Festival for the Eno

From July 3rd through July 5th I will be a participating artist at the Festival for the Eno in Durham, North Carolina. I am excited to be included in this event, one reason being is many of my paintings are inspired by the Eno River. I will have a nice selection of works in my tent and close to the main stage and refreshment stands. I am sure it will be hot, but will no doubt be a great time. Hope to see you there! For directions, hours and full information be sure to visit the Festival for the Eno site listed below.

www.enoriver.org

Rocky Mountain Extreme

I was fortunate enough to recently spend a few days in Northern Colorado. I spent some time with my friend Carl Judson and his family. Carl owns the company Guerrilla Painter which sells plein aire painting accessories. Jerry's Artarama happens to be one of their biggest customers, so my job offered me the opportunity to learn more about Guerrilla Painter through my own personal observations. One of my goals of this trip was to try one of the Guerrilla Boxes out and do some plein aire painting in the Rocky Mountains.

I spent Thursday and Friday enjoying the hospitality and AMAZING cooking of the Judson family. I stayed in the guest apartment of the Judson ranch, and while I'm certainly no ranch hand I'm never one to stray away from home cooking and sitting around a camp fire drinking beer. The picture shown is of the Phantom Canyon Ranch and is painted by Carl Judson.

On Saturday I woke up early and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. I was immediately overtaken by the magnificent scenery on the way to the park. After several hikes and diversions, I made it to the park around noon. The day was flying by, I spent about three hours in the park highlighted by a moose sighting and a herd of elk three miles above sea level.

After seeing just a fraction of the park I broke out my Guerrilla box and began painting. I found a roaring stream with the mountains in the background, I sat down to a picnic table and started my plein aire painting.

Check back later to read my blog entry on Plein Aire Painting.

guerrillapainter.com

guerrillapainterchronicles

guerrilla painters notebook

Judson's Plein Aire Journal

National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic

On June 11, I attended the artists reception for the National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic Annual Showcat the Salamagundi Club in New York City. I was fortunate enough to have my painting Gablesland Trail Along the Eno (bottom Picture) selected for the show. The show had an incredibly strong selection of about 80 works. The winner of the Robert Sanstrom prize was Nina Maguire's New York City, July 4th (top picture). I chatted with Nina Maguire about her career as an artist, her passion for art is very evident in powerful works like this.

Eileen and I enjoyed the weekend in New York. On Saturday night we saw Red a broadway play depicting the life of Mark Rothko and his studio assistant. An amazing play portraying the personality of a great artist.

The long lines and crowds at the MOMA did not dissuade us from seeing the most amazing collection of art anywhere in the world. Although my feet were tired on Sunday from all the walking it was really a great weekend.

Lake Waccamaw

Over Memorial Day Weekend we visited Lake Waccamaw near Wilmington, NC. It was an overcast day so the sky offered some interesting colors. This is a very shallow lake - the kids and I walked nearly 100 yards into the lake before the water got too deep. This allowed the bottom of the lake to be faintly seen in the picture from which this painting is depicted.

I really like the water effects on this painting. Eileen remarked that there is not enough contrast with the land mass and water, and I think she is right. However I think I hit the nail on the head with two of the three elements in painting the sky and water.

Lake Waccamaw 16x20" Acrylic on Canvas

A Pretty Good Weekend!

As far as weekends go in my art life, I would have to rank this past weekend at the top of the list.

On Friday night I attended the opening of SCOPE: North Carolina Landscape Show at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh. Two of my paintings were selected for this show: Quarry at the Eno River and Pocosin Lakes. I was thrilled to find that Pocosin Lakes was also selected as First Prize in this show! The entire show was amazing - Congrats to the VAE, it sponsor Navis Pack and Ship and juror Jonathan Stuhlman for putting on a great show!

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend the opening of the National Juried Art show at the Imperial Arts Center in Rocky Mount, NC. My painting Looking Glass Falls was selected for a Merit Award in this show! The Imperial Centre is a really cool place offering something for everyone of every age. The is the second year I have participated in this show, and once again I was not disappointed. Approximately 40 works were selected juror Amy Freeman. A well rounded selection in an outstanding venue. A great show made possible by the great staff and volunteers at the Art Centre.

Pope Strawberry Fields

My friend Bryan’s family owns a big farm in Knightdale, NC. Every spring the open up the farm and let public come by to pick strawberries. The kids enjoy picking the berries and we all enjoy eating them. The patterns of the rows are very interesting as they create very defined lines in a natural setting. It be nice if more of the reds of the berries came through on this paintings, but the small accents of red dots due give it some zest. Blueberry season is just a few weeks away, although a blueberry is smaller than a strawberry so my dilemma might not be solved. It will be a very tasty painting if nothing else.

Pope Strawberry Fields – 9x12” Acrylic on Canvas