Chateau Marmont Revisited

My recent two-person exhibition, "Home/journeys," closed this past week at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery in Raleigh. While I did not sell any canvases, I did receive several inquiries and compliments from strangers who saw the show and took the time to email me their comments. That alone is a positive outcome.

One of the canvases featured in the exhibit was "Chateau Marmont," seen above. This was the second painting I completed of the famed Hollywood hotel that sits on a bluff above the Sunset Strip. The first was an 11x14 inch study I completed in October 2008 (click HERE for my previous blog report on that canvas). This work was much larger and focused further on the castle-like structure itself. I decided to delete the neon sign per say and only have a hint of its electric light reflection in the lower right side. My feelings for this painting have grown more positive since its completion; at first I felt it was inferior to the smaller study. It was one of the works that I received the highest praise for in the recent show, a pleasant surprise to me.

"Chateau Marmont." Oil on stretched canvas, 24 x 30 inches. Completed November 2008.

William Christenberry Exhibit at Reynolda House

On Saturday I took what has become an annual visit to Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, NC to enjoy the museum's latest exhibition. This year's show, "William Christenberry: Photographs, 1961-2005," did not disappoint: the exhibit encompasses color photographs taken by Christenberry in his native Alabama over the past four decades. Most of the works focused on an architectural subject, but they also included gravesites and faded signs. He is able to capture that sense of death, decay and defeat that seems to hang in the air of the rural Deep South. A few years back I saw an exhibition of his work at the American Art Museum in Washington, DC and that show inspired me to begin my Cary Farmhouse Series.

The exhibition runs until June 27. Click HERE for more information at the Reynolda House web site.

Windows at Night

This week's blog entry features another recent canvas that is currently on display in "home/journeys" at the Block Gallery in Raleigh. It is the smallest painting in the show at 18 x 24 inches. The source for the building was a mansion that stands on Drayton Street in Savannah, Georgia. I loved its asymmetrical facade and took several photos of it during my visit to Savannah in February. I focused my composition on an upper section of the house, and then turned it into a night scene for some heightened atmosphere.

"Windows at Night." Oil on stretched canvas, 18 x 24 inches. Completed February 2010.

Lights After Midnight

The past two weeks have been busy with non-art activities. In April and May I am always occupied with yard work and garden planting, and I've also hosted two sets of visitors recently. The schedule has kept me out of the studio (and off the blog) but I enjoy this season too much to miss out on it.

This work, "Lights After Midnight," was produced earlier this year and is currently hanging in the exhibit "home/journeys." The image is based on a real house here in Raleigh, and is displayed with dramatic night lighting. I love playing with light and shadows in my work, and this painting incorporates both.

"Lights After Midnight." Oil on stretched canvas, 20 x 32 inches. Completed January 2010.

More "Home/journeys" Photos

Many thanks to Hannah Costner, Curator for the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, for these images taken at the opening reception for "home/journeys." The exhibit opened in the Block Gallery on April 8, 2010. Since then I have been busy working on a new series of architectural paintings for a planned exhibition in October. More on that show in future posts.

"Home/journeys" Exhibit Opens

Last night was the opening reception for "home/journeys" at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery inside the Raleigh Municipal Building. Approximately 40 friends and neighbors attended the opening. I have 15 canvases on display in the show, which also includes painter Kathy Brancato and mixed-media artist Mikel Robinson. "Home/journeys" is sponsored by the City of Raleigh Arts Commission and will remain on exhibit until May 24. The Block Gallery is located at 222 West Hargett Street in Downtown Raleigh, NC.

"Home/journeys" Video Documentary

The Raleigh Television Network is featuring a video documentary on the upcoming Miriam Preston Block Gallery exhibit I will be featured in next month. Entitled "Home/journeys: Interviews with Kenneth Eugene Peters, Kathy Brancato and Tim Kiernan," the video runs approximately 22 minutes and will air periodically on the RTN during the run of the exhibit.

To watch the video, click HERE.

The Blue House

For the next several weeks I will be featuring canvases that will be on display in the upcoming exhibit "home/journeys" at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery. I'll focus on works that have not appeared on my web site and have never been exhibited publicly.

This painting, "The Blue House," was completed in February 2009. It is another canvas in the series I developed last year based on houses and street scenes from Cumberland, Maryland. I visited Cumberland over the Christmas Holiday in 2008, and found a wealth of source material for paintings. To date I have completed eight canvases based on Cumberland imagery. Many of these pieces will be displayed in the "home/journeys" exhibition.

"The Blue House." Oil on stretched canvas, 24 x 30 inches. Completed February 2009.

Block Gallery Exhibit Update

It's less than four weeks until the opening of my next exhibition, "home/journeys," at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery in Downtown Raleigh. The exhibit will feature paintings by Kathy Brancato and myself, plus mixed-media works in cases by Mikel Robinson. I will be submitting 16 canvases, many of which will be on exhibit for the first time. During the past two weeks I have been prepping and framing the works, and I'm feeling very confident of where I stand this far out.

On Friday, March 5 the Raleigh Television Network sent a crew to my home to interview me in my studio in advance of the show. A 30-minute spot highlighting the three artists featured in "home/journeys" will broadcast several times on the RTN cable channel here in Raleigh during the exhibit's run (April 8 to May 24).

