"Melting Snow" SOLD

6" x 8" - oil on canvas

As we were leaving Valley Head, the snow was melting, and this is what it looked like. You can see why this is a great place for landscape painters!

"Storm Clearing"

6" x 8" - oil on canvas

The title says it all. I was on the edge of a very steep hillside. The wind was still blowing some snow, but the clouds were starting to part, and a little bit of sunlight was trying to peek through. The weather can change pretty fast here.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

"Logan Run Road"

6"x8" - oil on canvas

On these cool, crisp days, it is truly glorious when the sun comes out! This is another from Valley Head. I tried to keep it loose, with the brushstrokes showing. Some small branches were scratched in.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

"February Light"

8" x 10" - oil on canvas

I loved the way the golden light was coming through the snow-covered trees. The back-lit trees were in shadow, and appeared blue, while the side-lit trees were reflecting the gold light.

Valley Head

I'm back from Valley Head. It was beautiful! We stayed in a wonderful B & B owned by Grey Darden and Don Morfitt, and painted every day. There was snow, like the scene below. Believe it or not, this is a color photograph.

So, at least one of my paintings looks almost like a black and white--

"Winter Road" 6" x 8" - oil on canvas

I love the drama of a dark sky with lighter land.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

"Standing Together"

6" x 6" - oil on canvas

We don't usually think of plants as particularly fast moving creatures, but this one sure was! Maybe because I gave it a big drink of water before putting it in the light, but I had to chase it a bit as it rearranged its leaves. The petals started popping up as I was finishing, but I didn't put that in.

I'm not sure if I will be able to post to this blog for the next two days. I am going on a painting trip to Valley Head, WV, near Snowshoe Resort. But I will resume the blog on my return, along with some "show and tell" from the trip!

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

Sunny Snow Day

6" x 12" - oil on canvas

Sun so bright it hurts your eyes! Strong contrast. Sparkle on the melting snow. Here is one of our fast disapearing rural scenes.

"Golden Tree" -SOLD

8"x 6" - oil on canvas

Here is the Cheat River in autumn. The one golden tree was just glowing. I did this painting from a picture I took from a bridge. While I was photographing, a man stopped his truck on the bridge, jumped out with a camera, and started taking pictures too. He said he had lived there all his life and have never noticed how pretty it was till he saw me taking pictures of it. Isn't that how it is so often? We take for granted what is in our own backyards.

"Pink Grapefruit" SOLD

6"x 6" - oil on canvas

Recently, we had high winds, and the power was out all night. Next morning, as I was taking a shower in a cold bathroom, by flashlight, I was thinking, "What will I paint today?" which became, "How will I paint today?" No lights or heat, this will be like outdoor painting indoors. Then I thought... the artists in the old days didn't have electric lights, and they did some wonderful art! So, I decided to do a still-life by the natural light coming in the windows. (Most still-lives nowadays are lit by carefully controlled artificial light, that's part of the creativity in a still-life.) Luckily, the power came back on that morning, so I had heat. Here is the painting, with wild uncontrolled natural light, reflecting all over the place!

"Misty Sunrise"

6"x 8" - oil on canvas

Here is the sun rising over Cheat Lake. The color of the fog was changing as the sun rose and the light changed colors. Ordinarily, I don't include flotsam in a painting, because people associate it with pollution (and sometimes that's what it is!) But here it was just some floating sticks and branches, and the light shining on it was adding a wonderful sparkle to the scene.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

Sometimes My Sense of Humor Gets the Best of Me...

Cupid's Wisdom
Oil on canvas - 6x6"

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75

I hope the writing on the purple heart is large enough to read on your monitor. I did it with a 3 haired brush.
This is sort of an "in joke" with some crazy artists I was painting with last week, in Texas, at Andreeva Academy. One morning, one of the guys wore an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt with the words DUMP HER on the front.

Then, one of the women, deciding it can work both ways, wrote DUMP HIM on the front of her shirt. This kind of started a mock feud between them.
So, the painting was my way of weighing-in on the subject. But wouldn't it be funny if the candy hearts were as off-the-wall as T-shirts? At least paintings of them can be!

"Snow Fence"

8" x 6" - oil on canvas

Another snow scene. This time I decided to apply the paint over a magenta ground. If you would like to know where this is, it is in Canaan Valley National Wildlife refuge. The snow was so deep, I was on snowshoes. The clouds and light effects were just magical. However, I did not set-up my easel and paint on location. It was too cold and windy, plus the easel legs would have sunk into the snow too far. I took photos and painted later, indoors, with a nice cup of hot chocolate in hand.

"10% Chance of Snow Flurries"

This was an almost completely light and dark gray scene. (No white, too overcast). To keep it from being too cold, I toned the ground a light orange. With blues and purples applied on top of the orange, it takes on an almost luminescent quality. Really neat!

8x10" - oil on canvas

John Twachtman, one of my favorite artists, would have loved this weather.

"Morning"

6"x6" - oil on canvas

This is the first of my daily paintings. I just returned from a Carol Marine workshop which inspired me to create and post small works. If you are an artist, and considering doing daily paintings, I highly recommend Carol's workshops! Of course, some days, if I am working on a large painting, I'll post that too.
This painting was done from a photograph I took in Grafton, WV, on a wonderful autumn morning when a brilliant sun was burning off the mist.

CLICK HERE TO BUY $75