Art Often Imitates Life

"My People" What It Means For Myself

2012-01-26T17:27:00.001-08:00

Art should reflect the times and place and people as well to where it's made. It also ought to show some of the personality of who made it in the choice of what is shown in the manner of the content of the work. And so I figure others may know me better than I know myself sometimes because I am discovering myself when I simply draw from my inner consciousness , it is then that I can in some manner transcend myself and my own conscious views into another choice of 'what is real' for me. This is how I see art as a very real therapeutic aid to bringing out my inner spirit and it's relationship to this earthly plain of living, and existence itself can often be interrupted when I draw with my free stream of consciousness. It is then that I draw what have become know as "my people" or with some " JT's people" which and whom show up in my work on a regular basis for my entire artistic career. It's wonderful to have the freedom to explore myself and give these "people" a voice or rather an "action" in my life and my art. Making them has always been fun.

Downtown to Read at the Library I Saw....

2012-01-24T16:23:00.001-08:00

A day at the downtown local library was truly an eye opener. I went to look up the newest issue of American Artist magazine which I truly love but just don't have the warewithall to have a subscription. The stay at the table I was at was quiet and truly comfortable for my pursuing my magazine but upon finishing it I saw an unusual site at the tables beside me. Those men who were sitting had books open but were simply sitting still and quiet but they were also staring off into a far away wide open space. It was eerie and I took a long second look to see it in a perceptive manner as to not miss anything, then I got up and because I was done with my article I left the library. It was later on at home I picked up my pen and drawing tablet to render the image of what I had just experienced at the downtown library. How unique and eerie yet very moving in a manner that Potemkin was a moving film.
That is what I have posted as my drawing for this article. Life is what it is and today I just don't ignore it anymore with dulling my senses in order to think about it, today I write and draw it down. It's a lot healthier!

Faces for the Fun of It

2012-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

During the time between art shows I am buying a new home in Central Virginia southern section south of Charlottesville. It's a place that I lived in years and years ago almost very lost to my thoughts but not entirely, it is a new home. It is a home that can be said that it was an unexpected gift from living life on life's terms. I am not able to find my art equipment and pack for moving at the same time so I have turned to drawing. Drawing is very immediate and portable thereby it can be done with very little equipment and on the fly as it were, that is where my expression has let itself to show up lately. I have enjoyed playing with my imagination and the characters the lye within it, it is a group showing of 'my people' as my fans have put it in days past. These faces are simply exercises in examining various styles of features people's faces have and in as much they often don't seem to be sensible, but I never let that hold me back. The fun is often in letting known the unknown to my drawing paper. I let my pen explore what makes up the face and I have fun and enjoy myself.

2011-12-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

Two Nelson roads get scenic designation This is the road I will be located on once I move down there, it will be one great road to explore on bike and later on with easel and palette...lookn forward to it.

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, creator of Rat Fink: A son remembers

2011-12-27T17:15:00.000-08:00

Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth, creator of Rat Fink: A son remembers

Here is one of the early influences of my artwork. I use to love seeing his model caricatures in my neighbors window. Chris Pegg certainly didn't know it but it helped my develop an idea of "My People" in my caricatures that I've done over the years. Big Daddy Roth showed my how to have fun with my pen and paper back when I was fifteen and had a vivid imagination to share with 'the world of art'....I have much to thank this guy for,,,his nerve is one of them,,,he didn't mind it if he offended the more conservative of those with his outrageous gory big tooth rats and such...I really enjoyed it. It was an age when being offensive wasn't nearly as extreme as it is today, his work was cutting edge for the time. Afterall, the Beatles had just come to New York for there first concert if that gives you any idea of how unique he was at his height.

Jazz at AHS

2011-12-17T13:25:00.001-08:00

Having a little extra time to do with as I choose I was able to head out to the high school I work for and take in the band directors pet project the Jazz Band Concert last night. It was excellent music done by newcomers to the scene so I truly enjoyed every one's efforts. Of course being new talent there were some ruff spots in the night's music but on the whole I have to applaud every one's ability to stand up , play and be out in the open with some new instruments and to work as a team in the performance of some big jazz band's classics. I heard Glen Miller play live with his band in the Dell in Philadelphia so I know what it sounds like to do it well, and this group did their utmost and I was very pleased. With more time with their instruments they aught to be shinning examples who can continue the enjoyment of auditory sensory thrills of our society. Here's to the AHS Jazz group and there teacher/leader Greg Thomas..job well done and I'm glad I was able to go and hear them play.

Statins reduce flu death risk by half - USATODAY.com

2011-12-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

Statins reduce flu death risk by half - USATODAY.com

This medicine has certainly been a factor in my health being what it is today, better than before I started getting a yearly check up over fifteen years ago I didn't know how good doing that was going to be until I read about the benefits of the statins I take every day for my cholesterol. It's amazing and now another benefit shown here. It is a blessing. One that I never in my wildest dreams did expect to come my way. I am humbled by my previous attitudes toward the science and scientist of the medical field. I stand aside for your own consideration of these wonders of science.

Moving to Schuyler Soon

2011-12-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

I haven't had the time to do much lately I must confess, I've either been sick with the flue or dealing with the move to a new house. The house is the good part, south of town about thirty miles, far enough away to be remote yet close enough to still make use of the cultural benefits of the city. It's a wish I had long ago when I lived in this part of the world but I didn't have the knowledge, resources or skills to live in the country. Then I moved into the little city that Charlottesville is and have stayed for many years but now it's time to move back. And now I have the ability to be successful in the world of the Walton's hometown. I hope they welcome me. I will be on my best behavior.

Moving South

2011-11-25T10:58:00.001-08:00

One main thing we learn to accept the older we get is that nothing or at least most everything changes sooner or later and we either accept that change an adapt or perish. For me the change comes willingly, I am moving my homeground to a location south of where I am sitting by about thirty miles. I am doing this next month, in the middle of next month actually with the help of many good men with whom I have been able to make friends with in the last few years.
The place is a small town where I once lived on it's outskirts decades ago. I am buying. For me that is groundbreaking due to the fact that it's a first for me. It's a new place being built as i write this, and it will be most likely the best place I've ever lived in where I am the one who is paying for it.
I've already staked out the lighting situation and because it is on the very top of a small hill without trees beside it it is just ideal for natural lighting and thus will be ideal for me to place my easel anywhere inside I want to. With all put aside due to this move I haven't painted much at all, but I am drawing in this time but I am in the mindset to get back to doing caricature work in oil again. They are such fun, and they are so uniquely me.
I will post a photo of the "being built" house.
I should be in by Christmas and thankfully it's said that they have a DSL connection available so I should be able to get online and post my art as it is finished.

Drawing from the Nude Body

2011-10-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

It's possible for hope to come into one's life at anytime at all. Sometimes it comes from love, sometimes it may come from an overwhelming joy of gratitude from an accomplishment, in any case drawing well is one of those times when hope of doing something of lasting worth comes into my life. Sometimes it happens when drawing from the model and recently it's been happening in my drawing in life modeling class at Mc Guffey. I am certainly in debt to such good and interesting models that are willing to reveal themselves for all that they are to be drawn. I think it's great that this can be done and to be done weekly truly is amazing to me.

Draw On

2011-10-20T04:28:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to take part in a life drawing class at the local art center. We have nice young men and women who are willing to drop all to give we artist subjects from which to develop our art. How wonderful it is, for but a few dollars we receive our inspiration for our paintings and we improve our eye/hand coordination which improves our ability to create what we want to create.
It's a joy to participate every week in this class. True I am tired once I arrive after a full day of working at my day job but I still find no matter how tired I am it does the trick for improving my artistic abilities.
Happy are we who are gifted with this drawing group. Draw on!

The Tattooed Girl

2011-10-09T14:05:00.001-07:00

When someone is working from a model one does a number of drawings in a sitting. Hopefully one can get many works from which one can draw upon at a later time when one is faced with the canvas. This is the result of working from one nice young woman who enjoyed the tattoo covering of herself which I didn't mind in some senses and in others it seem to be a hard body to read because the drawings upon her skin where difficult to work with in the drawing of them. They got in the way of me seeing her bodies shape and form many times but such it is.

Spring of Last Year

2011-10-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

The Spring breezes blew their winds as I painted this oil on Belmont Ave here in Charlottesville the other day, it's red betrays the deep red of brick in the house's walls, while details took some time to develope it turned into a quite good painting. I can say it was enjoyable to make it standing on the sidewalk as people walked by and said hello and how much they enjoyed seeing me paint. One person even asked me if I were that famous artist painting this city? I couldn't say that I was famous but I could say that I've been painting this town for a good number of years now. But I did suggest to them that it may be the case that they were confusing me with someone more in the news like Edward Thomas or Phil Geiger, but that was not for me to decide. It was fun though, I got in four hours on the first sunny day and two and a half hours on the very next day before I could call it done and sign it.

