Kevin Menck Fine Art

Aquatic Transparency

2012-01-29T19:29:00.000-08:00

I had painted this painting 8x10 in the field about two years ago and at that time I had a pretty good painting except for the area in the foreground, the area where the bottom of the creek showed through the water. I made a mess out of it. So, I took the painting home with the intent of trying to figure out where the wheels feel off.
After much research into painters and paintings I had remembered seeing this done, I tried again in the studio at 12x16. The research consisted of Clyde Aspevig paintings, Carl Rungius paintings, and of course Matt Smith. I remembered quite a few of his that had this effect and in every case they worked and were gorgeous. He has a painting on his website right now called "Shadow Lake Outlet" that is just phenominal. After looking at it awhile I noticed in it and others, a temperature swing from back to front. Cool sky colors in the background water, transitioning into warm ground colors in the foreground. And close values all the way up to your feet. The biggest issue I had was getting my values too far apart and my foreground too warm. It looked like dry land instead of under the surface. Still don't know if I nailed it but I am much closer than the previous attempt.

The Secret to Painting

2012-01-10T20:08:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a rhythm to painting. There is a groove to this that when you are in it it can be very productive and rewarding. And then conversely there is the other. Falling out of the groove. Hitting a wall so to speak. December was a massive unproductive wall for me.

View from the driver's seat.

I painted today with Jason Saunders. He and I used to paint together almost every other day and today was the first time he and I have painted together in months. And as we painted we compared notes of how our lives right now demand so much attention. Everything from driving a college age kid home from Boston 20 hours straight, to Travel Baseball, which takes ungodly amounts of parental attention. Every weekend. All summer. And we commiserated a bit about trying to stay in the groove. Trying to balance the obligations and distractions of life with a career in art. And I am pretty sure he and I aren't the first two artists to have to deal with it. Just feels like it sometimes.

Jason Saunders

But every time I hit the proverbial wall I remember the best piece of advice, the secret to all of this, that was given to me by Jason. I complained at some point about "the wall" and he turned and said so matter of fact-ly..."push through".
Push through.
There it is. The answer to all of this. Richard Schmid, Sargent, etc., etc. have all lived by this creed. I know without a doubt they have hit the wall over and over and over and what has separated them from those that didn't make it was the ability to push through. Focus and push.
Not quite sure what it is that is going to get me through the wall. I suppose no one artist knows for sure. But I will clear my mind a bit if I can, and focus. And push.

Painting Posse

2012-01-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Got a group of girls here in Nashville that I try and paint with when I can. If you keep up with this post, you'll know them by name. Anne Blair Brown, Bitsy King and Cathleen Windham. Unfortunately we don't get together to paint enough, but when we do it's good. And we got together today for the first time in awhile and added Tiffany Foss and Denise Hawkins to the mix. Anne suggested East Nasville due to it's urban chic, beautiful streetscapes and unique architecture so made an afternoon of it in some unbelievably windy conditions. I wound up painting a bit of architecture which is out of my norm which again is why I like painting with this group.
There are certain people in this industry that due to their nature and friendship you feel like a better artist because of it. Their work ethic, enthusiasm, commitment and outlook is infectious. It's positive "chi" as Anne would say. That is the posse for me. They are incredibly "gamey" and will go anywhere and paint anything. No whining. Oh, and the fact they can drink their weight in beer is another positive attribute.
Thanks girls for pushing and inspiring.

VLPA

2011-12-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

I wanted to mention a group of people and a resource we have here in Nashville that I think most creatives in town are not aware of. It is the Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts. I belong to a small group of artists who recently decided to incorporate as a group. I called around and through a friend in the arts was given the name of someone at the VLPA. Her name is Casey Summar and with her co-workers there at VLPA they held my hand and walked me through the paperwork and legalities of incorporating. The Volunteer Lawyers and Professionals for the Arts falls under the umbrella of The Arts and Business Council of Greater Nashville. They provide pro-bono legal work for creatives here in town, everything from visual artists to songwriters. Free. If they can't figure out the problem or answer the question, they have a host of lawyers in town who have kindly donated their services. Like I said, when I showed up, they walked me through our options, explained the legal and tax implications of each, and helped me decide which was best for my group. They then prepared the paperwork for filing with the government. The only thing they asked for in return is for our group to sign up for a membership with them. $50.00. I'm in. Thanks to everybody there for helping and being involved so heavily in the arts here in Nashville.
Also, News Year's resolutions are coming up and other than painting every single day and becoming a master artist on par with Clyde Aspevig, my goal is to do a better job posting and blogging. Facebook has gotten most of my attention as far as electronic marketing and I have let blogging slide. I never really meant for this to be marketing. Just....blogging. Sounded like a fun way to meet other artists. And I did. So let me say this now. If for any reason, this blog doesn't provide you with artistic insight, or cultural relevance, or any other mind blowing, life changing bit of poetic literary mastery you need or are looking for...move on. If it is not what you want to read, stop and.....move on. There are a lot of unbelievably deep and insightful artistic blogs out there. Hell, I'll give you my list. But this ain't one of them. This blog will be the things I do, the places I go, my friends, relatives, and all the unique characters I come across in this profession. The things I get excited about and shape what I do as an artist. Oh yeah, and some art. For whatever reason, if this is not what you're looking for......just move on.
As the New Year progresses hopefully I can spend some more time on this. I enjoy it. But as I sit here and write this I wonder what in the world is coming after Facebook and how time consuming will that be to keep up with. Cause you know it's coming.

And here's the art I mentioned I'd try to post from time to time.

No Artistic Value Whatsoever

2011-11-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

This post has no artistic redeeming value at all. If you read this blog for its artwork and creative insight, skip this one. It is about white lies and tall tales. It is about..........fishing.
I write this because I had a fluke extraordinary experience. I had slept in and skipped the opening day of deer season but wanted to see my hunting compadres and share the stories so I drove to the "camp" arriving at lunch. No deer. "Haybale Farm Doyle" that I mention in some of my earlier posts, strolls in and asked if anyone wanted to catfish instead of hunt that afternoon. Didn't have to ask me twice. I'm in.

Stinky Bait

I actually wanted to see the river more than anything and if we caught a few fish, win win. I had not been on the river in a few years. I sold my boats and committed to this addiction of plein air painting so haven't made the effort to ride the river like I used to. I had not seen it since the flood of last year so I was very curious as to the extent of the damage. And let me just say that in areas it was profound, shocking. And then in others you never would have known it even rained. The volume of water and the power and force of it is still incomprehensible. Anyway, my trusty guide had the boat full of poles and "stinky bait". For those of you who have never used stinky bait, I am not quite sure how to describe it. I do believe this though: that it was developed by the military at some point to spread on a battle field and run everybody off of it. It is the most permeating, rancid, gummy, vile material I have experienced. If you get it on you, you will smell it days later no matter how hard you try to remove it. And catfish love it. And we eat catfish. Yeah, I know. After baiting, which consisted of sticking a spongey tube with a treble hook at the end in the bucket of stinky bait, withdrawing it and casting away, we got in to them. 23 fish later, all Chanel Catfish, sun was setting and we motored home. But in the time between the 23 fish, I saw some of the most gorgeous sights I have seen. Everything from Bald Eagles to Gar apparently spawning, not sure, but they would breach the surface of the water in acrobatic flips and spins. And some were at least two and a half to three feet long. I had never seen them do that. Pretty impressive creature. But by far and away the most attractive and impressive sight was the river landscape. If I thought I could logistically and financially do it, the river would be my one subject to paint. I ask artists I meet that have travelled and painted the world if they had one place left they had to paint the rest of their lives where would it be? Me, the Duck River. It's moody, earthy, colorful, ancient. And changing all the time. I saw millions of paintings in a 3 hour trip. Imagine how many over a lifetime.

Saturday was one of those rare days, like finding money on the street. Didn't plan on it, couldn't re-create it if you had to, but grateful it happened.

Colors On The Trace

2011-11-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

For the past three days I have driven the Natchez Trace painting some of the color before it goes and I almost missed it. It looks like it may have peaked here in Tennessee. There are pockets of color and it seemed the pockets were on ridges. Not sure why but the area between Leiper's Fork and Nashville had the most color and it got even more pronounced on the higher ridges. Monday and Tuesday I painted alone and yesterday with Diane May, Roger Brown and Beverly Evans.
As I sit here and write this though, the wind is blowing and the rain is falling so I believe I got what I got in the nick of time. Looking forward to the colors of winter.

Great Painting Giveaway

2011-11-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

I painted Saturday morning with members of the Chestnut Group in downtown Nashville. The reason is the fact Nashville is having "Artober Nashville" which is a celebration of the arts here in Nashville with tons of events planned over the month of October. The one I was participating in was devised by Cathleen Windham of the Chestnut Group. The plan was to meet at Big River Grill for lunch and then fan out in that area and paint. The catch, or catches, was the fact you had only ONE HOUR to paint and you had to give it to somebody on the street. A stranger.

Lunch was great but then I felt myself vibrating a bit due to the ONE HOUR time limit. I set up along Riverfront Park and as I was setting up a young couple from Indiana asked me to take their picture and as I did explained to them what we were doing and told them in ONE HOUR if they came back they could have the painting if it came off well due to the ONE HOUR time limit.

After the dust settled and the time expired I had one I could give away. Wasn't bad. With all the whining I have done about the ONE HOUR time limit I think it is a great exercise for anybody who paints. Being able to get a very accurate start down in that time is an asset we should all try to have. Once I was done, popped it in a little frame and away it went to Indiana. I neglected to tell them though, the drying qualities of oil paint. Hopefully one of them realized it before it was demonstrated on their clothing or interior of a suitcase.

The 'Nuts

Blue Moon Show

2011-10-16T10:35:00.001-07:00

Once again it is time for the Chestnut Group's "Blue Moon Show" next Saturday night. It is the show held at the Glen Leven Mansion in conjunction with the annual Land Trust for Tennessee fundraiser. The Chestnuts, with Bitsy King acting as Chairman and guide, has worked diligently and has put together, over the past year, phenomenal properties to paint on. We have some exceptional properties that have been protected in perpetuity for future generations here in Tennessee thanks to The Land Trust and the owners who participate. If you have property and are considering it, contact the folks at the Land Trust and I am sure they will be more than glad to explain the details and help you" give the gift that keeps giving".
Also, I will be leaving Wednesday morning for a road trip over to Brazier Fine Art in Richmond Virginia for a three day workshop and a show. The reception for the show will be Thursday night the 20th and the workshop the next three days. If you're anywhere near Richmond drop by and say "hi".

Back In The Bend

2011-10-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

Had another extraordinary day in Totty's Bend. Got up early enough to see morning light and rising fog. This time of year the temperature changes make the landscape very dramatic and moody. From the color of the foliage to the fog and mist due to the collision of a temp difference.

This was painted on a high spot on my "haybale friend's" farm overlooking the Duck River as it curves around to form the lower end of Totty's Bend. The fog was following it right along the treeline and was about the only fog left as I finished the painting. Like everything else this time of year, it just goes by too fast.

Workshop / Show

2011-10-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

A quick post to let everyone know I am teaching a workshop in conjunction with a one man show at Brazier Fine Art in Richmond Virginia. The dates are Thursday night the 20th for the reception and the workshop begins Friday morning and is a three day workshop ending Sunday afternoon. I think the show will hang for a month so if you're anywhere near Richmond over the month of November stop by or if you would like a hands on plein air landscape workshop I am sure the girls at Brazier would be glad to sign you up. 804-358-2771 and tell them I said "hi".

Frost!

2011-10-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

Finally, after an August and September that felt like they would never end with 95 - 100 degree days the norm, we finally got officially into Autumn. Not on the calendar but weather wise. I always measure the calendar at the end of the year by certain events and changes in the weather. Dove season was always the end of summer for me. Activities, schedules and weather would change after that opening. Then the next was the first frost. Autumn began in earnest and the woods and fields started a different look and feel. Opening day of deer season was another milestone when cold weather was close behind. Real cold weather, winter weather. And then the first snow which meant that deep, short days, bone chilling cold for the next few weeks. After that it was waiting for that first 70 degree day to change in the other direction.

