Savannah Law 186

I love Savannah, one of my favorite places on earth. This painting is based on an old squad car they have parked outside of the Police Department in downtown Savannah. I loved the gloss black and the red of the siren and how the black picked up EVERY color around it.

This one took a while as well, almost 10 hours to paint. I know to some painters that is nothing, but as an alla prima painter, that is a long time. I paint standing up as well, so after a nice vacation from teaching, I have spent most of my break destroying my back! I even have one of those fatigue reducing floor covers which actually helps a great deal, even though it smells worse that my paints.

How Now Brown Cow 185

My larger pieces are taking me longer and longer... this one is 30"x30" which isn't THAT big, but took a whole day just to paint, or by my calculations since I stopped wearing a watch, 4 movies... Raining Arizona, Christmas Vacation, Sneakers and one more I can't remember. .Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes I need the white noise of a movie I have seen several times just to get me through. Anything is better than the pots of coffee and the packs of cigarettes it used to take. I have also started to use museum wrap, which has a 2.5" profile opposed to museum wrap whihch is 1.5"

Jeff's Train 184

I could not post this piece before Christmas in order to keep the cat in the bag. My buddy Jeff took this a picture of the Blue Ridge Train that he and his wife and son took a day trip on around Halloween when the leaves were turning. I saw the picture on Facebook and was going to paint it anyway. His wife thought it would make a great Christmas surprise for their mountain house... their Boyd collection groweth. Thanks, guys!

Log Cabin, Highlands NC

Fellow painter Steve Penley, and his manager Brian Fortson have taken me under their wing. An opportunity of a life time! Steve does amazing work, large scale and very collectible. His work is in corporate collections all over the states and he has done portrait work for all kinds of CEO's, etc. etc. His work is very modern and wild, lots of drips and brush strokes... almost like action painting. I would describe his work as a mix between Andy Warhol, Leroy Neiman and Jackson Pollock. He has been a hero of mine since I saw his work as a boy. You can see Steve's work here.

I have worked with his manager, Brian, several times over the past year with various art auction projects. Brian dropped off work for the last event which I had many of my newest pieces. I was very taken aback when told he me," Your s*** got game!" I asked if I could quote him on that. He went to his car to get his Blackberry and took pictures of my stuff and sent them to Steve. He claims that he likes my work and wants to get me established. Thus far, they have stayed true to their word. Steve does a great deal of work with a restaurant in the Highlands, NC called the Log Cabin. This group has agreed to take 15-20 of my pieces for 2 of their restaurants... by MID FEBRUARY. Needless to say, for the next several weeks, I will be posting only large pieces as I concentrate on getting this together. If all goes well up there, next stop: the Atlanta Gallery scene... we shall see.

Like may father told me, "it ain't about the door swinging open for you, it's about being ready when it does."

I can say that I am ready... enjoy!

South Georgia Ford Tractor 183

This is the last piece I did for my friend who's father passed away. The Jeep in the last post was the vehicle she learned to drive on. Don't we all have one of those in our lives?? My Dad had a '57 MGA that I backed in and out of the driveway in, that's how I learned to work a manual shift car. We still have that MGA, apparently the men in my family have never thrown a car away or sold one off. My grandparents also had an old riding lawn mower and as a pre-teen, I mowed their grass every time we visited. What a treat for me... and for them. I am a sucker for anything with a steering wheel, which explains my obsessions with motor sports, the driver seat, and never being behind another car if I can help it.

This painting and the Jeep will hang side by side at her house. I hope to do her memories justice and that these will live a long and lasting life moving from family member to family member through the generations. I was honored to be asked to do these paintings.

South Georgia Willys Jeep 181

Boots 180

Another small commission study. These boots were a friend's father's, as were the jeep and tractor that preceded this posting. Her father died recently and she wanted these remembrances of him. His boots were wehere he last took them off.

Small Jeep 179

Small study for a commission piece

Small Ford Tractor 178

Study for a commission piece

Nest IV, 177

Another for the nest series. I hope to get out, if and when it ever stops raining, to look for some nests around the farm. I usually find a few in the engine of my Land Cruiser, but only after I smell it burning. It should be much easier in the winter!

Nest III, 176

Back to daily painting. I was surprised how angry and frustrated this painting has made me. It finished up pretty well but not without a few expletives. I am incredibly surprised how the larger paintings turn out much more easily that the smaller ones. I have painted several larger pieces this month without so much as a curse word or a mild tantrum, turn my attentions to a smaller canvas and... BAM, temper tantrum city.

Sprayberry's II, 175

An old Newnan Favorite. At one time I had considered naming this series of Sprayberry's signs, "Like Father, Like Son, " but I figured that would be very obscure unless you are from Newnan. My father, David Boyd, Sr.... editorial cartoonist and illustrator for Jeff Foxworthy, drew this pig for them years ago. Although this sign replaced a beautiful, classic Googie Architecture sign complete with flashing wrap-around arrow, I love this sign.

Red Tractor III, IH Farmall 174

Latest of the tractor series... This beauty was sitting by the side of the road near Clarksville, TN. It was newly refurbished and beautiful. Although I prefer an old rusty tractor to a new one, an old refurbished one is pretty nice as well.

Esso, 173

Another biggie... but a commission piece. Christmas has been my saving grace, I was so sick and tired of painting the small daily pieces, and bam.... here they are, tons of large commissions to do.

Green Door, 171

This was painting from a picture one of my students took while in Greece. I have a door fetish and she knew I would love this one... she was right. This is the first door I have done in over 2 years. it felt good to get back to some imagery I love!

Box of Ginger's Tomates, 170

This piece was done for a friend of ours who was just recently married in Mississippi. She said she wanted me to paint the best things on earth, her Mother's tomatoes.

Red Tractor II 169

It felt great to produce a large piece this weekend after what seemed like an endless sea of small pieces. This piece is the cream of the crop for the pieces for Southern Palettes auction this weekend. I used a bit of the old and a bit of the palettes i normally use for this piece. After being exposed to the Vasari grays, I don't think I could ever live without them. Either way, it has helped me to see the grays in everything and use them to my advantage. This piece also has a minimal use of the palette knife and I worked on it in 2 sessions over 2 days. I didn't enjoy doing it that way, but I wasn't so tired and sore, but I had cartoons to do and just didn't have the 8 hours it usually takes to paint a large alla prima painting.

Autumn Road, Land Between the Lakes 168

This piece was based on a phot I took last year in Tennessee/Kentucky in an area called land Between the Lakes. It is a huge preserve that has a very old history and even has buffalo. I started this piece, like most large landscapes, with the thought of doing my usual palette knife work to, but I decided not to at the last minute. I used my new palette with the Vasari grays. I am very pleased with the outcome, but at some point in time, I am going to have to destroy on of the landscapes with the palette knife to see if it is a direction I would like to travel.

This piece will be available at the Southern Palettes Art Auction next weekend.

Golden Maple leaf on Lavendar 167

Another leaf painting from before they turned crusty. I am looking forward to painting the crusty, crunchy ones. They have kept their color and will cast great shadows...

The General 167

When Julie and i stopped in Leipers Fork they had 2 classic cars, the general lee and Andy Griffith's patrol car. When I was a boy, I loved the Dukes of Hazard. Now, as a motorsport freak, I look back and wonder if the shine running Duke boys and the General Lee had anything to do with that... this piece will be available at the Southern Palettes Art Auction next week.

Orange Maple Leaf on Blue 166

This leaf was still nice and lifelike, no crustiness here. However, that did not last long. I have a few more of these, them they turn hard and crunchy, but the light and angles of the gnarled up leaf was nicer to me that these... those will be coming soon.

Thompson Farm 165

This was my rainy day piece. I painted this from a cell phone picture I had taken the day before.

Lamar Potts Barns 164

I really like this piece, the sun was coming up and the hills in the back ground were lit and the sides of the barns I could see were darker than the hills, it was beautiful.

Lamar Potts Hills 163

Still posting some workshop stuff, this is the last piece I did, I was in the middle of it when the reality of cartoon deadlines and a cartoon, grades and comments deadline hit me. I was incapable of painting anymore at that point. I said my goodbyes and went home to get to work...

Maple in Zorn 162

This was the first of the leaves I did for this upcoming series. This one was done in the Zorn palette which is just yellow ochre, cad red and black and white. I was amazed at the colors you could get. Look for more of these to come.

Dirt Road Photographer

To add to my daily creative disciplines, I have started a daily photo blog. I have asked my students to do the same, and I always do what they do. So, check it out!

dirtroadphotographer

Field Studies, 161

I went out today with an 8"x10" canvas split into quarters a this is what I came back with. i was doing great until I got cute and made a mess on the last one. I forgot the cardinal "study" rule and did not pick a simple motif. None the less, I really enjoyed doing these smaller studies and it was a great way to move myself back into painting after 3 days off. It was amazing how much better I painted outdoors during the workshop, it really took about 5 pieces to train my eye to see what it really needed to so. This replicated a whole day of painting for me... and lesson learned.

Daily Cluster

My newest and favorite customers just picked up their cluster of daily paintings. She is using them grouped like they are in her kitchen/holding room. She does plan on extracting the sign and flowers and inserting more fruits and veggies and using them somewhere else. These are the ones I had ready for the to pick up. They are also the proud owners or Red Tractor, Sorry Charlies and Robin's Egg Blue Caddy, Front... as well as 10 other original Boyd, Jr. pieces. It was great to have someone buy these bigger pieces, which were not moving given the current economic crisis. If I do not sell them, I cannot afford to keep painting large. Now I have stocked up on large canvas and I have a stockpile of photo references to work off of!

