Georgetown Waterfront-SOLD

Found a really cool place to paint in South Carolina called Georgetown. i saw something i thought i wanted to paint and was trying to get to it and stumbled on a honey hole of boats, marsh and quaint old houses. so i did this one and about two more before the clouds covered up my sun. Back at home for a day or two before off to raleigh to paint college campuses for a theme show i'm in at ArtSource in raleigh. one of these days i'll sleep in my own bed for more than a night or two. and you thought us painters were slackers lying around goofing off and painting a picture once in a while. c'mon i know you did. thats what i used to think before becoming one.

come see me at City Art Gallery in Greenville thursday night from 5:30- 9 where i'll be doing a demo. my friend Jacqueline Perry will be doing one too. come check us out!
almost forgot.... doing a demo at Jerry in Raleigh Saturday from 1-4 also. where can i get one of those slacker job applications LOL

Strolling the Battery( Charleston) -SOLD

Still painting in charleston, sc. this is a little warmup from this morning at first light. loved how the building lit up in the morning sun. this area is right on the waterfront.

White Awning(Del Ray Beach)-6x6

Leaving in a few minutes for Charleston again. got rained out in the middle of that painting excursion a few days ago. the weather channels saying sun for the next two days there, so back i go. around a 3 1/2 hour drive. have to be back thursday for City Arts opening of a current show where i'll have lots of new work and also doing a demo. come visit if youre in the neighborhood (Greenville, NC)

alot of folks dont realize the miles of road a plein air painter travels to find subject matter. i'd venture to say i travel 12,000 miles a year to get to the places where i like to paint. more if you factor in dropping off paintings at galleries, picking up supplies etc. Poor Bessie (my 93 toyota)

as my good friend says all the time to me "if it was easy everybody'd be doing it"

he's right!

Overcast Roofline-5x7

I was in charleston and it was overcast and rainy. the architecture looks so cool there that i like to paint it even in the overcast, shimmery atmosphere. i usually dont like this lighting effect but i did a few i'm happy with. this is the first. the other one was larger and i had fun painting it too (will show after some tweaks). hardly any yellow is used on a day like this. to show the difference in overcast scenes (cooler colors, no hard shadows) and sunny (the opposite)

compare with the one below.

The Lane (Key West)- 8x8- SOLD

This one has a funny story.

i accidently left my tripod for my painting box about 6 blocks away and didnt want to walk back so i slapped the box up on a trash can sitting on the sidewalk and duct taped it to the trash can so it wouldnt slide around. the wind was blowing that day around 30 mph but the adaptation worked like a charm. you gotta be inventive to be a plein air painter. always, always carry a roll of duct tape. its saved me more than once, out there in the wilds.

Near Schooner Wharf- 8x10

to purchase email me

Bay Street Boats-8x10

SOLD

Rainy King Street- 10x8

to purchase email me

Waterside Parking (Marathon Key)-SOLD

Here's one painted from a scene on Marathon Key a few days ago.

that place is a boat painters paradise. theyre everywhere. in the water, on stanchions, in back yards, and parked up and down Hiway 1. i'll have to go spend more time there next time i go to the keys.

i put a slash of pink on the boat and what a nice complement to the turqouise water. even tho' its really not there it looks like it belongs. its just that spark needed.

Key West Stroll-6x6-SOLD

Here's what the scene looked like. i always take a photo during the painting just in case it gets cloudy or a big truck pulls up in front of me.

Gallery season is about to take off and i want to keep high quality small work on my blog here at reasonable prices so i've increased the cost to $75. This will keep me from just putting all the really sweet ones in a gallery (where i can make more money) and the ones i dont think much of on my blog.

if theyre $75 here i have as much incentive to put them on here as in the galleries. i may go back down to $50 next winter when my coastal galleries close again. We'll see.

Another reason i'm going up a little is that i cant keep up with demand right now. i've always said i wouldnt go up until i couldnt keep up with demand.

These little studies are still a real steal, as i sell paintings this size framed at my galleries for close to $300.

Sunrise in the Keys-SOLD

6x6-SOLD

Five Brothers- 7x5-SOLD

A Day on Schooner Wharf (Key West)- 8x10- SOLD

Here are a few that were done a few days ago in the keys. i was in Charleston painting and it started raining on me. the weather man said it wasnt going to stop for days so i headed home. lots of shipping to do and have to get some things together for the Morris-Whiteside Gallery catalogue coming out soon.

so tired from the drive....must sleep! more later.....