Yesterday we had our first significant frost so I forced myself out of bed early enough to enjoy it before the sun burned it off and I have to say it was worth it. The sky was crystal clear and the creatures were out. I saw more wildlife than I have seen in months. I guess they were glad the summer was over too. After riding awhile I wound up painting in Totty's Bend at a friends farm who had called to let me know he had round bales on the ground. As I painted the sun was burning the frost off the tops and creating vapor that I tried and found out frost vapor is a little tough to paint.
Now that we have had that first good frost things will start to change rapidly over the next few weeks and there is not a better place to catch the show than here in middle Tennessee.

CSOP - 4

2011-09-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

I recently had the good fortune of painting with Pam Padgett and Paula Frizbe. While we were preparing for the Leiper's Creek 10th Anniversary Show we planned a couple of paint outs, one in Leiper's Fork and the other a road trip to Bedford County, specifically Bell Buckle, Wartrace and Normandy. The area there is full of things to paint. It is small little towns surrounded by rolling hills, haybales and bovine.
Other than the occasional Cumberland Society paint trip I don't get to paint with these two very often. Our schedules keep us moving in different directions but it is always fun to paint with other artists of their skill commitment and experience and hopefully we can make it a regular occurrence.

10th Anniversary Show @ Leiper's Creek

2011-09-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know Lisa Fox at the Leiper's Creek Gallery is celebrating the gallery's 10th year. Congratulations! There will be a celebration at the gallery on September 10th and hopefully all the artists will be able to be there. Would love to meet them. I know there will be tons of new work there from each artist and will be a great evening in Leiper's Fork so drop by and say "hi". Festivities begin at 5.

Update

2011-08-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

Not much to say here. I've gotten behind with my posting and just wanted to try and catch up with some of the work I have done over the last month. More to come later.

Parasites

2011-07-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

We have an insect here in the south that I think anyone who has been outdoors any length of time has been eaten by. It's the chigger. I always thought they were a cousin to a tick but apparently are more akin to the mite. When they are larvae is when they attach themselves to the "host" and "feed on the fluids of the skin cells". And just by where they seem to go on one's person, I would say they like dark and concealed areas. Just guessin'.
The reason I feel so compelled to write of the chigger right now is the fact that I am sitting here writing this and wearing out a good set of fingernails scratching and digging at my "dark and concelled areas" that I mentioned earlier.
I painted with the Chestnut Group yesterday getting ready for the Land Trust Show in October on the farm of Bill McEwen. Bill has a fabulous farm and a more fabulous wife, who was our host most of the day. We had a good crew turn out and scored a little lunch at the Duck River Market in Shady Grove. But before all this began I was offered bug spray and refused. For some reason I feel impervious to chiggers and it has never worked out for me. Ever. But I will say, for some reason, it has been a light chigger year for me. Not too many this year. And the reason I posted the picture above is the fact that this was painted during one of the most aggressive chigger attacks I have ever been under. It was painted a few weeks ago and it took awhile to get over that one. When I see this painting I shudder. And itch.
This painting and about 15 others are about to make a trip to Charleston, SC to be in a two man show with Ken Pledger at the M Gallery. I will be leaving on Tuesday and the opening is Friday night. The show will hang most of the month of August so if you're in Charleston drop by the gallery and take a look. And if you get a whiff of Deep Woods Off or DEET, that'll be me.

Huntsville Museum of Art

2011-07-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

I just got in from the Huntsville Museum of Art after delivering paintings for the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast's exhibit "A Sense of Place" which runs from August the 7th to September 23rd. There will also be, in conjunction with the show, workshops taught by members of PAP-SE given during the month of September. Anyone interested in taking one of the workshops should contact The Huntsville Museum of Art for details.

Speaking of the museum, I had no idea Huntsville had such a nice facility for the arts. This thing was gorgeous. I had heard some of the art community in Nashville talk about how nice it was but after a private tour today due to the fact they were closed, I was very impressed. I plan on getting on the mailing list and hopefully making the one and a half to two hour drive from time to time. Not bad at all for a day trip. If you get a chance in the next month or two drop by and see the show.

Carnton Show

2011-07-08T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here are the only paintings I got done for the Carnton Show with the Chestnuts next week. Time was short these past few months and I had a million things I was trying to accomplish and get ready for.
We here in Tennessee have tons of wonderful Civil War significant locations and properties in our area and are fortunate to have them, so hopefully we can generate a little money to help maintain them. They are treasures that once gone are gone and I think we should do everything we can to preserve and keep them.
There should be around 200 pieces in the show when all is said and done so if you get a chance drop by the Carnton Mansion next week and take a look.

Happenings in Middle Tennessee

2011-07-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

Recently I have had the good luck to attend a few quality happenings here in our area.

As I was painting the painting above in the Leiper's Fork area I could hear a sound check in the distance. If you ever hear a sound check in the Leiper's Fork area, run to it. I guarantee it will be a show like none other. The area is full of talented and pedigreed musicians and when they get together it is a show. The sound check I had heard was for two bands to play on the back porch there in the fork. The Hog Slop Stringband and L'Angelus. To say these bands were talented and tight would be an understatement. If they come anywhere near you, go.

My second southern cultural experience was the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival's rendition of "Comedy of Errors". It is Shakespeare set in late 19th century S.C. and it is clever and funny and is held under a large tent on the campus of The Webb School in Bell Buckle Tennessee. Take a picnic, bottle of wine and a blanket and make an evening of it. It is a great way to spend a summer evening.

And thirdly, I spent July the fourth at the Nashville fireworks display downtown. What a fireworks show! Geez. We have friends that have an apartment on the hill at Lea Street at the grassy field above the old KDF building. Great view and easy parking. Sweet. Thanks Sherri. Something else that if you haven't done you might want to try at least once. It's awesome. The roar and bang factor is phenomenal. We were a half mile away and it shook the whole building we were in. As it was happening I imagined the din and concussion of Paris streets during the Franco Prussian war of 1870, Gettysburg, or the charge of the 4th and 13th Light Dragoons, 17th Lancers and the 8th and 11th Hussars straight up a mile long valley in Balaclava into and through a line of cannon in a constant state of fire. What could that have possibly felt and sounded like? I was flinching at a firework show a half mile away. Not being from a military background it is incomprehensible to me what can compel a soldier to complete a mission in that type of chaos and shock. They call it bravery but to me bravery is living your life openly as you are, amidst bigotry and hate, it is sitting at the front of the bus when society tells you you don't have the right, or stepping up with courage and dignity and taking that first step in a long and arduous battle with cancer. Those things take courage. Combat is something else entirely, something I don't have a word for or understand. Is it training? Teaching the mind to do something that is completely abnormal to every ounce of fiber in the human psyche that says flee? All I know is that it is possible and works because every time we as a nation stand up and point and say "there, there is your enemy" the military strap on their boots, set their jaw and hurl themselves at the dogs of war.
"Theirs not to make reply,
  Theirs not to reason why,
  Theirs but to do and die:
  Into the Valley of Death"
Tennyson

Painting Flowers

2011-06-24T20:21:00.000-07:00

I usually don't paint flowers. I struggle with some of the color with my three color palette and the drawing and rendering can be a little complicated and delicate. When done right though they are of course gorgeous. I submit Richard Schmid and Dan Gerhartz right off the top of my head.
But I do have a couple I like to paint. And they are both weeds. Mention them here in Middle Tennessee and the farmers cringe. One is the Creeping Buttercup and the other is the Thistle. The thistle has about as much character to me as anything. They have a long Celtic history and are the national flower of Scotland and are prickly and tough and will grow anywhere with a little sun. And when they bloom they're beautiful . Beautiful, tenacious, delicate and full of character. Yikes, I just described my two daughters to a tee.

On The Shoulders Of Giants

2011-06-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

As plein air painters, being exposed to crowds and having contact with the public as we paint, we are all asked questions about what we do and how we do it. But I have noticed there are certain questions that are asked repeatedly:
Whatcha' doin'?
How long you been doin' that?
Do you know Bob Ross?
The first two I understand. They're pertinent. But the last?
When asked the third question I always respond with this "yeah, I know who he is" that is laced with a tone that says,"I can't believe you asked me that. I am a serious artist." And I am asked this question over and over and over. I have thought about putting a counter on my blog and keeping up with how many times I am asked, "do you know Bob Ross?"
But I had an incident recently that has caused me to re-think my response to the question.
I had a slow leak on an outside faucet and called a plumbing company to come and fix it. When the plumber shows up, he walked in and saw my easel and painting set up and didn't ask "where's the leak?" or "what's the problem?' Nope. The very first thing out of his mouth,"Do you know Bob Ross?"
I started to respond with my patented smug "yeah" but then I noticed here is a guy standing in my studio and we have started an artistic dialog thanks to Bob Ross. He goes on to tell me that he has a mother and cousin who paint consistently due to the Bob Ross t.v. show exposure. And that is usually how the stories go when people talk about Bob Ross. "I have a cousin..." or "I have a mother-law..." or a neighbor or a retired executive or bored housewife or, or, or... There are thousands and thousands of people out there who Bob Ross made believe they could be artists and he got them up off the couch and in front of the easel and got them started. Thousands. I have them show up for my classes and workshops. And I bet almost all the other artists I know, at some point, have had Bob Ross started students. Bob Ross exposed people to art that may never had the opportunity or resources to begin an artistic life. He got them started. And some may argue the artistic merit of his style and methods but you have to admit, he has had a huge impact on art in this country. People don't come up to me and ask,"hey, you know that John Singer Sargent guy?" I've never been asked. But how many people out there got to John Singer Sargent via Bob Ross? How many has he started on that quest and journey and constant lifelong pursuit for the betterment of their craft? I guarantee more than anybody else you can think of.
So the next time I am asked, "do you know Bob Ross?"
"You mean that artistic titan that has had such an impact on the arts? You mean that creative powerhouse with that quite soft hypnotising demeanor? The guy with the afro?"
"Oh hell yeah I know him."
Just don't ask me about Thomas Kinkade. I'm still working on that one.

12x16

2011-06-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

A 12x16 done afield. That is massive for me.

After calming down from that first initial burst of frenetic paint application to block in the big stuff it didn't seem to be any more time consuming than a 9x12. Go figure. Granted it wasn't the most complicated painting I have ever done but again having only about 2 hours in it was quite surprising especially since I didn't abandon the number 1 brush I use. You gotta' dance with the one that brung ya'.

The other photo is mid-painting in a field of roundbales. It's that time here in Tennessee. Roundbales seem to be everywhere you look.

The Three Hour Time Limit

2011-06-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

I have an imaginary time limit when I paint outside. If I have painted for three hours I generally have a problem or just finished fighting a problem. I tell myself that if I don't have it done at the end of three hours stop and re-group. Quit fighting it. Such was the case a few weeks ago on the painting above. The distant trees and hills went just fine. Like clockwork. But when I started laying in the foreground field my head just couldn't make it happen. I tried rows to the left, rows to the right, foreground textures, vegetation, rocks, posts, trees, etc., etc. Nothing made me happy and the three hours had expired so I scraped off the bottom half and when I got back to the truck I threw it in the tool box and there it stayed for about two and a half weeks.
Last week I revisited the same spot at the same time, fetched the half painting from the tool box and painted the foreground field in about 15 minutes. 15 minutes. That was all it took. I don't know if I was tired or frustrated on the first attempt but putting it away and recalibrating my head made a difference. I typically don't have the patience to go back a second time or try it later when I get it home. I am ready to move on to the next one. But I do believe in stepping away for awhile to let your head clear. I think it saved this one.

Heat Sissy Steps Up

2011-06-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have always admitted I am the biggest heat sissy that has ever plein air painted. I'm an eskimo. So if you would have told me I would be painting outside at 2:00 in the afternoon in 96 degree heat last Thursday I would have called you a liar. Yet there I stood, painting, sweating and whining.
Anne Blair Brown had called me the night before and suggested we go downtown for a few cityscapes. We would meet at 8:00 so I assumed I would be back in an climate controlled environment by 10:00. My bad.
We painted first on Rutledge street downtown. The area I picked had one small shade tree and that was the only shade I saw in that area so that's where I set up and apparently it was the same shade that most of the homeless use. Spent an hour talking to "homeless Mike" and he actually had some very pointed questions about what I do for a living. It was 10:00 and he had just finished his first stove pipe so I noticed the questions becoming a little less pointed.

