"Workout"

Here's something different from what I have been doing recently.  This painting was done for a conference room at a fitness center.  After doing several sketches this was the chosen composition.  Bold color and "movement lines" help to create the feeling of activity and energy.

                                          48" x 36"
                                          acrylic on canvas

"Along a Path at Reynolda"

                                                  16" x 20"
                                                  oil on canvas

                                                  underpainting


                                                  cool day woodland path
                                                  looking up stumbling reveals
                                                  center stage allure

"Brownwood Road Farm (Watauga County)"

                                          24" X 12"
                                          oil on canvas
                                         

                                          underpainting

                                         
                                          on the way to Todd
                                          chose off route and made left turn
                                          farm on Brownwood Road

"Where Pansies Grow Wild"

Just delivered and hung this painting this past week.  My client is so happy and is enjoying having friends in to view it.  As per customer's request-lots of purple with accents of yellow.

                                          48" X 28"
                                          oil on canvas
                                          SOLD

"Sims Creek Light"

Another pleasant day sketching, painting, and picnicking at Julian Price Park.  The light always finds it's opening into wooded areas among the foliage and creates a "look at this!" moment.

                                                  16"X20"
                                                  oil on canvas

"Woodland Bridge, Reynolda Gardens"

I walked along a path that took me into the woods at Reynolda Gardens.  This path followed along a marsh area that years ago was where Lake Katharine was located.  I found  this stone bridge that (from what my research has revealed) was adjacent to a filled-in area that would have been the outdoor swimming pool during the early years of the development of the Reynolds estate.  Early photos show this area with very few trees and open to the sunlight.

                                          48" X 28"
                                          oil on canvas

"Old Salem Streetside Garden"

I was fascinated by this purple bean vine growing on a fence that enclosed a garden in Old Salem.  In the background is a lovely vitex with lavender blooms and at the base of the fence is globe amaranth and phlox along with other plants. The light showing through the fence and leaves along with the ambient reflected light was a challenge to captivate.

                                          30" X 30"
                                          oil on canvas

"Hemerocallis" Mandala

                                         36" X 36"
                                         acrylic on canvas

                                         friendship's warm embrace
                                         like sunshine after the rain
                                         brings comfort and joy

"Watauga River Summer"

Many pleasant, pastoral, idyllic and captivating scenes are to be found in Watauga County, NC. Here I have tried to interpret the beauty of a lovely farm situated at a bend in the Watauga River.  I only made photographs of the early value study (done after my initial drawing) and the completed painting.  There are so many stages and painting days along the journey of creating a painting and I get so caught-up in the process and joy of creating that I just don't remember to take photos along the way.

First the completed painting:

                                          24" X 20"
                                          oil on canvas
                                          GIFTED

Here's the under painting where I establish the overall composition and the light to dark value relationships within:

                      

"Garden by a Fence in Old Salem" (in four stages)

This time I forgot to take a picture of my sketch on the canvas.  However, I'm posting the next four stages of creating this painting.  I begin again by posting the completed painting first.  I really got caught-up in the details of the fence and garden plants. (Quite opposite from my sometimes very impressionistic renderings!)

                                          32" X 18"
                                          oil on canvas
                                          SOLD

At this stage I'm pretty well along with having everything layed-in with local color and have started detailing the most distant trees:

Here I'm beginning to paint-in local color in the darkest areas:

I've covered the whole canvas with a value study/under painting (in acrylic) and established the composition: