The Land Trust of Tennessee

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

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

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

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.