After finishing that painting and regrouping at the Farmer's Market my painting posse, Anne, Cathleen Windham and Bitsy King all turned to each other and said,"what now?" Being the only man I couldn't be the one to snivel and cry about the heat so I said "whatever". That's how I wound up standing on the bank of the Cumberland River in 96 degree heat. All and all it wasn't that bad in the shade and I got some paintings done and got to use the heat for an excuse to spend the evening with the "posse" at an East Nashville establishment for conversation and libations.

I will say this about the summer though. There is a thick humid density to the atmosphere that you don't get as well in the winter that is fun to try and paint. It creates real grey atmospheric perspective that is a challenge to try and pull off but when you stick it it looks fantastic.

Commissions

2011-05-31T18:43:00.000-07:00

I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do a few commissions over the past few weeks. It's always fun to get to attempt to capture a piece of land and it's individual characteristics. Each landscape I step up to has a certain personality. They are all a bit different. If you don't believe me, ask the guy who farms it or hunts on it or just spends his free time walking around on it. You could drive them there blindfolded in the trunk of a car and as soon as they got out would know where they were. Thats why when someone asks me about my philosophy on painting landscapes I like to say I paint portraits. Portraits of the landscape. I try desperately to capture the look and feel and characteristics of that land and region and "personality" of that place. Lately I have have gone nutty on Douglas Fryer landscapes. He paints the landscape as it looks and feels, with all it's weather and textures and moods. Doesn't try to glamorize it or fluff it up. Paints the character of it. Guarantee, just by looking at his landscapes I would know where I was if I were ever blindfolded, thrown in the trunk of a car, driven to Utah and thrown out. And please, just take my word for it.

Also, while painting in Charleston with PAPSE I met Richard Oversmith who has an acquaintance that is the colorman and proprietor of Blue Ridge Oil Colors. His name is Eric Silver and he was kind enough to send me samples in the colors I use. After using them they reminded me of Holbein paints. Bear in mind I am no expert and I am sure Eric would answer any questions you may have, but compared to the Windsor Newton paints I use they seemed more soft and buttery. If you want to check 'em out, www.blueridgeoilpaint.com.

Chestnut Demos

2011-05-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Just a quick blog to keep the momentum. These were a couple of demos I did for the Chestnut Group about two weeks ago during their "Paint Your Heart Out" series of workshops. Had a great class except for the heat. Painting mid to late afternoon in 90+ degree heat was a bit miserable but everyone came through like troopers.

A New Look

2011-05-23T16:12:00.000-07:00

Thought I would change the look of my blog a bit and maybe it would inspire me to post more. I don't think it is the look that prevents my posting but the free time necessary.

We had a great opening for the Cumberland Society Show at Leiper's Creek Gallery last Saturday night. Large crowd, great party and brisk sales. I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen for awhile and the gallery looked fabulous with all the art hanging in it. Proud to be part of a group of such accomplished artists. The show will be hanging at the gallery until the 29th so if you haven't been, drop in and take a look.

I have been trying to get to the field when I can and due time limitations this time of year, my field work has been sparse. Thanks to some extraordinarily cool weather a week ago I got to paint full days. However a lot of it was in a slow drizzle. The paintings posted here were all done in that cool spell. I have the feeling though the cool spells are gone for awhile.

CSOP Show

2011-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of paintings I will have at the Cumberland Society Show at Leiper's Creek Gallery starting the 14th of May. I am as excited about seeing the other artist's work as I am mine. I haven't seen but a few of the pieces they have done for the show and I remember when I would go to their shows before I was part of the group how motivational it was for me. That was how I learned. Just gleaned their paintings to death. So I think it will be a motivational experience for me. That and a couple of sales would be highly motivational.

Apple

2011-04-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

I got an iphone recently due to the fact I washed my old flip phone in the washing machine and for anybody wondering, yep, that's bad for them. Loooove the new iphone. Can do itunes, weather, texting, well, you all probably know because I feel like the last person alive that didn't have a smart phone. So I used the camera feature to photo my paintings for this blog entry and I'll be damned, better photos than my digital camera. And I just stood them up under a florescent light in my garage. No sweat, no hassle. It seems like every Apple product I have ever bought has done that. Taken out the sweat, taken out the hassle.

The pieces here are 6x6's I did yesterday. I have been seeing some beautiful 6x6's done for the Randy Higbee show and have about 20 6x6 panels that I have never used so after seeing the show pieces got motivated. It is a wonderfully fun size to paint to. Oh, and you know how I say if you do this long enough you're going to find a jackass. Found one! Apparently if you drive by his house more than once he is going to pull you over to find out if you're going to steal his push mower or dirt bike or whatever he has laying in his yard. After he pulled me over I "explained" the situation to him and left him a business mailer with my contact info just in case he becomes a collector at some point. Got some great 6x6's I can sell him.

Spring Greens

2011-04-19T18:58:00.000-07:00

Everything is "springy" here right now. Lots of spring greens and storms about every 15 minutes. Violent storms. I happened to be at my daughter's school recently when the tornado siren went off and got to spend an extraordinary evening with 70 students in the basement of the Webb School gym. When the evening was over I had developed a deep appreciation for the patience and tolerance of teachers and faculty.

The paintings posted were all done last week. I had the chance to paint with Jason Saunders and Anne Blair Brown on Thursday and Friday had the opportunity to do a demo for the art classes at Christ Presbyterian Academy. They came to Leiper's Creek Gallery and due to severe weather and torrential rains yet again, I got to do the demo through the back window of the gallery. Not ideal, but I was just glad I didn't have to do it in a storm shelter.

Recent Work

2011-04-10T20:46:00.000-07:00

One from last week and one from mid-March, right before spring blooming.

Both are at Leiper's Creek Gallery.

PAP-SE Paint Out

2011-04-07T17:40:00.000-07:00

I got in last Saturday night from a week long paint out with Plein Air Painters of the Southeast. We met in Charleston, SC the Saturday before and conducted a bit of business and painted for a week in the Charleston area. I have to say its a great group to be affiliated with. I watched some beautiful work done over a weeks time. I just wish the weather had been as accommodating. It rained EVERY DAY. Not just one day or two. EVERY DAY. And cold. We painted off porches and docks and pavilions. My Open Box M got so wet it warped. But I have to say, it slowed most of them down not one bit. Still they painted on. I painted one morning on a fishing pier that extended out in the marsh. Terribly cold and the wind was howling. There was a group of trees about 60 yds off to my right and when I would hear a gust of wind hit the trees I knew to grab my gear and hang on. After the gust would pass I would paint until I heard the next one hit the trees.

As far as my painting, I felt a struggle all week. Don't know if it was the weather, the landscape, or what. Painting Charleston for me was about as comfortable as wool underwear. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find paintings. Looking, cropping, guessing. Painting Charleston was kinda' like a bad prom date. Just tried to make uncomfortable small talk until the evening was over. I know as an artist I am supposed to jump out and be able to paint anything. I can and do. But you can definitely tell the ones where I felt the connection to and passion for.

Interiors

2011-02-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

When I paint in the woods I refer to it as "painting in the interior" as opposed to the fields and open spaces. It is the hardest painting I do because of all the stuff. It is a hodge podge of shapes and values and pieces and light and confusion. It takes filtering. And time. And patience. Three very distinct deficiencies in my personality and life. So... I have decided to make an effort to include it in my routine because when it is done it is gorgeous. I have seen some Aspevig interiors that are so spot on that you can smell the woods and see that wonderful diffused light that permeates everything under the canopy that is created by the tree tops. And for filtering and putting the EXACT number of strokes necessary to say what needs to be said, nobody does it better than Marc Hanson. He can filter and put the perfect stroke right where it needs to be to say everything that needs to be said. Nails it.

I have been painting in the Cheatham Wildlife Management area between hunting seasons there. They have 20,000 acres of interiors. Lots of hardwood timber on ridges and in hollows. If you go make sure its during the periods where there is no hunting or the wildlife officers there will make sure it's the most expensive painting trip you have ever been on.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow....

2011-02-15T18:11:00.000-08:00

I have been taking a little heat lately because with all the snow we have had here in Middle Tennessee I have implied that I could stand a little more. Didn't go over so well. I understand that when your kids will be going to school on July the 4th and the tow truck drivers around here are starting to shop for property in Belle Meade you may be kind of tired of it. I understand that. But there is still something illogical about me that would like another snow storm tonight. I love walking in it, hunting in it, painting in it, and especially driving in it. Yeah, driving in it. I know. I think I may enjoy the cold and snow because I have never had to deal with real snow and cold. The kind that covers the windows on your house and lands in October and stays until May. I went to Door County Wisconsin once and as I stood gazing at the Green Bay one of the locals told me, "yeah, you can drive across it in your truck in January."

It's a Bay. A big one. Sheesh.

If you really want to get a chill, read The Endurance. It's the story of Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition in 1914. After arriving in the Antarctic area, their ship, the Endurance, was trapped in the pack ice and eventually crushed, crushed, by the ice. They walked for miles dragging and carrying their lifeboats and equipment until reaching open water where they endured some of the most brutally cold conditions I have ever heard of humans enduring. All before the advent of Gore-tex and Thinsulate. The descriptions of the cold and ice they suffered is unbelievable. Did this for months and months over thousands of mile. A testament to the resilience of the human species.

The piece above was done on the last day we had snow and as I painted it the snow in it was completely gone by the time I had finished and I haven't seen any since. Sigh.

"Well My Mama's Not Here Now, Is She?"

2011-02-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

And it's a good thing because she never would have allowed me to scale a 30ft. limestone bluff into a raging river gorge. And Kay Keyes Farrar's mom wasn't there either so she went with me.

Was it worth it? After the edge of the initial adrenaline surge subsided, yeah, well worth it.

We were painting with the Chestnut Group Saturday in an area right outside Cookeville Tennessee called Cummins Falls. It was bought by a private land owner who gave the Tennessee Parks and Greenway Foundation a year to generate enough money to purchase it and save it for posterity.

Enter, the Chestnuts.

They will be having a show on the 24th of February at the Belle Meade Mansion to raise funds for the purchase so we are making an effort to get out there and paint it.

If there is anyone out there who is going to try and get to the bottom of the falls, be prepared, there is no easy way to do it. We had initially began to hike but ran into some hikers who said maybe up to an hour to get in plus a knee deep river crossing three different times. We bailed. On the way back we noticed an area on the bluff that didn't look so "bluffy". We contemplated the climb about two seconds and then over the edge we go. There were a couple of areas at the top that had a pretty high "pucker" factor and after that it was just a matter of keeping your footing. Someone before us had the foresight to tie ropes at the lower areas so you could climb back out. Had they not been there it would have been a lot of muddy hands and knees climbing at the bottom. Oh, and I wouldn't suggest doing this with your gear on your back. Maybe lower it with ropes, then climb.

Once down there though, it was gorgeous. Boulder strewn river gorge, huge sheer bluffs on both sides, and the roar in your whole body of the falls at the end. The photos I had seen of it didn't even come close to the magnitude and weight and scale of this place. And being there as a light snow fell was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

After climbing back out and a little coffee, provided by the parks folks (Thanks!), we painted along the river at the top and then home that afternoon with nothing more than a little mud on our clothes. With the drive only an hour and a half it's not a bad day trip. Hopefully it will wind up in the hands of the Parks and Greenway Foundation because when you're there you realize how unique this is and what a jewel it is for our state.

Battle of Nashville

2011-01-31T14:48:00.000-08:00

I spent the day Sunday painting with Anne Blair Brown. We started on 12th Ave., a trendy urban area with unique restaurants and shops, and ended up painting in the "Gulch", another hip upscale urban oasis. Got a pretty nice street scene out of the 12th area but in the Gulch we tried to paint some trains parked in the train yard down from the Union Station. After getting started they had to move the trains. Not sure why but I'm not a train engineer. Just got my drawing straightened out and here go the trains. They would back them up, pull them forward, move one then two, up, back, etc. Didn't look terribly productive but like I said, I'm not an engineer. Anne actually finished a nice train sketch even with the moving of the subject matter. She said it is the equivalent of painting livestock. Square, metal, graffiti sprayed livestock.

