Study, Mineral Bluff, 118

This is the color study I did for Jeff's painting. I used a limited palette for the study: cad red med, cad yellow pale and ultramarine. For the larger piece I added flesh tint by Georgian and Sap Green... in all large pieces I also use my leftover paint which I tube and use as my mud, I picked this little tidbit up from Kevin MacPhearson.

Summer Morning Shadows, 117 SOLD

This is the view off of my back porch. It is a beautiful field that looks amazing during every season. After each hay harvest, it becomes "Dave's Driving Range" and I can hit golf balls for a couple of weeks before it get too tall and I start to loose golf balls. It's a good 3 iron to the farthest spot. I finally spent the money to get the brands and colors I needed and it has made all the difference... it was quite the investment, but since I have not been using the palette knife on these landscapes, I hope it goes further. They are all Rembrandts and Windsor & Newton.

Mineral Pluff, 116 sold

I did this piece for my good friend Jeff to mark his half century mark. He chose the subject matter which happened to be this train station in the little village where he and his wife, Donna, just bought a mountain house near Blue Ridge, Georgia. This piece went off without too much fuss. I usually curse a lot and throw a few tantrums while working on pieces this large, but not this one, although it was exhausting. The finished product was much different than I had in my minds eye. I didn't do my knife technique on this one for a few different reasons, one, the brush work actually looked too good to destroy and the paint wasn't thick enough to manipulate. Either way, I am very pleased with this and I hope Jeff and Donna will love it as much as I do and hang it with pride in their new home away from home. Happy 50th, Me Jeff...

Lemon on Lilac, 116

Very pleased with this smaller piece, I love the play of the yellows, oranges and purples. I have used this color combo before, and I loved it.

Lime on Lilac, 115

This is smaller than I usually wok, but times are tough! I had a few 6"x6" canvas's left, thought I would use them up and I really enjoyed working this size. It makes those 8"x8" canvas's seem huge and bulky. I put this lime on lilac for some reason, I usually like to play more with compliments for the bang factor, but I didn't this time. I feel the need to do a lime on a pink or red color, guess I will put that on my never ending list of things I want to paint.

Lemons and Limes, 114 SOLD

Been on the road again, this time to Nashville for Chris Isaak. My friends band, The Wrights, opened for him at the Ryman. It was a great show. If you like well written country music that has lots of harmonies and air, you would love the Wrights. Adam and his wife Shannon are incredibly talented. You can find most of their music on iTunes. It was a whirlwind, as usual, up on Wednesday, back on Thursday... Dinner at Margot's and breakfast at Marche. I also got a couple of great pictures of some Googie Art signs for my collection.

To make up for lost time, I did 3 paintings today, studies of whole lemons and limes. Tomorrow I will cut them up and play around with thim. This piece is the first. I really like the neutral lilac color in the background of this piece. I usually don't do that to often, I tend to lean towards more pure color, but I also like to mix things up a bit. Pleased with the outcome here.

Shed, Imlac 113

Back at it again after a long weekend celebrating one of my best friends 50th birthdays, Jeff Stuart. Jeff was my history teacher in high school, then when I was in college we became very good friends, both being creative entities and all. I was also a groomsman in his wedding, one of them! Jeff is also a founding member of our 2 man band, The Swerve Kings. He is a very talented musician, he plays the piano, guitar, sings and writes musicals. He is also a folk artist and one of my favorite people on the face of the planet. He and his wife, Donna, had our close group of friends up to their mountain house in Blue Ridge. I am sure the locals were glad to see us go...

Anywho, got some great pics, but I am ready to get back into the saddle after several days off. Today was painting class, Millie did a great demo and then I rattled this baby off from a picture I took a few weeks back when Jules and I went to pick peaches down in a neighboring village. This is the same palette we have been using that is different from my usual palette. I also got new paints in today, I hope that they will help with the colors, I have been bumpling around with Winton brand oils... these are MUCH better Rembrandt oils. Can't wait to use them...

Grandpa's House, 112 sold

This is a commission piece for Ellen who runs the Cotton' Pickin' Fair. Ellen is a 6th generation resident of Gay, the town was actually named for them. Gay was previously known as Sasserville, which was also named after her family. When Sasserville wanted to incorporate and get a post office, the found that there was already a Sasserville, GA. Thus the name Gay was used. The family sight where Gandpa's house is located is also where the fair is held. There are dozens of old tin buildings that were used back in the days when Meriwether county was the peach capital of Georgia. The fair is held the first weekend every May and October. It is the only show I do and it will be my second one this year. Ellen and crew have been very good to me as has gotten a great deal of exposure for my work. She plans on using this piece as a logo for the Fair.

