By the Fire

By the Fire

5" x 7" oil on board

Not for sale

This was a gift to one of the small number of people in my life who would sit by the fire with me when it's ten degrees and snowing. 

Thanks, buddy.

Hidden Hollow II

 

Hidden Hollow II

8" x 10" oil on board

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My work buddies and I had been planning a trip to my favorite cabin spot in Highland County for several months. The week before the trip, however, we were hit with with 8 inches of what's being called "snowcrete" and freezing temperatures unlike anything we've seen in quite a while. The owner of the cabin had to hire a skid steer to clear the road so that we could make it up to the house, and I still needed 4wd. Iceskating might have been possible in the yard if we had tried. We did play a few highly entertaining rounds of ice chunk bocci ball. It's so difficult for five adults with kids to find an open date that rescheduling was not an option. 

I went up a day early with one friend and the rest came the following day. Of course, I had to get some painting in while I was there, so I braved the ice and went in search of a good scene. The property is mountainous, but I was able to make it up a gradual incline to the top of the ridge by stepping on patches of blown snow to give me some grip and to avoid the ice. I made it to my hidden hollow, which I have painted before and set up. With the help of the bright sun and a few sips of bourbon, I never felt that cold, despite the 20 degree temperature. The paint was so thick and sticky because of the cold that a palette knife was my only option for painting. 

After finishing this painting, I sidestepped to the top of the ridge to try another one, which is where things got hairy. At one point, my bottle of painting medium got away from me and slid, along with one of my paint brushes, all the way to the bottom of Hidden Hollow (see photo from the bottom below).  I had no choice but to leave my gear and go down after it. I made it down and back up the massive hill relatively unscathed. However, I was tired and getting cold and not enjoying my new painting, so I decided to pack it up and head back to the fire. The hill/mountain on the opposite side of Hidden Hollow is even more steep and massive and looks out over the entire Bullpasture River Valley. I wanted to get a look before I hiked back and this is where the nearly fatal step occurred.

I took off like a sled on an ice luge and swiped for a lone tree branch that broke off and caused me to spin uncontrollably. I tried to get my feet in front of me, but I was ripping through patches of thorns that kept me spinning. If not for a massive patch of thorns that finally stopped me, I might have hit the rocks at the bottom of the hollow and who knows...my jacket was ripped, my body was bruised and covered in scrapes, my painting supplies were crushed and so was my pride. My left wrist still hurts. Most of all, I felt foolish for making such a dumb mistake. And to top things off, my bottle of single barrel Knob Creek was never recovered, despite much searching. I need adventure in my life, but I thought I was done with this type of story. I guess we all slip up from time to time. I promise I'll be more careful. 

This is the view from the bottom of the hill where I recovered my painting medium and brush.  The other side is steeper!

Woodpile II

Woodpile II

12" x 12" oil on board

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I painted this en plein air (outdoors) over a two day span between the hours of 9:30am and 11am.  I got most of it down the first day and then focussed on details the second day.  One subtlety that drew me to the scene was the crisscrossing hills in the background.  

On another note...I've been on instagram for a little over a year, and I'm thinking of getting off of it. Throughout the past year, I've felt more distracted, less focussed and present as well as more anxious and down on my abilities as a painter and even as a person.  I am now completely addicted to my phone, and I hate it. I enjoyed my trip to Highland County less because of my obsession with posting and seeing how many likes my paintings were getting.  I'm thinking about posts and how the paintings will look online instead of just enjoying painting and being in nature. It is fantastic to be able to see the best painters in the world in one place and then scroll down for some rare footage of the Grateful Dead but for all the reasons mentioned, it's just not worth it.  I'm looking for ways to simplify my life and this seems like a no-brainer.  Just have to hit those buttons...

Little Switzerland

 

Little Switzerland

8" x 8" oil on board

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This might sound like excuses, but I think a lot of painters would agree that the most difficult thing to do, especially when painting outdoors, is to keep things simple.  There is a universe of things going on in front of you and you have to figure out how to represent it within a two hour window before everything changes.  And two hours is generous because, really, everything changes from minute to minute.  The impulse when painting a scene is to start right in on that one thing that draws you to the scene and paint it in great detail. But, when you get too fine too soon, everything else suffers and you wind up with mud.  I think this is true no matter what the artistic medium - paint, pencil, music, poetry.  The best seems simple, when in reality, the most difficult thing to do is just the right amount.  

