A Midsummer's Eve

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife
$50.00 + Shipping

Click HERE to Purchase

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 30.

Summer evenings are magical times. As the setting sun casts cool colors on the countryside, the fireflies come out to play. This is a 6x6 version of a favorite painting I made this past summer. It think it is a fitting image to end this 30 paintings journey. As the project comes to a close, I look at what has happened over the last 30 days with amazement and gratitude. 

I am grateful to my family for their patience and support. I'm grateful for Leslie Saeta for initiating the challenge. Most importantly, I'm grateful for all of you. Your interest in my work is cherished more than you will ever know.

I have a feeling there may be many more of these little paintings to come. There is so much more I want to try to paint. There are still plenty of conceptual pieces I plan to paint as well. Tomorrow is new day. I wonder what new things that day will bring.

Pick Me

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 29.

I almost forgot that I wanted to paint this little pumpkin for the 30 in 30 challenge. I picked it out at a local farm last fall. I love pumpkin picking, especially straight from the patch. Geeking out as an artist, I feel like a master sculptor looking for the perfect muse—waiting to be freed. When I picked this pumpkin, I knew that it could make a nice painting. Almost forgotten until today, my pumpkin has become my artistic muse once again.

Blue Heron

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 28.

The Great Blue Heron will always hold a special place in my heart. On the day that my son was born, the bird mysteriously showed up in a field that backed up to my yard. Ever since then,  the Great Blue Heron has made his presence known around milestones in my son's life. This graceful creature reminds me that my son is part of a larger community, and belongs to someone greater than all of us.

Smoky Mountain Stream

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 27.

A friend told me I should paint rocky streams form the Appalachians. Her suggestion reminded me of how much I love to paint rocks and water. Today's painting is from an image of a stream I took while hiking in the Smokey Mountains. I have painted it before with brushes, but this one is with the palette knife. Either way, I feel these mossy rocks are calling me back to to the mountains to paint plein air someday.

Painting Petals

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 26.

Today, my daughter and I painted together. We found a photo that we took last summer of some wild petunias. She loved the color. I loved the cross-like symmetry of the leaves. She painted with acrylics and finished much faster and, in many ways, better than I. She came up with the title "Petals." It was a lot of fun, and great memories.

Home

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 25.

Every spring, from an upstairs bedroom window, we have the privilege of watching a family of birds make their nest and raise their young. With the birds, we wait over the nest. We watch the eggs hatch and the babies grow. One year, we were able to see them learn to fly. It is a special connection our two homes share.

Break of Day

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 24.

Today's painting is inspired by a friend's in-flight photo of a sunrise over clouds. 
It reminds me of one of my favorite songs. 

“Sunrise in the morning.
Let all creation greet the dawn
And praise the Lord who created
Brother sun to open our eyes.

For all of us would be blind
If not for the light of the Lord.”

—John Michael Talbot based on writings of St Francis of Assisi

Seaside Joy

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 23.

Our family loves the beach. We try to vacation there every year. There is something about the beach that just rejuvenates and livens the soul. As I long for the beach on this winter day, I painted an image of my youngest daughter splashing around on the shore. It sums up all of the feelings I love most about our vacations by the sea. 

Going Swimming

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 22.

By mid summer on the lake, the water temperature is perfect. Walking out onto a dock, you might find the lake calling you, with gentle ripples and sunny reflections, to go for a swim. And if you get in, you may never want to get out again.

Cool Trees

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife
SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 21.

Here is an impressionistic piece based on a favorite photograph I took while hiking in the fall. The shaded trees were a cool blue hue against a fiery backdrop of fall leaves. It was one of those scenes that I just knew would become a painting someday.

Songbird

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 20.

One thing I have discovered during these past 20 days is that I like to paint birds. Their colorful feathers make a great match with my palette knife style. My wife got a shot of this little guy in Norris, Tennessee. I confess I didn't recognize what kind of bird it was. After researching for this painting, I discovered that this bird is a Brown Thrasher.  The Brown Thrasher is a songbird with one of the largest repertoires in North America (estimated over 1,000 song types including mimics of other birds). So, here's a tribute to the Brown Thrasher. Sing on, my friend.

Offering 3

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 19.

It is Sunday again, so here is a third offering of flowers. Read why I'm posting flowers on Sundays HERE. Have a beautiful day.

