Mewadow

Here it is, Meadow. This painting was harder than I thought it would be. In the original picture, the model's face is really dark because of the shadows, but when I painted her that way, she just looked like she had a dirty face. I had to lighten her up a bit but still try and capture the bright light coming in the back ground. I do like the earth colors of the basket way better. The basket actually had green and pink on it, but this looks better. I think I will go back and repaint the basket in the last picture. Now I'm going to work on a color pencil piece and I think you will really like it. Everyone take care and have fun!

Exhibit in Danville Ky

Hey everyone, sorry I've been gone for a bit. I had to travel some last week to take care of some family issues. Ok, me and my wife each had a cousin to pass away and we needed to attend the funerals. But anyway, I thought I'd share some pics from the gallery in Danville that is currently showing me, The Maple Tree Gallery. Go there, it's a nice place. Danville is also a real nice town, and I sold four paintings last Fall at a coffee shop (The Hub) across the street. The manager, Julie, was really great about letting me show here and I also like any woman named Julie because that's my little cat's name. There are some other painters here, one is David Farmer, and he's is a big name down around here. I think it took him like 12 years before he sold well enough to do it for a living. I've talked to him a few times, but not enough to ask for advise. I'm in my eighth year, but I do sell a lot better than I used to, so that's encouraging when I think about it. I should have another painting up this week. I took a pic, and then found a mistake, so I need to fix it. I'm also about to visit my first Artistic love....Color Pencil!

Drawing for new painting

Back again! Here is my drawing for the next painting I'll do. Actually, a lot of it is already done. It's odd to say, but I have sold enough paintings, and have my others spread out in different galleries and stores, I'm running a little short on art, so I'm trying to catch up. Tomorrow, I'm going to hang some paintings in the deli area of Barns and Noble in Hamburg (or as I like to call Hamburger place). That will make Broadway Clay in Frankfort, The Maple Tree gallery in Danville and now Barns and Noble. Pretty cool. If anyone goes by these places check out me art. It always looks better in real life. I also have Good Foods Co-op and the Kentucky Theater coming up this Fall. Anyway, back to the drawing, I have my friend modeling again (she did great), and I felt more confident with this drawing than the last one. I think it took a day or so. I thought I'd finish the basket in the painting. Well, everyone take care and have fun.

Fields of Mercer County

Finally, I'm back. I've been working on this painting for a while now, but I didn't have a camera to take a pic of it with. But now I have one and a new painting to show! I'm calling this one Fields of Mercer County. I decided to get out of the woods a bit and try adding buildings to my work. Buildings have always been very hard for me, so I wanted to start doing them, but in the right setting. I still have to have the Nature element and also I like keeping the Female element too. When I took Art History in College, I remember seeing women in the farm fields in the Northern European paintings and I liked them. Here is my stab of doing something similar, but with a Kentucky spin. Behind the young woman is Shaker Town at Pleasant Hill. Me and my wife visit there often and used to live fairly close to there. I like it! So I got a friend of mine to model for me there and here is one of the results. She was a real sport. Very pretty and joy to work with. It's a big painting, 2 x 4 feet in size. Oh, and I have to say for anyone who wants to bring up the topic, I was not trying to make her a Shaker. I was thinking of a Late 1700-early1900's farm girl theme. An Idealized version. I doubt many girls went farming with bracelets and ear rings on. But hey, it's a painting and I get to create what's going on. I hope everyone enjoys it! Take care and have fun!

New drawing for Shaker Painting

Hey! I've been gone to the Great Rocky Mountains for the past two weeks and haven't blogged but now I'm back, and I plan to do some different and new kind of paintings! Well, slightly different. I've avoided buildings and tried to stick to the deep woods, but I've been getting an urge to paint the Shaker Town area here close to Lexington. It's a great and beautiful place. I also worked with a new model, who is a great friend, and I plan to do her all the justice I can in these paintings. She was nervous about posing, but she did great and I hope to show it in these paintings. I worked on the drawing while on vacation. It was hard to do at first, drawing muscles in the brain are not the same as painting muscles in the brain, so after working on a few paintings it takes a few drawings before I get back into the swing of it. I also used my wife as an adviser (as always) to help me along. But anyway, here is the first drawing of this new series and I actually have the painting half way done. I accidentally dropped our poor camera in Boulder Colorado, so I don't know how long it will be before I post the painting. I was taking a pic of a mountain from my bike and then just dropped the poor camera. I was still able to get the pics I already made onto the computer, but picture taking is over for a while. Everyone take care and have fun and I'll put on more pics as soon as I get a new camera. Until then, hug your camera today and show it everyday that you care, for these accidents happen. Have fun!

Blast from the Past

This is another Blast from the Past. This painting was 2 x 4 feet and sold at the historic Kentucky Theater several years ago, maybe 2005. It wasn't a real scene though, that always bothered me. Now when I do a painting I use real scenes. I want someone to know where the place is if they had ever been there and that has happened several times. I try to get the rocks, trees and everything right. It's my way to honor the places I have been.

Backyard sketches

Some back yard sketches I did to practice drawing. Some Wild Strawberries, which you can eat, I keep hearing people who think they are poisonous but I've eaten them over 20 years and like them better than regular Strawberries. I also drew corn, dandelions, violets and some leaves of a Red Bud tree. I paint often and don't practice drawing near enough. I worked with a great new model last week and I want to be ready when it comes time to draw the pictures from the photo shoot.