On the Easel: Biltmore at Dusk

This large painting is the most recent work I've completed. It depicts a section of Biltmore House at sunset. I used my own source photographs, taken on previous visits to Biltmore, to sketch out the composition, and then I improvised the lighting to create this particular time of day.

This is the third full-scale painting I've produced based on Biltmore, and I've also created several smaller studies using source imagery from the house. This past week I entered this and another Biltmore painting into the Visual Art Exchange's annual juried competition "SCOPE: The NC Landscape."

"Biltmore at Dusk." Oil on stretched canvas, 40 x 30 inches. Completed March 2011.

From the Archives: Approaching Storm

Today's weather forecast for Raleigh is an ominous one, with a major storm front racing across the state and set to hit this afternoon. It has inspired me to dig back into my archive of works and post this small study. I completed this painting in an hour one evening completely from memory. I have a distinct childhood memory of an approaching storm that caused my mother to put us kids in the car and head for shelter at my grandmother's house. As we loaded into the car, a huge bolt of lightning struck in the distance where our neighbor's house stood. This canvas conjures up the image I have stored in my memory from that afternoon, albeit without the bolt of lightning.

"Approaching Storm." Oil on canvas paper, 16 x 20 inches. Completed August 2006.

Route 30 Eastern Idaho

Since it's been a quiet time for studio production, I thought I'd post some archival works to the blog. This canvas dates back to 1997. It was inspired by a vacation trip to the Pacific Northwest in 1992 that took me to Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Washington and Oregon. I traveled to Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Glacier national parks during the trip, seeing spectacular scenery unlike any other places on Earth.

This stretch of roadway came during a long drive from Pocatello, Idaho to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I saw miles of barren, sparsely-populated country and decided to register the memory to canvas.

"Route 30 Eastern Idaho." Oil on stretched canvas, 32 x 48 inches. Completed 1997.