Water Under the Bridge Oil Painting

A painting for guys. At least this is the feedback I have gotten on this painting. This is from a photo I took while in Hamburg, on a boat and of course, under a bridge. I like the fact that "guys" are not put off by the PINK! I'm not really sure why I painted it other than I often find that I want to explore new things and enjoy the challenge of painting something different from my normal landscapes/people/stuff around me. I loved the abstract quality of the rust and the weird way the water reflected and swirled as we went under the bridge. It was very quiet and a bit surreal and although it happened in mere seconds, the image has stayed with me for a long time.  Indeed it is Water Under the Bridge and life goes on. Oil, 24x36. gallery wrapped. $500.00.

Hot and Sunny Virginia

Okay...It's finally summer and it is terribly hot. Hanging out at the beach seems to be the only relief. This painting is in oil on a gallery wrapped canvas and titled, Sand Bar,24x30, and is 400.00. Make something cool to drink and sit back and simply don't sweat it.

Shadows By a Farmhouse

Shadows have always fascinated me and this oil painting surely brings it in to focus. I think in this new series of paintings I have been working on, my desire is to continue to edit, refine and simplify as much as I can has been surprisingly difficult. Things are beginning to morph more and more into abstraction as I try to make some sense or have some control over the canvas. It has been very challenging to paint this way and to do less instead of more. One small, wrong, stroke can put things off and has to be corrected. A value that is off just a bit has to be fixed. I am enjoying this process though and have 3 more paintings that I am working on that are somewhat similar to this that I will share soon.

Lots of Painting Going On...Merry Christmas!

I have been working on paintings for the Nansemond Suffolk Academy show that will be coming up right after Christmas. I will be having some medical stuff done that will keep me out of the loop for awhile, so I have been trying to plan ahead. All kinds of painting going on and getting ready for the holidays as well. Without further yaking, I'm just going to upload this stuff and let you look. This one is called Long Shadows and is 24x36 on a gallery wrapped canvas.

Jazz Man at Reunion

This is a painting of one of the musicians that played at my recent high school reunion.  The stuff they played was fantastic and brought back many memories of the oldies we all listened to as kids. Ugh...40 years ago! Contact me if you are interested in this painting for more details. 500.00

A Palette of Places-Fort Hayes, Kansas

Out in the middle of NOWHERE is this place. On the drive from the east coast to Colorado Springs, we stopped briefly here to take a break. After miles and miles and miles of driving it appeared- a mere bump on the horizon. If you can remember the poor Union officer in the movies,Dances with Wolves, who committed suicide, you can understand why. Desolate. There are a few restored military quarters as it was way back when with historical markers telling you about what was and is now there. I'm talking the middle of nowhere. It is hard to understand how far away from anything it is and yet it is beautiful in its own lonely way.
As I continue to think about the many places I have been and work on this series, I have been able to learn a few things and refine where I am going with it. I now realize that there are certain places that I will have to do more than one painting as the colors and palettes are very specific to that place. I also realize that the size of the canvas is corresponding to the impact that each place has had in my life. These paintings are seeming to come from my memories and right now, seem endless. I won't be able to paint them all, but will try to focus on those that seem to "stick out" more than others.

Orchard Shadows Oil Painting

There is just something so intriguing to me about the way that light seems to play around trees. It trickles in between them and dances about and may make the most delightful patterns of shadows on the ground. The fact that these shadows are like smoke and cannot be touched makes them all the more beautiful to me. The best way for me to touch these untouchables is to just paint them.

...a hard place

Sometimes you are just plain stuck. You feel like you can't move forward, can't get out of, can't leave, can't make things better. Stuck. That's what this is all about and the heavy, overly solid feeling that comes with being stuck. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Still Too Hot

Although I painted this last summer about this time, it's still hot here again this August and I am soooooo ready for autumn.

Colorado Wedding Place

At the end of the month, I am headed out to Colorado to attend the wedding of a dear friend's daughter. I hope that the bride and groom will approve of this painting I did of the site where the ceremony will be held. I haven't been to this particular location before, but know that the vistas in Colorado can only be described as breathtaking. Now the biggest challenge is to figure out how this painting, framed and boxed will get on the plane.

