For the past several years, I have been asked to donate a painting for an auction for one of the student groups at the University of Alabama. Apparently someone bids on these things because the folks running the auction keep asking. I am honored to be asked. This year it was the Student Executive Council that requested the painting.
Most of the time, I have done something that includes Phifer Hall, the home of the College of Communication and Information Sciences. This year, I decided to do something a bit different and tried my had at Gorgas Hall, once the home of the Gorgas family and now one of the oldest buildings on the campus.
It’s a great building to draw and paint — lots of classic lines and a winding staircase and railing that makes it very interesting. So, too, do the archways that lead into the ground floor of this low country house. I decided on a worm’s eye perspective that makes the building look larger than it really is, but still I think it’s a fairly accurate representation.
Hope it sells and makes the kids a bit of money for whatever fine project they have in mind.
I will be submitting three watercolors to the Dogwood Arts Festival Fine Arts Show tomorrow.
The works are a painting of a barn on our farm, a cantilevered barn like one found in Cades Cover in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and a couple of roses in a vase.
Frankly, I’m not sure how I feel about doing this. It has been about 20 years since I entered anything into a show.
Judging for entry into the show takes place on Monday, and I guess I will hear something shortly after that. An opening for the show is scheduled for next Friday, April 4.
Update, April 3: None of these made it into the show. It may be interesting to see what did.
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.
I have tried a number of video hosting services — YouTube, Motionbox, etc. — and have found problems with each. A friend yesterday suggested Vimeo, so I established an account and uploaded a video of some Christmas cards that I had done in previous years to the site. Let’s see what kind of quality we get.
The watercolors in this video are some of the Christmas cards that I have painted and sent to friends as of a couple of years ago. I usually pick two or three good scenes and do several copies of each. I wind up sending out 20 to 30 cards a year. Lots of work, but fun, and it keeps me painting. Often, if I have made a significant trip during the year, a scene from that place will show up among the cards. That was certainly the case in 1999 when I traveled with a high school group to New York City for several days. Some of the cards in this video date back to 1997 or so.
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.
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.
Seems like it has been a while since I posted any recently completed landscapes. That’s because it’s been a while since I have completed anything I could post. So here’s something, inspired by a striking photo in this month’s Tennessee Home and Farm magazine. (The featured photos in this publication are eye-catching and usually give me something to think about — if not to paint.)
Tobacco barns different from storage or cattle barns in that they are taller and thinner and their sides open up at different levels to help the tobacco dry or “cure.” These “flaps” give the barns an unusual visual flavor.
About the painting
15 x 22 inches, Watercolor on Arches 140 CP paper.
This painting is not offered for sale since it is a derivative work from someone else’s original work. It is available for a contribution to a charitable organization, however.
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
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.
The perfect gift! Something no one else has. Absolutely unique. A portrait of the old home place. Find out how -- and how inexpensive it can be from First Inning Artworks.