Lunch on the Docks-SOLD

Well.... i'm near Hilton Head today painting in a spanish moss covered town named Beaufort SC. will post todays soon.
This one's from the keys. it was a hazy, cloudy day. i loved these yellow umbrellas and the catamaran.

Stopped by Morris Whiteside Gallery in Hilton Head and talked to Jack Morris and Ben Whiteside and they've invited me to show in their summer catalogue coming out soon. i'm really stoked! Morris-Whiteside Gallery is a very prestigious gallery and i'm honored to be asked.

Southard St. Scenery(Key West)-SOLD

One from the neighborhoods in Key West.

by Bob Wilson- P.A.C.R. (Plein Air Academy of the Conch Republic)

Morning on Sugarloaf Sound- 8x10- SOLD

The Keys are really affecting me. i'm missing days posting, dont know or care what time it is, and hear steel drum music in my head while i'm painting.

My friend Bob and i are tearing up Key West painting near the wharf and in the neighborhoods painting conch houses. The above painting is by Bob done right off the back deck i talked about in the last post or two.

Sugarloaf Key Leisure-SOLD

Threat over Shark Key- 9x12

SOLD

Today's been kinda stormy here in the florida Keys, with a few minutes of sunshine in-between. hot and sticky of course. it is swimming distance from Cuba after all.

Did Sugarloaf Key Leisure this morning in my friend Bob's backyard. i cant resist a palm swaying to tropical breezes. he was upstairs putting the finishing touches on a sunrise painting. i showed a huge cloud bank over the keys silohuetted agains a beautiful magenta/coral sky. he nailed it, when he was finished i had to have it. its gonna look great on my wall at the house!

Later that day a storm popped up off the Atlantic and i had to paint it. it was magnificent, threatening to rain me out or blow me away. the easel was rocking a little from the gusts. the water took on a muted turquoise glow below the blue gray swirls. just too cool. this was done fast for obvious reasons. and as always i seem to like my hurried paintings because i dont load them down with unnecessary detail or (a new term ive come up with) "brush antics" LOL

Hope youre enjoying this taste of the tropics as much as i am being here doing them. Probably not! *)

Beach Boy like!

Clouds over the Keys-6x6-SOLD

SOLD

Sugarloaf Key Abode-6x6

SOLD

Sorry all... i cant write much tonite. its after 12 pm and i'm bushed from all the travel. i'll just say that i made the grueling 18 hour trip down to Key West and without much trouble. Old Bessie (my '93 toyota) has a funny noise or two she didnt have when we left and i got lost in downtown Miami after midnight last night. i kept thinking "i hope Horatio Cane finds the punks who are gonna kill me tonite" but i found where i made the wrong turn and got the heck outta there. its a scary place for a beach bum after midnite. anyway i painted these two today, with my new friends Bob Wilson and his charming wife Sharman. we talked painting all day and did a few when the rains cleared out. then we watched painting DVD's. what a great day wearing flip flops, surfing baggies and hanging out with cool people. dont tell my wife about any of this... she thinks i suffer for my art. thats my story and i'm sticking to it!!!

we're going into Key West tomorrow to paint. i'll post em if theyre any good.

Upcoming Palms-6x6

Getting my bags packed for the painting trip to the keys. Last night i wanted to brush up on my palm tree skills. those buggers are hard to get right and i dont get alot of practice on em up here in NC. we do have them but theyre not coconut palms like in florida. you have to keep them loosey goosey or they dont look right. theyre almost always swaying in the wind so the leaves have to look windswept.

this one is from a reference shot i took last year. starting to realize that i need to take more photos of stuff i want to paint instead of thinking i have to paint them all the time. sometimes youre pushed for time or the crowds are too big, or theres no place to set up. all kinds of things can make painting difficult if not impossible sometimes. i can always paint it next winter from a photo right?

the trip starts tomorrow and i'll post paintings daily from the road. i'll even ship them from the road when theyre dry enough to mail.

Precarious Cottage- 6x6-SOLD

Did this one from a reference photo and the little plein air study i did like it when i was out on the Outer Banks a few weeks ago. i really like how this one came out. direct brushwork, good color harmony and artistic license on the rickety old roof make this one of my favorites from out there.

Off 5th St. - 8x10

Going to a gallery soon. email me with title in the subject line if you want to purchase this one.