Opposites Attract Oil Painting

I have a red plum tree and a river birch in my front yard. I like the fact that these two are so very different from one another. The birch is graceful and large with plenty of light seeping through its branches. The plum is all color and show with mysterious dark spots inside. What I find most interesting of all is when you stand in just the right spot, you can see the two intersect, making yet another tree- a combo of the two. This painting took much longer than I had anticipated as it is quite large (36x36) and all of the detail work, although fun to do, took seemingly forever.

Catching Up with the Norfolk Academy Art Show

On Saturday night, the Norfolk Academy had their artist's reception and opening. Lovely food, wine, music and art...what more could a person ask? The school is beautiful and the artwork as well as some antiques and 3-d work was well placed and hung. So many people were there it was difficult to manage down the halls to see all of the paintings. I was thrilled to see that one of my paintings had already been sold early in the evening. The show will be open from 11-3 daily until April 30th and is well worth the visit.
I think that I will go back when it is less crowded and give myself the time to see the work and study carefully. I was impressed and feel lucky to have been able to participate.

Fuzzy Flowers Still an Abstraction

This is a pastel I did that still remains unframed. Although I love creating pastels, the problem of framing, putting in spacers or matting the work and worrying about chips and dents in the frame is troublesome. I took a picture of some flowers and the photo ended up being so blurry that it was actually very difficult to figure out what the picture was all about. More reason for me to like it. I think that I may just use this piece as a reference and paint it in oils. Oil paintings sell so much better than pastels. What do you think?

Abstract Landscape a Natural Evolution

I have done a number of landscapes; outdoors, in the studio, small, large, from photos I've taken, and some from my imagination. For me, painting this abstraction seemed to be a natural evolution of a landscape. The process in my head was the same, the color choices and variations were the same and the depth shown here is similar to my realistic landscapes. This painting is quite large (30 x40) and the color shown here is slightly off. The painting is not quite so yellow. There are small details that cannot be seen here in the photograph and I layered many colors on top of one another. I used an impasto medium as well and the paint is very thick. I guess with all the dreary weather we have been having, I was just looking for a piece o' green and it sure is.

Charlottesville Trees

I had a hard time with photographing this small oil. There seems to be huge glare on the picture which I think distorts some of the view. This is a view from the intersecting road that catches only a tiny glimpse of the Blue Ridge mountains in the background.

Coming Home

Just finished and waiting to dry. Only 18x24 and a very cool palette. I love sheep.

Merry Christmas to Me!

In the last 3 weeks, I have sold 6 paintings; Tuscan View, Lace Hydrangeas, Orchard Apples, Feels Like New Orleans, Cinque Terra and Suffolk Marsh. I couldn't be happier, although I have to work like the dickens to get some more stuff done for the Nansemond show. This means that paintings really need to be finished in a couple of weeks in order to be reasonably dry by Jan. Back to work!

Lemons From Lemonade

This is a small oil on board that is only 5x7, however in a very wide gold frame it somehow seems a little more impressive. Floating lemons in the sky....fa la la la!

Cold Night Oil Painting

Winter will be here before we know it. This time of year often seems to pass in a buzz...Halloween, Thanksgiving, then Christmas. Suddenly, you wake up almost as if having been in a coma- and it's January! Cold Night is what January feels like.

Small Oil of Green Apples

I hope to do two more of these small oils. I love the fact that they are on gallery wrapped canvas and don't require a frame. Although they are small, I thought that they would be perfect for a kitchen area. Once I finish the other two, their impact would be greater hung as three together. Often, people purchase small pieces of art and then hang them on huge areas of open wall space, which diminishes their importance. In an effective series, each painting relates to the next and when hung properly, fill a space as well as one large painting. Also, having a series means greater flexibility in rearranging the work. Vertical, horizontal, staggered...these are good options especially for awkward spaces that "need something."