Kiwi on Pink SOLD

Love me some kiwi...

Kiwis on Lilac 278 SOLD

Daily painting, sometimes it is good... sometimes it is bad. This one made me smile, anything is better than wondering why you waste your time. It the grand scheme of things, just doing it is never a waste. Inherently, there is something to be learned from every success and especially in every mistake... I just can't always find those.

OPA 2010 Eastern Regional

see the works of all the finalists accepted to the OPA Regional show... my Caddy rear end stands out from the crowd...

Good News Flowers 278

My wife put these together for the alter of our little country church. The timing was nice as her father had gotten some good news about his fight against cancer. I wish I could have done them justice. I took several pictures and hope to correct this one soon.

Square Caddy Study 277

Doing a huge 4'x4' caddy to keep the good times rolling. Here is the study for it...

A Pair of Pear Paintings 275 and 276

Still trying to get my daily painting groove back... getting close.

Mr. Chestnut's Barn 274

A favorite subject amongst us plein air painters in the area.

Coke and a Smile 273

Not at all what I was hoping for, but interesting.

Fenced in 272

99.9% done....

Fenced In, My Latest Project...

Living large. Here is a series of photos from my latest creation. This studio is on lend from my friend and fellow art teacher, Meredith Wilson. I have been using the space to paint my new series of larger works. I have been saving time and money to paint these. As a boy, I saw the work of my parents friend, Lu Steed. They were what seemed to me to be life siZed tractor trailers. They were incredible.

I have long admired the works of the Abstract Expressionist like Pollock, Rothko, Motherwell, Kline and Still. Their painting fill up your senses, standing in front of one is all encompassing, a true experience. Mine are tiny in comparison, but never the less, larger than I have ever worked.

In doing these, I am creating my own collection of these things that I stop to admire along the road and covet. Look for more to come.

Backstory

In preparing for a speech on my artwork a couple of weeks ago, I uncovered some relics from my past. Seeing that this blog started little more than 2 years ago, I though I might give some backstory on myself and show these first paintings.

I am the eldest of 3 children born to Rosalyn and David Boyd of Newnan, GA (just south of Atlanta). I have 2 younger sisters, Rosalyn Moore and Bonne, both married now with children. My father is an editorial cartoonist and illustrator for comedian Jeff Foxworthy and the series of You Might Be a Redneck If... books.

The folks always encourage my artistic endeavors as did my teachers in high school. I attended SCAD from 1991-95 and returned with home with no job and no hope and a degree in illustration, a field that was in revolt as the computer came into being. Having been a house painter for a construction company during summers and winter breaks, I created The After Midnight Painting Co. Being from a respected family brought many great painting opportunities for me, however the long days and hard work quickly drove me into the ground... managing clients, workers and painting 12hrs a day was killing me.

As, luck would have it, my old art teacher had enough and was retiring. I filled in for her and quickly grew to love teaching. I have been the middle and upper school art teacher at the Heritage School in Newnan for over 15 years now.

I continued to teach and die a little bit every day as I was doing nothing for myself. I was in a town that cared little for art, I had friends who really never understood what I did or what I loved. In that type of environment I withered away. I did logos and painted murals here and there, but that was just for the money and never went anywhere.

In 2003, my father was diagnosed with lung cancer and I had to take his place at Mark Morgan Syndicated Features, Inc. My father started this company in 1970, three years before I was born and he had never missed a cartoon deadline. This helped me get back on the horse, but It was very difficult. Three cartoons a week, holding down a full time job, watching a ton of news and dreading every weekend.

I dabbled a bit in painting around this time as well, I will show those images in a future post. In 2005 I quit smoking in an attempt to quit drinking so I could clear my head. Out of the haZe came the realiZation that I wanted to be a painter, but know nothing about it. I had my first workshop with friend and mentor Millie Gosch in the winter of 2006 and I have never looked back.

My life was changed forever. I dream in oils I can't wait to get home everyday to paint. Vacations are time for me to paint LARGE which is all I want to do. Small pieces are great, but nothing feels better than knocking out a giant.

These image that I have posted are the first real paintings I ever did. The tree still is a recurring image and theme in my work. 15 years after the first piece, I still paint trees... mostly from south Georgia, born out of the windshield of my '79 Toyota Land Cruiser as I made my midnight runs from Newnan to Savannah and Charleston.

I see these paintings now, and I am surprised. Sometimes I feel like I knew more then that I do now...

Enjoy!

Melons, Cherries and a Plate 271

Sunflower 2 271

Sunflower 1 270

Halves and Quarters 269

Three Peaches on Blue 268

Running out of time to paint peaches. More gobs of paint and experimenting with a new palette of cad yellow med, aliZarin crimson and ultramarine.

Three Spoons 267

Haven't been using the knife much, but have been mixing up gobs of paint and lathering it on. Been fun.

Meriwether Gas Station 266

Love the shadows on the sides of buildings but have not really painted one, now I know why! It is harder than it looks, although I completed this one under duress, it may be a bit before I do another one! The values were difficult and there is a general lack of color it it.

Madge 265

Did this commission piece for a buddy of mine as a wedding present for a friend of his. Painting pets are of no particular interest to me, with the exception of mine, but I really enjoyed this, perhaps because Old Madge hear reminds me of my first dog who was named for Dinah Shore. Don't know why, I just liked her cooking show when I was a wee boy.

Greenville Hay 264

Pulled this picture from my pile of hay pics I have taken the past few weeks. It's that last cut of the season but it is WAY to hot fro me to want to get out. I like the slope of the field and the trees in the distance, but the need to be pushed back a bit... to saturated. Otherwise I am pretty happy with this small study.

Mt. Carmel Barns 263

See these barns every day on my way to and from work. Thought I should paint them more, even though they have been the subjects of several paintings.

Been painting on my new plein air get up made by ArtBox out of AriZona. Got to say I love it better than my Guerilla box and my Julian Full... it is stupid light and has tons of mixing space.

I'll post a picture of it the next time I am out.

Dr. Kim's Tea Cup 262

Time is short now that school is back in session and I am kinda wiped out. Did this little study of my favorite tea cup given to me by Dr. John Kim, a great integrated medicine practitioner. The tea cup even has this cool little lid that I did not include in the painting. I liked the thick swipes of the brush so much , I did very little manipulating with the knife.

Piece done from here until the beginning of October will be for sale at the Cotton Pickin' Fair the first weekend in October. If you really love a piece, let me know and I will put your name on it in case it does not sell.

Electric Moon 261

Once again the limits of modern photography have been pushed to the limit. There is now way a camera can capture the color in this piece. I tried several times to no avail. There is no way to capture the oranges of the moon and the subtle yellows of the sky around the moon. Guess you have to see it in person!

Used a very different palette just to play around and was blown away by the colors. I used windsor green (Windsor and Newton), cad yellow light (Rembrandt), Quinacridone Red (Gamblin) and some Permalba white.

Afternoon Hay 260

The second cutting is cutting of hay is in progress in the Georgia Piedmont, but it is TOO hot to paint outdoors anytime after 10am. I have taken a couple of great reference pics to work form, including the one that inspired this piece. We have a huge field across the dirt road from us, if they leave it out for a couple of days, I will sneak over there one morning.

Jiffy 259

Another box for the collection. There is noting better than Jiffy... the crack of cornbread. I can't leave a skillet of this stuff alone after it has been cooked. If I still ate ice cream, I swear they would go great together.