This is yet another panorama (multiple canvas) work based on the Milton Jones Farmhouse in Cary, NC. Painted over three canvases, each measuring 16 x 20 inches in size, it depicts the farmhouse straight-away. I enjoyed creating this piece and the work went very quickly.
I've spent today photographing artwork created over the past several months, and will now begin posting the work here on the blog.
This past weekend I had my first opportunity to visit the newly opened permanent collection facility at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The museum had been closed for several months as the collection was transferred from the old facility into the new one. It reopened on April 24th to much fanfare.
While most of my painting imagery is architecturally related, I do paint other subjects. Occasionally I am solicited for private commissions, and the above work is one I received a few years ago. A patron contacted me to see if I would complete a commissioned portrait of a beloved pet who had passed away after many years of loving companionship. These projects can be quite challenging because the patron can have exacting expectations of the final result. This painting seemed to work well from the very beginning, and the patron was very pleased with the end product.
I received some wonderful news this week: the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, which hosted my recent exhibition "Home/journeys," has purchased one of my paintings for the city's permanent collection. The commissioners selected "Victorians at Sunrise" (seen above) for their collection. Needless to say I was very excited about this development.
Unfortunately I've been sidelined this past week by some outpatient surgery that I had been putting off for nearly two years. I am recuperating well at home but I won't be in the studio for at least a week. Prior to the surgery I was busy working on several new canvases. I hope to have those photographed soon so that I can post them here.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
