Petersburg Art Show

I'm trying to get a video loaded. Let's see if we can make it work:

Petersburg Art Show November 14-January 5

I didn't have as many as I had hoped to have, but managed to fill in the gaps with some old stuff. It's at the Petersburg Regional Art Center--the Old Butterworth's Furniture on Sycamore Street.

Here is a slightly blurred photo of my newest--sent to the printer's when it was still wet. I also did a photographic "Portrait of the Artist." The painting with the girls is titled "Goddesses of the Rose Garden."

As of July, 2009, I changed the name of this painting to "Tir-nan-Og"--Irish for "Country of the Young." Tir-nan-Og is a place visited by the Irish hero, Oisin (pronounced OO-sheen), when he married the lovely and immortal Niamh (pronounced NEE-ahv). Residents of Tir-nan-Og are young and beautiful forever. There are no wars. There is no sickness. There is plenty of love, beauty, music, harmony, and dancing. No one suffers. Tir-nan-Og is what the botanical gardens express, and that expression is enhanced by these lovely young ladies, made immortal in my photographs and in this recent painting.

November Art Show--Update as of October 19, 2008

I have an upcoming show at the Petersburg Art Center. It will open on November 14th and be up until January 5th.  So far, I only have four paintings. I have two that are in the works and am hoping to have them done on time. 

Right now I'm working on a painting of the three beautiful little girls that I saw when I was at Lewis Ginter with my good friend, Deacon McCommodore Charles and his daughter, Diane.  I took some great portraits of each of them and the two of them together.  McCommodore turned 84 just a couple of weeks ago.  He's one of the smartest and wisest and most spiritual people I have ever known.  He's also a born story-teller.

I saw these girls standing in front of the rose garden. I asked the woman accompanying them if I could take their pictures. Ever since I attended the journalism conference at VCU back in 2006, I have always asked.  I am always grateful when people say yes. 

The painting is about three-quarters done. I plan to call it by the same name as my show--"Goddesses of the Garden."  

"Tropical Garden"

This painting came from a visit to the garden with fourteen-year-old twins Sydney and Shertoria. Initially, I painted them in the colors of the clothing they wore that day, but I decided that there was too much pink. So I changed Sydney's shirt to more of a light magenta and Shertoria's to a warm light yellow. Not only are the girls pretty and photogenic, but they were also delightful company.

"Madonna of the Orchid Garden"

This is another painting from the series of photographs I took of Shantel and Baby Destiny, who is about to or has recently turned one.

"Waterlilies"

I just finished this painting on Friday, July 18, 2008 (I made changes today). It comes from a photograph session at the botanical gardens with Zhaniya and her grandmother, Valerie. Zhaniya was a great model and both Valerie and I had a great time watching her perform. She garnered an audience of her own when she picked up a hoola-hoop. Later, Valerie and I rested in the shade as Zhaniya ran through the water at the water-park part of the children's garden.

Shantel & Destiny at the Botanical Gardens

First, notice that I made a change in my previous blog. It was Kim who saved the brochure for the Lilly Oncology on Canvas contest.

Now, for this painting: Shantel, Destiny, and I went to the Botanical Gardens on June 30th and this is one of the paintings that resulted. I expect I'll get more out of that one visit. They are lovely subjects. Shantel turned eighteen the next day. Little Destiny will be a year old in August. Both Shantel and Destiny have sweet dispositions and are easy to photograph as well as paint. I completed the painting (except for fixative) on July 8, 2008.

On Wednesday, July 2, I took Valerie Battle and her beautiful grandaughter, Zhanyah there. I'm working on a painting of Zhanyah now.

Inspirations and Thanks

I just finished a painting on Friday.

Communion

This painting actually came from a photograph I took last year at the church's Tom Thumb Wedding. Little children dress up and go through a mock wedding ceremony, where they pledge to be friends forever. Everyone that saw the photograph smiled. I liked it enough to want to do more with it, so it became a painting. I changed much of the background, substituting the church's linoleum floor for a hardwood one and the cement walls for dry-wall painted blue. I almost named the painting "American Girl" because of the red, white, and blue.

I had nearly finished this painting last year in August. After the school year started, I knew I wouldn't have time to work on a painting again until November or so, after I had, as I always put it, established my rhythm. I'm usually doing school work seven days a week until that happened. In late October, I had issues with my gall bladder, which had to be removed. Then I had a rare complication from surgery, which meant more surgery. Even though I was home, I had barely enough energy to do my lesson plans, let alone paint. I eventually summoned the energy to finish this one though. It only took me a couple of hours, because it was mostly finished. Still, it was an accomplishment.