Autumn Trail, 160

Day 4 was a day a Millie's. It was a cool, cloudy day and it looked like it could rain any second. I decided to focus on my trees again. My trees have been very lame and splotchy. When I first started painting, I painted trees... and for some reason they worked, then it was like I forgot how to paint them. As I look back, I realize it was the change from acrylics to oil that has confused my tree work. Anyway, I nailed the oaks and fell flat on the pine. Still, the palette is working and I am feeling better about things, but how could you not when you are able to be outside every day all day for 5 days.

Thompson Farm Shed, 159

After leaving Mr. Chestnut's we moved closer in to Moreland and painted at the Thompson's farm for the afternoon. There were too many great structures and fields to chose from, so I picked to one where I could paint in the shade. At this paint, after dusting off a small painting by this point, I really had a grasp on the palette and what it was capable of. I could see it in everything I saw, which is necessary if you aren't going to bumble along through a painting. It makes it much easier to see, mix, and execute. I struggle with this a bit, as usual, but at the end, I was pleased with everything but the cloud. I will rework or repaint this one at some point.

Mr. Chestnut's Shed, 158

I got a little ahead of myself with the last few postings, so I am backing up to day 2 of the workshop. After we experimented with the Zorn palette, this was the first piece I did out in the field. Nothing to write home about. This was the first go with the Vasari grays and the rest of the color that are included in the palette of death. I struggled a bit with this piece, it was small and i felt a bit awkward working on it, 5"x7" just isn't my size and I really prefer something closer to square like a 6"x8". But, you labor an and you get what you get. I try to hold judgement until I am done with a piece. You never know how it is going to turn out until you are done.

Vasari grays are an amazing shortcut to values. Each of the grays we used were infused with a color form the limited palette to get the grayed off look you actually see when you are out in nature. You may not realize it, but when you really look they are there!

I am somewhat accustomed with the use of gray, I have alwasy tubed by remnants from my palette at the end of each day and then used that to mix with each color on my palette to neutralize the tube colors. Vasari paints are hand mixed and hand tubed, using no chalks or fillers. They may soon become my paint of choice. They do exactly what you think they will do when you use them.

Tree Tops, 157

Once again, working on my trees, specifically the "sky holes." These were not as successful as I would like, but I good piece not the less. Sketch holes are more low key in comparison to the rest of the sky, just because they are surrounded by a darker color and stand out too much if done in the same value. Just because I understand it, doesn't mean I can do it! Equally as hard would be rendering tress with minimal leave, like the trees on the left. Too much contrast there between the three itself and the background. Hope to rework this one later and fix the sky holes.

Big and Tall, 156 SOLD

This one really worked out, as far as the masses are concerned. This was painted from a view down the power line, I was downhill, eye level with the grasses. It was beautiful, I loved the shape of the skyline. Very pleased with mass of the large oak on the left of this piece.

In the workshop, we worked with the Vasari brand neutrals, adding one of the 3 primaries to the mixtures in order to create these tonalist landscapes. Vasari's are hand made and hand tubed by a guy named Scott. He uses his eye to mix the colors, no gas spectrometer here. Their paints are used by Gene and Scott and the neutrals are actually mixed to Scott's specifications. They are tremendously expensive, running around $25 per 40ml tube but they are worth every hard earned penny.

I got rained on while finishing this piece. The cool thing about painting in oil in the rain.... you can do it until it rains too hard. Oil are oils and water is water. I love plein air painting and today was a tribute to that. It is especially satisfying in conditions that are less than favorable.

Autumn Oak, 155

This is a smaller piece done at the workshop on one of those cold and dreary mornings last week. This piece was done quickly, about 20 minutes, then I scraped it back with the palette knife and reworked it. I was specifically working on the mass of my trees that day, mine tend to break up as I add more values... it is difficult to see and think of them os one big shape. The blue is a bit much for the distant trees, but I loved the color, so I left it in as a reminder.

Gosch Trail 2, 154

This was the last of the pieces I did on the first day of the workshop. I introduced some cobalt blue light to the mix to shake things up. The foreground is a little cool, but other than that, I was pleased with the outcome. I have enjoyed this palette very much and plan on doing much more with it. I am very excited about using the Vasari oil for the next few days. The grays are amazing, and I am afraid that at $25 a 40ml tube, I may never use another paint. I am also seriously considering stepping up to lenin mounted on birch. I will have to crunch the numbers, after all, and increase in the cost of material comes through on the retail end, but, quality is quality.

