the idea of the elements that will make up your composition. Two minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time, but right now walk outside and look at a cloud for two minutes. You will be surprised at how much it changes.
Thanks for looking.

Friday, December 18, 2009

"Quiet"


5 x 7
From the postcard series. A quiet farm in south Georgia.
Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

"Heading North Near Guana"


18 x 24
From the trip to Guana. From a photo and the plein air reference stuff I did there during the Crescent Beach Paintout. This is Florida. Flat Florida. I took a plein air workshop with a well known California plein artist at St. Simons Island a couple of years ago. It was the first workshop he had done in St. Simons Island. I remember him walking around and scanning the horizon and saying "what do you guys paint over here, everything is so flat". Yeah. It is.
Thanks for looking.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

"Storm Chaser"




6 x 8 (plein air)

I've been watching the reality show on Discovery about the storm chasers out in the Midwest who follow storms to capture tornadoes on video. It's very interesting with lots of different personalities and crazy gadgets. There are two guys with specially designed vehicles that they drive right in the middle of a tornado and take photos and make measurements. Check it out.

Maybe its just a guy-thing, but I love watching big storms develop and roll in across the lake. This one was painted from the end of the dock. There are certainly people who see me painting in this kind of situation and think "what kind of crazy idiot is that". But . . . I'm careful. Now I don't use the NCAA rule of no-play-if-the-lightening-is-within-10-miles rule but I do count the seconds between the flash and the thunder. In the end this is just a great answer to the composition question of what do you do to break up the horizontal bands.

Thanks for looking.


Wednesday, December 09, 2009

"Road to the Red Roof"


5 x 7
From state road 84 on the way to Valdosta. From the postcard series.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

"From Vilano Beach"


5 x 7
Painted at the Crescent Beach Paintout from the water looking back over the dunes to the St. Augustine lighthouse on the other side of the inlet.

Friday, November 27, 2009

"Inlet Fishing"


5 x 7
Done at Vilano Beach during the Crescent Beach Paintout. Only thing better than fishing was painting.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photos from the Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival


The photos aren't good but this gives you an idea of what I did. I got very positive feedback from the patrons. If I had an unlimited budget I would have framed everyone of them but that would not have been practical. I sold 21 of the paintings, and I consider that a success during a year that sales overall did not appear to be that good. I am glad I did it. Next time maybe only 25. I will be posting some of them over the next weeks.
Also I am taking the remaining 80 with some additional new 6 x 8's to my gallery in Tallahassee for a December Minature show. So check out Signature Gallery on Capital Circle NW in Tallahassee.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

"Wind and Light"


16 x 20
Another from the Crescent Beach Paintout. This was a hard painting to photograph. Darker paintings cause problems for me. It's hard for the automatic light meter in the camera. You have shoot at a bunch of different exposures. Plus the lighting for the photograph isn't regualr. At plein air shows I usually shoot with the painting in the shade. This also isn't exactly the final painting. I think I took this photo early in the week. After looking at the painting a couple of days, I decided the third tree needed to be changed and I also softened the edges on the tree with frons (?) sticking out. Finally, on the last day a gave the painting the a light spray of varnish. When you are dealing with darks the colors tend to dull out in about a week. Because the painting is on a support and not on stretchers a light coat of varnish is not a problem. It was a pretty painting and not your typical plein air piece.
Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

"Bridge"


8 x 10
From the boat ramp on the way to Vilano Beach. Simple. I won an Award of Merit from fellow artist with this one.

Monday, November 02, 2009

"Distant Light"


11 x 14

This is from the boat ramp on the way to Vilano Beach. Great place to paint. Headed over in the morning on a great clear day. About the time I got to the Vilano Bridge this giant fog bank moved in. I'm not sure what the weather issue was, but it made for some tough painting conditions. By the time I was painting this one there was just a haze over the landscape. This is not a great photo. I like the idea of keeping thing simple, but also subtly complex. Does that make sense?

Sunday, November 01, 2009

"Intercoastal Palm"


18 x 24
This was done at Summer Haven. What a great little park. It is part of the Matanzas Fort National Park. Looking north up the intercoastal waterway. Just a little palm with gnarly wind swept bushes.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

"Shade"


8 x 10
This is an old house at the fishcamp we painted at a couple of times during the week. It was a great place mainly because there was a lot of great shade and a nice cool wind blowing off the river. This was one of those plein air things that depended on the proportions and perspective. I got pretty close. I changed the trees to better show the corner of the house. I got some nice compliments on this one.
"Guana Looking North"


5x7
Second one of the morning. After a one mile hike, I knew I had to stay a while.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

"Guana View"


5 x 7
After the hike this was painted at the picnic table.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

"Guana Jungle"


5 x 7


This is from Guana State Park between Valano Beach and Ponte Vedra. A neat place that really made me wish I had my bike. I hiked about a mile on paths through pure Florida jungle. At the other end of the trail is the intercoastal waterway and a picnic table. After hiking the mile I finished four paintings. Three small ones and the 11 x 14 below.