Savannah Morning 111 sold

This was a piece from my painting class this morning. Today we worked from our own photos in the dreaded palette of doom, which I must say, I am growing somewhat fond of.... somewhat. I had to do it twice in class and the second time was the charm. I would like to do this piece larger at some point, but I say that about all of them!

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Clam Bay Marsh 110

I really needed a day like today. A day when all the stars align, there is enough coffee and plenty of patience to make something great happen. I started this painting with one thought and ended with another, which may be my only complaint. I initially planned on having the trees in all blues and violets, very somber and cold, and then out where this is light.... the water, the marsh grass, the trees on the other side, i wanted to make warm, vibrant and electric... somewhere along the way, i dropped that and went ahead with what I was doing, whatever that was. I listened to 4 Tom Waits albums, drank 2 cups of coffee (after 3pm) and painted like I hadn't in a long time. I am pretty sure that since I have been with daily painters, that has tainted me and my efforts to some degree. All my attention goes to that and checking the status of my painting and hoping someone will nibble on one.... blah, blah. That first week spoiled me, when I sold 2. I figured, hell, if I sold 2 in the first week, I should at least average one a week at worst or maybe 3 a month, right? Wrong. Lesson learned. I will paint what I want to paint and that is the end of the story.

Peppers and Cherry Tomatoes, 109

Thought I would break the square mold a bit today with this 6"x8" piece. We have an overabundance of cherry tomatoes and peppers from the garden at this point in time. I love the yellow greens and the deepness of the reds together, it is a great combo.

Bell Pepper, 108 SOLD

A little something from the garden today...

Peacock Feather, 108 SOLD

On our whirlwind tour of Tennessee for the 4th holiday, we stayed with some friends in Memphis. Julie has great friends that are always so generous to open their homes to us, and I can appreciate what a hardship visitors can be... I, myself, am not a fan of overnight guests! I feel for them, they have to listen to my snoring, risk the possibility of catching me in my underwear and deal with me getting up at the crack of dawn. Stacy and Brian were too kind, and I like to give something in return. I didn't have to time paint while we were there, so I painted this when we got home. Stacy loves peacock feathers to the point she had them in her wedding bouquet, which i noticed with a little snooping. Anyhow, not typical fare for be, but I enjoyed the challenge.

Peach Explosion 107 SOLD

I did this piece after that last post, it is a different peach, I did not glue them back together. I really love the way in blew into a zillion pieces. The abstract quality is always what makes me the most interested in a piece. It is something you see every day, but deconstructed, shattered, broken, but whole. After all, that is our job, to make see things you see every day in a way that you have never seen them before.

Peach Halves, 106 SOLD

Well, after a week off, traveling to Paris and Memphis, TN for the 4th of July and a bout of food poisoning, I was up for a little painting. However, I forget how much you "forget" when you take that much time off. I found myself asking a lot of questions as I worked, it was not as automatic as usual, not to mention uncomfortable. I really feel like I need to go back and brush up on my fundamentals like light and shadow when you mix paint. Everything seems flat and has no natural form. Having not been formally trained to paint, these things come back to haunt you. At least I know what they are!!

Americana

I am taking the day off today, I have traveled to Tennessee to visit Jules' family and then go to Memphis, TN to visit friends with a new baby, I have my painting gear with me, but I elected to play golf at the Tennessean today. Beautiful, hilly course. I highly recommend if you are ever in the Paris, TN area. I hope to post new paintings soon, but I ain't in my schedule this weekend!! I Hope you all have a happy and safe 4th, and for crying out load, stay away from fireworks if you have been drinking! You know who you are....

By the way, this painting sells for $640, I will be willing to part with it for the age of our country this 4th... $233. In case you don't know when when you see one, this is a deal. I'll throw in the gold frame it is in for another $30... Happy 4th!!

North Field, 105

The past few weeks I have felt very lack luster about my skills and the work I have been putting out... so today I treated myself to the Old Dave landscape-style landscape and it felt pretty damn good. I guess when you play around with new stuff, i.e. colors, brushes, styles, etc. you will flounder, and I have been floundering a bit with a few good pieces here and there with some not-so-good stuff thrown in. It felt pretty good to do my old thing and have it come out exactly the way I wanted it to, or is that just because I am so used to the materials that I knew what it would look like before I started... makes you wonder. It also make me wonder about the "formula" we all settle into as artists and have to break through every now and again. Regardless, I love the end result...