Working From The Woman's Form

2011-10-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

Working from the female form is always a real joy for me, it's so beautiful and interesting in the results that come from it's definition in line. This drawing is an example of how I enjoy my work while defining it. My time spent is one done mostly in silence while drawing and most times those who work from the model around me would wish me to be even more-

so on the silent side of life. But here is where the work is getting more defined and fun for me to see what does the human being size, shape and even color come from and where to they go as it the shadows created by said form. I am hoping to continue my search and I will keep all of you viewers posted.

Melody of Characters of Downtown Belmont

2011-09-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

The place I live is full of interesting and some time desperate people from all walks of life but we are all here and we all get by somehow. These folks often enter into my canvases and become a part of my

life by doing so. In this reflection in paint I blended in some of the daily activities of this part of town. A mother crossing the street with some unmanageable kids and a fella resting on a telephone poll making a call or really doing whatever your imagination has him doing. But these scenes can be found here in this part of the world, the daily flow comes and goes and so I do what I can to capture and remember it with my paints and palette on canvas.

How Working from Live Models Help

2011-09-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts of being an artist is getting to work with a live model. Sure she's without clothes but the real joy and fun is seeing the body for all that it is. In this little community that is seldom done but in the larger cities it's how I refined my craft of art. In school we worked sometimes both morning and afternoons with a nude live model. Now that I have access to a drawing class my comprehension of how to create a body from my imagination has increased in it's detail and correctness from working in just a few classes with a live nude model. I am thankful. It brings life into my work and I have a little more zest in my outlook now. Certainly people are not limited to working in art from a live model in order to be able to do good art, but it sure helps this guy a lot. I will put up one of my drawings from a couple of nights ago. A real joy to behold...God's true masterwork at hand. I do work on it with a sense of respect for the individual who is willing to pose.

New Artwork Finished But At Such a Price

2011-09-19T14:10:00.001-07:00

Painting takes it's toll upon those who work on it. I've been painting all weekend and gott'n quite a physical depression from the effort. It's a finished painting but it was a longtime coming and a lot of effort into getting it "right" and not settling for anything less then that state of being. The paint exist on it's own and it has it's own properties that have to be dealt with when creating with that material. If a color doesn't workout then an artist must know what's under it, what's beside it, how wet is it, do I need to rub it out and begin anew....a lot more information than you wanted to know. Well, the work got done and it's finished however Iow the work brought me I now feel that the end was successful in as much as the art is truly "good in it's endpoint" the means well that's my problem now isn't it. I will be photographing it soon, it's very drippy so I need to let it rest for a good while, a week should do it, and then I will photograph it. The name of it is unsure at this point, that needs to settle in as well as the paint needing it in order to really be dry enough to handle. Then comes the need to head out to the wood workers at Gaston Wyant lumber-

mill just down the road to get my framing wood so I can make it presentable for showing. It will all come together and happen but it will take a while before its ready to be moved. So for now, just take my word for it , it's a good painting, the best in a while of the Downtown Belmont era of my artwork.

After That What's Best

2011-09-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

It's having fun with friends on a wet Saturday afternoon on a lakeside shelter...hot dogs and mud.

Reflections

2011-09-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

Life gets busy I was warned, to keep my priorities in order and so far so good. But I can see how that issue get complicated and convoluted over time to have one question "well what is most important for my time?" So it goes, and when one takes on a cause or an desire to do something that is well thought through and not just an impulsive thing to do well then the issue is "does it stand the test of time". Where I'm at art "has", and now Recovery "has" stood that ever so important test of where we put our presences and time.
For me, I couldn't do art with any growth without being abstinent and I couldn't be abstinent without being "God Centered" and for me all that means is acting as if what I pray to matters in my day to day life...it begs the question "Would I be proud of having God hear or see me doing this or saying this or simply acting this way?" For me that is being "God Centered" on this plain of living which is what I know about so far.
To be such, I needed a twelve step fellowship and I can't say it's been an easy ride but it's been a truly worthwhile...I haven't blown my stack clean yet, but I know I could ...it just takes a lot more. But all kidding aside, I really am thankful for all they've done for me and for all I've been able to do for myself through their service and there friendship.
This is not the end by any means, I'm just taking a moment to reflect and be glad for all that has been my life so far. I am thankful and I plan more art in the days to come....it just takes a little more time to get it done during the school year.

House with a Porch

2011-08-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

It was a very productive summer but as all things do this too has past us by, My final outdoor painting for the summer of 2011 is this one of a house on Belmont Ave. It is only the front porch of it but it was a noteworthy place and I featured a few figures in it in order to put some of the viewer into the canvas through identification with those people in the windows.
The playfulness with which I worked the trees was enjoyable. I was able to show much of the lushness of that area's greenery in the yards of these houses. Charlottesville has no shortage of greenery in it's streets and yards, this house has a good deal of it in it's front yard and so I place a tree as a major part of this canvases composition.
Being that it is the last of these outdoor painting season for myself I am thinking of putting a book together of Charlottesville's buildings. This book wouldn't so much be featuring the Rotunda and the University grounds but more of the buildings that make up other parts of Charlottesville, the places off the beaten path that people often don't usually see. I will be working on it as this year comes to a close.

Preedy Creek Trails

2011-08-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

After a terrific bike ride on in the northern most part of the county of Albemarle where I live, I had to get a burger fix right away. "Five Guy" right after finishing up on this trail the Preedy Trail Park where I spent over a half an hour doing their loop. It was challenging but nothing too too much of a hazard for me to navigate. One needed to look ahead and see how to gear their bike for the terrain ahead but it clearly could be managed with some lightweight hardware and some nerve. The fun was that they built in some good up/down short hops all over the place and they put them in lines of three and four hops per run. Outstanding work whomever designed it, and my hats off to those men who did the grunt work of making it fit into the landscape by working with the hilly land around them.
I ran into some disappointed dog owners who felt they were put off by having to have a leash around their dog's collar but man for the sake of some great biking trails it seems like very little to give for what is had here at the Preedy Trails in Northern Albemarle County just off of Rt 29..go sometime.

Dehumanization or Understanding w Respect

2011-08-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

Another two weeks and I will put away my easel and paints for my jobsite clipboard and such other teaching equipment because classes begin then. Before heading back to school I have had time to paint this summer and such is the result: it's titled :" Personal Dehumanization or Understanding Relationship: It's Up To You" it's an oil painting that is about three foot square and it's new. My work this summer has been an off and on affair but they do come into being occasionally this being one of those times when it clicked pretty well.
I enjoy the "crispness" as one person put it to me last night when showed it to him. I think the quality of the painted surface has improved a great deal with the more time I've put into the making of my canvases. With more time comes a better understanding of what techniques work and which don't so I have better control in getting the effects I am looking for when I paint.
The character with the weird face is really me. I can make that sort of face and sometimes I do so to get a laugh. I've even seen a photo with my face looking so bizarre , it's all for a laugh and nothing serious is meant however in this painting it's an allegory of our manner when taking in the beauty of women. Do we do so with respect or is it more of a lustful glare which of course we men all have done so at sometime in our lives....but right or wrong it happens yet I feel torn by it and so comes this painting.
The scene takes place at a local eatery. I felt this scene depicts the right place where people both have a meal and people watch consecutively. Here the fellas are just finishing up and what appears but this nude, strange, yes I guess it is but life can imitate art and visa versa....and so it goes.

Spring Hill Pennsylvania For A Day Or Two

2011-07-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

There is a place in eastern Pennsylvania that holds a small town feel and has very few citizens in it's rooms/homes but does have a really nice look.. The other feature it has is a restaurant. It's a little diner which serves some of the best home brewed coffee I've tasted. The diner was in a strip mall. It's in a part of town of love where many men/women are in slim and healthy looking shape. Then there are kids who zip on by on their Razor scooters. All the time others simply sleep off their beer buzz on a hotel porch. A few of the streets had much of an affluent look to them. Most of those whom I met where friendly. This little town was where I stayed for a few nights on a recent trip. I can say it was hot, but yet I got out on my bike and rode a river trail next to the upriver part of the Schuylkill River just north west of Philadelphia and that was fun. The trail was one I thought was for biking but it turned out that it was made more for locals to get to a fishing spot or two. So it was a challenge but enjoyable for it's roughness and daunting dips and falls into small ravines, all in all I ended up on the right trail meant for bikes and I still got home in good time with something to think about while in the shower.

