Plein air painting in Maymont Park

It was such a beautiful morning (and uncharacteristically NOT humid!) that I went down to Maymont Park to paint the crepe myrtles in full bloom. I was dissuaded from heading into the main part of the park because several busloads of people were unloading themselves at the entrance. Sometimes I don't care about the crowds but today I wasn't in the mood. So I looked around and saw a rather ignored (and slightly overgrown) little park just across the street with some nice pink crepe myrtles and a stone obelisk. I will probably touch this piece up a bit, so I am calling it a work in progress, though I consider it nearly completed on site. 

"Dooley Monument, Richmond" 12"x9" (work in progress)

I don't know if this obelisk has another name than the one I've given it. My research so far has turned up nothing on this specific monument, though the writing on the stone clearly honors Mr. James H. Dooley, benefactor of many charitable and civic causes in the City of Richmond and the former owner of the property that is now Maymont Park.

What attracted me to this particular scene was the vertical movement of the monument and the trees, countered by the horizontal shadows that spilled across the ground.

Watercolor/pen and ink - Ocracoke Lighthouse

Getting back to the topic of my recent visit to Ocracoke Island, here's another sketch from my travels. I haven't painted many lighthouses in my day (okay this is the first one!) but the lighthouse of Ocracoke is such a visible landmark on this tiny island. In fact it is also historically significant as is the second oldest operating lighthouse in the nation. (In case you're wondering, the oldest is the Sandy Hook Lighthouse in New Jersey.)

"Ocracoke Lighthouse" Original Watercolor & Ink on Paper

New Richmond Gallery: Metrospace Gallery

Last Friday evening I had the opportunity to hang some of my figurative paintings at the soft-opening of a new gallery on Broad Street. My work hung on one wall and the other wall displayed the abstract paintings of Will Turner (alas, no link provided because his website isn't finished yet.) For those who are familiar with my landscape paintings, you will see that, aside from my love of vibrant color, my figurative paintings seem quite a departure. Below are the paintings included in this show. These are large works focusing on women, with strong psychological and narrative content. While I am steadily continuing to develop and grow as a landscape painter, I will also be developing some new works more closely aligned with these large figure paintings, perhaps moving away from the narrative and further into abstraction. We will see! For more information on these paintings please contact me.

Regarding Metro Space Gallery: This is a huge new gallery and event space located in the heart of the downtown First Fridays Art Walk. It isn't quite finished yet (they are finishing the floors today as I write this) but even in its austere state it is a beautiful new space. The gallery is located at 119 W. Broad Street, right next door to Metro Sound and Music (same owner). I am not a gallery spokesperson, but from what I could gather, I believe they are on target to open in September if not before.

Update 7/25/07: The paintings of mine that hung in this exhibition are now on display at Plant Zero in the exhibition hall near the event space. :-)

Ocracoke Watercolor art sketch: "Open For Business"

I previously mentioned that Ocracoke has a beautiful little harbor in the center of town called "Silver Lake". The hotel where we stayed had a view of Silver Lake Harbor, and and each morning we could sit outside,  sip our coffee and enjoy the peaceful relaxed beauty of scenes like this one:

"Open For Business" Watercolor & Ink on Paper

The only morning activity we saw was that of people strolling near the water, and fishermen quietly preparing their boats for the day's outing. But at one time this area was harassed by the infamous pirate known as Blackbeard. Blackbeard wreaked havoc all up and down the east coast and into the Caribbean. But his reign of terror was brought to an end when he was finally caught near Ocracoke by the British Navy in 1718.

Back from Ocracoke

Both painting and internet were sketchy down at Ocracoke, so this is a recap now that I'm back home. We really enjoyed our stay at Ocracoke! It has gained some popularity due to the great reviews of its pristine and natural beaches, but it remains a sleepy little 16 mile island only accesible by boat or ferry. No McDonald's or Starbucks there! Just lovely little harbors, small local restaurants, and shops ranging from artisan/galleries to a few peddaling souvenir schlock and surf gear. It is a great place to ride bikes, photograph, paint/sketch (if the wind is calmer) and watch the sunrise and sunsets. If you are into fishing, surfing and other watersports it seems like it is great for that too. We stayed in the village along Silverlake harbor and had all different kinds of weather. The last two days of our stay were absolutely gorgeous, though the wind was around 20-25 miles an hour so often that I decided to forgo the oil painting and stick to sketches like the one I did here of the Harbor:

"Flying Colors" Watercolor & Ink on Paper