Planned on painting another but Anne had a social engagement that went late and we were afraid to start another so I headed home. On the way I spotted the Battle of Nashville Monument in a small green space along Granny White Pike and had a little time before dark so whipped in and set up. From the parking lot there you get the view above. I have seen a couple of paintings of this thing and Michael Shane Neal did one that was just incredible. So I thought I would throw my name in the hat.

Sheesh. It was a drawing nightmare. That and the fact the sun was in, the sun was out, the sun was in, etc., etc.. I did the profile because I could just set up by the truck and save time but someday when I have the time would love to go down and try it from the front. Composition is another issue that makes it tough because it is thin and tall. The portion I did is just the bronze area.

The battle that this thing memorializes is the battle that raged in the areas of town that are now Forest Hills, Green Hills, Brentwood and down streets like Granny White and Franklin Road. Areas that are now some of the most affluent areas of Davidson County. It is hard to imagine what went on in these areas when you are looking at gated neighborhoods and million dollar homes. Apparently after getting thrashed at the Battle of Franklin, General Hood moved his army up to the outskirts of Nashville. There he ran into the defensive lines of Schofield, who had defeated him at Franklin and then moved to Nashville to join his army with that of Gen. George Thomas who had been defending Nashville. When you drive through the south end of Nashville there are little metal signs everywhere you look commemorating the major areas of battle. I recently went to the area of Shy's Hill, where some of the most horrific action took place. I think it may have been one of the first areas where the confederates began to break and retreat. It sits in a tiny little space with houses and drives ways and swimming pools. It makes it hard to imagine the din and noise of the mayhem of December of 1864.

More Snow!

2011-01-26T20:40:00.000-08:00

I complained because I don't get to paint snow enough and voila! I'm getting to paint snow enough.

We have had another snow and this one was a wet snow on a relatively warm day. I had been painting in the studio the past few days due to rain and it was REALLY good to be back outside again. I know there's a lot to be said for studio painting but I ain't saying it. I think that's what caused me to shift from illustration to this to begin with. That isolation of the studio will have you climbing the walls after a couple of days. It might be different if I had a studio with a couple of other artists around but here at home it's just me and the dog and I'm sure he's getting a little tired of me asking for his opinion.

Classes at Leiper's Creek

2011-01-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

I will be teaching classes again at Leiper's Creek Gallery starting the 27th of this month. The classes will be every Thursday night from 6:00 to 9:00 for six weeks. The class will be on the fundamentals of landscape painting. If you are interested contact Kay Farrar at kay@leiperscreekgallery.com .

Another Snow Painting

2011-01-13T08:25:00.001-08:00

I know the snow paintings have a reputation of not selling well, but to me they are the most fun to paint. I love how the landscape looks with snow on it. I'm sure if I lived up north in, say, Alaska, I might grow to hate it. Too much of a good thing. But since I don't see a lot, I just love it. I will say this though. Since I don't see a lot or paint a lot I have a hard time rendering it. It's tough.

I looked up a painter named T. Allen Lawson when I got home after finishing the painting above. I think he handles snow as well as anybody. His snow paintings are beautiful. What I see in his paintings is what I see when I am out there, especially on a grey day like we have had for the past week. There is not a lot of color to the snow fields, a pretty consistant color of grey that leans toward a plum(?) maybe. It has red as well as the blue. And real tight value shifts and temperature changes. I have a habit of making it too blue and then over correcting and making it too warm creating this wonderful muddy effect. There is a precision to a grey snowfield, that perfect value and temperature that if you miss by a little, it reeks.

The painting above was done about two miles from my home. There is an area near where I live that they have been able to keep some of the old dry stack stone walls, some I assume are from pre-civil war, and when the snow is on top of them they are absolutely gorgeous.

It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity...

2011-01-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

and it's not the cold, it's the wind.

The temperature this morning was not that bad, maybe upper 20's t0 low 30's. But the wind. Geeeez. It would blow gusts so strong it would pick up snow and blow it sideways to almost whiteout conditions. It looked like something in the Dakotas. Fortunately it was just those heavy gusts that caused it and I could get a little done between. But it was still bad. So bad that I bailed out after one. Had enough.

Hopefully the wind will settle down a bit tomorrow and I can get something done.

Tennessee Snow

2011-01-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

We have had a snow in Tennessee. And it was a good one. For Tennessee.

I am sure the folks that have relocated here from the north may wonder what all the hoopla is about but for us it is a good one. I guess we here in Nashville may have 3-4 inches and some of the counties south of us have had 7-8. I painted here this morning and got one done and will paint around here again tomorrow but as ours starts to melt I may move down to Bedford County later in the week hoping theirs may last a little longer. I will post paintings when I get photos.

This morning I spent a few hours just riding and looking and I hit all the hills famous for the sledding. Suicide Hill, Steeplechase, Natchez Trace. Saw one kid sledding with a kayak. And it worked.

We have more snow predicted for morning but hopefully I will be able to put in a full day painting. Unless I come up with a good kayak.

R.I.P.

2011-01-06T17:01:00.000-08:00

What you are looking at is the finest automobile that has ever been made. I know Justin Bieber thinks his 200,000 dollar Ferrari F430 is "all that" but I don't think it could carry a field dressed deer to the checking station. There.

I bought this truck in 1994 and at that time it was the finest truck on the road. And every day I would get up and it would start so I just kept starting it and driving it. Little did I know I would be driving it 16 years and 365,000 miles later. It has been on more logging roads than paved roads, has been in/through about every river/creek/tributary in middle Tennessee and has pulled every boat I have owned and every trailer I have hooked to it without fail.

A couple of years ago I was having a little trouble passing emissions testing and I found a mechanic that could get me through. He helped me the last few years with leaks and noises I couldn't decipher and kept me going. I told him that I took my daughter to her first day of kindergarten in that truck and I wanted to take her to her high school graduation in May in that truck so we had to keep it running. Unfortunately neither the truck or my mechanic made it.

I had a "miss" in the truck last summer so I decided to change my spark plugs hoping that would do it and I noticed that a couple of my plugs were wet and gummy and oily on the ends which is the automotive equivalent of finding "a lump". And it was terminal. I worked with my mechanic and we determined that I was leaking oil in the number 4 and the number 6 cylinders. A rebuild or a brand new motor was all that would fix it. Dang it.

I called the mechanic's shop the end of September:

"Joe there?"

"Joe is no longer with us."

"What'a ya' mean? He can't quit, he owns the place. Has there been a coup?"

"No, I mean Joe died."

Thunderstruck.

Apparently it was a heart attack. Joe was, maybe, retirement age but to see him work he was a fireball of energy and grease. Could work me under the table. And it was fun to watch him work and get after a problem in a vehicle. Didn't seem like the kind of guy that would ever die.

I sold my truck off last week. For scrap I guess. I picture Joe getting to heaven and saying, "Lord, I'm gonna' need something to work on."

Lord said" I know just the truck. It has oil leaking into the 4 and 6 cylinder."

God's going to LOVE driving my old truck. And as for those damn brand new Michelin tires I put on it right before it broke down, you're welcome.

So here's to Joe Gallagher and Chevrolet Silverado VIN number 2GCEK19K5R1141478. I will sorely miss you both.

White Christmas

2010-12-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

We actually had a white Christmas here in middle Tennessee, the first in years and from what I have seen on the news lately we weren't the only ones. It looks like most of the country is buried in snow right now. Unfortunately here in Tennessee it came and went quickly. And due to the schedule of the holidays I didn't get out in it enough. The two I have posted here were done days after Christmas, at the last of the snow, one on a gravel bar in the Harpeth River and the other in Leiper's Fork.

Also, if you get the chance, there is an interesting blog I follow by a guy named Stapleton Kearns. His blog is full of artistic info and his December 14 and 15 entries are about innominate color. He explains as well as anyone, including me, how I use color and the palette I use.

When I use the three color palette I use, especially painting landscapes, I see almost everything as innominate color. They are all mixtures of the three "leaning" toward red, or green or whatever. I don't even see it as a color. I see it as an innominate mix and I compare it to what I see and ask, " is it cooler or warmer or darker or lighter?" then tweak my puddle in that direction. I compare it to tuning a guitar string. You turn it up and down and listen to it until you hit the note then stop. Then do the next one in relation to that one. And then the next one and then the next one, etc..

And I got a new camera from Santa Clause and the images seem to be a bit green/blue. I need a camera that shoots innominate color with a "cooler/warmer, lighter/darker" button.

Snow!

2010-12-18T17:38:00.000-08:00

We had a little snow at the first of the week and it gave me a chance to do a little inclement weather painting. Got two snow paintings in and the icy grey painting above. Sleeting sideways on that one. Brrr. The reason you don't see the other snow painting is the fact it didn't do what I had try to make it do. I was trying to paint looking into the sun on a sunny clear day and there was this wonderful glare on the snow and when I set up on it I wasn't quite sure if I could pull it off and the little doubt in the back of my head soon became a hard cold fact. I couldn't figure out what I needed to do to get that eye squinting glare. I tried darkening values around it, changing temperatures, blurring edges, etc., etc. Pulled out all the tricks. To no avail. Got it home and tried some more. I think I have mentioned before that if I try to fix them at home I wreck 'em. This is the one thing that I am artistically very consistent at.

Snow?

2010-12-11T19:32:00.000-08:00

Not much to say on this one, just wanted to get one in before I go to bed.

These are more 6x9's and the one with the barn and flag is a 9x12 I did back during my workshop as a demo, on Veteran's Day actually.

I'm sitting here right now getting a little excited over the fact we have snow in the forecast. The forecast has a pretty stiff wind predicted though and that can really make painting tough. Hopefully I'll be able to get at least one good snow day.

Motivation-cation

2010-12-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Heeyy, it's me. I'm alive. For anybody who keeps up with my blog I have had a bit of a motivation issue. Been lettin' it slide a bit.

But I'm back.

These are a few 6x9 paintings I am putting together for Leiper's Creek for the Christmas buying crowd. They're small and inexpensive and we have already sold a few. Hope to have the last two dry and in the gallery by midweek for a total of 8. If they sell well we may be on to something. I have noticed in this industry though as soon as you think you're on to something it changes to something else. Like trying to kill a rattlesnake with a sewing needle.

Everybody's a Critic...

2010-11-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

...which in the case of the painting above is a good thing.

The Cumberland Society of Painters had a meeting Thursday night and agreed to have a "critique" after. We all brought paintings for the exercise and I had just finished the painting above that morning. During the critique of the painting there were a few compositional issues brought up so I took the painting home and followed the advice and "voila", a better painting! I think it actually helped the feel and design of the painting.

This was one of the first group critiques I had been a part of so I have to say I was a bit apprehensive trying to tell people who are much more experienced than myself how I think it ought to be. But after watching them I noticed it can be very constructive and I think we all have the same problem of being our own worst critic. I can stare at one of my paintings for only so long before it starts looking like a Jackson Pollock and it's nice to get fresh minds and eyes to see things you just can't pick up on.

Anyway, I may try this piece larger because I do like the feel of it and hopefully I can translate some of the qualities of it as I enlarge it.

The Chestnut Group Radnor Show

2010-11-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Chestnut Group is having their Radnor Lake Show this weekend. The Patrons party is Thursday night and the show begins in earnest on Friday morning at the Nature center there at Radnor. As we were setting up I saw some fantastic art and it looks like the Chestnut Group has taken it up a notch yet again.

I have posted my effort for the cause and hopefully we can raise a little money for the park. They still have quite a bit of damage from the May flood and every little bit will help.

PAP-SE Weekend

2010-10-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Had a weekend of painting and socializing with some of the Plein Air Painters of the Southeast. It was a get together to meet the new artist's in the group which consists of me, Jim Richards and Lori Putnam. We were joined the first day for a paint out in Leiper's Fork by Anne Blair Brown, Diane and Frank May, Brett Weaver and Roger Brown and Beverly Evans. After a full day of painting we spent the evening in Nashville at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. They have a show there now called "The Birth of Impressionism" and it's on loan from the Musee d'Orsay. If you have not been, go. It's wonderful. There is a painting there by Jules Bastien LePage titled "The Haymakers" that did it for me. It is a huge painting and the greens in it are phenomenal. I mix greens. I mix greens all the time. I mix greens for a living and I have never seen a green like this. It's grey and cool and deep and rich. And it's juxtaposed against other colors that make it this vibrant green yet when you look at it closer it's almost grey or blue or something else I can't get my head around. The effect of it was gorgeous. Speaking of greens, the next day we painted at a farm in Fernvale, had a catered lunch, and then dinner at one of the artist's home. In that home happened to be two Clyde Aspevig paintings. These were two of the most fabulous paintings I have stood in front of and in one of these paintings was a green. A perfect green. There is not a word between "aardvark" and "zymurgy" that describes this green so I won't try to with my limited linguistic talents but these are the times when you realize what is meant by "genius" in reference to great landscape painters. My rods and cones feel like they are cooling down after an Ironman triathlon.

