Keeping Busy

Here are a few new paintings I have either recently finished or started. The one called 'Mountainside Barn' is large. It's 30"X 40". The blue sky might be the most vivid blue I've ever used. Right now, it's hanging in my livingroom.

The small boat painting is one I did while I was doing a painting demonstration at Just Be, during the First Friday. It's not often I can nearly finish a painting in one sitting, but since I was getting an opportunity to paint for three solid hours, I was able to get a lot done. This one is 12"X14".

I am nearly finished with another landscape of sorts. I'm painting a picture of a grain elevator. These  types of buildings -- barns, windmills, grain elevators and old farm houses -- have become my favorites. There's an escape quality to the image of a wide-open field and sky protecting these utilitarian buildings.

I hope you enjoy looking at them. Please feel free to comment.

A Beautiful Night and a Rainy Day

Jekyll and Hyde paid a visit to Greensboro this weekend. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for First Friday at Just Be in downtown Greensboro. I was the featured artist and was on hand doing an oil-painting demonstration from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. There was a steady stream of people visiting the store. More than 10 of my paintings were very nicely displayed. The owner and store manager have been wonderful to work with and did a great job with directing customers' attention toward me.
Many people commented on and asked questions about my paintings. I received a lot of positive feedback. And a big thank you goes out to Kimberly for her help; Tate for taking photos; and family, neighbors and a co-worker for stopping by to show their support.

As much fun as I had at First Friday, I was really looking forward to Art in the Arboretum on Sunday. The weather forecast was for rain -- mostly early -- and much cooler temperatures.

And that's what we got. I got up at 6 a.m. to begin loading the van. The rain was already coming down, though not too heavy. I decided to hold off on loading my paintings until the rain let up. Then we got something Greensboro doesn't see too often in October: a thunder storm. The rain became heavy. It was still very early, and the weather maps were showing the line of storms passing through quickly.

Before I started loading paintings, I called the Greensboro Beautiful weather line to make sure the event was still on. The recording said the event had been cancelled because of rain.

For about the next five hours, I wandered through the day with disappointment. Mostly because the event was cancelled. But also because, during that five hours, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out momentarily. In fact, as I sit here writing this, it hasn't rained since around 9 a.m. With the cool weather, maybe the arboretum officials were afraid the ground would become a big muddy mess and that would damage the park.

Either way, my opportunities for art shows are few and far between. Having one cancelled hurts my plans for making a name for myself. At least First Friday went well. And there's always next year for Art in the Arboretum.