Painting "Newport" Seen at Parade of Homes

This painting was selected by the Parade of Homes that will open on Sunday at Buckroe Beach. I hope to get a chance to slide by and see how they have shown it. It's always interesting to see what environment your work ends up in if you have the opportunity. Mostly, they go away and you never know what happens to them.

Portsmouth Plein Aire Painting

A lovely day, good light and a charming view of a white picket fence and houses in Portsmouth. When the weather is great it is wonderful to be outdoors, but when things get hot and sticky or buggy and rainy, I fade pretty fast. There are wonderful plein aire painters that endure all kinds of things in order to "catch the light" and I'm afraid that I'm not one of them. So, deciding to paint outside is often a last minute thing, when the weather report looks good and my French easel is packed.  I love the challenge of trying to work very fast and to focus intently on the subject and to edit quickly in order to capture a scene. When people stop to talk and watch, I have to say that it makes me self conscious and that I have never been really comfortable with it as some painters are. I hope to get some painting done when I travel to Lexington and can catch those great Blue Ridge mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. After that, I'm off to Charleston to do some painting there. If the weather doesn't cooperate, I will instead do other things like visit galleries and shops or sketch and take photos for painting later in my studio...or simply just wander. We will see.

Guardian Heart

Everyone has laughed at this painting from my son's comment, which is unprintable, to another saying that the title should be,"but...butt, but....."
The whole idea was to work with color blocks in pleasing shapes and to keep with the "heart" idea. This popped out.

It's Dryin' Time Again...

This abstract has been hanging on my studio wall for some time now. The title is "Heart" and it is pretty full of paint so it will take awhile for it to be dry enough for some cardiologist to take it to his office. Often artists who work full time painting have to have several things "cookin" at once in order to shuffle things around a bit while they dry. Or at least become dry enough to paint on top of or around or beside. Sometimes though, you just want to do it all in one sitting. Bob tells me that Nicole used to argue with him about how once oils dried, the artist should be done. Finished. Finito. I don't agree with this philosophy as I feel that a painting has to hang and "age" a bit. Walking by it and catching a glance while you are busy doing other things will often reveal something that needs to be changed. I call it "When the painting talks to you." With students, I told them all to be "Paint Whisperers" and to learn to listen to their paintings. Eventually, they would learn how to hear so that they would know what to do next.
"Heart" here is my need for clean, crisp, simple color and for some interesting shapes that speak only slightly of the human body. Nothing complicated as we all often are. Perhaps a better title would be "Being Simplified."

Woodstock, Virginia-A Palette of Places

The other day, someone was peering at this painting and thought that it reminded him of small cabannas at the beach. Someone else looked at it and thought it reminded them of row houses in the city. I was happy about this, even though they weren't even close. I am hoping that these "places" in my mind translate universally to others and that they speak for themselves without my small story that prompted them to be painted.
In this case, as a child, I spent many, many memorable times at my grandmother's house in Woodstock. Almost every Easter, long summers at the pool, Thanksgivings in her dining room are just a few of the many good times spent at her warm home. My sister and I would play endlessly in the garage, the neighbor's yard, and in the garden. Behind my grandmother's house was a large berm with railroad tracks running right down the middle. Everyday the train would come through, rattling the windows of the house and tooting its whistle. My sister and I would always stop and stare, waving at the conductor as he passed. We must have looked like little, dirty urchins...filthy from playing in the dirt, often barefoot, but alway happy there in the warmth of my grandmother's lovely world.
As I grew older and my grandmother aged, I spent less time there, devoting myself to the distractions of being a teenager. I didn't realize until after she was gone what an extraordinary woman she was. Her house and the garage behind it with the swing my grandfather made was  our sanctuary. How I wish she were around today. I still miss her.

Atlanta, Georgia-A Palette of Places

Years ago, while at Ft. Benning, I went to Atlanta for the weekend and we stayed at something called Peachtree City, if my memory serves me correctly. I remember a huge escalator, the miserable heat and humidity, and the knowledge that Atlanta had an underground which we didn't have time to visit. Ergo, the large.dark area on the painting.

Suffolk, Virginia, AM-A Palette of Places

Every morning, on my way into the studio, I cross several bridges. In particular, the bridge between Isle of Wight County and Suffolk has beautiful views right at the top of the bridge. The reason I title this specifically in the morning is that I plan on painting a seperate one for my return home and the view from the opposite direction.

A Bright Spot

Perhaps because I am such a nut about Christmas and  now that Thanksgiving is  behind us, I am posting this abstract oil from 10-10-10. I was thinking about trees hidden behind hills at the time and the fact that you can't see all of it from this perspective made me paint it this way. You can't tell what is happening on the other side of the hill. I suspect that the mystery and the bright red and green in spite of it all is what was rattling around in my head at the time.
I've been busy teaching a few classes to other artists and it is such a delight to work with them. You get to move so quickly and their comprehension is so great that it's like being on a roller coaster. You take them up this hill and then you reach the top and off they go.