Sky Over Holly Springs Road

This has been a busy art weekend. Yesterday I spent the afternoon preparing canvases for my exhibition at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery in April. I have selected 16 works for inclusion in the show, and I worked on preparing nine canvases yesterday (wiring, framing, cleaning the edges, signing). I also took time to straighten up my studio because the Raleigh Television Network (RTN) is coming this Friday to tape an interview with me in advance of the Block Gallery show.

Today is also the opening reception for the Raleigh Fine Arts Society juried exhibition. Two of my works will be featured in the exhibition. The juror, artist John Beerman, will be giving a juror's lecture before the reception, and I'm looking forward to hearing his comments.

The painting featured above is from my 2008 Cary Farmhouse series. In this piece I decided to capture a distant perspective on the house so that I could emphasize a dramatic skyscape above it. Within the past month I have returned to the farmhouse as a subject for my painting, and I will feature the new canvases in future installments.

"Sky Over Holly Springs Road." Oil on stretched canvas, 11 x 14 inches, completed April 2008.

Raleigh Fine Arts Society Juried Exhibition

I learned this past week that two of my works, "Fourth and Montgomery" and "August Sunset," were accepted into the 36th Annual Raleigh Fine Arts Society North Carolina Exhibition for 2010. This was the fourth year that I had submitted work, but the first in which I had work accepted. With only 60 pieces accepted out of nearly 500 entries, I am especially excited to have both paintings admitted into the show. The exhibit will run from February 28-May 4, 2010 in the Betty Ray McCain Gallery, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Raleigh NC. The juror for this year's competition was John Beerman. Mr. Beerman is a painter who is originally from North Carolina but now lives and works in Upstate New York (Hudson Valley Region). He is represented locally by the Somerhill Gallery in Durham.

Street Shadows

Having just returned from my annual trip to Savannah, Georgia, I thought I would feature a canvas I completed last year that was inspired by Savannah imagery.

This storefront scene is based on a building located on Savannah's Bull Street, the city's main north-south artery through the Historic District. The atmospheric lighting created by the street lamp intrigued me, so I wanted to attempt a canvas that utilized that unique lighting. When I was walking around Savannah this past weekend, I inadvertently came upon this building and my mind immediately raced to this painting. It was an unusual feeling to recognize a structure through one of my own paintings.

"Street Shadows." Oil on stretched canvas, 20 x 24 inches. Completed May 2009.

Off to Savannah

Tomorrow I leave for my annual sojourn to Savannah, Georgia. It's my favorite city in America, and I always return inspired and ready for more hard work in the studio. The building above is one of my favorite landmarks in Savannah - the old Scottish Rite Temple on Bull Street. I've captured it in oils and photographed it multiple times but it still fascinates me. When I return I'll begin working on the final canvases I hope to produce for inclusion in my upcoming exhibit "home/journeys" at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery. Lots of ideas and only a little bit of time to execute them, I'm afraid.