Where in the world did Friday go? Way too much to do today to get to this blog but I like to put out two a week so here goes.
I am too tired to gab and I still have a lot of work to do so I am going to leave up the artwork from the last blog except for the first one which I am replacing with a print sale of Dominion to a great Pennsylvania patron!
I miss that rink very much. When my son was young I took him and his friends there once or twice a week and I love to skate. One time my son won the limbo contest!
Another rink opened years later in Christiansburg and it closed due to legal problems. I wish another one would open up. Anyway, have a great weekend!
Dominion Original 40″ x 30″ Oil painting $2430
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
I am at the final stage on my Claytor Lake painting and it is going well. Usually, I am afraid my final changes will hurt what I have but this time I seem to know just what to do to get to that end. That is a nice experience!
I am going to paint more of Claytor Lake which is one of my favorite places in Southwest Virginia. Lots of wonderful memories and I know that positive feeling will be expressed in paint. I can’t explain how that happens, but it does!
I think I am going to have to paint another large one. The small scale is nice sometimes, but when it turns out well I am always sad it is not on a large canvas.
Oh well. Always an adventure! Check out this week’s youtube of another Pittsburgh skyline painting!
Mid Spring on The New River Original 34″ x 23″ Oil pastel painting $1534
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
So glad to be back to work on an oil painting of one of my favorite places in Southwest Virginia, Claytor lake! I am looking forward to the warm weather when I can swim there again. It was hard to stay away this summer but I didn’t want to risk Covid exposure.
I have lots of fond memories of swimming there with family and friends. I also want to go to the Peaks of Otter and Wintergreen on The Blue Ridge Parkway. Lots of great mountain resorts that we like to go to. We don’t ski so we like to go to Wintergreen for the hiking and swimming and great food!
After 2020 we need a great break!
Peaks of Otter Lodge Fall reflections Original 40″ x 30″ Oil painting $2760
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
Well, I had a great session in the studio today as I got closer to the effect I wanted in a sunset. As I have said before, no one can really paint or photograph the sun.
Take a look at a photograph of the sun and then check out the sun. You can’t look at the sun without burning out your eyes. No one can achieve that intensity but it is great to achieve a strong, convincing shadow of it.
I am leaving up the painting that is closest to the effect I am trying to get. We will see!
Fairlawn Eve Original 12″ x 9″ Oil painting $271
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
Love it! The Word Man cracks me up again. It could just be me, but I loved this comment. I am working on a difficult technique in my current painting. I am hopeful to get very close which is all I ever do.
But that is okay. Never boring and they tend to look great after they age a little as I have said many times.
Anyway, Clyde asked me how my session went today.
I am working on a technique that is next door to impossible to achieve.
Where is impossible? I would like to know.
Yikes! That probably makes some, or a lot of people groan, but I laughed big time!
Be sure to check out originals on Etsy! This link will take you to a popular Autumn Blue Ridge painting!
I just don’t understand how this happens every year. I think I have plenty of time to mail Christmas cards and packages and then, all of a sudden, Christmas is ten days away. Yikes!
I have had such a busy day that I am just going to leave the same paintings up and add a Life with The Word and Bird Man segment and call it a day.
I didn’t get to paint today but I have had a lot of nice responses to my latest Demo Youtube which is above. Be sure to check it out! I am very pleased with how this one turned out.
Lot of ideas for new oil paintings but not lots of time. Since it looks like we will be snowed in tomorrow I should be able to get one started. I can’t believe how many Downward Facing Dogs we did today in Yoga class. There ought to be a limit in each class. Oh well. I am getting stronger so I will keep at it. Got to keep the old body going.
I hope everyone has a great Holiday season!
Peaks of Otter in Fall Original 14″ x 11″ Oil painting $313
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
I know I have mentioned the cardinal that keeps on clobbering itself on our window right behind the computer. Sometimes I can tune it out but other times it is really hard to take.
We have tried everything to stop it but nothing has worked. It is trying to scare that awful competitor in the window away.
Anyway, Clyde said that bird is like the postman. That’s for sure. No matter what, that bird is pummeling itself.
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Be sure to check out originals on Etsy! This link will take you to a popular misty wildflower painting!
Still not back to my oil painting but I am just about finished with the acrylic demo one that I thought was a lost cause. So glad I did not throw it away.
My last oil painting is in that, finished- but -not -quite -what -I wanted, phase. I will get it online soon. There isn’t anything wrong with it. Is is very close to what I want but not exactly. Always the carrot just out of reach. I just need to move on and it will look much better when I am not so caught up in it.
So pleased to sell more wall art prints to patrons in Texas and Virginia! Peaks of Otter in Fall is one of my favorite mountain paintings and Wildflower Magic is a vibrant beauty. The original resides in Richmond, Va. The original Peaks of Otter in Fall oil painting is still available!