Shrimp Boats, Darien GA 104 SOLD

This piece was done from part of a photo taken earlier this year. I have wanted to paint boats for quite some time but had yet to muster up the courage to do so, at least on this scale. I still have quite a bit to learn about painting boats and what not. The negative spaces are difficult as are the guide wires and supports. I am pleased with this first attempt and I look forward to doing more of these, especially in a larger format...

Old Boot, 103

This was a great way to loosen up last night. I had done one really bad landscape and needed something to work out, or come close at least. I have this great old pair of Dr. Marten boots I have had for years. The are worn to perfection... I got one out, grabbed my palette knife, mixed up gobs paint and had at it. It is very abstract, but that was kinda the point. Quick, loose, abstract and thick with paint... I am looking forward to doing this boot again... for the record, I used ultramarine, burnt umber, and some mixed up orange...

Seed Barn, 102

I did this 8"x10" study pretty quickly, and it isn't the way I want it to be either. I am no sure what I expected, but this isn't it... the composition is wrong, the colors are too muted, blah, blah. I was a bit distracted by my new umbrella contraption... my hat kept hitting it, the wind kept blowing my set up over and it was HOT... all part of the experience of plein air painting! This is a reminder that I still have a lot to learn, maybe next time I will go smaller... much smaller.

Red Boat, Darien 101 SOLD

I painted this image from a photo I took on our last excursion to Jekyll. This was taken on a dock in Darien, GA where the shrimp boats come in. It was one of those photos that sneak up on you. I was so focused on taking pictures of the shrimpers I almost didn't turn around to see this little gem. It sparkled in the sun with all of it's reds, yellows, greens and the reeds swaying in the wind. It looked like a boat they may row out in when they are painting boats, it was splattered with cerulean blue and white. It reminded me of one of my ladders from the house painting days. It was a great capture and I had to paint it. It was too bad we were on our way home and had been sucked dry by all of the mosquitoes, or I would have stayed to paint it on the spot.

They Can't All Be Good: Caddy Study

Thought I would share my latest unsuccessful piece. Sometimes when you are all excited about a subject, you do a study and it doesn't work out. This is one of those pieces.

I have all these pictures of this great, finned, '57 Caddy that I have painted before. I was very excited about this particular view because of the grill and the hooded headlight and the bullets on the grill... they reminded me of something Madonna would have worn once. I have already drawn it out on a 30"x40" canvas and all I had to do was this little color study and then I was off! Simple, right???..... no. Last night I went into the studio to whip out this little beaut and it crumbled before my eyes. You continue to rework and try to correct, but you really should just scrape it down and start over. This piece is not working for a lot of different reasons, and I am not sure if it will ever become large or not.... either way, it stands as a reminder that they can't all be good! Humbling...

Compliments, Savannah 100

It just now dawned on me as I typed the title of this post that this is my 100th daily painting, seems like a miles stone, or at least it should be. As I look back from this painting to the very first daily painting, there has been significant growth... thank goodness.

The last time I was in Savannah, I was there for a conference on creativity. Needless to say, even though I was enthralled by the workshops, every chance I got, I escaped to the streets of Savannah (one of my favorite cities on the face on the planet) to take pictures of some of my favorite haunts. I wandered the streets of in uncannily 70 degree February weather rattling off photos in the great sunlight. This particular painting was inspired by a pictures of a house on Jones Street that was being restored, I loved the orange and the blue of the doors and even more, the cast shadows of the architectural details.

This is a color study for a 30"x40" painting I plan on doing of these doors.

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Cool as a Cucumber, 099

In our garden, we have more cucumbers that we can shake a stick at, which is good, because I could live off them. BLT with C, tomato, cucumber and onion sandwiches, pickles, fried dill pickles, put the on a salad, eat them with humus, I love to juice them with and orange and an apple. What could be better. We have squash and zucchini, but who eats that stuff??

I tried this one with a yellow wash underneath, tomorrow, I may try it with blue, just to see. I always think of cucumbers as being cool in nature and color, but not always true, there was a great deal of orange in there, especially the seeds.

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Jekyll Inlet, 098

Another addition to the painting class arsenal of paintings. We did marshes again today and I worked from a photo that I took in Jekyll earlier this summer. The brushwork has become second nature and I don't notice it giving me as much trouble as it did. I hope to get comfortable enough in a bit to inject the palette knife into the mix. The palette is easier to manage as well, however it would be a lot easier to use if I wasn't so cheap. My blue is cheap and my red is expensive and I chased the red all morning... thus the reason there is so much red violet. Happy enough with the end result here. I did get some larger canvas today, so I am a bit anxious and apprehensive about going landscape large. It has been about 9 months of small studies since my last attempt at a larger landscape canvas, but it is about time to bite the bullet!

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