Cattle Gate

Cattle Gate

12" x 16" oil on board

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Conditions went from bright sunshine to long periods of thick cumulus clouds and back to bright sunshine during the two or so hours I worked on this painting.  I think I started around 2pm...The blended lighting conditions might be noticeable if you look closely, which I'm pretty sure is some kind of plein air no-no.  But ya know what?  Don't care...

More and more, I prefer paintings that are not strait forward.  I want a little poetry, mystery and abstraction, and I actually get more of a response when I create that type of painting than I do for more realistic paintings. So I like this one - it's got a lot going on.  

Virginia's Little Switzerland

Virginia's Little Switzerland

8" x 10" oil on board

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Another view from my favorite cabin spot in Highland County, VA. 

Farmhouse

 

Farmhouse

8" x 8" oil on board

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This is an image of the farmhouse that we used to rent in Highland County, VA, that is sadly no longer available for rent. I tried out a new palette from another favorite painter, Richard Oversmith, that I'm really liking.  The palette I was using from the workshop with Jon Redmond had a couple of colors, cadmium red light and sap green, that I just don't find much use for.  Richard Oversmith's palette uses a different red and green that match better to the way I see things and result in a fresher look, in my opinion. I'm happy with this one and hope to turn it into a larger painting. 

I'm going to email the owners of the farmhouse to see if they'll let me on the property to paint this June when I'm out there for my annual solo painting retreat. 

Seldom Seen

 

Seldom Seen

6" x 6" oil on board

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I like this painting and it was fun to paint. I painted over an old painting, which is always satisfying, especially when it's a terrible painting as was the case here - a muddy old painting of sardines in a bowl.  

It's tough not to fall into the trap of painting "things." Things, meaning trees, mountains, individual leaves, etc. When you're painting "things" a painting is much more likely to become muddy and dead. 

What I like about this painting is that instead of painting "things" I suggested them with shapes, color temperature, and values. I'm always afraid that my judgement is completely wrong but to me, this reads mountains and trees with light on snow just as much or more than a photo-realistic painting does. The longer I paint and the more I study painting, the more I prefer paintings that are abstract and a little mysterious - paintings that force the viewer to make his or her own conclusions. 

Hidden Hollow

 

Hidden Hollow

12" x 12" oil on board

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I like the way this turned out, considering how it started. This is another one from the Seldom Seen property that I visit out in Highland County, VA. To get to the hidden hollow, you have to hike up and over a small mountain.  I did this with all my painting gear on my back - no big deal...this was during Virginia's first real cold snap back in early January and deep in the mountains with no urban radiational heating, it was cold! My poor dog Rainey, faithful as she is, sat by my side the entire time.  I could tell she was getting cold and on top of that, she had munched down on some cow pies and wasn't feeling her best. I was getting cold too, so I reached a point where I thought I could head back to the cabin and touch it up there (although I forgot to take a reference photo).  But, once I had everything packed up, I realized the painting wouldn't fit in my panel carrier.  That meant I had to carry the painting back down the small mountain in my hands without dropping it, which I did...Until I got to the cabin door and a gust of wind blew it out of my hands and onto Rainey's back.  Rainey was covered in paint and my painting was scratched up and covered with dog hair. I picked out the hair, but it took a few weeks to get around to fixing it up.  I tried to build on the colors that were there and since I didn't have a reference photo, it was mostly by feel.  I did leave a small patch of scratchiness in the lower left just because. 

Seldom Seen Ridge

Seldom Seen Ridge

12" x 12" oil on board

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I had a day and night by myself at the cabin in McDowell, VA before my friends met me the next morning. It was glorious - I spent the day hiking around and painting. This is the second painting I completed.  I'm still working on the other one but it should be up soon.  

I painted the first draft of this as the sun was setting behind me to the left, and I had to quit before it got too dark. It was also the first really cold weather of the year and even though I was painting next to the fire and warming myself with bourbon, it was still damn cold. 

The bourbon also tricked me into thinking the painting was finished, which led me to post it, prematurely, on Instagram.  I took it down a couple of days later after I realized it needed some touching up.  I've also had Jon Redmond's voice in my head, telling me to "finish" my paintings and make them more interesting, so I spent quite a bit of time on this at home.  Of course, I forgot to take a reference photo, so I had to build on the colors that were there and do a lot of things by feel. I even pulled up the location on Google Earth to see if the shadows were created by ridges or clouds - I thought they were ridges, and they were.  Here's the fire I painted beside and I posted the original just because.  Painting by the fire with a cup of Knob Creek might be the ultimate freedom.  