Family

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 18.

Today's painting is dedicated to a special family friend. A mother of two and breast cancer survivor, my friend knows a courage and strength that comes from a different place than many of us. Last summer, her family traveled to Africa, where she took pictures of these elephants. She told of how they lived in family groups for survival. 

I believe these elephants are a testament to the strength of the family bond among all of God's creation. 

Handbell

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 17.

Today's painting is in honor of my friends in our church's handbell choir. Handbells are beautiful instruments. Ringing them requires lots of teamwork and coordination. They can be played in many different ways to achieve a variety of sounds and textures. Below you can see a video of a choir in Taiwan performing the piece we rang in worship last Sunday. You can see some of the different techniques used. Watch the boy at the far end with the largest bells. Those are the ones that I play. It's quite a workout sometimes. Enjoy.

Frozen Forest

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 16.

If you live in Middle Tennessee, you live on the edge. The edge is the narrow difference between the frozen and the thawed. Last night, many areas near us were covered in ice. We were on the warmer side of the edge. A road near our home takes us up to a slightly higher elevation. As we drove up the hill, the landscape changed into a magical realm of ice. All of the trees were glazed with ice which looked like crystal. We stopped at an overlook and discovered this pathway cutting through the frozen forest. It was like we had entered the great hall of a crystal palace. I felt privileged to have seen it, and compelled to describe it with paint.

Patience

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife
SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 15.

I have now reached the half-way mark in the 30 in 30 challenge. Right now, it feels a bit like, "Only Day 15?" But when I look back at all of the work that has been done so far, I feel good about what I have accomplished. Today's painting comes from a friend's photograph of the Grand Canyon. What a marvel the Grand Canyon is. To think how it has been carved out for centuries by water is amazing. It is a miracle of patience. It inspires me to have more patience with my painting and the remaining 15 days of this challenge. And so tomorrow I will pick up the palette knife again and paint once more.

The Wishing Bird

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 14.

Cardinals are very special birds for our family. We know them as wishing birds. Whenever we see a bright red Cardinal fluttering around, we make a wish. In that regard, today's painting is a moment of opportunity for you. 

Go ahead. Make a wish.

Playing with Puddles

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 13.

Remember my post the other day about the rain going away? Since then, the rain has returned and has not stopped. So for today's painting, I thought, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Today's painting is on reflections in a nearby rain puddle. This is likely the most abstract of my 13 daily paintings so far. It is quite loose and impressionistic. I took the opportunity with this subject to experiment with looser techniques. We can make the best of any situation by looking for the beauty that lies within.

Offering 2

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 12.

It is Sunday again, so here is another offering of flowers. If you missed my last posting on sanctuary flowers, see it HERE. May your life be a beautiful offering today.

Goodbye Rain

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 11.

It's been raining and drizzling for about two weeks. Today, the front moved on and the sun shined again. This is a painting of our morning sky as the rain clouds retreated. It reminds me that no matter how down we get from long periods of life's "rain," the sun will eventually shine on us again.

Hummingbird

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 10.

"What are you painting next, Dad?" 
That's the question my kids ask me every day now.  They look forward to coming home from school to discover what I've painted for the day. My youngest daughter, who is an aspiring painter herself,  has been asking me for a couple of days to paint a hummingbird, her new favorite animal. So, here is a little labor of love in honor of my daughter.

Light Show

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

NFS

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 9.

Every July, our family gathers at Cove Lake in Jacksboro, Tennessee. We spend the day playing, eating and singing songs together. At the end of the day, when most people travel into town to watch fireworks, nature puts on a beautiful light show of its own in these misty mountains.

The Cave

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 8.

One of the great things about the 30 in 30 Challenge is that you get opportunities to explore subjects you wouldn't normally paint. I came across this cave in Alabama last summer and thought it would make a nice painting some day. I happen to love caves. For me, caves are comforting, quiet places full of hidden wonders. 

In the Shade

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge—Day 7.

This is my favorite little spot on Tims Ford Lake in Tennessee. It's a great place to unwind and spend time with family. For me today, it's a place of reflection. It has been one week since I took on Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I have already learned a lot about my art and about myself. We all need a quiet place to unwind from our hectic life and reflect on our journeys—even if that place is in a painting.