MOTTO FOR 2011

Life is full of magic . . . find some

Friday, January 29, 2010

"Storm Coming"


5 x 7 postcard series
Sometimes it really does look like this mass of darkness pushing forwards and getting ready to engulf the lake. That contrast of sunlight on treetops and dark fury behind is magical. You have to paint fast when one of these is coming.
Thanks for looking

Thursday, January 21, 2010

"Tractor Tires"


5 x 7 postcard series
Driving the backroads of rural Georgia. This one is from a photo that I used to do another postcard. The title was "Quiet" and it is back about 10 or 20 posts. This is just a close up of that corner of the building. One of the best things about modern digital photography is that you can zoom in and see those things in the shade.
Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

"Near Landis"


5 x 7 postcard series (plein air) (sold)
This one was painted on a Saturday morning. I drove my daughter to FSU to take the SAT test. It made sense to paint rather than go all the way home and have to come right back. This is the arches that connect the dorms around Landis Green. It was fun to paint.
Cool thing about this painting is that it sold to someone who was giving it as gift to an administrator at FSU who was retiring. I hope he liked it. (It wasn't Bobby Bowden. I've got a special one for him. All he has to do is ask.)
Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Crabs


5 x 7 postcard series (Sold)
This was sold at the Plantation Wildlife Show. From a photo from Appalachicola. The sign was made up. Just felt like they probably sold crabs there at some time.
Thanks for looking.

Friday, January 15, 2010

"Where Water Meets Land"


5 x 7 postcard series SOLD
A plein air study from Palm Beach. What you paint when you are sitting under an umbrella looking out at a flat calm ocean. This one sold to a friend from high school who I ran into at a another friend's kid's wedding. I guess that signifies some kind of stage of life. You know you are older when you start going to the weddings of children of people you went to school with.
I like this painting. It is simple and direct, but it is complicated. That color of the breaking wave on the shore is pretty darn close to right. With plein air you don't get to take a photograph and ask the camera what color that split second is. It's just observation and hoping you get it right. Charles Hawthorne, a famous artist and teacher, talks about this in his book. The artist first job is observation. Learning how to see.
Thanks for looking.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

"Late Light"


5 x 7 postcard series
I am going to post some from the postcard series. Remember I did slightly more than 100 of these 5 x 7 paintings for the show in Thomasville. After that show I moved them to my gallery in Tallahassee and they sold really well there. I have sold about half of them at this point. If I know its been sold I'll indicate it on the post. Otherwise you can snatch up a nice little painting for the low price of $110.00. They are painted on linen mounted on board.

Monday, January 11, 2010

My New Studio


One way


the other


I finally moved my stuff up to my oldest's old room. It's a really cool room that is above the garage. It has dormer windows and neat angles. My oldest was married last May, and just this week he started his first real paying job as an accountant. Yeah!!!

Well he has obviously been out of the room for a lot of months but I was holding off thinking that there wasn't enough wall space because of the dormer windows and just being lazy. Well about a month ago I moved his furniture out and decided that I would make this the creative part of the studio and the room attached to the garage would just have all the junk. This weekend I went and got some cheap indoor/outdoor carpet and put it over the nice pine floors so I didn't mess them up. I put a big four blub neon light and put in natural light blubs. I am trying to keep it simple. I am a firm believer that clutter expands to cover all the shelves and desk space so I am trying to keep that at a minimum. I am very lucky.

Now I am trying to come up with a good plan for the new year. I like to start with some goals. I have some in mind and I resolve right now to write them down sometime this week. How's that.

Thanks for looking.