"Big Guana Sky"


11 x 14

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

"Looking South on the Intercoastal"


8 x 10
At Summer Haven on Sunday morning.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Wind and Light


16 x 20
My computer is finally back in business. I got a new one from Dell. When I turned it on out of the box there was a clicking noise. "This can't be right." says I. I talked with Jorge at Dell and he said it was the hard drive. He would send me a new one. Next day I get a hard drive open the box and it says "refurbished". I call Dell and speak to Sonja, then Bradley, then Jose, and they finally agree to send me a new one. Three weeks later I have a new hard drive and it is working great.
This week I am at the Crescent Beach Paint Out in Crescent Beach just south of St. Augustine. Having a great time, but working hard. Getting up early for that morning light, but it sure beats hanging around at the office.
This one is from a palm hamock near Marineland at the University of Florida Center.

Monday, October 12, 2009

"River Bend"


14 x 11


Sorry for the lack of posting. I have been humbled by technology. My computer died. The diagnosis was hard drive something. Not working, I can't even can get all my old files, including photos of my paintings. Well that's not totally true. Apparently I can send it to some outfit in California that will retrieve everything for cool 1K. Oh well, my biographer will have to do that. I'll save the computer and this will make a nice introduction to the book. I thought my office server was copying all this stuff so it wasn't so stupid on my part, but it was only copying work stuff. I guess my computer guy is not an art lover.

Anyway, I am trying to get back in the grove of posting for those few fans out there. (Thanks Mom and Dad) This is from my favorite river of all time the St. Johns River and this is down by Lemon Bluff. Beautiful stuff in real life. I hope I have done it justice.

Thanks for looking.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

"Quiet Stream"


20 x 16
This is from a photo of a stream in North Carolina. The stream runs through a field near Camp Ridgecrest. I took some photos while Kendall ran. What is it about streams? Kids love them. Kids paly in them all the time. I remember as a kid going to North Carolina for Christmas. We stayed at a cabin that had a small stream running near it. By the time the week was over me and my 3 brothers had all fallen into the stream at least once. And I remember it was really cold. So I am still drawn to streams and water.
Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

"In a Florida Jungle"


20 x 16
"Stopping by the Woods on the way to Orlando"

Whose woods are these
I think I know
His house is in
Orlando though.

My little truck
Must think it queer,
To stop without
A gas pump near.

I cut the motor
And open the door
And view with my camera
The woods before.

The only sound
The silent love
Of light wind
In the trees above.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep.

My apologies to Robert Frost. This is why I am a painter and not a poet. But these woods are much the same as Robert Frost's woods. There just isn't any snow and there is no horse anymore. But I have tried to capture that same idea of woods being lovely, dark and deep. I hope I succeeded.
Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

"Well Worn Path"


18 x 24
I'm not sure if I have already posted this painting before. I changed it recently adding the path across the field. I thought it needed a lead-in to the painting. This is more of the farmland around this area that I am looking at more and more for painting subjects. I know this barn is kind of smack dab in the middle of this thing, but sometimes you just have to do something different and try and make it work. Conventional painting wisdom would have you put this rusted red roof closer to one side in the magic one third area. So . . . maybe there is a reason for conventional wisdom . . . and maybe not. I recently listened to (yes, I am not a reader, but a listener (unabridged only)) a book about Edward Manet called The Judgment of Paris by Ross King. Really interesting historical book about Manet's rise and the impressionist. At that time everyone was painting really intricate paintings of war scenes and mythological settings and Manet does something different. And it is ridiculed and criticized and nobody wants it, until somebody decides they do want it and suddenly there is a new style of painting.
So therefore be it resolved that Steve Andrews will now only paint . . . . hell I don't know. I think Manet was just trying to make good art. He thought there were too many war paintings. "Yeah, no more war, I'm going to put two guys out in the woods in business suits with two naked ladys. Yeah that will work." (For my wife this is Manet thinking. It's one of his famous paintings.)
So therefore be it resolved that Steve Andrews will just try to make good art and leave it at that.
Thanks for looking.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

"Florida Palm"


30 x 24
Florida palm trees against a blue sky.
Thanks for looking.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

"Three Fishermen"


5 x 7 (plein air)
Another from Palm Beach. From the beach under the umbrella. There was a grey lavender sky from a storm brewing south of us. These three guys all had white t-shirts on, but they only stood there about two minutes. They caught my eye because of the bright white t-shirts against the storm clouds. Sometimes the painting paints itself.
Thanks for looking.