Here's my new ad in the April issue of American Art Collector. on shelves around 3/20/09

Tug on the Cape Fear-SOLD

Todays workshop in Morehead City went smooth as glass. i was teaching the cape cod underpainting technique where all the "sun shapes" get warm colors straight out of the tube and all the "shadow shapes" get cool pure color right out of the tube. then through a series of changes you transform it into the realistic color but keeping a fantastic feeling of light like monet and william merrit chase used to get.

todays painting of the tug comes from a reference photo i took from a tugboat trip i was invited on. i was painting down on the docks one day and one of the tug captains asked me if i wanted to ride along with him on some jobs. i was like "yeah"! so i took a few photos from the tug and this is one of the shots. the other tug on the job was running along parallel with us going to the job, turning a huge cargo ship around and pulling it up to the river mouth, out to the ocean. it was soooo cool. seeing this painting brings back all those great memories.
thats one of the cool things about being a plein air painter. you run into all kinds of cool people and situations. its "living on the edge" at its best!

Blue Sliver-7x5-$50

$8 s/h
to purchase pay instantly by clicking the "buy now" button below with PayPal or credit cards. or you can be the first to email me saying you want it.

Really wanted to do a warm cozy interior today. its chilly and damp outside and i hung around the studio all day today.

i did all but the finer details with the painting upside down! i flipped the reference photo upside down and the canvas too. this way is fun to paint because all you see is shapes and not couches, pillows, etc. then when youre finished you flip it right side up again and see what that triangle was, what that dull orange shape was.
a pillow! who knew.
the painting stays loose this way and is great training for seeing like a painter has to to see. we want to see abstract shapes of a certain value, color and saturation. if it looks like what its supposed to-- thats the cherry on top!

Wanchese Abode-12x16-$200

Unframed
Shipping free!
to purchase click the "buy now" button below to pay instantly with PayPal or credit card or be the first to email me

This is a painting from my Studio Cleanout Sale from the last couple of months. This Wanchese painting needs a good home and at this price, it's a steal. this size retails in my galleries for nearly $500 framed.

Nags Head Abode- 8x10

SOLD

Leisure Boat-SOLD

These small ones are fun because there's no room on the canvas to get worried about detail. just concentrating on the color notes (the DNA of the shape) its the color, value, and saturation factor. if you put them in there right and the shapes are drawn right it'll look like something (hopefully at least)

Perched on the Dune- 8x8

SOLD

This ones a quickie done from my cab. i love this one strip of Topsail Island. the cottages have character and sit squarely on the dune, tempting the Atlantic to topple them. it wont be long now before beach umbrellas, suntan oil and tourists start taking over the deserted beach. i can get close to these cottages, and paint without being harrassed, until then.

Swan Quarter Shrimper-SOLD

OK. i think i have the need to paint figures out of my head. the warm weather we're experiencing here in coastal NC has driven me out of the studio and into the local marina's. Yooohooo! Boats, boats and more boats. until key west next week anyway.

Dont forget that this weekend is the Cape Cod Underpainting workshop i'm holding in Morehead City/ Atlantic Beach area. Starts at 9 and we'll all meet in the Carolina Artist Studio Gallery parking lot at 9 a.m. If its nice we'll paint outside and if its nasty out we'll be in their classroom. drop me an email if you'd like to attend. details are over on the right sidebar.

Two Friends in the Surf-8x6-SOLD

Timeless2-6x6-SOLD

More from this Timeless series i'm stuck on. its my way of remaining free. let me explain---

something that happens to alot (not all) of us artists. we paint a certain thing we like and folks love em and buy em like mad. then we paint something we like and you cant give them away. the temptation is to do more of the ones you know will sell, especially when you eat (or dont) off them. i mean who wants to paint something you know might just be in our "personal collection" indefinately LOL

but to remain what i call "independent" i keep painting ones that might remain unsold. its very liberating. if we only painted ones we thought would sell, we'd go mad. might even cut our ear off or something!

Light and Dark Waterfront- 8x10

SOLD

This is the Morehead City waterfront. everybody who's ever been down there knows Capt Bills restaurant.

i like the way the building throws that heavy shadow down on the red brick sidewalk. and where else can you see a lighthouse behind a restaurant like this.

Sitting on the Edge-SOLD

One of the iconic nags head cottages sitting right on the edge of the ocean. i did this one from a study i did while out there last week. sort of looks like the one i stayed in. love the way these old cottages lean and the roofs sag just a bit. real personality compared to the McMansions they build now.

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Afternoon Glow- 8x10

SOLD

Done from the cab of my truck on a cold day in columbia, n.c. a small town on the way to nags head.