The Miriam Preston Block Gallery is located inside the Raleigh Municipal Building, 222 West Hargett Street, Raleigh NC 27601. The opening reception is scheduled for Thursday, April 8 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.

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.

I just discovered quite by accident that one of my paintings is featured in the current edition of Raleigh "Downtowner" magazine. Click here to see the article. I am one of the exhibiting artists this year at the Miriam Preston Block Gallery, and the magazine selected one of my images to include in an article about the gallery's 2010 exhibition series. The exhibit, entitled "Home/Journeys," will run from April 8 to May 24, 2010. The gallery is located in the Avery C. Upchurch Government Complex, 222 W. Hargett Street in Raleigh, NC. It is sponsored by the City of Raleigh Arts Commission.

Farmhouse in Late Winter

Due to some challenges on the home front, I've been absent from the blog for two weeks. Sadly, one of the challenges was the loss of a beloved pet (my cat, Esther). The other, ironically, was the adoption of a new pet - a 12-week-old puppy - that occurred just prior to Esther falling ill. So, it's been a period of transition in my household.

I have managed to be productive in the studio despite the turmoil. Two weeks ago I returned to the large canvas entitled "Main Street" that I began in late summer as a long-term commissioned piece for a family member. It will be featured in my upcoming show at the Miriam Block Gallery before delivery to the patron. I also spent seven hours yesterday working on a new painting that will also be included in the spring show.

The painting above, "Farmhouse in Late Winter," was one of 12 canvases I painted in 2008 of the farmhouse located on Holly Springs Road in Cary, NC. This piece was one of those included in my exhibition at the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill. I recently sold it to a patron who resides in Raleigh.

"Farmhouse in Late Winter." Oil on stretched canvas, 24 x 3o inches. Completed March 2008.

Baja Burrito Show

On December 20 I installed a small exhibit of my work at Baja Burrito in Raleigh, NC. Located at 2109 Avent Ferry Road, the restaurant features monthly exhibits by local artists. I met the owner, Judy Murray, at the opening reception for "Hang It Up!" at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design. She liked the two paintings I had on display in that show, and invited me to exhibit at her restaurant. I decided to focus on figurative and still life pieces since most of my recent exhibitions have featured architectural paintings. I think the distinctive wall color in the restaurant especially lent itself to these works. The exhibit will remain on view until February 12, 2010.

Biltmore in Winter

Christmas Eve seems like the appropriate day to present this year's special Christmas card image, "Biltmore in Winter." I have created a special holiday design for my annual Christmas cards since 1995. This year I chose to paint a winter scene of Biltmore, the magnificent Vanderbilt estate located just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. This subject was a natural one for this year's card since I recently began a series of paintings using Biltmore as the subject matter. Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

"Biltmore in Winter." Oil on stretched canvas, 24 x 30 inches. Completed November 2009.

On the Easel: House in the Desert

My latest work depicts an idea that came to me one day while driving along Interstate 95 from North Carolina to Maryland. Along the route were flat cotton fields occasionally populated by a house, either currently lived-in or abandoned. Back in the studio, I took that concept a bit further and combined some of the Victorian architecture I love in Savannah, Georgia with a desert landscape I had photographed while visiting Las Vegas, Nevada last May. This painting is the result.

"House in the Desert." Oil on stretched canvas, 30 x 40 inches. Completed November 2009.

"Past Perfect" Exhibit Opening Reception

Last Sunday was the opening reception for my solo exhibit "Past Perfect: Architectural Paintings by Kenneth Eugene Peters" at the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, NC. Sponsored by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill (PSCH), the show will run until December 23.

The reception was a fabulous success, and a truly wonderful day for me. More than 50 friends and family members, some from long-distance, came out to support me. The PSCH staff did an impressive job of hanging the show for me; the installation couldn't have been more appropriate. Before guests started to arrive I was able to capture some of the exhibit space with my digital camera, and those images are seen above. The main exhibit room is a beautiful octagonal space that allows the visitor to see art from several different perspectives at once.

Additional good news came a few days later when I learned that one of the reception guests had purchased "House in Pasadena" in the show. With the Chapel Hill Holiday Home Tours departing from the Horace Williams House this weekend, I am hopeful that - perhaps - I'll enjoy another sale or two before the exhibit comes down.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I did not include a very special thanks to the following people for their hard work and support: Michael Dawson, who provided all of the food and refreshments (incredible job, Mike!); Ann and Mike Rives, who provided vital assistance with the refreshments; Tama Hochbaum, my PSCH artist liaison; Gordon Clarke Jameson, who hung the show; Ernie Dollar and Sherril Koroluk, PSCH staff; my parents, Hilda and Arthur Peters; my friend Tinam Valk; and all of the other great friends and colleagues who attended the reception on December 6 to offer their support.

Preservation Society of Chapel Hill Exhibit Opens this Sunday

My solo exhibition at the Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill, NC will open this coming Sunday, December 6, 2009. The artist's reception runs from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. on this date, and the exhibit continues through December 23. Sponsored by the Preservation Society of Chapel Hill, the show will feature eighteen paintings depicting various architectural subjects. I'd like to thank my artist liaison, Tama Hochbaum, and the Assistant to the Director, Sherril Koroluk, for all of their assistance as I prepared for the exhibit.