Who's Looking Now

2011-07-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Preparing to take a much needed vacation from the ongoing work done here in Charlottesville...I'm leaving it all behind for a little while to head up to see some friends in Berkeley Springs and then onto Philadelphia to visit someone important in my life. It should be a real joy to do all this in the next week. I'm thankful to have gott'n a good number of paintings done already in the first half of my summer break. I am hopeful about getting some more done once I return. I have some larger canvases that are ready to be painted upon and it maybe that I might feel like heading back to the comic supermarket with my brushes and paint. That's my feeling today, and I'm going to take my time driving, no need to get their five minutes faster because there is a slower truck in front of me that I've got to pass...no wwaaayyy baby!! I'll just slow it down.
The painting I'm showing today was a little afterthought of whimsy due to painting houses with nothing of any redeeming value to them, so I had a thought and then I painted it into it. " Here's looking at you!"

Making Art Is Easy

2011-07-07T13:20:00.000-07:00

The new day brings art into the realm of possibilities. So it has gone this summer once awake I can see how making something new and thoughtful can happen with a little bit of effort. I gather my cat and check to make sure he is ok, that he has water, dry food and that the A/C is on for him. Once that is taken care of I gather my equipment and the new fresh canvas that I put together a couple of months ago just for this quick exit purpose and I split. My car is my artbox, it has my traveling Julianne easel and paints, medium with my brushes in a box with them all. I take off.
Once out, I have a preconceived idea of some possible sites along a street I decided I should concentrate on for this summer's work. In the previous days I have driven up and down it slowly looking at the various vantage points with houses of interest in view. I think of a part of the street where there might be a house or two with interesting architectural features and so that is where I park. I get out, I walk a way looking around the whole time, seeing whatever is out their to see, I look for color and their combination, I look for shapes, roof shapes, porch shapes, items on the porches that might add color...its all important in the composition choices that I will make. If I see it, I continue to look onward just to see if there is a second site nearby that might even be of a better composition, or that I could do at a later date. And so it goes until I actually pull out my easel and take out the palette with paint already spotted upon it's surface. All those colors are stuck on the wooden surface with that tacky oil in the casein. I take out my bag with the brushes, the 30/30/30 medium in it. I set it all up to paint. Then I begin with a dark mixture of browns and blacks to start setting the image on the canvas, slowly building it up layer by layer over the next few hours. The time spent is lost in work, concentrating upon how the colors are laying and do they fit the site I am seeing in my sight of (in this case) buildings, what is their? What colors need to be applied and in what order in order to get the effect of light that I am looking at? What doesn't make it? What needs more/less? Do I need to restart anything? It all works towards a finished painting after a great amount of decisions are made and executed. It's art when it's done.

Human Beings and Drawing of Them

2011-07-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

In becoming a member of Mc Guffey I am able to access their drawing group that meets three times a week with a live model which one may draw from in order to improve one's drawing skills. Some people think all one gets out of doing such drawings is "a bunch of drawings of a nude standing around" when one is done. I have to disagree, if one becomes disciplined in drawing the human body then one can move on into the world around us. Due to the fact that to my thinking the human being is one of the most complicated forms to master drawing. To be convincing one must master many abilities in drawing and art before one can say they 'have it down', I always find the human form to be the very best challenges in art to draw and I doubt anyone actually ever masters the skill because each model brings so much new forms to light. But maybe that's just me. I plan to attend as many groups as I can to get into the skills it takes to do the human being convincingly enough to be considered "a good drawing".

The Blood Red House on Belmont Ave

2011-06-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

The end result wasn't all that bad. It was a fun one to mess with, I brought out all I could to keep it interesting for both me and the viewer. I think one needs to look at the surface of those red walls closely in order to get the full enjoyment of this painting of the Blood Red House on the streets of Charlottesville.

The Blood Red House on Belmont Ave

2011-06-20T12:22:00.000-07:00

The summer painting season got off with a blast of painting outdoors. I set up the very day after being released from work obligations. It was a very cool breezy day when I set up my outdoor easel and got to work under the shade of a street tree. It became a desirable place and time to paint. I worked in the morning and enjoyed the weather, I felt like the day was made by God for me and me alone. It was perfect to work outdoors in and I did so. The resulting painting wasn't the best of all my efforts but it was ok. I was asked to do one by the owner of this house that actually did catch my attention due to it's wonderfully designed and built porch on the front of this corner house. It's very typical of those Civil War era homes that saw it's children and husband go off to the War from it's porches, and so I felt drawn to it in some odd but strong way. And so I set up and painted it.

Melony the Rabbit

2011-06-08T13:37:00.000-07:00

It's only once in a loog while that I will find myself on a farm but today was one of those times: we visited the Hey family farm out in Stoney Point. We had a really great visit, we first of all were greeted by a really nice couple and their son. Then we got the royal tour, followed by some animal touch and feeling, which was just great. This particular rabbit is named Melony and she is Richie's delight and also of interest to one of our students as well. During our time all of us got a chance to be with this delightful creature named Melony. Sure it was balzing hot but we stood under a shade tree and we dealt with it. After our tour we had a great brownbag lunch then after those refresting moments we gathered our belongings and headed back to school for a half-day well done.

2011-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

This was the site from my neighbor's yard this past spring, and it was a pure delight to behold. I enjoyed the mild weather and the beauty around us this time.

Time Will Arrive

2011-06-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

Just preparing to enter the painting season in not more than fourteen days or so. I hope the weather holds up and that it's not too humid and hot at the same time. Oh well nothing much one can do about that anyway, it sort of comes with the territory now a days.

2011-05-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of friends enjoyed a hobbie of fast cars and jet fuel the other day under the springtime sun. The car blew some smoke and rushed on down the lane while we just looked on in wonder. It was a fun moment of simple pleasures under the canopy of trees at a local camping spot. A good time and that's about all I needed at the time.

2011-05-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

I take a stand on the one that fell right after I got home from work ready to just relax and sit out the storm that came through town today. Little did I know I was about to hear a rather surprising sound of a treefall and be in for a workout helping to cut and carry it out of our way.

2011-05-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

A tree landed on our back parking area it came from our back neighbor who never trimmed his trees back so this one fell today after a soaking heavy rain storm. Luck for me I decided to park in the street this afternoon which is actually a very odd thing for me to do. If I had parked in the back, then my little Toyota would have been crushed and flattened quite well by this huge tree that fell. Adrian cut it up. He also had his Toyota pickup truck moved just well enough out of the way so that it too was left undamaged. Tonight I am counting my Blessings as my Mom use to say that I should be doing. Tonight I am.

George Gross and My Own "Fun"

2011-05-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a free ride but I need to pay up. I mostly work to paint and paint to live but to love is what it's really all about. It was George Gross a WWII painter who lived in Pre-WWII Germany that coined that phrase and it's sort of stuck with me all these years..hat's off to him. He really had a lot of guts to stick it to the fascist in their own homeland, it was only through a stroke of luck or God's Will (whichever you want to believe in) that he got out of Germany just in the nick of time before they were to come after him. He then lived in the good old USA until his death. He put meaning into every painting and drawing he did and told it like it is ya know...anyway I too began working in that vein but as with most survivors we mellow with age and I certainly am not any exception to that rule: my paintings today are rather decorative when one might compare them with what I was painting in my Academy of fine arts days. So it goes but I do still enjoy a good one which speaks of "the follies of the American Way" , it's the fun I have with my paint and canvas that keeps me going sometimes. I do still enjoy working with discipline and working with what is really out in the empirical world but then again it's good to have a vivid imagination as well. So it goes!

Early Springtime in Belmont

2011-04-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

A new work done over my spring break from work, it took all of my energy to work on this one canvas due to the overwhelming amount of area that it covered in it's breath. My breath was diminished once it was done, it was too four to six hour sunny days of working on site. Then I touched it up at home. It's an oil painting about twenty inches in height by thirty eight inches in withe. It's of a street scene nearby to my home. It's a street with a good number of flowering trees on it and they were just beginning to bloom when I began this canvas. I added the flowers to the trees in as much as they were blooming then and in the days just beyond the time of it's execution. I hope you all enjoy my effort.

The Blood Red House on Belmont Ave

2011-04-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

A new painting of what I dubbed "the Blood Red House" is a view of a really nice looking porch on a house that caught my eye. As it turns out, it is a new purchase by the farming cultural community of disabled Americans known as Innisfree, it is a housing unit for clients who will live in town. I enjoyed a good view of it in the way that the trees still haven't bloomed with their leaves yet, so I got a really unobstructed view of it to paint it. I stood across the street as the flower pedals dropped onto my palette while I was working. The wind was stiff. The colors were grand that day and the sky was clear of clouds so the sun shown brightly down on me. I got a small amount of sun that day, but it was all worth it because of the result. I might even go back and create an even larger painting just to do this view justice.

