Saturday, July 25, 2009

Charlecote Park, England


Charlecote Park, England
11 x 14 inches
Oil on canvas.
Several years ago, the family and I spent a wonderful few hours at Charlecote Park, a lovely 16th century country house on the banks of the River Avon, a short distance from Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England. Local legend has it that a young William Shakespeare poached deer on the property.

This is a view of a garden walkway near the house, on a cloudy day.

What do you think? Did young Billy Shakespeare stalk a deer down this path? Probably not, but fun to think about anyway.


These are my daughters, Chelsea (L) and Margaux (R) walking down the long path to the Charlecote gatehouse. The garden path I painted is to the right of the house which you can see in the background beyond the gate.

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Monet Moment


Monet Moment
10 X 13 inches
Oil on wood panel
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This is based on a photograph I took of a young lady looking at Claude Monet's painting, Houses of Parliament, Sunset, in the National Gallery, Washington, DC.

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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Lincoln Memorial


Lincoln Memorial
8x10 inches
Oil on Masonite panel.

I wanted this to be finished so I could post it for Independence Day, but didn't quite get it finished in time. Although Abraham Lincoln is not one of the founding fathers, he did save the nation, so I thought him appropriate for that day when we concentrate on our republic.

My son, Bob, is an attorney, and I painted this for use on his web site. It will be included with this quote from Mr. Lincoln's second inaugural address. "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

I used a photo I took of the Lincoln Memorial in 2006 as the inspiration for this painting. This was painted using only Torrit grey and white on a black surface.

I am going to enter this in the Torrit Grey Painting Competition. Torrit grey tubes were given out free to artists in some art stores earlier this year. By hosting the competition, Robert Gamblin invites painters to experiment with the first dimension of Gamblin Color Space: VALUE. See how light & dark values can have as much impact as color.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Lady of the Lake


Lady of the Lake
16 X 20 inches
Oil on canvas.

This is the latest in my series of paintings called, Ladies of Legend and Literature.

I finished this a couple of weeks ago, and was not sure how I felt about it. I hung it on the wall and have lived with it for awhile, and now like it quite a bit. You know how it is, many of us are never completely satisfied with our work.

The Lady of the Lake is the name of several related characters who play parts in the Arthurian legend. These characters' roles include giving King Arthur his sword Excalibur, enchanting Merlin, and raising Lancelot after the death of his father. Different writers and copyists give her name variously as Nimue, Viviane, Elaine, Niniane, Nivian, Nyneve, Nimueh and other variations. (Wikipedia)