Summer Round-Up, And A Labor Day Tale

Welcome back to what is starting to become a quarterly update..hey, what can you do? The Summer months are usually a slowing down "production-wise"...not this year...rain (everyday), cool temps and demand, have kept me focused, have a look.

Ok, Labor Day has come and gone, so..what was my first job?Working at the Esso (Exxon now) gas-car wash, on Cherry Rd. Rock Hill, SC. I was 16 and my first day was the 4th of July, busy day for car washes in the "Hill". Showed up, put on my jumpsuit and became one of "Jerry's Tigers". A total disaster..! The highlight was when I drove the car to the wash with the gas nozzle still attached, petrol went everywhere. Clocked out, never went back.The next week I got a job on a Coca-Cola truck delivering soda, about a buck an hr. and all the Dr.Pepper I could drink!

Paintings in order (top to bottom)

Blackberry Dream 18x20" oil/panel

The Celebration 28x25" oil/canvas

The Conjurer 16x18 oil/panel

Still Life 40x35" oil/canvas

The Celebration (2) 18x20" oil panel

The Woodcarver 20x22 oil/panel

The Guardians 16x18"oil/panel

Inside The Bird Museum 20x22" oil/panel

Final Four (Brackets)

While I was filling out my NCAA B'ball bracket last week I began to wonder,what if this were paintings? What would be my four favorites of... let's say the last hundred years? This is what I came up with.

1.Guernica, Picasso (easy choice, saw it at MOMA, 1977, like someone hit me with a sledgehammer).

2. The Great Parade, F. Leger (such "joie de vivre").

3. Attempting The Impossible, Magritte (hard to pick my favorite by him).

4. Just saw the "Frida & Diego" show at the High Museum so how about Frida Kahlo's Moses.

Below are four paintings that are out in the world but not on this blog.

Above top to bottom:

Still Life 18x16" oil/wood 2012

Monument 20x18" oil/wood 2012

Curtain Call 20x22" oil/wood 2012

The Lonely Hunter 20x22" oil/wood 2013

March Madness (Part 1)

Think it's time for some "Spring-cleaning". Below are paintings I put out in the world last year that haven't made it to the blog.

Always been a big fan of college b'ball and the NCAA tournament, these next few weeks I need  two sets of eyes, one to paint with and one glued to the tube, (go Heels!)

Above in order:
The Trainer 12x14" (18x20 framed) oil/panel
Above The Show 10x8.5" (16x14.5 framed) oil/panel
Cotton Candy (2) 20x18" (26x24 framed) oil/panel
Fish Tale 16x18" (22x26 framed) oil/panel

Asheville-Then And Now

 I will have ten paintings featured in the "New X 3" exhibition at the Blue Spiral gallery in Asheville, N.C., opening this January 10th (the show will be up till March 2nd). 

I was born in Asheville, but really haven't had much contact with the region in over 45 years, (we moved from Clyde N.C. to Rock Hill S.C. when I was 8). This was my Dad's town and the memories I have are from when we would visit my Grandma and her sister (Aunt Rae) on Sundays: antiques (Grandma sold them), orange sherbet, hard candy in bowls, the Biltmore Dairy and the "Lawrence Welk Show" on the tube. What I most enjoyed was visiting the gift shop Aunt Rae  managed in the Biltmore Village. It was full of items by local craftsman; glass, needlepoint, birdhouses, toys, jewelry, and "art". This shop was my first experience with the retail end of "making stuff", my 8 year old mind was intrigued by the concept.

Top: Picnic 16x18 (22x24 framed) oil panel 2012

Bottom: Clyde NC 1960 (Ann, Mom, me and Jimmy) The picture added below was taken last Thurs. in front of the same house. On the way to deliver the paintings my brother and I pulled off the Parkway and easily found the home, not much has changed in Clyde.

Keeper

While working on these paintings I began to wonder about "extinction", not just of a species but also of technologies, religions and cultures..what happens? I've read, "Thinking is form".."I think therefore I am", could this be it, the world we see being a result of our thoughts? Did the Carolina Parakeet disappear on account of our desire to ponder farm land and decorating women's hats and not the living bird? Makes sense to me.

Top: Keeper Of Fish, 12x14 oil on panel 2012

Bottom: Keeper Of Trees, 12x14 oil on panel 2012 

In The Movies

Seems like everywhere you turn these days you run into a movie crew filming on the streets of Atlanta, all this production provides an opportunity for the locals to participate. I was in two films this summer...wait, let me rephrase that, my paintings were involved in two movies this summer. This is how it works...say the crew is filming in a house or hotel suite and on the wall is one of your paintings, in order for said picture to be a part of the set the artist has to sign a "release" stating it's ok, (how'd they track me down?!). Sometimes you even get paid to just hang there. The two films?..."Identity Theft" ($100) and "Madea's Witness Protection" ($0).

Below: "Golden Age", acrylic on canvas, 1988, used on the set of the the film, "Stars And Bars" (1988),staring Daniel Day-Lewis, a dreadful movie, trust me, don't watch.

 While jogging one morning I turned down a road that looked like a hurricane had just passed, junk in the road and piles of trash everywhere...but something wasn't right, I bent down to inspect the trash and it was a solid mass, coated in a substance that kept it from blowing all over, fake trash! Turned the corner and there were the trucks, crew, equipment and the zombies, I had just jogged through the set of "The Walking Dead".

Dreams Of Milk And Honey

This is one of those paintings that seems to come from nowhere. When I started drawing this one up all I knew is I wanted a painting with a beehive. The sketching took 2 full days with much erasing. Initially the lady was nude, but when I started adding the animals, the mood switched from sensuality to innocence, had to put some clothes on her. What I like about this one is how the warm "honey colors" play off the "coolness" of the landscape/atmosphere, (milk and honey). 

Above:Dreams Of Milk And Honey, 18x20 (24x26 framed) oil on panel/wood 

Mountain had a cool song titled "Dreams Of Milk And Honey" check it out here.