Commissions

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

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

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

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.