Peaks of Otter in Fall Original 14″ x 11″ Oil painting $313
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
It is a beautiful day but I missed the morning light so I can’t get to the next layer of my current painting. So much to do all the time and I am trying hard to catch up while the computer fights me.
This morning it decided to just spin and spin and spin so I had to turn it off. Can’t click on the restart button if it is spinning. When I turned it back on that little line partly filled up but I didn’t think it would ever completely finish. I wish my computer liked me more.
Maybe computers don’t like artists that work in the old fashioned way of applying paint to a canvas rather than using a computer for paintings on paper. Computer art is just not for me even though I see some great examples every day. I much prefer to apply layers and then get to a final layer that has a unique elevated surface.
Anyway, tomorrow I hope to get to my new lake painting. It will be another sunset and only 8″ x 10″ so I won’t be intimidated by the cost of paint. It is hard to believe there was a time when I painted in such thin layers that the cost of the paint was not an issue at all. Not anymore!
The virus stats in our area are increasing by quite a bit every day and there are more hospital stays and deaths.
Please wear a mask. If you think they are not necessary, just humor the rest of us! It is the nice thing to do. Be nice!!
The Lodge at The Peaks of Otter Original 16x 12 Oil painting $384.00
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
If you like my work but don’t have any more room on your walls be sure to check out my paintings on just about anything on my website or Zazzle! Here is the very popular Richmond on the James on a Christmas ornament!
Such a beautiful day! I hope to get my work done and get outside. I am indoors so much of the time.
I am preparing for another painting and it will be a small one so I won’t be so intimidated by the cost of the paint. Sometimes I practically use a whole tube of $22 white oil paint on one large painting. That is just one of the tubes. I use a lot of cadmium red light, too. It costs $60 a tube.
Of course, all this is taken into account when a price is established. The main cost of one of my paintings is determined by my time and expertise after working and developing my art since I was twelve. Decades of practice and still learning all the time. Any artists that are reading this know exactly what I am talking about.
Anyway, I am pleased to sell another print of my best selling lake painting to a great Maryland patron! Be sure to click on the link under the painting to see all the print possibilities listed on the right. Time to get some sunshine!
Smith Mountain Lake Original 14x 11 Oil painting $338.00
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
If you like my work but don’t have any more room on your walls be sure to check out my paintings on just about anything on my website or Zazzle! Here is Roanoke Sparkle on a plate!
Well, instead of painting today I filmed another youtube for Monday. This time I gave a tour of my studio. I did that a long time ago when I didn’t have many followers and wasn’t actively interacting on Youtube.
I didn’t look at it as a social media site. I thought I could just put up youtubes and get a lot of attention. Wrong! Now I interact with all those that follow me and I have over 800 followers.
I am going to continue to work at growing my channel since Youtube is so popular. The one I made years ago was meant to be a humorous video about how hard it is to keep a studio clean. I worked hard on it and would like to get more attention for it. I am including it here! Please check it out if you haven’t seen it!
Also be sure to check out my latest video demo of a Los Angeles skyline! This one is getting a lot of attention and don’t forget the Safe Grocery Shopping video if you haven’t seen it.
Covid cases are rising in our area. I hope a vaccine is available soon.
Ridgeland Winter Beauty Original 10x 8 Oil painting $170
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
If you like my work but don’t have any more room on your walls be sure to check out my paintings on just about anything on my website or Zazzle! Here is Roanoke Sparkle on a plate!
Yesterday, as I was getting aggravated over my current painting that seemed to be working really well the day before yesterday, I thought about how paintings can be so ornery. Of course, before throwing brushes around the room I remembered what I always say about how if it were easy, I wouldn’t do it. It would be boring.
Anyway, the painting must have heard me because it got right back on track after I was thinking about it. It was a value problem and now I am confident I will get to the end and be mostly happy about it. The next one will always be better. That carrot will always be a little out of reach but most of them age so well. Just have to leave it alone for a while and start another.
I am pleased to sell prints of Blue Ridge Meadow to a great Virginia patron! This time the prints are on pillows. It is great to think of my paintings on a sofa for everyone to see.
Be sure to check out my latest video demo of a Los Angeles skyline! This one is getting a lot of attention and don’t forget the Safe Grocery Shopping video if you haven’t seen it. Covid cases are rising in our area. I hope a vaccine is available soon.
Blue Ridge Meadow Original Oil painting SOLD
Wall Art Prints and Prints on household items including face masks
If you like my work but don’t have any more room on your walls be sure to check out my paintings on just about anything on my website or Zazzle! Here is Roanoke Sparkle on a plate!