We painted as a group one more time on Saturday morning and then all left until next spring when we plan on having the entire group together again right outside Charleston. I am looking forward to meeting the other artists and being part of the group.

A Busy October...As Always

2010-10-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

I am officially back to blogging after a bit of a break. I have had quite a bit of illustration work to get out and still try and paint. It makes for chaos.

I painted this morning with Anne Blair Brown and Diane May in preparation for a Plein Air Painters of the Southeast paint out/get together scheduled in one week. We were scouting out places to paint and socialize as a group and have a few places worked out for both. It will be a lot of fun meeting the group. Hopefully the hazing will be kept to a minimum.

I am also painting at Radnor Lake in preparation for the show the Chestnuts are having there and will post those when I can get photos.

If you are big into painting the autumn colors you better get after it soon. They are peaking and won't be here long. Now's the time.

Workshop

2010-10-06T19:43:00.001-07:00

Wanted to get in a quick plug for a workshop I will be having at Leiper's Creek Gallery November 10, 11, 12 and 13. That Wednesday night will be 3 hrs of information and a quick demo and the next three days are full days of a demo in the morning and then students painting in the afternoons. I haven't had one this late in the year before but that time of the year the landscape around here is beautiful. Should be fun. And if it gets cold the gallery has a coffee maker and a fire place. For details e-mail Kay Farrar at dkisfarrar@charter.net.

By the way, I just got in last night from Wilmington, NC where I got to spend some time with the owners of Walls Gallery in Wilmington. The owners, David Leadman and Nancy Marshall, are very experienced and knowledgable when it comes to this fickle industry we call fine art. They are now in the process of preparing for the Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Finals that they are hosting there in Wilmington. They actually have acquired a space in the Mayfaire center that is perfect for what they are doing. Plenty of room and it is located in a shopping area with restaurants and retail. I do believe with what little I got to see, the OPA show is going to be a top notch show. They picked a great gallery to have it with.

Oh, and tomorrow we will be setting up for the Chestnut Group's Land Trust Show at the Glen Leven mansion that is to be held Saturday night in the mansion. For anybody who is attending the fundraiser, make sure you swing through the mansion and check out the show. I think most of you know as well as we do, it's a great cause.

Plein Air Painters of the Southeast

2010-10-03T19:24:00.000-07:00

I was just asked, and have accepted, membership in The Plein Air Painters of the Southeast.

Flattered is an understatement.

I remember when I started this, these were some of the people I would study and watch and try to emulate. Everything from their artistic abilities to the way they ran their businesses. It is a group of painters I had always had a deep admiration for and to have them deem me worthy of membership is truly an honor. Since I have been doing this, out of all the accolades I have received, it's when a group of artists who you admire and respect accepts you as one of their equals that is just the best.

Thanks to everyone in PAP-SE. I am looking forward to being part of the group.

Charleston!!

2010-09-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am sitting in the city of Charleston, SC. Last week a friend of mine who loves a road trip as much as I do, called me Wednesday and said "I'm going to Charleston, you in?" Hell yeah I'm in.

The first day was spent with friends of my traveling compadre where we were able to acquire a 19ft center console sea going boat with a 115 outboard. It was nice. We put in on the Bohicket river and ran down stream to the Atlantic Ocean where after pulling out into the ocean decided it might be a little rough for comfort so we stayed in the wetlands and river channel.

The most amazing thing about the area was the wildlife. Bald Eagles, Osprey's, ducks and migratory birds of every kind. But what astonished me the most was the number of dolphins that were in these brackish water areas. They were everywhere. The whole time. And they would get soooo close to the boat it felt like you could just reach out and touch them. I tried to photograph them but you never know where they will surface so by the time you get the camera pointed in the right direction and the trigger pulled they would be gone. The one's I have here are lucky shots out of about 10,000 attempts. Two of them started playing in front of the boat and would leap out of the water 4-5 feet. Incredible creatures.

Today was spent gallery hopping due the day long rain they had here. I saw 10-11 galleries and enjoyed my time at the Sylvan Gallery talking to Joe Sylvan and then at the M Gallery, probably my favorite of the bunch, talking it up with Maggie Kruger. Had a great time picking her brain and before it was all said and done she has asked me to send her a few paintings when I get back. Sweet! It always feels good to be associated with someone like Maggie who gets it and knows quality art and has and runs a high caliber gallery. I am looking forward to doing business with her.

Hopefully tomorrow it will quit raining long enough to paint a little. Either way, this town has enough to keep me busy.

Tennessee Dinosaurs

2010-09-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

I went to Radnor Lake last week with Anne Blair Brown to start painting for the Chestnut Group Radnor Lake exhibit in November and as we were looking for a spot we came across this "dinosaur" you see in the photo above. It was one of the largest Snapping turtles I have seen. It was huge.

The Chelyda Serpentina, or Snapping Turtle is one of those creatures that evolution got to a certain point and then just blew right by. These are the closest thing we have to dinosaurs. They got to a point millions of years ago and haven't changed much. Haven't had to. They are like the shark and alligator, perfect at what they do. Eat, breed, repeat. Sounds like a pretty good routine.

When I was a kid my brother had a Boa Constrictor and used to win the pet show at Central Elementary grade school every year. He had one more year to win on the challenge trophy to get to take it home. About a week before the big show I caught a snapping turtle out of the creek about 100 yards from the school and entered him in the pet show. Guess who didn't get to take the challenge trophy home? That's right. I beat him with a creek turtle I caught the week before. When he would pull that snake out of the cage the crowd would oooh and aahhh. When I pulled the turtle out I got nothing.........except a big fat blue ribbon and my name on the challenge trophy. Caused a bit of a "stir" in the family. And this story gets more surreal by telling you that the judge that year was Huell Howser. He was a weatherman in Nashville at that time and was the closest thing to a celebrity we knew. He went on to do a show I see from time to time called California Gold. Google him.

I guess snapping turtles can do three things. Eat, breed, and kick your little brother's ass in a pet show.

Hazards of Cityscapes

2010-09-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

I painted in Germantown with Anne Blair Brown again this morning and as we painted a gentleman walked up and asked,"Can I take your picture?"

"Sure" we replied and off he ran only to return with this professional grade camera over his shoulder and one of the Channel 4 weathermen in tow."Can we shoot you for the weather segment for tonight?" Dang. Kinda' wish I would have spent a little more time on my "look" this morning. I have to say though, I am usually dressed and prepared for a day in the woods and fields, as I was today, and I have not yet had anyone run up to me in those woods and fields and ask, "can I take your picture?"

Just one more hazard of painting cityscapes.

We also painted this afternoon with Bitsy King and Diane May at the Farmer's Market and if you have never painted there it is a plethora of color and pieces and parts and values and movement. It's overwhelming for someone like me. As most of you know, I will chase a detail like a dog chases squirrels and the Farmers Market is all details. I squinted and squinted and squinted and still got pieces. Baskets of fruit and vegetables and pumpkins and people, flowers and awnings, etc.. And it was all in shade. As easy as pulling your own Wisdom teeth.

Close to Home

2010-09-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

I got this painted in a slow on and off drizzle yesterday. It's one of those places that I pass constantly on my way to other places to paint and it's within 10 minutes of my house. Sometimes I think I need to slow down and look a little harder around my area. I believe I could find a ton of things to paint without the gas investment.

By the way, I am not sure what happened to the copy on the post below. I re-posted some of the images and my type must have been erased so make up your own captions.

2010-09-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Hey, Hey, Hey... OPA!

2010-09-01T19:30:00.000-07:00

This piece was juried in to the Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional Show at Walls Gallery in Wilmington, NC. Typically I mail these to the galleries for the shows but I think I may drive this one out there. Greeeaaat excuse for a road trip. The fact I love the country between here and there doesn't hurt either, especially the western side of NC.

I also noticed a couple of other Tennessee artists got in. Jeff Jamison and Tarron Parsons, both personal friends and fabulous artists. Congratulations guys.

City-fied

2010-08-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

Went downtown with Anne Blair Brown this morning to paint industrial/cityscapes. It is out of my comfort zone again but I think she and I have a plan to do this at least once a week. It would be good for me because for me it is a compositional challenge due to the fact there is just sooo much stuff and I need to filter a bit better. I tend to want to paint it all because it all looks like so much fun to paint. Little signs, telephone poles, fences, cars and trucks, architecture, etc.. I also kinda' let Anne feel out the spot because I was dying to try and just jump out and make some sort of composition with whatever I had to work with. It's tough. I always have a great deal of admiration for the guys and gals who can step up to something that you can't see anyway a painting will come out of it and they knock off a masterpiece.

Before we did this, Anne e-mailed me a couple of links to William Wray's and Randell Sexton's websites to get a feel for some urban work and if you haven't seen their stuff you need to take a look.

Next time I do this though I am going to try and ad the cars and maybe a person or two so it doesn't look like the day after some biological holocaust.

Finally, A Break In The Weather!

2010-08-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

We finally had a break in the month long heat wave. I think we had near to over 100 degrees for over a month and last week we finally got a cold front that lowered the temps to the low 90's to upper 80's. Compared to what we have had I almost had to put on a fleece jacket and ear muffs. We gathered up a group that consisted of Roger Brown, Beverly Evans, Jason Saunders, Anne Blair Brown and myself and rode the backroads in Maury county and painted for two days and that was the first outdoor painting I think any of us had tried in awhile due to the weather. We had a small map that Jason had from his gig as a Bethel volunteer fireman and he navigated with "left here, right here, OK left here." We saw some unbelievably beautiful painting country in the area between Columbia and Mount Pleasant and need to get back ASAP.

When I paint with other very capable artists and see how they do what they do I always come away questioning my techniques and methods. I have found that every artist I know seems to have a different way of getting from point A to point B and after watching them I am tempted to try some of it. Use a different panel, different brushes, different palette, different method, but I have gone through all of that and it brought me here, where I am right now. Eventually I know it will change again because as an artist that constant search for more knowledge and skill will have an impact and pique my curiosity to the point I will change, bend and flex as I acquire my new skills and knowledge. That's what keeps this journey sooo exciting. What in the world will I be doing a year from now?

New Book

2010-08-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Landscapes of Kevin Menck by Kevin Menck | Make Your Own Book

Designed and printed a new book of my images through blurb. Easiest thing I have ever done. It's amazing the different venues and the ability we have now to promote our work that 10 - 15 years ago I would have killed for. The printed version of this was a little dark and saturated but I'll work on some color correcting and hopefully will be able to print a stack of them to use as a handout at a few galleries in the future. When you view it though, hit full screen. For whatever reason the image size I have it at now in the blog is the only one I could make fit. Just because the technology has zoomed along doesn't mean I have been zooming along with it.

100+

2010-08-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow my blog I assume you can tell I haven't been blogging and that is due entirely to the heat we have had here in Middle Tennessee. It has been unbearable and because of it I haven't painted outside. At all. I tried Saturday with Plein Air Nashville and the Chestnut Group at a paint out we had in Hartsville getting prepared for the Land Trust show we are having in October. I tried three paintings and failed three paintings, two being scrapers. The third will never see a frame. All I was thinking about while painting was to hurry as fast as I could to get out of the heat. I was miserable. The paintings got not one ounce of my mental attention, the weather had it all. And it showed. I can't remember the last time I left the field that frustrated and demoralized. Whipped...drained....exasperated.

I have painted in every weather situation I can think of and even as much as the wind frustrates me, the heat shuts me down. I noticed on the news that this weather is to continue for the next week so my blog will be a little sparse.

