I can't believe this blog is still around.

The Center of My Neighborhood

Just before Christmas, I finished and delivered another house painting, this one to my neighbors The Hoggards. Maybe I'm getting a little better at these house paintings, but this one gave me less trouble than the any of the other three I've done.

This one is also a historic home. When we first moved our family into this neighborhood, the Hoggards were among the first to welcome us. Their kids hung out with our kids. We sometimes attended their cookouts and parties. The Hoggards' front porch, which figures prominently in this painting, is the de facto center of the neighborhood. 

They are good people and I enjoyed having the opportunity to capture their home on canvas.

A Very Special House Call

I just finished my third painting of a house. This one is another historic home in Greensboro, and belongs to a friend and neighbor. Mebane Ham has played an instrumental part in my painting success. She encouraged me to take part in my first public art event, and has alerted me to other opportunities to help broaden my artistic interests. I owe a lot to Mebane.

So, it was a pleasure to paint her house. I did my usual round of struggling with colors, shadows and highlights. I wrestled with details and ultimately decided to do without some of them. In the end, I'm pleased with how the painting turned out.

And so was Mebane.

Arts and Craft

After I finished my first house painting for a friend and neighbor, I was pretty excited about trying another house. Another friend and neighbor -- who already owns several paintings of mine -- asked if I would paint his house.

I agreed to take it on and set about taking photos from different angles and directions. The Craft House, as I came to call it, just keeps going. I would argue that the impressive and beautiful front of the house gets much of the attention. There is so much detail and nuances.

And a lot of curves. I'm a straight-line painter, so I ruled out the front pretty early on. In the end, I settled on an angle from the rear of the house looking forward down the side. This angle gives a better idea of the length of the Craft House. It also illustrates the changes in the shape and lines.

To date, this painting was the hardest, most challenging I've finished. I started over twice, changing the colors more than once in one day.

I stepped away from the painting for a week or so to clear my head. I have a habit of forgetting I'm not the type of painter who goes in for detail. I had to remind myself that all of those amazing window panes are not my style.

"Stick to what you're becoming known for," I say to myself.

With the exception of the chimney, the painting is essentially a monotone: a collection of grays. And I love how it turned out.

I delivered it to the homeowners and they seemed very pleased with it.

I have since been asked to do the homes of two more neighbors. I'm glad to accept the challenge, but I do hope I can get through it with more ease than the Craft House.

To Build A House

I have a couple of neighbors who run a photography business. They are delightful people and have always been generous in offering their services to take photos of several of my paintings, free of charge.

Each time they finished taking photos of my work I ask them, "Can I paint something for you to pay you back?" Each time they would say, "We'll let you know if we think of something."

Finally, after taking a batch of photos of three of my paintings, my neighbor photographers messaged me and asked if I would paint a picture of their house.

"We'd love to see our house in your style," they said. I accepted the challenge.

I began by taking photos of their wonderful and large historic home. I began working on the painting, but shortly after that, I stopped. I just wasn't feeling it with this painting.

A month or so later, I flipped back through the photos I had taken of the VanderVeen House and found an angle I liked better than the one I had started. I was encouraged by the progress and became excited about the painting.

I finally finished the VanderVeen House painting and delivered it to the new owners. As a bonus, it was their wedding anniversary. I was thrilled this painting mad them so happy.

Also, it helped me attract a couple more possibilities for sales.

This Train Has Left the Station

I think I started this painting about four months ago. It started as one large box car and quickly became a row of small boxcars. Then I lost interest in it. Something about it wasn't keeping my attention.

So I set it aside and moved on to other paintings.

Then, about three weeks ago, my wife and I were rearranging our dining room, which is where my painting "studio" is set up. She pulled the still-unfinished train painting out and said, "You should finish this. It's cool."

We placed it on top of a set of shelves to get it out of the way. And it looked good sitting up there.
"Yeah, I should finish it," I said, suddenly finding interest in the train painting again.

So, I finished it and brought it to the Parisian Promenade. It's a large painting, so I had it sitting out front of my booth. The painting grabbed a lot of attention from passersby. And, it sold.

Which brings me to this conclusion: I'm going to take a break from grain elevators. I love those buildings, but I'm excited to do more work with trains. I've also been kicking around a idea or two for large cargo ships. And, I'm going to turn some of my focus away from the plains and direct it to the desert southwest. I'm even going to make a run at painting an adobe, or two.

I still have one more grain elevator to paint -- a commission for a friend and former co-worker. After that, this one track mind is going to try other routes.

Check back soon.

Going solo

I have my very first solo art show coming up on May 12. It will be at Irving Park Art & Frame in Greensboro. I'm excited for this event. I'm partnering with Preservation Greensboro. The nonprofit will receive a portion of any sales on the night of the opening.

The show will run through the end of May.

Here are a few of the newer works that will be at the show and available for purchase. Hope to see you there.

The bottom painting has sold.

When the Going Gets Tough, Walk Away for a While

I started this painting -- Grain Elevator No. 11 -- in early January. The painting and I have been through a lot together. I didn't like the angles. I didn't like the colors. I didn't like the new colors. I didn't like the shadows. I couldn't fix the shadows. I didn't like the area to the lower right. And so on.

So I set this one aside for a few days. When I came back to it, I made a few modest changes and -- voila -- we were friends again.

I hope you enjoy it. 20"X20"

Plain and Simple

Some time ago, I read Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. It's a breathtakingly tragic collection of accounts of Native American tribes. It's beautifully and honestly written. For all the pain to be felt reading it, there's plenty of room for discovery, as I found. Turns out, I have a fair amount of Native American blood.

Shortly after reading Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, I drove across the country. I stopped and visited several places in the southwest that figured prominently in the book. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

This painting depicts dwellings for plains tribes, not what I saw in the southwest. Either way, with all that's happened with the Dakota Access Pipeline and the protests at Standing Rock, this painting filled an emotional need.

And it seems to fit rather well with some of my other paintings. I hope you enjoy it.

This painting has sold.

A Sweet Show in Winston-Salem

At last you can check out my paintings, drink coffee and enjoy sweet, masterful delicacies at the same time! Beginning March 3rd, Camino Bakery in downtown Winston-Salem will exhibit my paintings for the month of March.

There will be a small and casual opening on Friday, March 3, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. There will be free cupcakes while they last. I plan to be there for the opening, but there's no "official" opening. Just an opportunity to get together with people who are interested in my work.

I hope to see you!

This painting sold to a very sweet neighbor who bought it (using tip money) for his mother's birthday.

The Evolution of Ability

I've had a few days off over the holidays. The time off has afforded me the chance to finish a couple of paintings and start a couple more. I don't have any shows right now, so the paintings I finish are basically taking up space. There are six or seven of my paintings hanging up around my house, but I started to wonder if I need to rotate in new works.

Part of this thought is because it might be nice to see something different hanging up, but more of it has to do with realizing my painting ability has come a long way in the years since I originally hung up some of those older paintings.

I'm willing to take more risks with my paintings and I'm less concerned when I make a mistake. I feel more confident in my ability to correct issues.

This is a good thing, I believe. I love my paintings, and I'm honored that people have loved my older paintings enough to want them in their homes. But I would be troubled and might even give up painting if I felt I'd reached the limits of my ability. Or that I was so satisfied with my work that I didn't feel the desire to push myself further.

Here's my latest two paintings. The top one is large. I call it "Telephone Lines." The second one is called "Sunny Side," and is in the running for my favorite painting I've done.

The top painting has sold.

"Boxcars of Dead Trains"

This the fourth and final painting I'm submitting for the Winter Show at the GreenHill Gallery. I will be turning the paintings over to the folks at GreenHill later this week. I'm very excited about this show.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my Green Giants painting was a Curator Pick for the push email promoting the show. It's an honor to be recognized by these fine people.

Glad to have these paintings finished. I have some great big canvases waiting to come to life.

This painting has sold!

The Train has Left the Station

This might be my favorite painting I have done. I pulled it from a photo of a train station. I don't think I could have chosen a better color for the roof. The red is so vibrant against the blue/gray sky. There's a storm coming, but that roof couldn't care less.

I hope you enjoy it. This is the third painting I'll be submitting for the Winter Show at the Green Hill Center.

This painting has sold.

The Power of the Tower

There are several structures I find really attractive: Barns, mills, grain elevators. And now the water tower has made its way onto this list. I painted this from a photo. On the whole, I like this painting. I actually painted the body of the water tower about three different ways. I settled on this showing of the progression of highlights to shadows.

Hope you like it!

This painting has sold!

The Shadow Knows

Here is another painting of another grain elevator. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. What's different about this one?

I like for each of my paintings to give at least a small indication that I am improving as a painter. Whether it's a better combination of colors, better use of brush strokes, or a more accurate telling of perspective, I just want each painting to show growth.

For this painting, which I have titled "Grain Elevator No. 10" (still need improvement in the naming department), I employed the use of shadows to help indicate depth and time of day. I go back and forth as to whether I should use shadows. And once I did on this one, I immediately regretted it. But I gave it a day, walked by it a few times. I looked at the painting from different angles. My feelings for the shadows changed and I embrace them now.