Woodpile

 

Woodpile

8" x 10" oil on board

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I attended a two day workshop over the weekend with a painter named Jon Redmond. (click name for link to his work) Jon is a famous painter, not in the Basquiat, Gerhard Richter sense that most people think of when they picture a famous artist - Jon is famous among painters. Painters who have dedicated their lives to seeing the beauty of simple, everyday scenes that many haven't learned to see.

I got to observe Jon's process and learned some things about how to use paint that I think will push my paintings to a new place. This painting was my first attempt with those techniques and even though it's a nice looking painting, it was NOT a good use of what Jon tried to teach.  I need to practice a lot more.  I felt so lame doing this, but I asked him to look at some of my paintings.  He had some good things to say but also some things that were hard to take. I appreciate the hard to take feedback most of all, and I think it will push me even more than the techniques and the knowledge of paint.  I really want to be good at this, and I respect the fact that people dedicate their lives to painting and never come close to Jon's level. I'm so lucky to have received that feedback, and I hope to be able go back and prove myself one of these days. 

Return to the Junction

Return to the Junction
6" x 6" oil on board

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Back to the junction of the Bullpasture and Cowpasture Rivers for this one.  Just upstream from the location of my last Junction painting in Highland County, VA. I had to wade across the river to get to a rock ledge where I stood to do the painting.  The rocks are SUPER slippery so it took all my skill to make it across without dumping myself and all of my painting supplies in the river. Sarah and the kids were downstream floating around and hunting for crayfish - my dog Rainey was laying in the shade beside me. 

Super tough to capture sufficient detail without over doing it, especially when your kids are calling for you to help them catch crayfish.  Regardless, this was one of the best days in recent memory. The more time I spend painting beside a river or sitting neck deep with a beer in my hand while my kids look for creatures, the better. Hey look - there I am!

Evening in the Hollow

 

Evening in the Hollow

11" x 14" oil on Belgian Linen

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The first evening I spent at the cabin, I looked up the hollow as the sun was lowering toward the ridge and thought, "why paint anything else?" I love this painting. It might be the favorite of all that I've ever done. But it still doesn't come close to capturing the pristine beauty and color of Seldom Seen Hollow. 

What I love about my favorite painters and what I've tried to work toward, is the ability to say so much with so little detail.  It appears simple, even though I know it's far from it. I think I'm closer with this one than I've ever been. 

Fence Line

Fence Line

8" x 10" oil on board

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This is the seventh of seven Highland County paintings - I'm saving my favorite for last.  I painted this quickly because the sun was going down, and I like the looseness.  This is the view looking southeast so I got to stand in the shade on the side of the house as the sun was setting diagonally behind me. I had been standing in the sun all day, so the shade felt as good as jumping in the river had earlier in the day. When the sun sets at the cabin, the cows seem to take up a conversation, each mooing its own distinct moo.  Sometimes the conversation dies, only to be revived a minute later by a braying that sounds more like a donkey than a cow. Once started, they all have to get a word in. 

Cowpasture Crossing

 

Cowpasture Crossing

8" x 10" oil on Belgian Linen

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I had scoped out this spot on my first day in Highland County - I wanted to paint it because I loved the shadows on the dirt road and the way the Cowpasture River (yep, that's the Cowpasture - see previous post) reflected the sky above. To get to the spot you cross a swinging bridge and head upstream from the junction of the Bullpasture and Cowpasture.  The Cowpasture River looks more like a hog wallow here than a river. 

I know no one wants to hear me complain about standing by a river, painting, but this painting was torture to make.  I was nervous because, while painting my first painting of The Junction, I had seen some sort of fertilizer or manure spreader with wheels taller than I am, pass through the very spot I would be painting. While I hadn't seen any no trespassing signs, I worried that if the farmer saw me standing on his land, he might not like it.  Whether he minded me painting there or not, he would have to pass back through on his way home. Hopefully, he would finish and head back before I finished my first painting. He didn't, and I decided to risk it. 