Life with Bob

2011-04-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

My newest helper is Bob; he's a union guy I hired from a local homeless shelter. He works for food and shelter. I do what I can to get his psychic going in a positive direction again but it's tough. He mostly sits around and sleeps...I do what I can to keep him active but it's hard. He like giving me advice about everything I do. He's got an opinion about the way it aught to be done about everything. Oh well, maybe if I just keep giving him the word to stuff the hairballs from his ears into his throat he might learn something. I'll keep at it.

How "Roberto" became" Bob"

2011-03-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

A good part of me wants to be a loving, caring man who has the capacity to love another being, in this case I've decided to take on a cat into my home. This happens after loving and caring for another young female cat for five or six years, only to lose her to diabetes. It was a while before I could accept it and move on but it's happened that I found myself ready for a companion in my home once again. So I took on a trip up the the local SPCA and found a cat that's not had the benefit of a home for the last three years. He's a good boy and we get along. His name was "Roberto" but I changed it to "Bob" cause he's moved on to being the unacceptable one to being my best buddy here within my home, and so a name change was called for. Bob is resting in the window bed I fixed him, he's not be able to just look out upon "life of the outside" very much in the last three years so for now he's just feeling good being able to look outside. He feels so good that he's just going to rest and recuperate for now, he's going to look out later on after he's fully rested. You know cats!

Color Philosophy

2011-03-26T07:56:00.000-07:00

It's been both a warm outdoor spring and now a cold winter styled time of the year. Today I am inside filming my artwork that I did earlier during a warm spell. The work is focused on the local houses not far from where I live, they are very typical of houses in this town. I enjoyed working on the various colors and features within their design. People almost always comment upon the bright intense colors I choose to use in my paintings. That's because I enjoy them. I love intense cheerful colors on my palette and I use them whenever I can. Mostly because I think of a work of art being on someones wall for a good time, well I want that art to be attractive to whomever looks at it. For me, the serious attention given to a painting upon the wall of someones home aught to be an enjoyable experience and therefore I think of nice intense color as being not only attention getting but soothing to view in a indoor room. And so I paint from the heart of what I do so much enjoy which is a bright joyful palette with an eye for interesting color composition. It's the color that brings interest once its away from the scene and indoors upon a wall.

Plans of Mice and Men Sooner Can Go Astray

2011-03-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

Upon our early springlike weather I popped out and put up my easel with canvas upon a local avenue that is titled :"Belmont Ave", it is here where I did a preliminary drawing before rendering it in oils this past Sunday. I have yet to photograph the oil painting but I did have this pen and ink which I will post. It's going to be a pleasure to get out once again into the elements with my equipment and in such accommodating weather it is very pleasurable to work in the outdoor air, and sun here in Charlottesville.
I am hoping to get something done this spring break or the very first week in April, but we will wait and see....one never knows in this ever changing world with all the problems we have, have had, and will be having that are not even known about now.
I know that the truth is always subject to revision when it comes to making plans for my future. I've learned to just put somethings aside of my own self interest for the sake of the common good of people, this planet, and this community so it might have to wait but I know it will all work out to be ok in the end. I don't sweat it, but I love the work in paint I do.

My Concern For Japan

2011-03-15T16:04:00.001-07:00

I have been sincerely touched by the events in my hometown overseas of Yokohama Japan where I went to school in my first three years of educational training. Back then there were mostly dirt roads and that city was nothing more than a Navel base and a departing point of overseas cruse ships. The thing that got me was when I saw NBC nightly news showing footage of Yokohama crumbling before people running in haste to save themselves from being crushed by falling debris. It was very disconcerting for me. I may not be Japanese or have a vested interest in that country at this point but the thought hit me that some of those people who were running from the falling bricks could have easily been childhood playmates of mine. I lived not on base as most Americans did but in a Japanese town by the name of Kamahira, we lived among the people of Japan from 1950 to 1959 which at the time was rather daring. In order to play after school I soon learned that I had to make Japanese friends, and so I did, I just ran out into the streets where some kids where playing and hopped and hollered until they welcomed me. They did and I soon learned a new language so well that once we left Japan I could translate it for my Dad as we globe trotted our way back to the States. I am very thoughtful of how caring we need to be towards these people of this island nation, they are among the most polite and welcoming folks one could ever meet especially if one is in need of a playmate.

Plans for the Spring Ahead

2011-03-08T04:43:00.000-08:00

It's possible that our little part of the world might be the very best of places to paint. The spring and summer can't be matched and we are getting ready to head on into it once again with the blooms coming forth soon. The very best colors come out then, the very nicest light as well comes out to shine on. I will no doubt get out into it and paint some new canvases. I truly enjoy it but I do suffer from allergies which inhibit my painting. I can take meds for it but just never seem to get around to doing so. Maybe this year will be different cause I would like to get to work this year during our spring break, so many it will hurt bad enough to do something about it. We'll see. I hope to get to work on a large painting of a scenic street nearby my home. So we will see.

Banksy Does Hollywood: New Grafitti | Newsflavor

2011-02-19T15:00:00.000-08:00

Banksy Does Hollywood: New Grafitti | Newsflavor This fella Banksy is very daring and very talented with his brushwork and stenciling. He picks upon those things out in our landscape that deserve some comments such as the one's he's chosen in Hollywood. He's a Brit but he's got it going on. I do thank him for his dedication to his craft. He's now getting good money for his work in some of the btter galleries yet he still goes out into the public realm of roadside signs and does his work for nothing more than it deserves to be done. Quite an artist.

Drawing From Life

2011-02-10T14:47:00.000-08:00

Such a crazy place to work but somehow I know it's doing a lot of good, our guys are progressing into their adulthood with the guidance of our staff which I think helps and educates our students. We do a lot but what I sneak off and get into these days is drawing which is a true love of mine. I use to sneak off and smoke a pack of cigarettes with my friend Tom Beale but now it's going down to the gallery that gets me feeling in the place. Because we have hired a live model to draw from I am becoming more disciplined in my efforts with the pen. Working from life has usually been a struggle but it's getting to the point where the struggle is just what I am looking forward to doing. I am reaching a level where my hand works from my visual peering without ever looking down to see just what my hand is up to. This is when I am doing my best work I have discovered, just as my teachers always said would happen. Thankfully I have made enough work to have this unique occurrence happen with utter joy doing I approach a drawing problem now, it's a mastering which has taken decades to come about...it's not something anyone could enjoy nearly as much as I do since I always felt I had to work a little harder than everyone else to master drawing from a model. Whether clothed or not, I just love the challenge of working from a model who is willing to sit still long enough for me to see her/him and draw them. What a payoff!

This Little Girl's Art

2011-01-31T17:26:00.000-08:00

Way back when, this little Jewish girl painted my portrait because she just liked me for some wonderful but unknown to me reason. Today, she teaches at Tyler College of Art and Design in a northern city not far away, and she is well from what I hear and just was awarded a prize for her art. She is an abstract painter, in her own very thoughtful way she out did over three hundred fifty other very good painters in order to win her recognition. I am tickled to have this painting by this little Jewish girl who asked me to sit against the wall of my apartment so she could paint of all things me. Congratulations go out to her and I do thank her and keep her in my thoughts in a good way.

The Hardware Store Restaurant Myth or Legend

2011-01-23T17:55:00.000-08:00

Back years ago there was a place on the downtown bricked over mall which was the Main drag there is a store which was a restaurant. It was quite a nice wooden structure that housed a burger and sandwich joint plus some upper balcony art galleries and such. My favorite was the chocolate shop that came in and would always make my mouth water whenever I walked in for lunch with a friend. The chocolates were right at eye level and I could never leave that place without a sample of them on my person. Having said that, a few years ago they closed up and the building was sold and turned into a clothing shop for some trendy wares of one kind or another.
Now whenever the name of that restaurant comes up people wane nostalgically; one person who is the daughter of a former co-worker had a prom date in it and just the name brings up regret towards its' demise. And so I painted an oil of it because of her request for me to do so. It turned out I had some drawings of it in the notebooks I have here on my bookshelves...along with the current building still standing and with some photography and taking a look at those old drawings plus drawing upon my own memories of it's atmosphere I took it upon myself to do the painting which is in the heading of this post. It's titled: "The Hardware Store Restaurant".

