Travels in the Netherlands – Entry 1

I spent last week traveling across Holland to visit some different companies. My trip started in Rotterdam where I met with the people at Artistix. Artistix is a distributor of stones and stone carving supplies. I was shown soapstone and alabaster stones and was given some rasps and chisel to try out the carving process. I found out quickly this is a very difficult type of art to do. Despite the soft nature of the stones, I could not seem to shape the stones into any real shapes (artistic or otherwise). In my lifetime I’ve seen beautiful stone sculptures. My hat really goes off to these artists now that I understand the degree of difficulty involved in the process

On Tuesday my friend Andy from Artistix took me to Kinderdijk – this is an area of Holland with about 25 working windmills. This area has a magnificent landscape and I learned some interesting thing on how the windmill works and its importance in Dutch history.

It was now off to Helmond to see another and an old friend. Check back in a few days for the next entry of my trip to the Netherlands.

Eno River Festival - Best Two Dimensional Artist

I had a good time at the Festival for the Eno this past weekend. The weekend was highlighted on Sunday morning when I was told I won the award for best two dimensional artist in the show! Considering the huge amount of talented artists at the show I really consider this an honor.

Most of the time during the show my family was there with me. The kids swam and played in the river and even did a little kayaking. Overall a great time! I am looking forward to returning to the show next year!

Lake Waccamaw #2

This is the second painting I completed that is inspired by a recent trip to Lake Waccamaw near Wilmington, NC. The sky reflects a bit of organized chaos of varying shapes, colors and symbols. The white outlines representing clouds were placed over the part of the color/shape pattern that moves diagonally rather than horizontally across the canvas. Because the leaves of the big tree encompassed so much of the sky, I decided to continue the same pattern - this time using varying shades of greens and yellows. These leaves are accentuated with a glazing medium-fluid acrylic mixture that is evident in the dot patterns. I wish I provided a bit more contrast with the sky and water, but still a very strong piece.