the routine

the routine, oil on canvas, 24" x 20"

The following painting was a real challenge. Most paintings that I make go through transitions, ebbing and flowing throughout the process. This one in particular seemed elusive and constantly throwing me unexpected curves. In the end I am happy with it. I am still determined to get a painting of Marc with a branch complete at some point, but it was clearly not going to happen on that canvas. I am a firm believer that I just need to show up, and the paintings will eventually take care of themselves. The physical texture of the paint and the marks on the painting surface tell me what to do, or quite frequently what I am not capable of doing. Sometimes surprising things can happen, especially when this conversation is preformed on a regular basis. The Routine, the title for this painting, is as much about my niece preforming a horse riding exercise as it is about the act of painting itself. I hope you enjoy a peek into what was a very frustrating process.

the end

The Highway Gallery featured in EU Jacksonville

Check out the Highway Gallery feature in Jacksonville's EU publication. To see the entire monthly issue you can visit this link.

The Highway Gallery

I am pleased to announce that several of my paintings will be exhibited in the Second Annual Highway Gallery Exhibit at the Florida Mining Gallery located in Jacksonville, Florida. The physical exhibition will run from August 2 through September 19th. The opening reception starts at 7pm this Friday, August 2. The Highway Gallery's Exhibit will then continue to be on display on various digital billboards in the Jacksonville area over the next 12 months. For more information about the exhibit, you can visit the Florida Mining Gallery's website or facebook.

The featured paintings include Swimmer and Living Room with Tent, along with several others.

Swimmer, 12" x 16", oil on canvas

Living Room with Tent,  24" x 36", oil on canvas

Cover Art: "Blue Eyes When" for "Picked Strings" by Liz Robbins

I am pleased to be a part of Liz Robbins' newest publication of poems. Picked Strings is an audio chapbook of poems, written and read by Liz Robbins. You can listen and download this book at EAT Poems, click here or here. I created the painting Blue Eyes When, as the cover image for this collection. For obvious reasons, my favorite poem from the collection is An American Artist Marries. 

Here is the history of the cover painting, as always I am better at documenting some steps more than others. This painting started by covering up an older work, with a source photo change towards the end.

                  

                                          

Blue Eyes When, 12" x 12", oil on panel

Placeholders

In anticipation for my upcoming exhibition Moments in Bloom at Wynn Bone Gallery, I would like to share the process of painting Placeholders.

Unlike many that I share, this painting came together very easily. The painting is based on a source photo taken in my backyard with my sister mimicking a ritual of hanging laundry. This act took both of us back to experiences we shared at our maternal grandparent's house. Memories of times spent at "Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's house" fill our hearts with warmth. Martha's namesake is that of my maternal grandmother, and technically that of my mother as well. Her fair skin is also a legacy of those genes. My grandparents lived their entire lives in Chester, South Carolina. Their modest house featured a vast and open backyard, lots of green grass and a wooded area with swings and picnic tables. Entire summers were spent in that space. We feasted on "Chilly Willy" popsicles and homemade peach ice cream. They always had a large garden, I shucked buckets of corn and snapped many peas under those trees as a child. Nostalgia is certainly the right word for my feelings about that place.

I hope you enjoy Martha as a placeholder for those memories.

Placeholders, oil on canvas, 24" x 24", 2013

Sometime in September

Here is the recap for Sometime in September, oil on canvas, 30" x 40", 2013.

This is when, I decided that the character on the left should be facing the other way. So of course she turned into me. What is ironic about this, is that she is the entire reason I was drawn to the photo in the first place. OH WELL!

Final Painting!
Sometime in September, oil on canvas, 30" x 40", 2013