Gosch Trail 153

This is one of the pieces from the workshop that I felt I could post alone. This was done in the Zorn palette. We worked at Millie's place in Newnan, out Smokey Rd. It is beautiful land out there and they have a great spot for this type of workshop, lots of trees, water and boathouses... good stuff.

The Zorn Palette

On day one of the workshop, we worked with the Zorn palette, which consists of yellow ochre, cadmium red medium, black and white. In the last image of the day I added cobalt blue light for a twist. It was great, I may spend a whole month working on my values with this palette. It was fantastic and so fun to use.

The first day focused on mastering the value planes, the basis of teaching by John Carlson. If you paint landscapes and have never read John Carlson... you need to. I have his guide to landscape painting and have read in twice since I got it this summer. Basically stated, Carlson says that if you can master the 4 value planes, you can do pretty much anything else to the piece and it will still read and a landscape. The lightest plane is the sky, the second lightest is the ground, followed by the slants (hills and mountains) and the darkest being the uprights (trees or buildings in shadow).

Gene Costanza Workshop

I have been very bad about posting the last week. I have been trying to ready myself for a 5 day workshop with Gene Costanza, who is one amazing landscape painter and friend to Scott Christensen, another amazing landscape painter. To me, these guys are the titan of American landscape painting and are both avid plein air painters.

Teaching full time as well as drawing 3 editorial cartoons a week, being a daily painter and being partially responsible for an art auction fund raiser for my school in a month, it makes it difficult to get away. Sadly, the next thing that went after my daily mountain bike ride, was my painting. Sad but true, but in my defense, it was the last thing to go! I know that I will more than make up for the time lost in these 5 days.

Above are pictures from day 2, I did not get my camera out yesterday, I was too busy painting. Those images will be posted later. We spent the day in Moreland, GA painting at Mr. Chestnut's farm and, up the road a bit, the Thompson farm.

Three Mini Pumpkins, 152

I worked off of my palette from last night, unless you couldn't tell. Something I picked up from Jill Steenhuis. She sometimes uses the same palette for up to a month. She scrapes all the excess and places the new "colors" back in there slots along the edge. She uses a large hand held palette and puts it in the freezer, which works very well if your palette fits in a freezer. Mine may fit in a deep freeze, maybe. The one time I did freeze a palette, it didn't go over very well with Jules. It is bad enough the house is covered in my painting explosion, but the freezer is just taking it too far!

This piece is a departure of some sort, I am not sure where it is going, but it is going somewhere different. This piece is interesting to say the least. I hated it at the beginning and just continued to chip away and walked away with something I am not ashamed to share. Sometimes you should just walk away, but the majority of the time, I try to reserve judgement until the piece is done and if I still hate it, then I can toss it.

Pear with Stem and Leaf 151

Julie and her Mom picked pears before we left Paris, TN this weekend. When I got home, she showed me that they had left the leaves on some of them because they thought it would make an interesting painting... and that it did. This is another one of those paintings that took on a life of its own, without a title, you would never know what it is. Maybe I will return to my ambiguous titles like Kandinsky, and call them compositions... Composition VI, etc. I was very pleased with the abstract quality of this piece as well as the texture of the brushwork and knifework.

Tomatoes on a Vine 150 SOLD

This one almost slipped through the cracks. I did it on Saturday at the Fair about 2 weeks ago and promptly forgot to take a pictures of it. I enjoy working in natural sunlight, it really enhances the form of the object and makes for a much easier painting and color mixing session. It was also helpful to have people see what I do and how I do it until the crazies come out and want to show you their binder full of work they copied from magazines, but that's another story.

Stand of Pines Diptych, Commission 148 SOLD

The Heritage School in Newnan, GA, my alma mater and current employer commissioned a couple of permanent pieces for the office. To date, these are the largest Stand of Pines pieces I have done in oil and they work together as a larger piece, a diptych if you will. I took a bunch of great pictures of the process, but they have been lost in cyber world, maybe I can rescue them and post at some point in time. They were too large to work together on the easel, so I started by drawing and painting them on the floor of the studio and then put the finishing touches on the pieces individually on the easel. There was a lot, a lot of paint used on these bad boys. Lots of think brush work and palette knife work...

Pumpkin on Blue, 147

I did this piece right after the fair but I have been so busy I have yet to post anything all week, even though I have completed several paintings, I guess that is a good problem to have. I have been taking a great deal of pictures but have once again suffered a severe external back-up drive met down and can't get to the latest pictures I have taken... I think it is time for a new computer with enough hard drive space to keep all of my music and pictures on it. This one is limping around and so is the external.

I have had the little pumpkins sitting around the house and used them as paper weights at the Fair. I was somewhat pleased with the outcome here, I need more time back in the saddle and I know I can make something interesting out of these little dudes!