Sunny Field, Route 58 - and a Breakthrough

Sunny Field, Route 58

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100

sold

Those of you who've been reading this blog for years know that every once in a while, I become dissatisfied with my paintings. 

At first, these times worried me. But as I encountered them more regularly, a few times a year, I have learned to welcome them, because they inevitably precede a leap, a breakthrough. 

I've been vaguely dissatisfied with my paintings since about August, though I have made a string of paintings that I love. I have felt, nonetheless, that there's been something missing, something lacking, something ... I don't know, not as vivid, not as muscled, not as clear as I want. 

The Piedmont Plein Air Paintout, and the drive home afterwards, gave me time and space to think about my paintings, other people's paintings, the winning paintings, and pieces of paintings that I saw over the weekend. I thought about light, and strokes and edges, about focus and sharpness, about academic painting and joyous painting, and where my painting fits. And I thought mostly about ways to make my paintings be even more like my paintings. 

I think that "Sunny Field, Route 58" is a good step down a re-energized road. It has light, focus, brilliance, and a sort of simplicity that I feel has been missing lately. 

So I am even more thankful to have been part of the Piedmont Plein Air Painting. 

Below is the winning painting, by Russell Jewell. It was absolutely spectacular in real life. 

Here is a painting by Lynn Mehta. Her work also won a prize.

Below, a mother and daughter who work in the J. H. Adams hotel. They helped keep the place bright and sparkling, and they were just as sweet as could be to me. 

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Yes! Gas below $3 a gallon. This was in a small town in Virginia, 

on Route 58, close to the North Carolina border. 

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MY NEXT SHOW is Oct. 4-5 in Williamsburg, VA. The show takes place in the main square in downtown Williamsburg, and I'm on the main drag of the main square, Duke of Gloucester Street. I'll be in booth A-8. If you're in the area, please stop by. I've never done this show, but have heard it's a good one, and lots of fun, too! 

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Dog of the Day

It's Zeus! He's been the Dog of the Day before, but he's just so cute, he had to be in again. He's a sweet, happy Pomeranian, who came running up to Jojo while we were walking the other day with our friends Cynthia and Kevin. Lots of sniffing, lots of wagging, some hackles up... but peace reigned.