NEW WORK

I reclaimed a canvas supporting another one of my failed painting. I got tired of having to keep it covered so I wouldn't have to look at it, and when the enthusiasm for acrylic painting kicked back in a few days ago I put the painting to rest. In its place, this imaginative scene from somewhere in the recesses of my mind.


Untitled acrylic...36x36'

I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT...NO BARNS!

PADUCAH SKYLINE

Paducah Skyline...watercolor...8x35"

This is for my blogger/artist friend, Julio, who wanted to see a Paducah skyline. Julio is a fantastic watercolorist, and if you have not done so, visit his blog, Colliervisions, you will not be disappointed.

RESILIENCE

Resilience...acrylic...24x36

The latest painting to come off the easel. I thought it would be interesting to trace the genesis of this piece, and hence the title.

Several years ago I saw a photo showing a dark tree line on the horizon and I used it for this painting:


fire Sky

From this I moved on to the following...


Purple Mountains...acrylic...36x48

Feeling pretty good about myself...one more in the series:


Copper Mountains...acrylic...24x36

This was about 2-3 years ago, and since then the more I looked at this the less I liked it. Several days ago I decided it was time to do something about it. The result? A "paint over" called Resilience.

RETURNING TO NORMALCY...

At least that is my hope. Patience began 2 weeks of full time work yesterday leaving me and the dogs hanging at home. The gallery is closed Mondays and Tuesdays so I'm keeping myself busy with whatever I can do in the house. On Sunday I did manage one more small painting, from my file of photos from the years in Wilmington Delaware. Unfortunately all the wonderful markets that once were King St. have given way to banks and office buildings...what a loss!


King St. markets...wc...4x6"

Here is what king St. looked like during the 70's when I first began painting.





I had to share this pic with you...the east side of my studio has never looked so clean and neat. Sadly, 4 days after the fact it has reverted to it's former state (there will be no pics of that!).

THE EXTENDED GALLERY

Too much work...too little space. The solution? Our home, at least the first floor, becomes an extension of the gallery/studio


Foyer

Foyer

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Now that all the celebrating is over its time to return to work...easier said than done.




.

7@5 IS HISTORY

The weeks of preparation and anticipation were worth all the effort as we celebrated our 7th anniversary last night with friends, old and new, neighbors, and well wishers.
Gatherings like last evening are a reminder to me of how fortunate Patience and I are, at this stage in our lives, to be part of such a warm and caring community. The only down side was that I was too busy pouring wine to get to talk with everyone. The up side was that they did not drink all the wine!

I was also too busy for photos, but did take several of the gallery before the festivities began.







We expanded the gallery into our home, which is one breezeway away from the studio, and I will have more photos to share on my next post.

I CAN ONLY GO SO LONG

before I have the uncontrollable urge to paint another red barn! If anything appears a bit out of kilter in this painting it is the roof...it narrows as it descends, and it shouldn't.


Long Gone...watercolor...6x9"

This may be my last post for several days. I expect to be totally occupied with the preparations for next weeks 7th anniversary snow in the gallery.

SAVED BY PASTELS

Sometimes, despite my best efforts, I can't accomplish what I set out to do. That's what happened in this last wc painting, everything below the tree line looked like mud, and my attempts at improving it only made things worse. I was faced with 2 options, throw it out and start over, or get out the soft pastels. I chose the latter, and once again they rescued an otherwise failed effort.

In this sketch, everything below the trees is pastel over a previously painted foreground.


Idaho landscape II...6x8"....wc & Pastel

NOTES ON TURNING 70

I’m 70 years old and rarely does a day go by that I don’t think about my mother and father. Oh how I would love to go back into time and reclaim those years that I took for granted. With the wisdom that accompanies the retrospectoscope I realize how precious and special they were. But of course that is what the years bring to us, the wisdom to appreciate that which is has past, family, friends, community, and perhaps greatest of all, freedom from responsibility. My childhood was wonderful and glorious because my parents carried the burden of responsibilities for me, for themselves, my grandfather, and the farm. I realize now, in the latter years of my life, that for them, the years were tough and trying, and that they protected me from their struggles.
I cannot help but feel some degree of guilt for not realizing this sooner, but mostly I feel gratitude, gratitude to them for being the parents that they were and giving to me all that they did. I imagine they knew that my turn to shoulder responsibility would come soon enough.


Graduation from Jefferson Medical School....1965

THE NORTH WEST,

thanks to some photos Patience took on her 1992 visit to a friend in Idaho. Browsing through my boxes of reference photos accumulated over the past 30 years I came across several pics that caught my attention. This is the first of my efforts and hopefully I will have more to follow.



Idaho Landscape watercolor....7x9"

HEY!

I just posted a painting without barns, fence posts, or barbed wire...so I felt justified in using at least one of these elements again.


Orange Field watercolor 5x7"