First plein air this year

St Patrick's Day. Its a beautiful day and I went out this morning to paint a view near by. The sun was very bright and I did not bring my umbrella. Big mistake. No matter how I turned the easel I was always in the sun and my values went to hell in a hand basket. A real scrapper. Too bad. A lesson learned. Hopefully tomorrow I will remember my lesson and produce something better.

Red Sun Blue Snow

The big painting is finished as far as I am concerned. The ultramarine shadows and cad red spot of a Sun plus a little cad yellow pale mixed with white on the left hand hill set it off. I added a glaze of pale yellow/white with liquin to make a fog mist effect half way up the trees. Had to wait for the paining to dry first.

Trip to Italy

I am planning to attend a couple of workshops in Italy run by Maddine Insalaco and Joe Vinson of Etruscan Places. Its in Tuscany near Siena: Buonconvento and Montalcino. They are a week each but I will be there a month. I want to visit Florence and paint around and bring back some good work. I will be there from May 7 to June 8, 2009. I may Internet and blog from an Internet cafe or coffee house. My computer is staying home. Traveling light and I will disposes of whatever is unnecessary to bring home to save space and weight for paintings clothing included. More info at www.landscapepaintings.com

Rapids on the Hocking

I did this painting 11 x 14 on canvas panel late summer 2008 while holding a conversation with a gentleman who was waiting for the American Legion bar to open across the street. It is a good example of the left brain not knowing what the right brain is doing. The bar opened just as I finished.

big work

I have been working on a 30 x 40 inch canvas of a sun rise in fog. Its winter, ice, snow, haze, fog. More difficult than I thought it would be. The picture is the first layout with out detail. More to come.

The Dairy Barn Show: Athens Voices 2009

The show opened on Friday the 9th at 5 pm and by 6 pm about 150 people had arrived to see about 70 works of which 3 were mine. Many of my friends came and I received many favorable comments and some amazment from those who did not know I painted. The local newspaper, the Saturday Athens Messenger, Jan, 10, 2009, had a front page story with art photo (not mine) and my name was mentioned. It was fun .

A New Year:2009

Its a new year. A new year to paint much and paint well. A new year to experiment and learn and too apply what I learn on canvas. 200 new paints of all sizes is one of my goals, to sell is another, to attend workshops as often as possible with at least one in Italy. To make art my life for the rest of my life however long t

hat may be. To have a passion that does not burn out but continues to feed on oil, canvas, and work. A new year to live.

My Elysium Fields, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, 2008

I have 3 paintings in a show this January, the Athens Voices, 2009 art exhibition at the Dairy Barn in Athens, Ohio, Jan 9 - Feb 22, 2009.

The Road to the Old Barn, oil on canvas, 9 x 12, 2008

The Crabapple Tree, oil on canvas, 8 x 10, 2008