Biking and Painting

This is as far as I got on the Jewelry Box as of yesterday. I did a lot tonight and I'm still making improvements. I don't want to end this too early, I gotta get it right. I also added some pictures taken when we rode our bikes around Cave Run a few weeks ago. Since a lot of the pictures I paint from sometimes comes from trips like this I decided these were good for the Art page. If you like to bike there is a trail that goes, at least part way around the Lake...we ran out of time and had to turn back, but this is really fun. Oh, if you look at the last picture you can see the Moon above Malissa. Lots of fun.

Celestial Traveler

I'm still working on the Jewelery Box, so I decided to blog aboot one of my old paintings. It's when I was in my Space art phase. This is titled Celestial Traveler, and to be honest, I'm not sure if I sold it or not. It may be here somewher

e. I did it around 2003 or so and it's Color Pencil. I think it's 3 feet long. I was once part of a Space Art group but after I joined I found that the people involved were Illustrators for major science magazines, and they painted everything exactly as it should be. Some worked at NASA. If they painted Jupiter from a certain view, the stars were exactly as they would appear if you were really floating in space looking at the point of view their painting depicted. I realized I couldn't do that so after being criticized a few times on my inaccuracy of how the stars and planets really were I decided to leave their sandbox and play in my own. But that's OK. I decided to come down to Earth paint what I saw all the time as I hiked all over Kentucky. But, like the Space Artists, I decided to be pretty accurate with what I was painting. I've had several people see my paintings somewhere and say they know that place in the painting. That's always a good feeling. Still though, I sometimes like to look back at my early works and remember how excited I was to paint them. Everyone take care and have fun.

Jewelery Box

Hey everyone, here are some images of the Jewelry Box I'm working on. It's similar to one of the paintings I did a short time back, the model's pose is slightly different though. I figured I'd do some functional art for a change. I thought maybe this might be a little more exciting. Is it? Maybe you guys will have to see it when it's done. Hopefully that will be soon. I had to work on some plumbing tonight, and I'm not a plumber. I've always said I can build things, but not fix them. Well, it looks like tonight I finally fixed something...with the help of my wife though. We really are a team. It looks good now, but I'm about to do dishes at 1:30 am. Let's hope it really is fixed and all goes well. Take care folks!

Oh, that Mural I did.

The Patron of the Mural put some pictures on her "family tree". She did good, here is some pics.

Stream Walker

 Stream Walker is finished and will tomorrow be put in Christ Church Cathedral for the next Gallery Hop along with Raven's Home. Hope this goes well.

 This was a poem Heather Parrish (A friend and great Singer) wrote about this piece. "She's standing up strong and walking away from what she was dwelling on for so long. Shes letting go of everything she doesn't need to hold hope for. Shes finally letting go. Shes ready to leave it all behind. She won't forget why she came. She only knows its time to find her own". Awesome!

Paintings, drawings and cats!!!!!!!!!!

Here are three pics to talk about. The painting is still coming along as you can see in this blurry picture. I want to get this one right. Next is another drawing for a jewelry box I plan to put on Etsy soon. It's the model with tennis shoes again. Third is Alex, the starved cat we found on our door step. He's putting on weight and the other cats are getting used to him. It's really pretty smooth so far. But man, does he sleep!

New Website!!!

Ok, I just got the new website finished. I wanted to redo it so I could update the artwork on it without bothering my wife who is a computer person, but very, very busy. Feel free and take a look. http://www.cliffsart.com/index.html

Mural!!!!!

          

                                                    




Well things worked out tonight and I got a little pay day for doing this here Mural. Thanks to John for making this happen. The patron that wanted this is going to put 16 family pictures on the branches and it will become a "Family Tree". I didn't have to cover the entire wall, or do a portrait, so it only took about two hours. It don't look big here but it's actually about 7 feet tall. It was a fun little job and I met a nice lady and got paid. A very good night.

Stream Walker

I've been working on this since I got off work, so this is all done this afternoon, except a trip to the store and some other things. I gotta get some painting done, so I'm working through this hard. Oh, the cat in the middle pic, that's Al

ex. He is the one we took in about a month ago. He looked like he was going to die of starvation, but we took him to the vet, got him patched up and he's putting on weight again. He was close to the edge though. He's still skinny and weak, but he's doing much much better. But this is a scene Malissa posed for me in Gatlinburg and you can see where I masked her off to work on the water. I hope to get this one done soon.

Stream Bank in the Smokies

Didn't have time to post about this one, this is basically my week end project. After selling the other two paintings, I wanted to hurry and get another small one on Etsy. This is similar to one I sold to my friend Heather last Winter. Malissa posed for me down in Gatlinburg Tennessee, The fog from the stream was really neat to work with, and Malissa makes a great model, even though she used to be camera shy. It's a little 11 inch round. I think I'll do another soon. Here is the Etsy link. http://www.etsy.com/listing/106239849/stream-bank-in-the-smokies

Preserving our Heritage Exhibit

I delivered these two paintings for an Art Exhibit in Louisville today. Very nice people, and it's the first time I've ever showed in Louisville, so I'm pumped about that. I didn't get to holler at my buddy Thom, (So don't give me hell Thom) but"ill be sure to next time. I'm glad to have these paintings there though. A couple of people recognized my work from The Hub in Danville. I told them it was nice to be recognized, and it was! Here's is info on the show http://www.facebook.com/events/471375472891975/

Stroll in the Big South Fork

Here is the new piece. A Stroll in the Big South Fork. Since I've been doing smaller paintings, this took a little longer than I got used to. It's 24 by 19 inches in size. I really liked the way the model playfully grab the rock as she walked by. Usually I have models barefoot, but we were walking to the next location and she grabbed this cool rock. I had her leave on the tennis shoes, it plays into the playfulness. "Plays into the playfulness".  I like that. I should add, this scene was in the Big South Fork area in Southern Kentucky. It's a large hiker, biker, rockclimber, camper, canoer, kayaker kind of place.