Concepts; Draw, Draw, Draw

2011-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Another day worth living and appreciating all those who continue to make it possible for me to be free and enjoy my life in all it's expressions. Much is done in my life as an artist and I often hear artist relate to the fact that there ability could thrive as it does without a good basis in drawing. And so I have taken on drawing as all so important part of my life working in art, as well as the business end which is often overlooked; I work with my gallery in taking on work that allows them to steer me in one direction or another. Because today I can put faith in another's outside point of view and take it for what it's worth...either taking it up or not, it's still helpful to listen to it and then decide if it's doable or not. But often ideas of mine stem from my idle drawings which come from deep within. It's all good, I enjoy myself whether I'm working on someone else's ideas or some of my own. I put as much quality as I can into either and neither is any lesser because of where it came from.

Dithyrambic Daytime: the painting

2010-12-31T09:33:00.000-08:00

This has been my winter (or Christmas) breaks obsession it's an oil painting that I worked tirelessly upon for the last two weeks. It's titled : Dithyrambic Daytime" which is a large word that just means the wild and wonderful day. It is not to be analyzed so much as to be simple pondered in wonder as to "what it's all about". I enjoyed the way the images came up from nowhere to my canvas as I painted. I started with only a ruff draft in pen and ink. Drawings are the origin for most of my "good art" work that I have done. This one is no different, it's a matter of some planning and the letting the rest come from the creative act of the actual painting. Seeing what may work from what needs to be changed is all part of the creative work that goes on inside the artist while painting. I'm sure most artist are of this way in their act of creation. Afterall who limits themselves anymore, if the idea strikes oneself, think about it, ponder it, then see if it's workable and if it is then 'just do it'.
Many philosophers of this day are pondering what thought process actually brings about the work or the action of doing something, and certainly I share this when I am in the act of painting. But not much happens when I am thinking about this and not actually in the midst of painting or the creative act of drawing or some other form of expressive action. Art is action for me, and not so much the preconception of it. This may be my downfall as well as my gift. I guess it's all in how it's used like so many other things in this life.

Poe's Lighted Scene

2010-12-26T07:48:00.000-08:00

Here under the mighty limbs of the tree that watches the moon all night I pass by noticing the brightness of the light it shows us so I snapped this photo. Kind of a poetic photo depicting nothing but saying a lot more than words can convey. Enjoy the day, it's where we all live afterall.

Joanie's House

2010-12-22T13:28:00.001-08:00

This was a work done last week the day after it snowed. The sun had come out and it's warmth shown on me as I painted until sunset. I did as much as possible during that time before the chill of night arrived. My feet were wet and my warm car beckoned me towards coming inside of it's warmth but it took some time before I could pull myself away from working on this one.
It was done by request from a friend from town who was interested in seeing me paint one of her house, so I had a go of it. I think it went better out on location than my touching it up from a photo projected on my HDTV screen here at home. Ain't it usually the case of real life beating out our own contrived "reality via TV" sort of situation. I think I'll keep heading out into that wilderness called out little town section of "Belmont".

Drawings Take On Form

2010-12-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

Daylight begins with a phone call notifying me of the canceled school day for me. I quickly bounce back into bed. Awaking later in the day, it's time to make time for my meditation and then hit the drawing board for an unexpected chance to explore inner self. I take out my pens, paper and balsa board for my set up. Then unfold the paper pad, choose a pen, and I'm off. I begin with but a line, then another to see where I can take it and what images may entertain my thinking. Robert Motherwell and the other pioneers of Modern Abstract Expressionism called this delving into one's automatic consciousness drawing process. It's enjoyable. It's not scary, rather it's enlightening and worthwhile for one's inner soul, spirit or whatever term one may use for one's inner self.
Doing such a thing is not nearly as impossible as it is if one says at the onset, "I can draw"...one can only say that if one never attempt to do so. Art is of the school that if one lifts the pen to paper and makes a mark then you have drawn. Whether one likes what one has done is another matter entirely, but many have drawn but haven't given themselves the credit for having done so.

The Brave and Not Forgotten

2010-12-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

The night is cold, as many are aware of it's power to end life. The people remain in tonight. It puts me in the mood to reflect upon a bike rider I saw today. She was battling up a hill full steam and I know it was hard for her because I've ridden up that same hill years ago in the cold cold daylight with little to keep me company but my own thoughts and the chill of the air upon my exposed cheeks. I felt good for her, because I knew she was feeling very free and good bringing herself up that hill however slowly she was smiling because of her efforts of the climb.
I know we need to improve our cities for such people who no matter what the conditions will brave the streets to ride instead of sit passively behind the wheel as I was this morning while watching her in my car.
Here's to Her...may more join her, maybe me someday.

2010-12-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

It was with great joy that I spent my Thanksgiving with an old college friend and his now wife, and children by marriage...what a joy it was to be with them all. We ate well which goes without saying, but we also enjoyed some conversation that enlivened my memories of my past living in Philadelphia with him and others. We rehashed old times and it was fun. The two of us were able to bring up people and places which otherwise had escaped my memory when alone. The stay up in the West Va. mountains was especially good since they often recieve the weather we get a week or so later. Temperture wise, we are right in synic this way even today. But these folks pictured here are truly champions in my life and it was an honor to spend this Holiday with them all. The new bread actually put me to shame on the ping-pong table so there is room for more to come at another time.

2010-11-25T16:51:00.000-08:00

There is nothing like a group of loving caring people for a good Thanksgiving dinner...which is what I enjoyed tonight. It's the meaning of friends and family that one can comprehend in times like these pictured here.

Wyant's Store in Whitehall,Va.

2010-11-20T13:47:00.000-08:00

It is noted that Whitehall Virginia is a throwback to an earlier time, a time when people knew who you were whenever one was to shop in the store such as this....its something found in the rural areas of this state and not so much in the cities of Virginia. This is one of my paintings of such a place, where the guys inside it are all gathered talking about what's news in the area over some snack food of one kind or another. They were all very kind to me once I stopped in to see the inside of this store once I was done painting for the day. I enjoyed working on this one...it is the second of the same subject, the store was interesting to work on so I took a second look as it were and painted it again. It's wasn't so much that I didn't like the first painting of this country store it was more that I enjoyed working on it so I thought I would prolong the joyfullness by doing it a second time. I'm sure you have no idea what I am talking about..well just have a long look at it...and perhaps take a drive out Garth Rd near Charlottesville someday and you can see it for yourselves.

Autumn Warmth

2010-11-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

It's been a crisp and clear Autumn here in Central Virginia this year, which has been great as far as seeing all the color changes that have been happening amoung the trees. Such as it is coming to a close and most of the leaves have fallen now, the ones that are still on the trees are some of the richest in hues and intensity. I was able to photograph a few off to the side of a nearby bridge in this city. These are but a few of the examples of what joy it has been to see them.

New Art

2010-11-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

My newest painting is dealing with a "hot spot' from yesteryear in this city. It's a date spot where the drive-in style of eating happened in the evening hours. I suppose before, during and even moreso in the afterhours of high school football nights was when this restaurant really took on a life all it's own. It's still around decades later on and I set up my easel across the street in an empty lot (with asking permission from the woman who owns it) and painted a start of this spot. It's called "Jak and Jil" and everyone with either from here or who lived here at that time can tell you about their favorite dish with a tone of voice that betrays that this spot was about more than just the food. And so this is my painting: it's down at Skylight Gallery just off the downtown mall on 2nd Street where the free trolley passes over the mall heading north. I hope you will see it in person if or when you find yourself in the area.

Art Show Annoucement

2010-11-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am having folks view my painting only at Skylight Gallery. I feel that posting my work online (my paintings at least) takes traffic away from the struggling galleries that I am supportive of so I am simply asking my fans to head on down to 2nd St NW right by Fellini's and see them. I have three nice painting up on their walls. I hope you will feel welcome to head on down tomorrow to First Friday's where i will be in Skylight Gallery during the early evening (5 to 7 pm) I've love to have you see my best and newest stuff.

Jak and Jil ; the painting

2010-10-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Getting my art on today, I finished my latest painting of a local hangout from back in the day, or so the locals tell me. I've been here over thirty years but I'm still 'from the north' but that's ok I still feel welcome and a part of this place.
The painting was started on location painted from a hillside with the permission of one of the neighbors, it is of "the Jak and Jil" restaurant and it's big. Working on it a number of times with my watercolors it has turned out rather well in oils. I enjoyed painting moreso with a 'painterly effect' of brushwork, I left finishing the surface so paint strokes did show off this one. A painter friend said I should let people see how I have painted a painting so with this one I am attempting to make that so. I rather enjoy the effect and when one is in the presence of the actual canvas one can really see 'how he did it'.
I have yet to photograph it but I will get to it before too much time get by me. It's not easy to keep a painting 'in the cooker' while I am working on a my job and doing other events in life's stage but this weekend I have had the time to devote to it. I feel good about this painting, it's a medium sized canvas maybe two feet by three but it's painted well so I am pleased.
Now to move on to the next one, which I will also start most likely on Election Day this Tuesday.

