First Inning Artworks

The Little River runs alongside one of the most traveled roads in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and it provides tourists with many scenic views of the interior of the park. I have been there many times and hope to go many more.

The trip that produced this painting of a scene just above the Sinks — a spectacular set of rushing waterfalls and whitewater — was in midwinter, much like the mountains are at the moment. Spring is coming, but the mountains have a stark cold beauty in the winter that is hard to match.

That’s what this painting is about.

Bridge over Little River

15 x 22 watercolor on 140 lb Arches coldpress

Price: $125

It’s the big weekend — the Super Bowl.

I’m not much of a fan of the game, but I like the hype around it. There are usually a few good storylines that sports reporters pick up on, such as this year’s quarterbacks. Eli Manning’s brother Peyton was in the Super Bowl last year and his team won. Now, it’s Eli’s turn. He’s always been in Peyton’s shadow, so we’ll see if he can come out this weekend.

Then there is Mr. Perfect Tom Brady and the NFL’s perfect team. Will they stay perfect? Are they the greatest quarterback/team of all time.

Who knows? Nobody.

But we’ll know the end of this story on Sunday evening. Meanwhile, enjoy the hype and this painting.

The Quarterback Looks Downfield

14 x 11 watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

Here, in an animated way, are some of the recent postings on First Inning Artworks.

The animation comes from Animoto, a site that allows you to upload images and music, and the site will put together a short video for you, such as the one above. Anything more than 30 seconds or so costs $3, but you can buy a subscription that lets you do unlimited numbers.

The process is very easy and takes only a few minutes.

The music for this video is from Frank Story, my brother-in-law and an excellent guitarist.

The “See Ruby Falls” barns are rightly famous because there were so many of them, and so many — even though faded — can still be seen. But take a drive through just about any rural area of America where 50-year-old farming structures are still standing, and you’ll find that barns pitched more than tourist attractions. A farmer could get a good paint job for the barn by agreeing to tout a product. For the advertiser, it was cheap. A little paint and a few hours of a painter’s time, and the advertiser could have a large billboard that would last a lifetime. You don’t see these too much any more, and the landscape is less interesting without them.

Mail Pouch barn

Price: $75

11 x 14, pen and ink and colored pencil, on Bristol board

Questions on how to order. Check out our How to Order page.

From the sea (previous post below) and back to terra firma. This watercolor uses only two colors: raw sienna and ultramarine blue. It was done as an exercise for a watercolor class I took last fall. I was very familiar with the subject. It’s the barn on the small farm where my wife grew up and where we spend a lot of our time, especially in the summer. I was trying to capture an extremely sunlight side of the barn and contrast it with some of the other things going on around it.

The side of a barn

Price: $75

Questions? Go to our How to order page on the right.

This was an experiment that I tried several years ago, and it came out satisfactorily. The point was to show a lot of action and movement and do so with a minimum of different colors. This is for the person who loves the sea (or paintings of the sea), and it’s priced at a bargain rate.

Blue sailor

Watercolor, 15 x 22, 140 lb. coldpress

Price: $125

Questions? Go to our How to order page.

Bidgood Hall is a quiet giant of a building on the west side of the Quad at the University of Alabama. It is part of the business college complex and at any time of the day when the University is in session, it is covered with students. Rarely does it have a peaceful moment, as depicted in this pen and ink drawing.

This minimalist pen and ink drawing attempts to capture the building’s calm strength.

Price: $125

(This is an original piece, not a print.)

Football is becoming a distant memory, but before it fades completely and we get to the serious business of baseball, here’s one for the road. The quarterback is the center of the action in football. You can’t win without a winning quarterback. The Super Bowl winner this year is the latest example of that tenet.

So, let’s devote one more memory to football.

Baseball is coming. And so are some new pieces of art.

About the painting

The Handoff, 11 x 14 inches, watercolor on 90 lb cold-press paper

Price: $125

The football season has about a month to run, but this is probably my last football painting of the year (maybe).

College football will wrap things up tomorrow night with the big game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Florida Gators. It’s some bowl somewhere, but I have lost track of the name or place. It’s really the national championship game, and that’s about all you need to know.

In honor of these two teams, I have deviated from the usual orange and crimson and donned these players with the colors of those schols — more or less.

The catch — 10 x 14 watercolor

Price: Not priced (make an offer)

About the painting

I had this sheet of watercolor paper in a stack of paper, and I’m not sure of the brand. It must be pretty cheap (Strathmore, maybe) because of the way the color surrounding the player has dotted up. That part of the painting was thoroughly wet when I painted it, and that is a characteristic of cheap paper. Still the figures turned out fairly well, and color within them is bold and has a range of values. So, all in all, I am pleased with the way this one turned out.

In an era when most baseball players were rough and tumble blue collar guys, Mathewson was a cultured and well educated player, who had an unhittable fast ball and who looked good on the field — and even better in front of the camera. He was tall and had striking good looks. Some of the photos of him are amazing.

Mathewson was what the lords of baseball wanted all of their players to be — cultured, well-mannered, modest and discrete. Fortunately, that did not happen, and instead we got personalities like Ty Cobb and John McGraw, along with the likes of Mathewson.

Still, there was no denying that Mathews had an “it” about him that few other players possessed on the field and in front of the camera.

And that’s probably he has inspired more than one painting or drawing from this artist.

11 x 14, watercolor on Bristol board

Price: $75

About the drawing

I was experimenting a bit with color here and am not sure this works. But, still, it has an appeal, at least to me. If it doesn’t sell by New Year’s, I think I’m going frame it for my office wall.

(This is an original piece, not a print.)