Thursday, August 06, 2009

"House by the Railroad"


5 x 7
Can you imagine how loud it is in the bedroom when a train rolls by at 1 am? And how does someone go about getting a loan to build a house that close to a railroad. Or imagine the day the lawyer knocks on your door and says "you know that easement that was on the deed that you signed. Well that notation "RR". That actually meant railroad, not rest and relax. But the good news is they are building a slick new railroad crossing gate with a fancy bell. Some people are just lucky."
But really, I'm sure you get use to it. There are all kinds of noises in our life that we simply accept and ignore. My parents have a house that sits up on a hill above a beautiful swampy lake and about one quarter mile across the lake is Interstate 95. And you can difinitely hear cars and trucks, every day and every hour, but it is, no kidding, kind of like waves crashing out in the water when you are at the beach. I mean by that, it is soothing and not aggravating.
Now, on the other hand, I remember the first night on the seventh floor of our hotel in mid-town Manhatten. It was loud with horns honking and sirens in the middle of the night. And there was nothing soothing about it at all. But New Yorkers probably don't even hear it.
And so, the owners of "house by the railroad" probably talk about the soothing sound of the 4 am express roaring through the Georgia backwoods.
Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

"Georgia Field"


5 x 7
This is from the postcard series of landscapes of Florida and South Georgia. I have completed about 60 of these so far this year. The plan is to do 40 more and exhibit them at the Plantation Wildlife Arts Festival in Thomasville in November. They should all be 5 x 7 and will sale for only $110.00 each. I'm putting some of them in floating frames and I think it will be pretty cool.
This is my sixth year at the show and it is a great event that helps raise money for the Thomasville Cultural Center. They treat the artists very nicely and the people of Thomasville are great supporters of the arts. I really don't consider myself a wildlife artist, but landscape can be wildlife, and they keep asking me to come back even though I rarely paint animals. There are some really talented people at the festival and I always come away motivated to keep getting better. I'll keep posting more of them on the blog.
Thanks for looking.

Monday, August 03, 2009

"Where Water Meets Land"


8 x 10 (plein air)
From the trip to Palm Beach. This is what happens when you sit under an umbrella at the beach looking for something to paint. There is point where you just decide to paint what is right in front of you. And, what is right in front of you is the lapping waves that edge up and recede. Down at Palm Beach there are great colors in the water. If you study it long enough you find colors based on reflections of sky and wave foam and everything else. I think it makes for an interesting painting. It is just an ordinary scene that happens millions and millions of times a day, everywhere sand meets water, and in every situation it is different.
Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Mountain Above Ridgecrest"


5 x 7 (plein air)
From Royal Gorge looking east above Ridgecrest. Went with Zack, who took his guitar and went to a deck that overlooks what my kids call Royal Gorge. Had to work fast because the sun was setting. Great colors in the sky and the distant mountains. Hope I did it justice.
Thanks for looking.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

"Bridge to West Palm Beach"



6 x 8

I am back from a vacation to South Florida. These were painted from the bike trail on Palm Beach. I took my daughter, Kendall, every morning to the trail that is on the intercoastal side on Palm Beach so she could run in the shade of the tall hedges between the mansions and the water. She is a serious runner on her high school cross country team. Palm Beach in the summer is a hot place, so you look for shade and run early. The trail is a beautiful and peaceful place. It is very well maintained almost like a nice golf course. In morning you hear the sound the gas powered lawn equipment. You don't get to see much of any of the houses unless you can find an empty spot in the hedges. The people on the trail are generally older and nicely dressed and more than a couple women smelled of expensive perfume. Everyone was very friendly. Kendall's workouts lasted just about an hour, so these got done quickly.

"Across to WPB"


5 x 7

These were a great way to start the day. I wish I had had more time, but I was glad to be able to wear the Dad hat, and coach hat, for maybe the last time after ten years of helping kids run during summer vacation. Kendall is a senior this year and over the last ten years I have gotten up with Stephen and Zack and Kendall, and helped make sure they did their summer training. If you think that is crazy, then you are probably right. Having been a runner myself, I know how tough it is to get this done, even when you are not on vacation. And the fact is, looking back on all those years of riding bikes and searching for trails, and early morning wake ups, and after run coffee and donuts and conversations, I would definitely do it again.