The piece I have posted is the second attempt at a commission with the first being the July 19 post. After it was done it was a little large for the space at 18x24. Fortunately it sold to someone else and the piece above is the second at 12x16. We shall see.

The Land Trust of Tennessee

2010-07-25T20:24:00.000-07:00

I think I have mentioned this before but it bears repeating; thank you to anyone who has donated property to the Tennessee Land Trust. It is a gift to all Tennesseans, now and into perpetuity, and hopefully if my DNA produces an artist or two in my family tree generations from now, they will be able to stand and paint the same farms and fields I have had the pleasure to paint these last few years and the same vistas the indians experienced. That's phenomenal to me. Every time I find an arrowhead and hold it in my hands I try to picture the guy that turned that arrowhead in his hands. How much time did he devote to his craft? Was the arrowhead I happened to be holding in my hand one that he was exceptionally proud of or one he would consider a dud? One that he would show everyone or one he lost control of and threw in the field I found it in? While I am holding that arrowhead I feel an incredible connection to whoever that indian may have been and all we have in common. Dedication to craft, sacrifices made to further that craft, and that unexplainable "fire in the belly."

I mention the Land Trust because lately the Chestnut Group has been painting Land Trust properties for the fundraiser they have on October the 9th at the Glen Leven mansion in Nashville (which is also a trust property). The paintings above are all from the the Daniel's property in Watervalley and were painted with the Chestnuts last week.

A Little Studio Time

2010-07-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Painted in the studio a bit last week. This painting was a commission piece and I had some illustration work to get out so I didn't get a whole lot of field work but hopefully if I can beat the heat this week I will have more field work to show.

The piece above is a 18x24 and it looked huge in my studio and then I took it to the gallery and set it under a massive Roger Brown painting and it looked soooo itty bitty.....

Tennessee Shakespeare Festival

2010-07-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

My family was in Bell Buckle Tennessee Saturday evening and while we were there we attended the Tennessee Shakespeare Festival's production of "The Two Gentlemen of Verona." It's the actual Shakepeare play but it is set in a small town in Tennessee in the sixties country music industry. It is very clever, hilarious and very well done. The stage is on the campus of Webb School and apparently they stay on campus and live there while the play is going on, I think a couple of months.

So if you would like to see Shakespeare with a southern accent, take a bottle of wine, a couple of glasses, and go see "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" at the Webb School in Bell Buckle Tennessee. You'll love it.

Busy Busy

2010-07-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

Above are my students from my Thursday night class and the demo I did during. The lady you see in the photo wearing the white shirt and shorts has taken a few classes and workshops around town and has developed a bit of a moniker. It seems that everyone refers to her as the "brownie lady". I know a couple of her past instructors and the first thing they would ask is,"Has she brought brownies yet?" Well she did Thursday night and believe me it is a well deserved moniker. They were awesome. I had also picked a mess of blackberries on the way to class so my dinner Thursday night was brownies and blackberries. Life of Riley.

These are more haybales I got done this week on the Natchez Trace, 11x14 no less. It has been a good haybale painting season this spring. I have haybale paintings stacked to the roof around here and I am going to have to have a haybale clearance sale. Make me an offer.

And, I have re-posted this painting because after I got out of the heat I could actually take a look at it and add a few things that I didn't in the field because all I could think about was getting back in the vehicle and in some AC. When I say the heat affects my work this is what I mean. My concentration is on getting out of the heat and not the painting I am working on at the time. A recipe for disaster.

Social Aggression

2010-06-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

The two donkeys above are two of the most "social" creatures I have come across.

I have access to a farm in Leiper's Fork and it's where these donkeys apparently live. I take my class out on Thursdays and we had a group of six that got together recently to paint there and invariably these two characters roll up. They lick palettes, nose through equipment bags, put their heads through open windows on vehicles, and try desperately to obtain whatever beverages we may be drinking on that particular outing.

Also, here in Tennessee, the heat is on. It has been miserably hot and has cut into my paint time. I actually went very little this past week relative to what I normally do and I went with Jason Saunders Friday morning and it is the hottest I think I have ever been while painting. My life was actually saved by a three scoop chocolate waffle cone at the Mount Pleasant Cafe. Tragedy averted.

Frustration

2010-06-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

I had a student ask me if I ever get frustrated while I'm painting.

"Heh heh, who me?"

I told them yes and I am sure we all do, it's just that I have learned to approach it differently now than when I started. I have learned that if you can see through it, calm down long enough, there is usually a very significant lesson to be learned.

I remember an incident for me about three to four years ago as I was standing in the middle of a vast cornfield trying to paint. It was mid day, sun was bright and it was getting hot, but the biggest issue I had that day, the one that REALLY sent me over the top, was this slimy, slippery quality to my paint application. Wouldn't adhere to the canvas, just slid. I lost it.

Now, I could have picked up my Open M Box and thrown it like a javelin. Or probably gotten pretty good distance with a "shot put" technique but I went with the tried and true "hammer throw" namely because I was clear headed enough at that point to realize the chemicals I had assembled on my palette would spin off harmlessly in an arc away from me. It was pretty good distance too for someone in hunting boots and blue jeans. Had I had on those little tight athletic clothes and shoes they wear there's no telling how far I could have pitched it. Point is, after I calmed down and had that moment of clarity, I saw myself standing pathetically in this vast cornfield on this vast planet and realized how small this all was so I went over, dusted it all off, stood it up and really thought about why I got frustrated. Analyzed it. Really tried to get to the bottom of it. I was using Liquin as a medium at the time so I thought I could try the next painting without it. Maybe that was it. Bingo, it got a little better. Lesson.

So now when I get frustrated I see it as a lesson. There is something there that is causing the frustration and if I keep my wits I might be able to analyze this and figure it out. Another lesson.

They say pain is the body's way of telling you something is wrong. I feel that way about frustration when I paint. I need to analyze what I am doing and try to fix what is causing the "pain". Sometimes it works and others it doesn't but it is much better than flinging an Open M Box across a cornfield.

June in Tennessee

2010-06-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

Everybody is in the hay right now in Tennessee. All the hayfields are being cut and rolled so I am again this year making the effort to paint them while I can and once again I will say they are some of the hardest subjects I paint. Trying to get them to look right in perspective, to get them to lay on the ground, to have weight and to draw the ellipses correctly are just a few of the drawing problems. And for whatever reason, for me, they are incredibly difficult to judge and paint the values right. Maybe it's the Benedryl.

I was also invited to paint with Jason Saunders and his students during his workshop. He has developed such a reputation as a teacher and instructor he has people attending from all over the country. Had a lady from Michigan at this one who had driven 9 hrs to be there. In the class I teach, if I get someone from the next county over I get pumped.

Quick Flood Update

2010-06-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post one more time about our recent flood. It seems that everywhere I go now to paint I am confronted with "Bridge Out" or "Road Closed" or "Detour" signs. Everywhere. The damage is so widespread it leaves me speechless on most days by the time I get home.

I typically take the Natchez Trace out of Nashville to get to 90% of my painting areas. Leiper's Fork, Fly, Watervalley, Hickman County. There is not one community along the Natchez Trace that has not been gutted. As a plein air painter I spend a lot of time riding the back roads and every low spot or dip in the road or creek or gully I have seen has been completely destroyed. What used to be meandering little creeks are now giant cavernous ravines. And the amount of gravel that has been piled up in yards and on farms is astronomical. Where did all that gravel come from? One of the most shocking sights for me was the Totty's Bend Bridge in Hickman County. I know if you have never seen it it won't have the impact it would for someone familiar but the Totty's Bend Bridge had drift on it! The water actually got over it! I have posted a picture with the river in the distance but I don't think you can tell that that bridge is probably 40 feet from the water! I NEVER thought water could reach that bridge. Yet there it sits, closed, with trash all over it.

I have to say, the road crews have done a very good job getting us back to some sense of normalcy and convenience but I would guess there are areas that will never be the same. It is just a miracle that more people weren't killed.

Classes at Leiper's Creek Gallery

2010-06-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

For those interested, I will be teaching a landscape class again at Leiper's Creek Gallery starting June the 17th. It will be conducted mostly outside if the weather co-operates and will be Thursday evenings from 6:00 - 9:00. To sign up contact Kay Keyes Farrar at dkisfarrar@charter.net.

Lindsey Lohan Yellow

2010-06-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

I have a color that I can't do anything with. It has the palette personality of Lindsey Lohan. No matter how many chances you give it, it just can't be controlled and doesn't get along with any of the other colors and generally makes a mess out of every situation it is exposed to.

It's Cadmium Yellow.

Anne Blair Brown gave me a little last week and I have tried to use it a couple of times since and for whatever reason, the colors I get with it seem to be muddy, garish. The greens get very yellow ochre or too warm maybe? Not sure if it is a technical issue or the other colors I have on my palette or even a personal matter due to my familiarity with what I use and it being something different. Just can't get anything I like with it. I have also added Alizarin Crimson and have started using it a bit. The thistles above are an example of a color that looks better with the AC than just Cad Scarlet. I am also considering adding a blue of some sort as long as I can find one that doesn't become a "Brittany Spears Blue".

Back in the Groove...But Out of My Comfort Zone

2010-05-27T19:40:00.000-07:00

I got some painting done this week. Painted with Cathleen Windham on Tuesday evening in a rain storm and had to fend off hostile donkeys but got the barn above done. Then Anne Blair Brown took me out of my comfort zone this morning. She challenged me to a swap of palettes and technique. I would be Anne Blair Brown for a painting and she would be me. Her palette had a couple of extra colors on it but the biggest issue I had was her painting method. Anne underpaints and she infuses her paintings with a lot of luminosity by the color she uses in her underpainting. When I would try to underpaint I lost my values. Once I got my color down my values were off and as a value painter I just lost it. Came unravelled like a cheap suit. She on the other hand nailed a couple of nice one's with a strictly three color palette. That's either a statement on her ability or my methods.

Ultimately, I think it's good for us as artist's to get out there and try something else from time to time. Out of the comfort zone. If I think about it though, I have been out of my comfort zone every second I have been doing this.

Back in the Saddle Again.....Kinda'

2010-05-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is the first painting I have done in over a week. The week before I only did demos. I did two for a day long workshop I did for the Chestnut Group and two for the student body at The Webb School in Bell Buckle. I also slipped off with Jean Gauld Jeager after the Chestnut workshop to paint in the Glen Leven garden. For the last two weeks, that's it.

This painting was done with Plein Air Nashville Saturday morning at the Mount Olivet Cemetery and I have to admit I felt a bit rusty, clumsy. There is a "groove" or rhythm to this. You have to do it on a pretty regular basis for it to stay intuitive and less trying and from time to time life will knock you out of your groove. Hopefully this week I can get back into my groove.

Aftermath

2010-05-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

The amount of damage caused by our recent flood here in Nashville and surrounding counties is overwhelming. There is debris and mud everywhere you look.

The photos I have posted were the few I took while it was taking place. My first incident started right at the end of the Harding Art Show when I went to my truck to get trash bags to cover my art and as I rounded the corner of the school saw my truck sitting in the artists parking lot in knee deep rising water. I ran, jumped in the water and then wading to the truck got in and drove back through the water and out, the whole time talking to my truck. "Alright, you gotta start. You gotta get us outta here. Let's go sweetheart."I then got my truck parked, ran back in the school and got keys from Helli Luck to get her vehicle out but within 10 minutes the water had risen so high and fast I couldn't get close. The rapidity with which the water jumped up was stunning. And the speed with which it fell was just as stunning. It was all over that evening in about an hour and a half. When that was said and done we lost around 7-8 vehicles in the parking areas.

The next morning was the deluge that created most of the flooding and damage. The street scene is from my driveway early Sunday. After the rain that morning I got out to see how much damage had been done and was stopped by an ocean of flood water right down the street from my house. I knew at that point this was very, very bad. I had never seen anything like it and hope never to again.

Right now, in the aftermath, the worst part for me is driving through these areas every day and seeing the possessions of their lives, from antiques to their children's toys to beds and furniture thrown out in these huge debris piles by the road. HUGE debris piles that contain everything. I mean EVERYTHING. Most don't have flood insurance so I think this catastrophe is just beginning for most and you almost feel guilty for being able to go about you life in the midst of this. Again, I hope I never see anything like this again.

