Delta Art Show

This weekend, The 4th Annual Delta Art Show in Newport Arkansas. Here are a few of the paintings I'll be taking:-

'Still There'

Did something different last week - this is the result of photo transfer  technique and acrylic paint.  I created a memory board and aptly named it 'Still There'.  Don't you ever return to your old haunts and chidhood places just to see ? Of course they are always there, as happy memories - at least mine are.

Scenic Highway 9

A couple of weeks ago, I went with a couple of friends on a trip around to the surrounding towns of Mountain view, Batesville and Horseshoe Bend to post fliers for our upcoming art show. Winter was very evident in the mountain trees.
Scenic Highway # 9 was breath taking, but unfortunately there were few lay-by's on the winding up and down road on which to pull over and take pictures. Our driver took our lives in her hands with a sharp U turn to a wider stretch of easment where she parked and I climbed a rock to get several shots. It was early afternoon with the sun overhead, bouncing light off of the naked branches.

Day Trippers oil 20" x 24"

Last May, my family took a trip to Cannon Beach in Oregon.  The day was cloudy and cool but the walk on the beach was a pleasant one. In  glossy magazines showing Oregon's Cannon Beach, there is always bright sunshine. Very misleading. So here is my version - not yet raining, but going to.

Hay bales

The inevitable hay bales painting. Round here, all landscape artists do one at some point. The bales have great appeal with their golden color against a blue sky, with green grass blades poking up around. This one is 11" x 14" on canvas board.

Rock N Roll Highway Painting

It's been a very busy month. August, I mean. Our gallery show is on going, and  lots to do around the farm, so painting time has been almost rationed away. However, I have managed to do one for the upcoming 50's celebration in Pocahontas  AR, 27 September. I bought an old wooden ironing board at our junk auction, covered it with canvas, and spent days researching the era. The theme for the 50's Art Show is 'Rock N' Roll Highway ,  which just happens to be part of the route we take each week between the farm in Hardy, and our house in Newport. There is absolutely nothing spectacular or interesting about the highway any more. It used to be the route that folks like Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Billy Lee Riley, and Sonny Burgess took on their way to  Sun Studios in Memphis . Back then, the Highway was littered with little night clubs, and these soon to be  giants of the music world would stop and do a gig to earn a few bucks. Some of these clubs including the King of Clubs in Swifton, are still in operation and in the business of featuring new talent. With this in mind, I chose the King of Clubs on Highway 67 for my painting

The Cook ~ 8" x 10" oil on canvas

Just finished this weekend, from a photo taken at Founder's Day, Hardy AR in 2009 - with BIG imagination for back ground ! I think that mountain came from Portland, OR - all of ours are covered in tree's

Clean up day

This one speaks for itself.

Three Trees - The Ford in Clapham

Three trees - measures 32" x 36" ~ oil on canvas.

One of my very favorite places as a kid was the Ford, River Ouse, in Clapham. We fished and waded and rode the riding school ponies in it.It looked nothing like this then, of course. It was much bigger, and more assessable. Everything is bigger when you're a kid.

Childs Play 2 11" x 14" on stretched canvas

New painting  Childs Play # 2. Number one was finished a while ago, and can be seen in older posts.

The shadows on the face, the tilt, everything about this one was more difficult than the last - I'm still going to play with it - later , much later !

Leaf

Recently, our pleine air group went to the little town of Evening Shade to paint. Some of us ended up in a beautiful garden full of foliage and flowers - I didn't wander far from the Elephant Ears. They were huge, and the patterns within the leaves proved too much at one sitting. I finished this at home, but don't think I came close to the delicate beauty of patterns and shades.

'Wilds of Camp'

July - Family Month

          July was 'family month'. Lots of touring, enjoying the great outdoors and of course eating fabulous home cooking, staying up too late, and chatting. I just didn't feel the urge to paint, so I concentrated on making stretchers for canvas during any down time that presented itself. The day after we dropped everybody off at the airport in Little Rock, I attended an artist workshop. I'm not very good at workshops presented by professionals. There is no method to my painting madness, or just one I have cooked up along the way, and professionals give workshops to teach folks how to do things their way. I end up feeling claustrophobic and stupid. All of my painting friends were there so I attempted to hide in the corner, but no luck. I was an instructor magnet. After I got home, I cleaned off my canvas and started again, using the techniques as taught. Here are the results. Painting titled ' Wilds of Camp'.

Plein Aire over Hardy

Pleine air over Hardy - 11" x 14" oil on Stretched canvas.
Mouse over the picture for a larger view of the painting.

Easter Vacation

No foreigners visit would be complete without a trip to 'the mall'.

From left to right : Son Nathan, niece Charlotte and brother Bill.

Easter vacation

My younger brother Bill, and my niece Charlotte came over from England

We had a very busy 2 weeks, sight seeing, riding the horses, and clearing some of the recent storm damage. Billy did a lot of repairs at the farm, and can be seen here shimmying up a tree to cut it down. Charlotte posed on request

Spilled Paint

Fooling about in the feed shed, I spilled some house paint. What a mess. Rather than waste it, I painted everything in sight, plus smeared it on 3 old canvas's.

spilled paint 14"x14" on stretched canvas

Lauren March 2009

Finally finished this big 24" x 36", oil on stretched canvas. The most difficult part was the bicycle tires. They had that 'run over by a mac truck look about them - all wobbly. Hope Lauren likes it.

Lauren painting update

Lots of fine tuning still to do.... Update 09/21/09