Thanks for looking.




Tuesday, July 21, 2009

"Swimming Dock / Ridgecrest"


5 x 7

At Camp Ridgecrest near Balck Mountain, N.C. This is a big hunk of poured concrete. They have changed the swimming area over the years and I think they call this the old swim dock.

Thanks for looking.

Monday, July 20, 2009

"Cherokee 3"


11 x 14

This is from Camp Crestridge in Ridgecrest, N. C.. This year was my girls tenth year at the camp and they had the honor of being in the Cherokee 1 Cabin which houses the oldest girls at camp. After many many years they are apparently tearing down these cabins to rebuild new ones. There is a tremendous amount of history in these cabins. By tradition the girls sign their names on just about everything you could write on. They find names of cousins, friends, and even mothers that were signed over the years. As an artist I love this deep but plain blue that the cabins are painted with. I have done some other pieces from Crestridge and Ridgecrest and I will post them over the coming weeks.

Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

"St. Marks Blue"


5 x 7

This sky was painted using a new white. Of course any house painter knows there are multiple varieties of white. Its the same with oil paints except we are not talking about different shades of white, rather it is the material the white is made with. I can make my own shades of white without any problem. This white is called Flake White and the principle difference is that it uses lead in the formula. Obviously, this is not something with which you want to be casual. I have only used in this painting. I really like the luminous quality that you can get with it. However I have been freaked out by the paint. There are just to many times that I end up looking in the mirror in my studio and realize I have a paintbrush in my mouth. You know like chewing on a pencil. So anyway, no matter how nice the color is, I'm pretty sure this is my last tube. I have lost enough brain cells already.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

"Shrimper at Dock"


5 x 7


A shrimp boat at the dock in Appalachicola. There is a marina on the north side of Appalachicola. There are about twenty boats that are usually tied up there. I always like to go there and take a bunch of photos. It looks like a really difficult life, but that's probably what one of those shrimpers would say if they saw me sitting at my desk doing what I do.

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

"Foggy Morning"


10 x 12
From a trip to Atlanta in the morning. A Georgia field with fog and plowed furrows. This is what it would be like to live in a cloud. Doesn't seem too bad does it? As I am 'approaching advanced age', (this is a social security term, not mine) my vision is suffering and everything seems to be in a cloud. Especially that up close stuff. That part of my eye just does not work anymore. So with painting I am battling between far vision and up close vision. Sometimes this is helpful. One of the things you do when you paint is to squint at the image. This simplifies the values and the colors. Now all I do is pull off my glasses and I don't have to squint. It stinks to get old!

Thursday, July 02, 2009

"Ron's Flag"



7 x 5 (Plein air)

An image from the lake painted during the Memorial Day weekend. Ron is the next door neighbor. I thought this would be good for July 4th weekend as well. I am in North Carolina this weekend picking up the girls from camp and visiting my son who is a counselor at the boys camp next door. The mountains of North Carolina are a fantastic place. I love the views. I love the stream that runs next to the roadway. The sound and the cool water and the rapids. Those are things you just don't get in Florida. Today we drove up from Atlanta through Gainesville, Georgia and into North Carolina at Franklin. We hiked to Glenn Falls near Highlands. It's a really pretty spot with a waterfall that drops about 5o feet. You can actually hike up and under the falls. After my son did it I decided I had to give it a try. Here you are squatting under a ledge that makes a cave about ten feet deep. As you squat under there you realize there is a solid rock above you that is about 5o feet thick. If you just happened to be under that ledge when God decided it was time for gravity to do its job, you would just be 'squish'. Luckily, God was not ready for me yet.

Here's a painting from last year in North Carolina. We hiked up Rattlesnake Summit and watched July 4th fireworks in the town of Black Mountain. It was as good as it sounds. I did the painting from a photo taken while on the summit.

"Dusk from Rattlesnake"



5 x 7

Have a Happy July 4th weekend!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

"South Georgia County Road"


16 x 20
This is from a trip I took looking for images in the South Georgia farmland just north of Tallahassee. It is beautiful country. Call me crazy (or lazy) but I like that car level shot. It can be taken right out of the front windshield. I close the aperture on the camera and shoot with a large depth of field. Of course I don't do that all the time, but I have a whole folder in my photo database that I have labeled "car shots". After all isn't this the only view that most of us have of the countryside?
I have always been a looker while traveling. My kids, on the other hand, have used all that privileged time traveling to watch movies on the vcr in our high top van. That was before they had all those portable tvs on the back on the headrest of every seat. But I have to admit there is no quieter way to travel with children. And we had a bunch. The funny thing is I have recently seen movies that I know every line of dialog and have never seen the movie. "The Goofy Movie" and "Three Ninjas" are two examples. I was watching "The Goofy Movie" recently and realized I had imaged a completely different movie. But that's what the Dad gets to do. He is driving and watching the scenery and thinking 'that would make a beautiful painting'.
If you are taking a family vacation this summer and you are traveling through some pretty country think about MAKING your children put down their Ipod or movie or cell phone or game or whatever and taking a look at what is outside. At least for a little while.
Happy Travels.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