Devastation

2010-05-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

As I write this my community and the city I live in sits and soaks in a septic, toxic stew of sewage and god knows what chemical mix after a record "flood" that has engulfed everything around us. I have "flood" in parenthesis because I really don't think that word or any word I can think of does the magnitude of this justice. I saw rushing torrents of water where there should be no water and cars floating and bobbing like corks.

Other than a bit of inconvenience due to power outage and isolation due to our location on the backside of the Harpeth river my family is fine. Unfortunately, a large number of my fellow Tennesseans can't say the same.

When I get phone service back I will take the time to post some of the photos I have and a few more stories.

The Harding Show

2010-04-27T07:32:00.000-07:00

Once again it is time for the Harding Academy Art Show. It will be Thursday from 6-9, Friday from 10-9 and Saturday from 10 - 3 so come by and say "hi." Also, the Chestnut Group is having their show in Columbia this weekend right off the square on 7th Street. It will be a great weekend for a little art shopping. Christmas is only 8 months away!

Leiper's Fork

2010-04-21T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have to say you never know what to expect when you're in Leiper's Fork.

The class I teach has started meeting outside for a little true plein air work and last Thursday night as we painted, two guys roll out a hot air balloon, heat it up and blast off. All in about 30 minutes. I had no idea you could get one in the air from the bed of a truck in that little time.

There is a very eclectic group of people with varied pasts and interests that reside in the Leiper's fork area. Some of the best musicians and guitar players that have ever played with resumes you wouldn't believe. Celebrities like Faith and Tim, Steve Winwood, Keith and Nicole, (I sat at a table next to them at a Starbucks recently and yes, she is that gorgeous in real life even at seven in the morning. She looks like she is from a galaxy of incredibly beautiful people and she doesn't belong here with the rest of us.) Bo Bice (sorry, I don't watch American Idol so I said "who?") played in town a few weeks ago on a Thursday night and last week as we were watching a balloon take off there was a rumor Robert Plant was at Puckett's. Granted, I got it second hand, but it's Leiper's Fork. Nothing surprises me about that little town.

So if you get the chance, swing through Leiper's Fork. I am sure something there will catch you off guard. And if you see Nicole, tell her I said "hi".

Hunting

2010-04-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

I finally found a little time to turkey hunt Saturday morning and actually filled a tag. It was a small turkey but a turkey none the less. Hunting has slowly taken a back seat to everything else I am trying to get done in my life right now especially raising busy kids and painting. I was not aware of how much time, energy and attention painting would require and consume. Nobody warned me. Before I knew it, it had me. Even when I hunt, the painting wheels are turning in my head. "Look how close those values are." "How would I get that color?" "Man I wish I were set up right now." And on and on. I posted the photo of my hunting compadre because if you will notice the sun was rising and casting light on the ridge to the left in unbelievable colors with the fog hanging along the Duck River in the background. I almost threw my gun down and ran screaming back to the truck for my painting gear. The only thing that stopped me was as I was taking this photo, two of the largest turkeys I have heard in awhile were gobbling their heads off about 50 yrds. to the right just over the crest of the hill we are on. I wanted the turkeys to wait until I had finished watching this sun-up or for the sun-up to hang on just a minute until I had dispatched one of these turkeys. Of course neither happened because when you are out there you are just a spectator on Mother Nature's time. You can't stop it or slow it down. Just feel incredibly fortunate for the experience.

The paintings are a couple from the week and the tree line with the chert rock road is from class last Thursday. We got out and did a little plein air painting there in Leiper's Fork and I have to say I was quite proud of the class. It was windy and about 50-55 degrees and they all hung in there and had some real nice paintings for their effort.

April

2010-04-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the week painting in the Leiper's Fork area and Thursday morning had the opportunity to paint with Leiper's Creek Gallery owner Lisa Fox. She doesn't get the chance to paint as much as she used to due to the time that the gallery takes so it was good to see her out. I also picked up my first sunburn and tick of the season.

Heads Up!

2010-03-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

As I was painting Wednesday the snake in the photo above slithered right up next to me. He was about two feet from my two feet. Had invaded my personal space. As creepy as they look, theoretically they are about harmless as a bag of cotton balls. But, after seeing one, your concentration is shot. You spend an inordinate amount of time checking the ground. Checking the ground. Checking the ground. I was turkey hunting with a friend one time and we were "sneaking up" on one and were crawling along veeeery quietly. I eased up in to position and got settled and then my buddy eased up into position. Unfortunately his position was on the end of a vine that due to some physics equation moved on the other end, my position. Have you ever seen a vine move in the woods? All it needed was a forked tongue. I flinched so bad I pulled muscles and let out a noise like a 6 yr. old girl on Christmas morning. The rest of the hunt I spent checking the ground, checking the ground, checking the ground. I think I even checked the floor board of my truck a couple of times on the way home after that one.

The paintings are from the previous week and the two at the bottom were painted yesterday with the Chestnut Group for a show they are having at the end of April of the historic buildings and areas in Columbia Tennessee. The two you see are of the courthouse and the building in profile is from the old Columbia Military Academy which was one of the premier military schools in the nation at one time. The plaque on the front says it is the old Guard House but its architectural demeanor leads me to believe it was designed to keep something in or something out. Maybe an arsenal or brig. If those walls could talk.

Ode to Biscuits

2010-03-13T15:09:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter loves biscuits. I mean loves biscuits. She will sit down to a pan of biscuits for breakfast and eat them with nothing on them. No jam, jelly, butter, nothing. She had a writing assignment at school recently and this was what they got:

"Ode to Biscuits"

Seeing sunlight

and buzzers sounding,

I saunter to the kitchen for

biscuits

Slippers scuffling

and people humming

everything's alive because of

biscuits

the oven is up and running

burning crisp the bottom

of what's in it

biscuits

my teeth pierce the outside,

crunch! into the gooey inside

it tastes like home,

biscuits

You gotta' love that.

Also, an artist and friend of mine, Erin Jones, will be teaching art classes beginning March 29. It will be a great class for getting going with drawing and oil painting. For more info, check her blog at: erinelizabethjones.blogspot.com.

Home Again, Home Again...

2010-03-10T15:12:00.002-08:00

I think I am good for about a week on these painting trips before I start to miss the family. It's not that we do these incredible things together but I just feel better when I am around them. Kinda' like a security blanket I guess. And it doesn't hurt that they are really awesome people.

Above are a few of the paintings I accomplished on the trip to Atlantic Beach. Before we left on Tuesday, Lee Dellinger and her husband Charles Jones had a social at their home and the guest list was Marc Delessio, Jimmy Craig Womble and his lovely wife, and Jason Saunders and myself. Had some great stories. I always ask each artist I meet where they would paint if they only had one place to paint for the rest of their life, where it would be. Marc said Morocco. Yeah, I know, me too. I pictured France, Venice, mountains of Tibet. And believe me, the guy has been everywhere. But that was it for him. I will say this, the way he described it, it has moved up on my list considerably.

The following morning we hit the road and arrived home after a 13 hour drive with a couple of stops. All in a days work for a plein air painter.

Tales From the Road

2010-03-07T17:19:00.000-08:00

I am not sure what it is about my demeanor or appearance that makes people want to give me things but as I write this there is a bushel, not one or two dozen, but a bushel of raw oysters in the bed of my truck.

On Thursday Jason and I left for our paint trip to Atlantic Beach, NC and spent the day driving, arriving in Atlantic Beach around 6:30 that evening. Next morning we wandered aimlessly as you typically do looking for a place to paint and getting our bearings until we stopped at Callico Creek where we were met by Vision Gallery owner Lee Dellinger and painter Jimmy Craig Womble. After a painting, we stopped by the gallery where Lee helped with maps, locations and the name of the coffee shop.

The next morning with our maps in hand we got busy. However, the tone of my day was set when after getting my subject picked out, a nice group of boats, and having the drawing and about half of the painting done, a gentlemen drove in, backed up and parked what looked to be about a 16 foot box trailer right in front of my boats. It blocked everything. Scrapped it and moved on. Another plein air story. Speaking of which, Marc Delassio happened to be in town and painted with us today and we started telling plein air stories and he beat us all with, "they filmed a porno movie where I was painting one time." He said another painter there was complaining because it had broken his concentration. Really?

Anyway, today while we painted I was painting by a commercial shrimping/oystering/crabbing boat when the owner pulled up and told me a diver would be arriving shortly to change the prop on his boat. While this was taking place he and I conversed and I got to watch a diver change a prop on a boat the whole time continuing to paint. Oh, did I mention his 10 year old son had just gotten an automatic pistol bb gun for his birthday and was standing next to me ripping shots off into the bay as fast as he could pull the trigger? 350 to be exact. That's all he brought and was out by the time he left. Right before the boat owner left he said," you gonna' be here awhile?" I said yes and about 20 minutes later he pulled in with a bushel of oysters with my name on them. He opened a few there on the dock and between us we may have eaten 15 but it didn't even knock a dent in a bushel. I know on the last trip I was given some beets that I promptly traded for Mike's Hard Lemonade but I'm afraid the oyster trading may not be as easy. But ya' never know.

ROAD TRIP!

2010-03-03T10:56:00.002-08:00

The gallery I'm in in Atlantic Beach, NC, Vision Gallery, is having a plein air show the first week of June and encouraged their artists to come over and paint the area for the show. I don't need a lot of encouragement for a road trip. I will be leaving in the morning and Jason Saunders will be accompanying me for the 5 day painting trip. I will try to blog from the road.

This must be the same feeling that Lewis and Clark had before their epic journey west, minus the threat of death from bears or indians. That anticipation of new landscapes and people and sites you have never seen and places you have never been. I read an account of their journey in the book "Undaunted Courage" and their journal from the trip and it is amazing some of the things they accomplished and did, and did it so matter of fact, like it was nothing. Just a day at work. Weather, Bitterroot Mountain Pass, indian fights, Grizzly bear attacks. They lost one man. That's it. And he died at the start from illness. I can't afford to loose one man. That's all I'm taking. I almost lost him on the last trip at the Bayside Tavern.

Anyway, I know we won't encounter the adversities of the Lewis and Clark Expedition but I'm am still pretty excited. Nothin' beats a road trip.

Class II

2010-02-25T14:20:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to let everyone interested know I will be teaching again at Leiper's Creek Gallery on Tuesday and Thursday nights starting March 23 and March 25. It has been great fun talking art every week twice a week. I actually learned a bit myself and found out I can crank out a pretty good demo in 30 minutes to an hour.

Again, it will be a landscape class as it pertains to plein air painting. Basic drawing, seeing masses and the big shapes, three color palette and values, values, values. Anyone interested should contact Kay Keyes Farrar at dkisfarrar@charter.net.

16x20

2010-02-24T11:54:00.000-08:00

A quick post. Gotta' pick up my 12 year old at school.

This is a studio piece that is 16x20. Huge for me but lots of fun actually. It didn't hurt that it all just fell into place and I didn't have any areas in it that I had to scrape and paint and scrape and paint and....well you get the idea. I am also pleased with the feel of it, the moodiness. Typically I have a hard time getting it and controlling it in the studio.

Back At Poole Knob WMA

2010-02-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

With the snow on the ground, I am going to get all I can out of it. Went back again this morning and hopefully will be able to go again in the morning. There was this wonderful cedar thicket that had snow hanging on it and was hanging with the weight of the snow and was just beautiful. Maybe it didn't get warm enough to completely get rid of it but I am afraid I may have missed it by not doing it this morning. But then I wouldn't have the one I have. Life goes on.

The game warden's curiosity finally got the best of him this morning and he had to stop and ask.

"What's goin' on?"

"I'm working."

A brief moment of silence and then that look of comprehension.

"Oooohhh, you're paintin'! How 'bout that!"

After showing him a few paintings and explaining it all, he was overly friendly about helping me find spots and suggested quite a few.

I have found that once most people find out you're a painter they're fascinated and incredibly accommodating. The only thing that seems to sour the conversation is when they ask,"How much you want for it?"

More Tennessee Snow

2010-02-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not we have had yet another snow.