Efforts of Today

2010-10-25T13:26:00.001-07:00

The day was an eventful one where the work got done a little at a time but looking back on it well it all amounted to the contribution of our students to the overall good of the community. I can definitely say that they do make a difference here in this little town. The nice thing is that they are appreciated for their good efforts it just that pizza parties as a way of saying "thanks" doesn't make good newsworthiness for local TV. And I understand that and you that's ok, I actually don't want to be show in the tube. I just want to do my work and I think my students are ok not being in the limelight just as I am.
I have been painting it's just that it hasn't been that consistent lately, it's grabbing a morning where the light is good or an afternoon when the sun is out and all the errands and jobs around the apartment are done with that I get the time to paint. But one is in the cooker and it's a better one than the one before it, so I am pleased with how it's turning out. For some reason my cat just won't help me out and learn my style of painting, so until she does I will have to just wait for the "right time" to hit the palette and brush.

2010-10-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

The Groom is Being Fed Cake but see that guy in the corner, if you didn't know that the groom actually works in the kitchen of this restaurant you would think this scene to be pretty strange. Why is he laughing so hard over their in the doorway. Well Jon is the pastery and dessert cook for the Ivy Inn where this wedding of his took place today. I just happen to be in the right place to capture this very funny and strange reaction from his fellow kitchen chiefs. It was a very wonderful wedding and truly a gift to be their and be witness to all the joy shared this weekend.

Wedding in the Valley

2010-10-09T13:01:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to get over to Weyers Cave and attend a wedding of a good friend and fellow teacher. He really had a perfect day upon which to get married and hold an outdoor reception. I was able to bring my camera and get some nice snapshot of the event. They were both every happy people and I only wish them the best in their days to come united in marriage. I enjoyed the drive over and back, the view from the mountains was amazing today with the visibility being of utmost grandeur. Truly a good day for us all that live in this corner of the world.

2010-10-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a wedding to get the blood going in the morning. It was a festive and joyfull wedding of my friend Tim B. It was a great day weather wise for the outdoor reception and I enjoyed it. Others seem to have a joyful time as well. It took place in the Shenandoah Valley up near Weyers Cave and on a hilltop parking lot one could see almost the entire town of Weyers Cave. Truly a Blessed occasion and I'm glad I took the trip. May the happy couple have many wonderful days together in their time to come.

A Nap Time Wish This Morning

2010-10-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

Just getting underway today we all seemed to be very very sleepy, I mean everyone was yawning. It really was quite comical. The dark clouds interspersed with sunshine seem to put us all into the state of eternal slumber love. The chill in the air was very autumn like and it helped people want to crawl back under the covers this morning and not be at work, but the day went on with our lives not wanting to be where we were, at work doing our jobs and "keeping on task".
We got through today...now it's time for a nap.

Peacock Auto

2010-09-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

This is a work that was done on location here in this little college town. It's of a garage that was taken over by a good fellow...he's making a go of it on his own in this little building.

"Get'n Up There"

2010-09-13T14:53:00.001-07:00

Today is the day I turn sixty, and believe me I don't feel it. When I realized where the time had gone I was stunned that I made it to this milestone of time alive on this earth. True, time alive doesn't equal the quality of that time being of good to excellent quality but man time alive does give one perspective on life that I hadn't been thinking of achieving but it is with me none the less. Having been here and being free, clear-headed and in a healthy state is something I learned that I owe to my spirituality and it's state. I truly think one doesn't last long if one doesn't have one's drive towards improvement headed in an everyday priority of living. I think because I always have thought I could just do a little better, that everyday I am taking on what people in my life bring up to me, and I try to be thankful for it. I don't always show gratitude for it but I do after I have had some time to think about it....most often I do....
Today I worked harder than I ever have at my job, I didn't even consider what this day should mean to someone like me. It wasn't my concern today, only upon the Birthday wishes coming in that I felt...well ...I felt that I should take a minute to ponder what is happening, what is 'today', what is 'get'n up their' mean to me?

A Joy

2010-08-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

This is an oil titled: "A Power Greater Than Ourselves" and it's a medium sized painting but it has a meaning much larger than the image itself. It also took a lot longer to finish than many of my other paintings, and it has deeper interest in my concentration in it's making than many of my other summer's paintings.
It was a joy to see come into existance.

Winding Up This Summer's Artwork

2010-08-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

The Summer is coming to a close for me, with schools reopening I will be going back to work starting this Friday morning. Our beloved students will return the following Wednesday. I can say that it's been a very active summer for me with me finishing many painting during this break and joyfully I loved making each one.
The big change has been feeling good about the work I have done both once they were done and also while they were in the 'cooker' where I was active in the making of them. This summer I focused on making 'overall looks' to the scenes which I painted partial storefronts of last summer. Those were mere studies ( or preparations ) for what I had in mind and it was a long wait during the school year '09-'10 until I could get to them this past two months of late June, July and early August. I say two months because I both took some time to see distant places and I count June and August as only half month's work time on this summer's canvases. But I was successful in that I personally was very pleased and surprised at how all of this summer's work turned out to be so damn good. It's been a long time coming but it finally arrived this summer. It was hot as you know what but it was worthwhile for all the sunscreen applications and the hauling of painting equipment, the standing out in the sun, drinking ungodly amounts of water and sweating more than I care to think of while working on these canvases just because of the results of my efforts.
You can see most of them here. Just click on the painting once one's cursor is upon it. Thank God and those who protect our freedom for the productive opportunity to work outdoors.

2010-08-07T14:12:00.000-07:00

The Autumn is something that I seldom give much time to think about, but you know here in August it really isn't that far from it's coming. This painting is retouched up but was an autumn squash collection I used as a still life when I first moved into my current apartment. And so I felt it needed a little more so I retouched it again this year, four or so years later on.

Local News Hub

2010-07-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

The local spot that people often gather in this little town can be the shops near the edge of town at all hours of the day. It's the last stop where the stomach can be satisfied and the thirst quaffed with a cold one of any kind. It is often a meeting ground for many towns folks and where the days attitude is shared. That is why I decided our local spot on the edge of town needed to be remembered with my brush. The photo is of a painting I did complete yesterday of one of these spots on the way of most people's homeward trip from work.
Many say art imitates life but sometimes it just reflects it. That's where I am at today. Tomorrow is an Opening where I will show some of this summers artwork from me.

A Classic Convenience Store ;"The Store"

2010-07-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Even in 100 degree heat I am able to ride for a little while getting myself out to "The Store" which is in the background. "The Store" is a classic old Virginian Mom and Pop store with the design so often used of cement and cinderblock with cement holding the building all together. I use to go to stores up where I grew up in Northern Virginia but up their they are all gone. Today, I thought I would remember them with a few photos while some still are around.

The Art Process in "Greenwood Station Rd."

2010-07-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

Another hot morning, but one needs to brace oneself for what is to come but getting underway early so when the oven-door opens one is fully engaged in life. Painting outdoors is rather tough to do under these skies but if one is clever enough one finds ways to cope.
This artist likes to get a start onsite and then finish up the canvas at home. It works when one has a good camera to capture an image from which to work when one is the comfort of the studio. I've done three or four canvases this way and it does help quite bit to be at home. Refreshments and various paints can be easily accessed so that nothing is left behind while working on outdoor scenes. Fortunately for me, I do have a good camera and a system for showing these images on an HDTV screen, from there it's easy to work on a canvas using such a system.
The results are this painting of "Greenwood Station Rd." which I wasn't able to work onsite due to there was no shoulder to the road on which to set up my equipment. In this case there was no way I could have done this image without using a very quick and portable devise like a camera to get the image and then bring it home to show on my TV. That is exactly how I was able to complete this painting. It seems to be a little better of a result than the ones I worked on in the past from paper 4" by 7" photographs. What do you think? I'd be interested in your thoughts on this matter.

John, Doreen and Dan K In W.Va.

2010-07-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm having a great time seeing my two friends from Wheeling Jesuit University where I was a student for just a couple of years back some forty years ago. It's great to reconnect and granted we do reminisce some, well maybe a lot, but we do enjoy being together once again. I don't know many people who wouldn't enjoy doing this, being at his new house in the countryside and eating in nice restaurants is anyone's dream life come true.

Here in this photo we are standing at an overlook of the valley which is above Winchester and the northernmost part of the Shenandoah Valley, at least that is what is behind us. We're actually at about two thousand feet above sea level or maybe even higher. At this spot we might even be equal to standing at Afton Mtn. or Doyles Falls on the Skyline Drive. It was a good view eastward from here, and it was cooler than many of my past days down in Charlottesville, but the main thing is that here I am very please to be with friends and here about their accomplishments and troubles too. We've gone through a lot of changes but for the most part it is now that we are really 'growing up' and it is a joy to behold and take an active part in...just for today it is.