While painting this painting, I could hear the spreader doing its thing, so it was looming in the back of my mind that I might have to face an angry farmer or at least have to move my easel mid-painting to get out of his way. This sounds bad, but I also didn't want to have to take a break to talk to the farmer because it only takes a few minutes for the light to change completely. Now, I was hoping I would finish the painting before he finished the spreading

While the impending interaction with the farmer was unnerving, that was not the torturous part.  If you've ever seen a cow covered in biting black flies, that's what I'm guessing I looked like.  There were no cows around, only my dog Rainey, who drew in even more flies, so they all came to me.  At least cows have tails to swat with- I had a brush in one hand and paint on the other, so swatting was not an option.  

Then, as I was contemplating giving up out of pure misery, here came the manure spreader.  An alien rover with tinted windows - I had no idea who or what was going to hop out of that thing.  Rainey was cowering and refused to move and the thing didn't seem to be slowing down. I had to jerk Rainey by the collar with one hand while holding my tripod and easel in the other and trying to keep all of my brushes from sliding off the tray.  I got Rainey into the bushes beside the road, however, I had to search for my brushes.  

Finally, the thing stopped. What hopped out was a sixteen-ish year old boy who was nice as could be. He apologized profusely for making me move and said he wouldn't have to come back through again that day. So that was a lot of worry about nothing.  Regardless, I was done with this painting.  Despite the mental and physical torture, it turned out ok. 

The Junction

The Junction

8" x 8" oil on board

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The merging of the Mississippi and Ohio it is not.  The Cowpasture River is little more than a trickle before it meets with the Bullpasture River. Sometimes it dries up completely in summer, but the Bullpasture always seems to run strong and cold.  It's odd to me that after they meet, they take the Cowpasture's name.

This was a tough paint.  The values of water follow different rules from the values of solid objects or land. I don't have a ton of experience painting water, so it was tough to judge those relationships and I'm not sure I got it exactly right.   The Cowpasture sure felt great after two hours of standing in the sun, while getting devoured by black flies.

The View South

 

The View South

9" x 12" oil on board

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The VRBO cabin that I rent for my annual painting retreat, near the town of McDowell in Highland County, VA, faces south. To get to the cabin from the vantage point of this painting, you walk up and over the rise in front of you.  The cabin sits on a large terrace, halfway down a massive hill at the entrance to the hollow. The view south from the cabin's front porch is miles and miles of the same - hills, hollows and mountains. There's a reason why Highland County is known as Virginia's little Switzerland.  

Storm's Coming

 

Storm's coming

8" x 10" oil on board

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The storm clouds spilling over the ridge looked incredible so of course I had to paint them. Storm clouds change quickly, however, and by the time I got my easel in position, the clouds over the peak were not the clouds that had drawn me in. I actually had to copy these clouds from a different part of the sky and superimpose them on top of the ridge.  And what follows storm clouds?  That's right - so if it looks a little rushed, that's because it was.  Luckily, it was a quick shot of rain, unlike last year's retreat, which was a three day downpour. And the evening following the storm was one of the more crisp and spectacular evenings I have experienced. 

Country Crab Apple

 

Country Crab Apple

8" x 8" oil on board

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The first of SEVEN paintings that I completed in three days during my annual painting retreat to Highland County, VA. 

I told myself this was going to be kind of a warmup.  I asked for and received a new travel easel that if you've read this blog before, you've heard me talk about getting for years.  So this was a test run, but I started to like what I was seeing, so I finished it out. 

The new easel and tripod worked great and they definitely had a positive impact on the paintings I completed during this trip. Setup with my old easel was ten minutes of fury with parts breaking and balancing things so my panels didn't fall out on the ground. Now, I snap the pochade box onto the tripod and I'm ready to paint. There's no way I could have completed seven paintings in three days with my previous setup.  So thanks!  

Yoda's Barn

Yoda's Barn

8" x 8" oil on board

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This is one of the barn's at Vance's Country Guest House in McDowell, VA, where we've spent the week after the 4th of July for the past five years. It's called Yoda's barn because there's a grey cat named Yoda that lives in the barn that my kids are obsessed with.  It's a wonder the cat comes around given how much my kids like to pick it up and mess with it.  However, putting food out in the barn is one of the many chores the kids are responsible for while staying  at the farm, so I guess that's why. I'm not a huge fan of cats - they make my nostrils close up - so of course it rubs itself all over me and jumps on my lap anytime I'm sitting in the yard. Even so, I wish I was sitting in that yard right now.  You can see Yoda creeping toward me in the photo below.