How to Paint An Emotional Icon

Bleak House Barn 2

I have to have a reason to paint. There is so much local history here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge that's it's tough to focus on just one thing. A focus on the barn at Bleak House Plantation tempers an impending sense of overwhelmed-ness that comes with so many choices.

Having just seen Twelve Years A Slave, that's what I'm thinking of as I read about the history of this plantation. I'm revisiting this barn series at the Bleak House Plantation in Earlysville, VA. Built in the1700's when slaves worked the plantation's wheat, tobacco, corn and livestock. 

I wandered around on a hot spring day, capturing many opinions of what this barn meant to the surrounding landscape. It was silent but for the birds in the country, yet I could hear the voices of past inhabitants and the earth gave up hints of previous homes and outbuildings. Google search was an enormous help in finding obscure references to the slaves that worked here, their names, position, ages, value, etc. 

This particular viewpoint is the third in the series. I simplified the structure, concentrating more on the light and shadow colors and shapes. Emotionally I wanted something beautiful but imposing, as this barn was a symbol of prosperity and enslaved toil. 

This original is available for sale as a 5 X 7" oil on archival linen board. Framed in a gorgeous custom gold and black floating canvas frame. 

Huckstep's Garage and Store: Nostalgic Icon

Huckstep's Garage Front View

This iconic now defunct store and garage located in Free Union, VA represents a disappearing time and place. As I consider what I want to say with the paints, I'm experimenting with the filter galleries in Corel Painter as well as Photoshop to enhance the emotionality of painting.

Driving into Free Union (love the town name, too) in central Virginia is a trip back to the nostalgia of my grandmother's youth. There are so many buildings in the Virginia countryside that one glance on a quick drive by takes you back.

This part of the Charlottesville area was settled in the 1700's. The original Mitchie Tavern wasn't far from here. Here, the mountains are bigger, bluer and you're in their foothills. Vineyards are starting to spring up and the wine business is just gathering steam.

I picture filled rocking chairs on the porch, neighbors throwing hello's, original Fords filling up.

Huckstep's Store Oil Painting

Original 5" X 7" Oil on linen board, C. Twomey

Working on a new series, starting with the iconic Huckstep's Garage and Store in Free Union, VA. Just to get there is a pleasure. I head west along Buck Mountain Road, which is on a high ridge overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains on either side. Rolling farmland, critters in the fields, the sun baking the grape vines - all of this leads to the charming and somewhat dissolving village of Free Union.

Having worked on computers since 1978 (Apple II), I've worked a lot with the Filter Gallery. I realize that it is influencing and helping to infuse my paintings with light that I control - light that can suggest a nostalgia, a dreaminess unlike anything else. This exploration is how I arrived at this view of Huckstep's - real, but not quite; a play on emotions and longing for the way things were.

Planning 2014; Sheep Cloud Mountains

Blue Ridge Blue Skyline Sheep Cloud

Above, 5" X 7" oil on linen board; painted live along Skyline Drive in the Piedmont Area of Virginia, in Shenandoah National Park. Made me feel like an angel as the warm summer breezes overcame my easel and me. I loved the patterns; the repetition of shapes and most of all, the color of these mountains. See the sheep cloud to the upper right? My eye finally found him after I thought I was done, but he's welcome to stay.

Today: an auspicious start to the New Year 2014, Year of the Horse, spent meeting a lovely group of fellow artists. We're planning an upcoming Studio Tour for northern Albemarle County, north of Charlottesville, for either the spring or the fall. Cannot wait to get to know such an inspiring group of fellow artists, including watercolorists, painters, weavers, art manufacturers and more.

There's A Lot To Be Thankful For….

Sneak Preview, Equine Sculpture

Here is a first preview of a sculpture (equine ecorche) in the planning stages. It's been a long time coming, but finally the timing is right. I've worked out the skeletal system, cervical region. I've studied the muscles, origins and insertions as well as the proper bend at the poll. Yes, this is going to be the "This is how your horse should look" sculpture, the first in a series comparing correct versus incorrect riding. It is very exciting to finally have arrived here, and I've got a sample of the porcelain I'll think I'll be working in.

At the moment, the other side of the head and neck will be aesthetically realistic. I'm thinking this will be the size of a bookend, and can be used as a teaching tool and/or as art. Cannot wait to get sculpting!

"In The Master's Hand" Oil on Canvas

In The Master's Hand

Been working diligently on this commissioned piece, and starting to get it to the stage where I'm satisfied. The light has been a challenge but I'm starting to like the warmest color on the horse's hind end, as well as the tail highlights. I've also emphasized the little "flip" at the bottom of the tail that emphasizes the cadence of this dressage movement.

I love the attempts by this young warmblood gelding to piaffe by lifting his left hind as high as his right front foot. That, and the fact that the trainer patiently waits for the response to his aids. There is nothing quick and easy about dressage, but patience certainly helps and this image shows that.