2010-07-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

This work is of the Belmont section of Charlottesville painted in the morning sun of June 2010. It is of a group of buildings that has gone under a complete overhaul and renovation during the past five years. Now housing a group of popular restaurants, these buildings are quite a nice site grouped together in the "downtown Belmont" section of Charlottesville, Virginia. The orientation for this painting was such that it was painted from an old Texaco station that now houses a tire company. And because of that the Texaco sign dominates the scene but not so uncomfortably that it seems out of sorts here in the middle of my canvas, I see it as setting the tone of this painting. It is making what was once old and forgotten back to something fresh and new. The title of this painting is : "Belmont Summertime"

Chilles Orchard in July

2010-07-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

Chilles Orchard is quite good for picking peaches when the place isn't picked clean. Yesterday I happened by only to find out that it was picked out. It was a fun place none the less, they have plenty of cider of both strawberries and peach in various size bottles. What a wonderful store and a natural resource for our little bit of the Piedmont of Virginia.

2010-07-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

The People Combed the Peaches

The folks came in droves to pick out some peaches from Chilles Orchard. Problem was the trees had been picked clean the day before and no picking was allowed on this day. It didn't stop these people from taking a look at what was available, which were peaches that were much smaller in size but were up for sale. I like the peach cider myself which one could buy in the 16 oz size or the gallon jug if one was so inclined for a keeper to take home.

2010-07-05T20:45:00.000-07:00

Artwork in Crozet IGA Parking Lot

Ya can't get much better than murals in one's grocery store parking lot. It seems like someone did something just for the idea of art for art sake. I love it! These murals show much of the surrounding areas of Crozet and who else could have shown it off but someone local, who has guts to do something this size in the first place. It turned out well and all people I've talked to love it as well. It's much bigger than I could show in this one photograph but for the people of this little Virginia town it means quite a bit.

Life 101

2010-07-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

The Day is a Gift. The sun is out, the air is warm, and my bike is ready to go. No it's not a Harley, it's a Trek 6500 and it's a ****bike but it's cool. I am thankful for the roads, pathways and Rails to Trails advocacy that has had me ride my Trek. I hope the veterans can at some point see and enjoy both the off road trails and miles of highways that this country has to offer those of us on two wheels.
The Day is a Gift. I promise to make the most of each one. I will not waste it away. I will be active and get out of the house and see this day. I have made much of my summer break making art, eating out with friends, and socializing with 'fellow-travelers' in the evenings. But today is a day in which I will reflect on what let's me do all of this and where are my own responsibilities to leave behind something worthwhile for others.
Enjoy the Fourth as I am sure I will.

Belmont Summer w/ Oils

2010-06-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

It happened in the Belmont Triangle that I picked up my brush and began this painting; only it was a week later on when I decided it was done.

"The Monk Awaits Us"

2010-06-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is one done of a nightspot that is quite favored by our townfolk and students
alike...it's called "The Local". It's a restaurant in our little section of town called
Belmont and it is a spot that is trying to serve good quality food at affordable prices
to "the local" people of Belmont and beyond. I titled this painting of that nightspot
"The Monk Awaits Us" as you should be able to make out the Dominican Friar leaning
against the railing near the front entrance.

Funnies

2010-06-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

What Me Worry? It's Summer Afterall!

Agora Art Gallery - Exhibition Opening Reception Photos 05/13/2010

2010-06-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

Agora Art Gallery - Exhibition Opening Reception Photos 05/13/2010

This is a gallery in London where they have allowed me the room to exhibit my work on their website and I have a link to it on my own website. I find it to be a very open gallery to new artist and one need not be a "finished artist" or an overly experienced artist to show ones' work on their site. I think they have a good representation of art that comes from the artist heart in this show that I have linked up with here. Have a look, it takes a few minutes to view it but it's enjoyable if one has the time.

Photos and Editing After A Night of Shooting

2010-06-01T15:08:00.000-07:00

The days are long, the night is cool: an excellent time for photography and I got to it this past weekend. I like the new way of editing photos with software such as Picasa 3 that I only plug because I am using that in doing these photos. I went to the sepia-tone in some of these night photos. We who take photos (which seems to be most everyone thesedays) can take night photos if you can change your ISO to a higher number, the higher the number the higher the amount of light that will register in your camera's sensors. So night photos are now able to be done quite readily due to the amazing speeds that ISO can go to now with the advent of digital photography. It's just amazing to me and so I have been trying it out with good results. Then I tinker with the image changing it to a sepia-tone and sometimes giving it higher color plus adding a grain texture...truly something else.

2010-05-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

I had an opportunity to walk around last night and by chance snapped this photo of people dinning at The Local. I enjoyed this scene due to the warm evening and the compliant diners who didn't seem to mind me taking photos of them from the street. I enjoyed playing around with it today at home with some basic photo software. Enjoy!

The Possibilities of Nightime Photography

2010-05-31T07:46:00.000-07:00

I have been slow to actually realize what one can do with "film speed" today until recently when it hit me: "the speed of take a photograph has greatly been increased". Because of this advance in the digital age, I can now take pictures at night with little trouble, all I've had to do is bring my tripod and set the ISO on my menu in a high setting and I'm off.

Last night I decided to try it out, with some time and various compositions I really did well. Another plus is working with the images on the software once I got the pictures set up on my computer here at home. I can do today what I only dreamt about in previous times. The digital age has done wonders for me in image creation using a camera. It continues to blow me away on a daily basis. I will post one of my night images taken in a night spot that has developed here in my part of Charlottesville. It's called the Belmont Triangle by some, to others it's just another sort spot of progress and change in this little college town. For me it's in interesting development and I embrace it.

It's Called Work But It Doesn't Seem Like It

2010-05-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

The day is one of work, it's great for my mental state mainly because work takes my mind off my problems even better than a Scotch on the rocks and a bottle of beer to wash it all down. I use to do just that after work, but now I actually enjoy my work more than most (but not all) of my time off from my job. I never thought work could be like that. I never heard of such a thing, but here I am. Glad to be off from work but not wishing not to have to go back. I don't want to spend my life just working it away but it is nice to enjoy where I go to make my living. It's a school where I work but it's not just another school rather it's a school for and with young men and women with special needs. It's made my life much much better than before I arrived at it.

A New Commission

2010-05-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

I am looking at doing a commission this weekend. I'm putting everything on hold until I finish this painting of a local house. It's the residence of the mother of a friend from my past whom I have lost touch with due to finding different roads to travel down.

The weather should cooperate and I think I will be able to get two days of concentration in on a rather small canvas. The size of which was a request by her. I'm looking forward to it due to the lack of sales this year. Absolutely nothing has sold this year despite being in a one man opening and having my work hanging all year in a very public venue. I don't think it's because of the lack of quality of my art, at least that is my hope, but more-so because of the economical problems we are all dealing with which in turns stops people from buying art. The saying "art is the first to go" is certainly very true and I've witnessed that over the years. It's just part and parcel of the game.

I will be keeping my hopes up for this weekend's work. I will get immersed in the making of it and enjoy myself despite the lack of money coming in from it. I always said : "it's not about the money" and I say that because if it is then one is in the wrong field to begin with.

Biking In Phila During the 70's.

2010-05-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

This day is one of high winds and bright sun. What a joy to ride a bike in it. Someone asked me "do you still ride?" and I could honestly say "yes, I just rode today." Riding is such a good way to burn off extra energy and to go somewhere without burning anything more than calories.
When I was young, I honestly felt that riding my bike around was God's way of giving me trouble and pain. Man has that attitude changed over the years gone by. I was a fat, husky kid who couldn't wait to get behind the wheel of his own car. My Dad put me behind the wheel once I turned sixteen. And I put away the English Racer three speed that I had been using to travel around with. I ignored it and it fell to the junk pile in no time at all.
I turned that attitude around when I was in my early twenties and living in Philadelphia in Center City down near William Penn Hall (at least I believe it was called by that name) or the original site of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It was on Pine Street around 11th street where a bike shop took hold and I passed by it whenever I was walking up to the Academy of Fine Arts on Broad Street and Cherry. In it's show-window was hanging a work of art in the bicycle world, it held up a Frajus ( spelt wrong but it sounds like it) 18 speed bike from Italy (remember this was around 1972 and multispeed bikes at this level were rare) and with it's caramel colored plastic molded handgrips and upright handlebars and a bell with a sound that couldn't be beat well I had to have it. And in a week or so I did buy it. Against the wishes of the bike store owner who said the frame size was a little too small for me, I told him to adapt it to my size if he could. He told me that he would do what he could and to come back in a week or so.
It was upon my return to the Pine Street Bike Shop that I met a mechanic in the back of the place in a dark an greasy room full of parts and frames, derailleurs and a whole bunch of other fun to see stuff that we guys go nuts over. He promptly lite up a joint and told me that my bike was ready to go. "Test it out" he said while passing me some Jamaican in a some Zig-Zag papers. It felt just right to me. He mentioned that if I wanted any more adaptations to just come back through the back door of the shop and he'd take care of me.
That bike lasted me through hundreds of miles of street riding in the city and also a five hundred mile journey down the shoreline to Alexandria and home again in ten days. People almost always wanted me to ring my bell whenever they spotted me, it had such a charming sound when it chimed with the clanger. I loved riding it, and I wish it hadn't been stolen from me years later in a foolish instance of trusting that no one would take it. I actually mourned it's lost for weeks and then again I still feel a lost of some magnitude even today when I think of it. It was my Frajus.

