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.