I woke up this morning with every intention of studio painting and looked out the window to see another snowfall. I immediately grabbed my gear and headed for the Poole Knob WMA. There are paintings everywhere there. Everywhere you look. This morning with the snow it was almost overwhelming. After having scratched out a good spot and getting one started it began snowing. Hard. It actually snowed so hard I couldn't see the tree line in the distance. I have seen other artists put falling snow in their paintings, and do it well. But having never tried it I didn't know technically how to pull it off. Stippled? Splattered? Itty bitty brush? Suggestions? I have seen it in some of Marc Hanson's paintings and it is sooo delicate. Different sizes and values and the pattern they created was very even and rhythmic.

I think I may practice a bit, let this painting dry, and then give it a test run. If I get good at it though, I am afraid I will like the look of it so much I'll get carried away with it. If ya'll start seeing it in some of my July and August paintings e-mail and tell me to stop. Thanks.

The other painting is from last week during the clouds in the same area, Poole Knob. Like I said, so many paintings.

More Snow Painting

2010-02-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter was out of school yesterday so she and I got out rambling and wound up in Poole Knob Wildlife Management Area. It was completely empty of people because of the snow and mud I believe. But it was gorgeous with the snow on it. We took a little time to throw some rocks on the pond and then I got to work. I enticed my daughter to go by promising her the opportunity to drive the truck. She did. And very well. I think she liked driving in the mud and snow and I see a four wheel drive vehicle somewhere in her future. Out of all the girls we have in our home, from ages 17 down to eleven, I explained to them all if anything happens to me and ya'll need to drive me somewhere, let the little one drive. She is right now the best in the bunch.

The only other person we saw in the area was the Game Warden. He only waved and kept going, so apparently painting there is allowed or because I was painting in the snow and mud thought I was mentally unstable and my daughter and I left before his back-up arrived.

The Second 2nd Annual Radnor Lake Plein Air Freeze Out

2010-01-31T17:52:00.000-08:00

Plein Air Nashville scheduled a winter paint out at Radnor Lake for this morning around 10ish. When I saw the e-mail I thought we might have three or four show.

Man, when it snows Plein Air Nashville turns out.

I didn't get a count but I estimate we had 15-16. For PAN that's quite a few, especially with the weather as it is right now in Tennessee.

We don't get a lot of snow in Tennessee so when it does snow we just go nuts. We wreck cars, bend and break every sled we own, close the schools for weeks, empty every grocery store of milk and bread within 300 miles and generally act like, well, Tennesseans. Me included. I'm out in it the whole time it's on the ground. Like I said, go nuts.

This morning as we painted the sun came out and it was quite comfortable and the next few days the temperature is predicted to be much higher than 32 degrees so it won't be here very long after tomorrow but maybe, just maybe, we can have one more good one before the season's over. I just hope it waits until I can get some more milk and bread.

2010-01-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

This is the Thursday night class demo and I let them work on an exercise until about 8:00 then asked if they wanted a demo and flew in and got this done in a little over thirty minutes. They were cleaned up and ready to go by nine. These under the gun demos are actually kind of fun because it is a very intuitive way to paint. You really can't over think anything. Mix and apply.

The mountains you see there are in the Cumberland mountains on the Kentucky Tennessee border. I had gone up there to the Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area about three years ago to paint for a week. It is some of the roughest country I have been in both culturally and geographically. I actually knocked the exhaust out from under my truck on what they consider roads. They are these little coal company roads hanging on the sides of the mountains with these giant coal trucks coming and going.

While I was there I attempted to paint the scene you see in the post. I made a royal mess out of it. When I think back about that trip I don't know that I actually had one or two paintings that were decent and the rest just horrible. I keep telling my students about these moments you have in your career when you realize how far you have come and the things that you found so difficult a year or so ago you wade through now. However, it also seems the more I learn the more I realize how much more I have to learn. I actually hope I never loose that because ultimately it seems to be what keeps most of us coming back again, and again. No finish line.

Another Class Painting

2010-01-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Quick post. I have to leave for class at the gallery. It seems like I am teaching every 15 minutes. I was just there.

Class is a lot of fun though. I have tried to knock off a demo at each class so far and have time for them to get something done in class that I can look at and kind of walk them through. It causes some fast demos. The one above took about 40 - 45 minutes. Granted, it is small, but I felt like I was trying to put out a fire.

Anyway, gotta' go. I'll try to get some photos up of the class if I can remember to take pictures.

Class Time

2010-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

I officially began teaching last Tuesday night and had another class on Thursday night. The paintings posted are the demos I did from each class. I think after it has all shuffled out I have 5 beginner students on Tuesday and 6 intermediate students on Thursday night. For me that is plenty. I am kinda' glad these classes aren't bigger than they are until I get a little experience under my belt. Teaching is far removed from "doing". When I paint, a lot of what I do has become subconscious and I don't think about how to explain it. When I try to explain it I think I tend to skip some of the things I take for granted, some of the things you have done for so long you assume everyone knows how to do them. The Tuesday night class is a beginner class. Some have never opened a tube of paint so I think it will be very basic stuff for the next six weeks for them. When I see them Tuesday we are going to go through the color wheel and how to get color with a three color palette. Hopefully at the end of six weeks they will understand things like value, mixing color, and basic drawing skills. The intermediate class of course has the basics and as I did a demo for them they seemed to ask some very precise and experienced questions so I should be able to get into more advanced practices.

All and all I am very excited about the possibilities in both classes. Lisa at Leiper's creek Gallery was kind enough to let me have the gallery in the evenings so we have a great space with plenty of top notch art on the walls we can use for examples of some of the things I will be referring to. It's going to be a lot of fun and as excited as I am to see what it will do for the students ability I am just as excited to see what it will do for mine.

2nd Annual Radnor Lake Plein Air Freeze Out

2010-01-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

Last year, Dawn Whitelaw, Erin Jones and myself painted at Radnor Lake on a morning when the temperatures were in the low single digits. I think it is still a record for me. This year we did it again although the temps were not quite as low as last year and Dawn wasn't there. Just me and Erin and somewhere in the teens. But, it did snow and there seemed to be more ice on the pond this year. It was absolutely gorgeous. No matter how hard you may wish it, it will never snow in the studio.

The photos above are Erin and myself at the lake, the piece I did and the piece Erin did. Her's was in the beginning stages when I photographed it but I thought it was a wonderfully done painting. Nice values and a great composition. The other piece of the Beech trees is one I did last week right before the cold snap when the wind was howling so I did a painting in the interior of the woods way down in a hollow to try and get out of some of the wind. I don't do many "interior"paintings because they are very hard to do. Lot's of drawing and the masses are less defined because there are so many bits and pieces in the woods. Compositional nightmares.

Unfortunately here in Middle Tennessee we don't get enough snow to actually study it and paint it on a regular basis so when I paint snow it is less from experience and a knowledge of how it should appear in any given situation and more on trying to paint what my eyes tell me I am seeing. If you want to see some painters who have studied it and been exposed check out Clyde Aspevig, Matt Smith, Skip Whitcomb and Marc Hansen. Clyde Aspevig has a couple of ice paintings on his web site right now that when I have them up on my Macbook I have to go cut the thermostat up because the temperature in the house drops 10 degrees.

Snow?

2010-01-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

Snow! As I was standing in my kitchen staring out the window and pouting because it didn't snow, it started snowing. Granted, it wasn't a very big snow, but it was enough to give the landscape a few highlights here and there. I ran to Bells Bend Park because it was close and I knew the highways there would probably have been salted. Not many backroads to deal with.

Once I got out there it didn't appear to be as much snow as I had anticipated. A dusting. But seeing these small passing snowstorms in the park was beautiful. That alone was worth the trip.

No Show Snow

2010-01-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been like a kid in a candy store. I recently found a place that is the kind of scrubby, agricultural landscape that I like and it is public access. It's the Poole Knobs Wildlife Management Area. A friend of mine goes there to watch bird dog field trials and had been telling me about it. I painted there Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Best of all, the weather we have had this week has been teens to mid-twenties so there was ice on the creeks and ponds. I don't get to paint ice often and it is a challenge. It has been so cold that Tuesday I painted with Jason Saunders and as I was painting the painting above with the cedar tree some kids pulled up and wanted to know if it would bother us if they played hockey on the pond! To be playing ice hockey outside in Tennessee means serious cold. We also had a forecast yesterday of 2-4 inches of snow. I haven't painted in snow in awhile so I was pumped. Woke up this morning and didn't have a flake. It was like waking up for Christmas and Santa didn't show up. Maybe we'll get some before the season's out.

I'm Back, and on a MAC!

2009-12-31T16:22:00.000-08:00

Happy happy joy joy! I own a Mac!

The reason I haven't posted is the fact my other computer, a Dell, gave up the ghost. I hope it is in pieces wherever bad computers go when they die. I tried to have it fixed yet again but my wonderful wife once again thought more clearly than me and decided to invest the money in a new computer. On Christmas day it was a complete surprise. Now I am trying to get software and other things I had on my computer transferred to Macville. It may take a little while, bear with me.

You Mac folks have been holding out on me. When I would ask "how ya' like your Mac?" I would get a "good" or "it's very nice". No one ever told me it is the single greatest invention in our species existence on this planet. The wheel, internal combustion engine, penicillin, nothing comes close. This thing is awesome. The color and quality of images on this are marvelous. I may now be able to paint from an image on my computer now and then. What a way to start 2010.

Speaking of 2010, have you made your resolutions yet? I know we all say "to get better as artists" but have you really thought about what that entails? I have noticed that there have been periods in my development where it feels like I have reached a plateau and am not quite sure what to do next to keep the momentum going, to keep getting better. When I look back at the beginning of 2009 I see improvement but if you asked me how it happened all I know how to say is,"I painted a lot." Didn't have a plan. No method. Just painted. Hard.

So over the next few weeks I would really like to think about what I want to accomplish this year and maybe at the end of 2010 I will have a more interesting answer than,"I painted."

2010. Here we go.

^%$#%#@ Computer!!!

2009-12-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

I am down again! My computer has vapor locked once more. It seems I work on it as much as I actually use it anymore. Granted it's old, terribly old, but my truck has 330,oo0 all original one owner miles and I can walk out in the driveway right now start it and drive it anywhere in the country I want to without this much trouble. I will say though that over the last few years my truck has sprung enough oil leaks that my kids started calling it the "Valdez". But it runs. Anyway, tech guy will be here Wednesday to get it going again. That, and the Brentwood Academy Art Show are the reason's I have been away from the blog. I also haven't been painting much. Took a little time after the show and had a few illustration projects come in so the last week I worked on those. Plan on getting back in the groove this week though.
I'm posting an illustration I did this past week. It is Screwtape from a C.S. Lewis story. It was one I was not familiar with so I had to do a bit of research.

Details of the Class

2009-12-02T18:09:00.000-08:00

I sat down with Kay Keyes Farrar today and hammered out the details of the landscape class I will be teaching at Leiper's Creek Gallery the first of next year. I am going to try and teach two classes if we have enough interest. The first will be taught on Tuesday evening from 6-9 and will be a beginner class with the very basic basics taught to get people started and the second class will be Thursday evenings from 6-9 for intermediate painters for those who have had a bit of painting experience. They will start the week of January 16 and will last six weeks and will be $300.00 per student for that six weeks. It will be landscape, landscape, landscape. Drawing, values, three color palette, paint application, edges, composition, and anything that pops up in class that we decide to learn or work at.
So, if you or anybody you know would be interested, please contact Kay Keyes Farrar at dkisfarrar@charter.net and she will set you up.

Teaching Class

2009-11-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

Alright. After hours and hours of deliberation I have finally decided to give teaching a whirl. I have been approached by a few people wanting to know when I would start and after talking with Lisa Fox, owner of Leiper's Creek Gallery this morning, I am making plans to teach from the gallery starting at some point in January after the holidays have worn off a bit. It is still very sketchy at this point but I am planning on teaching from the gallery on Tuesday and Thursday nights from , say, 6-9 in the evenings for 6 weeks. I had thought about a workshop outside but the weather this time of year is very unpredictable so we will save the workshop for better weather. And it will be an entirely landscape based class, how I paint landscapes and everything I know about it.
So, tell everyone you know and if you are interested or if anyone you know is interested, get in touch with me or Lisa Fox at Leiper's Creek Gallery and we will sign you up.
The images above are a few from last week. I am not sure how much posting I will get done this next week with the Brentwood Academy Show on Friday. Can't believe it's here.