Oreo: "Shampoo and a Shave Sir?"

2010-04-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

A good day to be alive and enjoying the air around us all. As some wonderful people said once :"life is for living today not just surviving" And I can do so today, even with a smile on my face because my cat licks the head of a compatriot, that is what I have uploaded to show one and all. Oreo, my cat which is aptly named, plays barber as she shampoos both my hair and my other friends as we sit in our armchair talking amongst ourselves.
I love cats, they usually don't let me down with their "strangeness" and so is Oreo.

Anniversary...a Touchstone of Recovery

2010-04-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

15 yrs without mindaltering substances today...thankful for life today and all the people in it, even those with which I don't see eye to eye...only though a program of Recovery has it been possible.

2010-04-15T17:44:00.001-07:00

The Joke by John J. Trippel

via Artbreak - Share and sell art online

2010-04-10T15:12:00.001-07:00

Kamahura Bike Ride by John J. Trippel

via Artbreak - Share and sell art online

The Day Awaits It's Participants

2010-03-24T04:39:00.000-07:00

It's the beginning of the workday, it's a spring day with the temps going up into the seventies no doubt I will be ready for a bike ride once my daily commitments are done. The air will be crisp this morning but I will breath it with a welcoming thanks for a body that operates well enough to absorb it, make use of it and the exhale it in order to bring more into my lungs.
After a good breakfast, one can face the morning's needs. Ablutions done I head on into the deeds that must be done. Work awaits and I am ready for it.

Why Weird People: Here is my Answer

2010-03-18T16:40:00.000-07:00

Working is the way I earn the money to buy the food I need to feed myself. I often go to the grocery store weekly, actually I seem to often show up every Friday evenings when the place is pretty deserted and I can get what I want with the ease of an Olympic skater. It is their that I run into the matter of my memories provide me to draw when I open my pad. This drawing opposite is one of them.

Someone asked me why do I draw and paint art that makes people uncomfortable? I actually stumbled when answering her. I had to struggle to tell her. I searched my thoughts and I wondered myself "why?" She said I should think about it. I did, boy did I. I tossed a bit thinking about it as I lay down to sleep that night. Sure I eventually rationalized an answer to it but it really wasn't until the next morning on my way to work when I really saw and knew why I create these really weird and sometimes bizarre caricatures on my canvases. Then I use my best techniques in order to memorialize these "weirdos"....why, why do I do that?
The answer came in the form of a life experience. I stopped into a gas station convenience store shop to get some Life Savers of all things, when I went to pay for them I pulled out my wallet and handed over some cash. Then, I looked up to get the returning change and when I did so there she was in all her glory. It was almost a shock to my system, the attendant handing back my money was a spitting image of one of my really bizarre caricatures (some dare to call them "J T's people") only this one was talking, smiling, and handing me back my change.
She was a spitting image right down to the hair all pulled up in a bun with the teeth happy and big, the eyes expressive and wide, it's stunned me for that moment. I realized I was blind to this fact but then then I became aware to this epiphany. And so it is true in my work as well, although I do these paintings strictly from my imagination, it is only than no matter how remotely I create my art, the statement "art imitates life" is certainly true and the reason for my painting just what and how I paint. I am only painting the life I may be only slightly aware of but yet is still in my environment in my daily existence of comings and goings. If I only open my eyes my reasons for painting live all around me.

Emposed Inactivity; AWWEHHH!!!

2010-03-07T07:33:00.000-08:00

The weather is changing. My fond cat is feeling better, not scratching her skin nearly as much with the air becoming damper now. She's not as dried out.
I have a new canvas and I am wondering just whether to paint another caricature upon it or move on to something more timely to my life's current station. Nawww! I think I have the caricature that would be just right for it.
I've been having a hard time not exerting myself. I'm under doctor's orders not to pick up anything with the weight that is more than my cat. That doesn't leave much. I didn't obey it yesterday and I got a lot done around here that I wasn't able to do because of the ongoing weather of cold cold cold air, snow, ice and just tough stuff. So last night I got the hurt that comes from not following doctors advice, not too much fun. I made a decision: I will follow his advice, pain isn't necessary in order to live a full life.
And so I will have to paint slowly, rest often...and the hardest of all things: being receptive to life's bounty. Not an easy command for this ongoing active busy artist to follow: but I must or I might not be living much of an enjoyable life after this upcoming six weeks forced docile activity levels. So it goes!

The painting: "Autism:The Meltdown"

2010-02-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

Finishing a painting is always a bittersweet ending to an ideal relationship. The function of the artist being the one who creates the image is one usually of working towards an endpoint of perfection. The perfection isn't ever and I don't think needs to be completed in any "good painting". Some people do want a perfect trump d'oil but not I. I enjoy the acceptance that some paintings won't ever reach that point where everything is perfectly finished and nothing more needs to be done or no imperfections are showing through. I think an artist once said it best "the painting isn't done unless there is something that still needs to be done" to paraphrase him "it wouldn't be an human undertaking unless there were some mistakes left it a painting". I do like that approach. I don't purposely end with many "wrong left undone" in a painting but I'm not one who feels that he must "fix it all so it's just right". I think I use to do my work towards this end but no longer. Now it's done when I think it's at that place.
This painting shown here is titled "Autism: The Meltdown" and it is a story of a young boy acting out in public much to his parents dismay. Such things have happened to me in my work as a teaching assistant to special needs children many of whom have Autism but my point is that it is a growing situation and right now we don't have any answers for such a thing as is being illustrated in my painting.

Beautiful Beautiful Snow

2010-02-08T08:48:00.001-08:00

A very beautiful morning to awaken to yesterday prompted me to get out my camera before the snow warmed and fell off all the foliage around my apartment. And so with a little snack of a breakfast in me I took it out and stepped out into the virgin snowfall around this little cottage to capture the morning with a snap of the shutter. And such is the result of my efforts.

Musing on Freetime During this Storm

2010-02-06T12:36:00.000-08:00

It's been a great day with a short power outage. I think of that as a mere reminder of how much we count on power for our lives to work well and without discomfort. I could go on about all those countries where electrical power is not nearly as available as it is to us but I won't bother you with those tales.

This is the biggest storm I think I've ever been in. It's beautiful and it gave me much time to work on a new painting here at home without interruption from outsiders. Only my cat provided me with a little distraction by entertaining me with her antics. She a charmer for sure.

Anyway, I do enjoy people's comments on my paintings and other art as well. It keeps me honest and gives me the necessary push to continue down paths that I had since forgone. I'm glad about that because without a occasional nudge I think I would head down the road of complacency thereby loosing my own identity.

Well, I'll post a photo from the beginning of this storm some are calling the Megablizzard of 10

Walking Through the Megablizzard of 10

2010-02-05T16:51:00.000-08:00

And down it came....many had warned me about it and I took my warnings and I'm prepared but still...it is something else when it finally falls from the sky....all white small flakes and building up to be more and more. I know it hampers many activities but I do enjoy it so. I have been able to take the time to begin a rather large canvas. I had been putting it off, and the subject for it is something that I thought I would never venture into working on ever again. I live to eat some crow. I am doing another caricature painting of a grocery store scene and you know what....it's a lot of fun.
I got out for a walk today as well as working on my new canvas. I walked out to go to a meeting but I ended up stopping in on a young woman who is running a gallery downtown. She and her buddies carry some of my work. I was in the area so I stopped in to see if they would be open for First Friday's tonight despite the snow, but no they won't be open for the gallery tour. But I did have a nice talk with her and took some photos while she was working on a new painting while gallery sitting, it ended up I helped her shut down the place due to the weather and lack of business on this snowy day.
It was a good walk and I was glad to get outside. Now I'm ready to watch a little TV and then hit the sack.