Doubt is a tremendous part of my art. Sure, there's joy, relaxation and satisfaction. But with every stroke of my paintbrush a fair amount of doubt is mixed in with the oils. Should I have used that color? Why did I use such a thin brush? Is it too late to start over? Should I just paint pictures of cats? Is it going to look like a five-year-old did this? 

Why do I keep doing this? I guess because I know when I get it right. The feeling of satisfaction is huge and weightless. That feeling is closely followed by the desire to start a new painting.

Bird Watching

My brother-in-law recently asked if I would do a painting for him to give to my sister as a wedding anniversary gift. "She loves to watch the cats watching the birds," he said. He wanted me to do a painting that would include a cat watching birds.

I said I'd be happy to.

I'll try to paint pretty much anything (except portraits). I was a little concerned with how I would paint a cat in the style of the birds I paint. Or should I just change the way I paint birds altogether and make this painting different from any other bird painting I've done. How would I simplify the cat?

It took me about two weeks to come up with a design that I was willing to try. I found a photo of a cat looking up. The shape was simple enough that -- if I stripped away all the detail -- it still looked like a cat. I re-drew the cat without the texture of the fur. Should I include whiskers? Should I include an eye? A tail? The mouth? How could I paint this cat with just enough detail to convey a curious cat, without too much detail that would make it look out of place with the painted birds?

After a few sketches, I was pleased with a rough draft. I chose a canvas that was very vertical. The space between the cat and the birds was nearly as important as the birds and the cat. The space between the cat and birds represents tension and safety. The only way I could have that space was with a canvas that was this vertical.

I placed the birds. I wanted one bird to be watching the cat. There's a clear bit of communication going on between this bird and the cat. Curiosity at both ends. It's a good relationship.

The last detail I added was the mouth to the cat. I went back and forth on whether I should add it. Eventually, I drew the mouth on a white piece of paper and taped it onto the cat (which was dry). I asked Kimberly which she liked better.

Ultimately, we both decided the mouth was just enough detail. I'm so pleased with how this painting turned out. I admit dreading it a bit, but I really couldn't be happier with it. And I'm so glad it's going to my sister.

The Little Engine that Might as Well

I think I've done all that I'm going to do with this painting of a train boxcar. I started it several months ago, at a show. As we were leaving that show, the painting blew over and landed paint-side-down in the parking lot. I had to wait for it to dry so I could brush away all of the sand, dirt and small pebbles that had stuck to it.

My interest in this particular painting has ebbed and flowed, but I'm now ready to call it finished and set it aside once and for all.

I have several paintings I'm gearing up for, including three for an upcoming show. I'm very excited and honored to have been invited to participate in the Green Hill Center's annual Winter Show. It will open the first week in December. 120 artists with ties to North Carolina take part in what I believe is the largest show of its kind in the state. The Green Hill Center's director saw my paintings at Scuppernong's Books and sought me out to invite me. I'll have four paintings in the exhibit. I'll post my paintings as I get them finished.

This painting has sold!

"Boxcars Are Turning -- A Carnival of Sorts"

Tried something a little different with this painting. It's mostly finished. Maybe it's a little lonely looking -- an unremarkable line of boxcars being pulled along on a snow-covered gray day. But I find it relaxing. I can almost hear the slow, hypnotic, heartbeat-like clacking of the wheels on the track. No distractions.

As I have mentioned before in another post, I paint from photos I find and print from the internet. When I find something I like, my first step is to figure out if there is a way for me to simplify the image to basic shapes and colors. The original photo of this line of trains is much more complex -- a lot more detail in the train cars. 

One technique I use for this is to put the photo across the room. I'll look at it from different angles. I walk by it a few times. I saw the basic rectangular shapes and the flatness of the colors. Bingo, I have a start.

I don't know why the text here is reversed.

This painting has sold!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Grain Elevator Painting

I took a brief break from painting fruit. Partly because the weather has been so nice, but also because I've been looking through the photo collection of an artist who lives in Montana. Her photos are awe-inspiring. Seeing the photos of towns around Bozeman and other cities in Montana have instilled a desire to see the place in person.

Here's the link to her Facebook page. Go through the photos. You'll be glad you did.

https://www.facebook.com/MTPhotoJournal/

This painting has sold!

Two and a Half Pairs of Pears

Sometimes I like to paint fruit. This might be my favorite painting I've done of fruit. I really like the arrangement of these five pears. This painting didn't take long to do -- probably about a week. It's nice to start and finish a painting in such a short amount of time.

I posted this painting on Facebook and it sold the next day. So, I'll be painting more fruit.

This painting has sold!