"Rainbow"


5 x 7 (plein air)
Remember all those drawings you did in kindergarden with the rainbow. It's just something that you don't see painted, except by children. I guess the thinking is it's a trite subject. That's what I was thinking as I was sitting out on the dock looking across the lake at a nice rainbow forming in a passing rain shower. So that is just a perfect thing to try and paint. How do you make it look like a rainbow without making it look like a rainbow. Not sure if I did that but it was sure fun to paint. It was also quick. The thing about rainbows is they don't last very long. I probably could have concentrated more on the different colors but the bright yellow was the overpowering color and if I tried to put in all of the colors and the perfect arch . . . well it would have looked like a rainbow.

Monday, June 15, 2009

"Hope and her Sister"




5 x 7 (Plein air)


Did this down at Lake Ella on Saturday. I had just finished a larger painting and I had to go pick up my daughters from the ACT test and did this one as a sketch in about 20 minutes. Probably could do a better job on the size of the children but they would not hold still. Now there's a suprise.

Lake Ella is a great place to paint. The people are friendly and interested, but not over interested. They walk around the lake and some make comments as they make laps around the lake. Heres the one done earlier in the morning. It's 11 x 14. We'll call it:
"Church Steeple and Walkers"



11 x 14 (plein air)

Sunday, June 14, 2009

"Blue Water"


5 x7 (Plein air)
From last weekend at St. Mark Wildlife Refuge. I took my paints, my camera and my bike. The weather wasn't great. I took off down this dirt road that heads east into the woods. I had my big backpack with about thirty pounds of equipment. The weather was moving in and the humidity was as close to wet as you can get. Yellow flies and horse flies reminded me that I had forgottent he bug spray. This little dirt road is about one foot above the water in the ditches that were only about ten feet from the side of the road. As I booked down the road on my trusty Cannondale F29er Mountain Bike "things" were scurrying into the water. Some of the things - like the six foot gator - didn't scurry they just watched as I pedaled past. Needless to say after about four miles, with thunder rumbling I turned around and headed for the truck. By the time I got back I was covered in sweat.
Sticking to the plan I was able to do number of small pieces and get a lot of good shots. I have a couple of good ideas. The one above was done at about 7 pm with nice golden light. This was my favorite.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

"Summer Storm Gathering"


5 x 7 (Plein air)
During our last trip to Lake Weir the summer afternoon storm cycle had started. You have to get going in the morning because you end up getting chased off the lake in the early afternoon. I love the intensity of the lavender sky against the dark olive green of the trees. Its a great match. There is also a bit of drama in painting one of these out under the tin roof at the end of the dock with lightening flashing and thunder rolling. I continually look down at the hairs on my arm to see if they standing straight up. I'm not quite sure what to do if they are standing straight up. Do you run? Or just say a prayer?

Monday, June 08, 2009

"Plein Air at Phipps Park"


5 x 7
I'm calling these postcards. (Yes, I know, plenty of people before me have called them postcards, but I like it. It fits the bill.) They are small and I am getting a lot of good experience by painting a bunch of them. This was done on location in Phipps Park. This is right next to the corner where the port-o-potty sits. Thats what artistic license means. I could have put the potty in, but I thought to myself - I'm not sure someone wants to look a port-o-potty. So I take artistic license and leave the potty out. Your lesson for the day.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

"Setting Moon"



11 x 14
Moon setting over Micosukee Greenway during October.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

"Special Day"


11 x 14
A painting I did some time ago for my daughter-in-law and son. It is from Bradley's Pond where they were married yesterday. We made prints of this and three other paintings and gave them away as wedding favors. The wedding was wonderful. Beautifully done and organized. They did a special dance with flips and all. My son's younger brothers (twins) were the best men and they did a great toast. Lots of dancing and craziness with the whole Andrews clan. My new daughter was beautiful and the whole thing was just fantastic.
As I was tying my tie in the living room mirror in my rented suite, I looked and thought you look enough to be the father in a wedding, but you don't feel that old. Time flys.