Wonder of Light

Wonder of Light

12"x12" Oil on Deep Edge Canvas

Click Here to Purchase

As the year comes to an end, it is a great time to pause and reflect on we've been and where we want to go. Here is a recent landscape abstract which contains art lessons that can apply to our lives as we contemplate the new year.

1. Gray is a beautiful color.
So many look at gray as depressing and drab. There is so much delicate beauty in all of the many kinds of gray. There are warm grays, cool grays, brown grays, blue grays, green grays and so much more.

Our society polarizes more and more into camps of defined color. (Black & White, Red and Blue, etc.) We need to learn to recognize the mixing and bleeding of gray mid-tones in life and culture. If we can do that, we can better live together as children of God.

2. Look for the light.
As a painter, I spend a lot of time observing light and trying to mimic the effects of light on canvas. Compositionally, light directs the eye around the painting. Light changes as the day progresses. As a plain-air painter, I have to bee quick to capture the light of a certain moment before it changes or goes away altogether. Light guides us. Light reveals. Light brings color.

There is plenty of darkness in our lives. If we think about light as Jesus taught, we remember that God is light and we are light as well. We need to be lovers of the light. We need to be looking for it always—and following it. We should be seekers of the subtle affects and colors that light brings and helping others to recognize just how much we are surrounded with light. We need to bear our own light to the world. St. Francis of Assisi once said, "For all of us would be blind if not for the Light of the World."

3. Find your source.
For me, nature and water are sources of renewal. I love to stand near a running rocky river, observing it's motions and listening to its sounds. Nature brings me closer to the hear of my creator. In nature there are no straight lines or right angles. In nature, everything is fractal and curvy. Painting nature is so much more forgiving than painting man-made things and structures. For me, there is no greater art teacher than nature.

It's very important to find something, someone or some place that inspires you and renews you. We all need to find our own sanctuary from the world's distractions and draw near to God.

Late Light

5"x7"
Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

Click Here To Purchase

I finally made it back to the lake this summer. I took the opportunity to paint both impressionistic and abstract expressionistic styles. Here's one that is somewhere in-between. it was painted in the late evening as the sun quickly set.

Ripples in the Rain 24"x24"

24"x24" Oil on Deep-Edged Canvas

with Palette Knife

SOLD

40 Days: Day 8: Evensong III

3"x3" Oil on Canvas

with Palette Knife
Click Here to Purchase

May the Lord, who is our peace, give us peace at all times and in every way. Amen.

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Autumn Anthem

12"x12" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

And here is an autumn water abstract for the 

Friends of Radnor Lake Fine Art Show & and Sale 

Nov 6–8 form 8 a.m–5 p.m.

Playing in Puddles 24x24: Celebrating the Ordinary

24"x24" Oil 
on Deep Edged Canvas

with Palette Knife

Click Here to Purchase

The church calendar is deep into the season of Ordinary Time. It is the longest season of the church year, turning into Advent in the fall. Some congregations go off the lectionary script and study biblical texts of their own choosing. Many congregations feel the lack of full sanctuaries due to  people being out on summer vacations. It can be a long season indeed, and let's face it, Ordinary Time isn't a very exciting name either. But rather than slouch in a summer slump, I invite you to embrace a new awareness of the ordinary.

Ordinary things are what make the church great. Warm smiles, concerned hugs, conversations of the week's events. They are all beautiful expressions of grace. And the world is full of beautiful "ordinary" moments, if you stop to see them. Jesus asks us to "consider the lilies of the field" and "the birds of the air" as reminders of God's beautiful creation and the extent of God's provisional grace. 

As a painter, I enjoy finding the beauty in ordinary things. This painting is a larger take on an abstract I painted a while ago. The painting is based on reflections in a water puddle in a school parking lot after a heavy spring rain. It doesn't get any more ordinary than that. But looking at the reflections in such a simple thing, there is a color palette of infinite beauty and grace. 

So take some time to enjoy the ordinary in you life—and be thankful.

Winter Reflections

24"x30" Oil on Canvas

with Palette Knife

SOLD

THIS painting, I'm particularly proud of. It is  a 24"x30" palette knife painting of wintery reflections on the surface of the Harpeth River. It is for the The Chestnut Group's Cumberland on Canvas event. I have painted water reflections before, but this is largest surface I have ever attempted. I'm very pleased with the result. I love how it is recognizable yet abstract, which was my goal for this piece. It shows well in the modern urban exhibit space of the Bridge Building. If you are in Nashville this weekend, I highly recommend that you stop by and take a look.

Impressions of Spring

8"x10" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

Here is another painting with the The Chestnut Group for the Cumberland on Canvas event. A portion of the show's proceeds benefit the Cumberland River Compact. Event Details below.

This is a reflecting pond from Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum. Here is a field shot on location.

Music City Winter / Riverfront Lights

Music City Winter
8"x10" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

My first attempt at plein air cityscape painting went pretty good. Although the winter day was not the best of weather, it was a lot of fun to work with all of the different shapes of the Nashville skyline. I painted these with my friends of The Chestnut Group. We will be sharing and selling our paintings for the Cumberland River Compact April 17 and 18. Details are in the attachments below. We painted in a beautiful urban space, just across the Cumberland River, to get a good view of the city. After the sun wend down, I stayed a little longer to get this nocturne quick-draw below.

Riverfront Lights
6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

There was a reporter there form Nashville Arts Magazine to capture us in action. Read the article here. The painter sitting in the top photo is your's truly.

Water Lilies

6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days: January, 2015—Day 18 

I totally get why Monet painted water lilies. There is much to learn from painting this beautiful plant.

Mountain Rush

6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

Click HERE to Purchase

30 Paintings in 30 Days: January, 2015—Day 5

Today's painting is another water abstract. It is from a recent walk along side a river in the Smoky Mountains. This one not only reflects the mountain river color palette, but also a sense of the water's rushing movement. 

You can see some of my previous water abstracts here:

Pacifica

Reflections of Summer

Ripples in the Rain

Playing with Puddles

Moon Over Radnor Lake

8"x10" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

I had a great experience painting with the Chestnut Group the other evening. We gathered at Radnor Lake and painted the full moon rising over the lake. This was my first attempt to paint at night. It was so much fun! As I was painting, I discovered another artist sharing my easel to create his own work of art. Sadly, I had to interrupt his work and gently escort him to another spot when it came time fro me to pack up. You never know what's going to happen when you paint en plein air.

Summer's End

6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days: September, 2014—Day 23

Farewell to summer.  This is a plein air quick study capturing the last light of a late summer day.

Lake View

11"x14" Oil on Canvas

with Palette Knife

NFS

30 Paintings in 30 Days: September, 2014—Day 14 

Another view from Tims Ford Lake. I have made several other paintings of this view, but to date,  this is my largest plein-air attempt at this location. 

Reflections of Summer

6"x6" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge: September 2014—Day 12

Another abstract. This one based on summer afternoon colors reflecting on water.

Sweet Gum Turning

8"x10" Oil on Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days: September, 2014—Day 2

On the lake, the first trees to show their Autumn colors are the ones on the banks—whose roots closest to the cool lake water. These Sweet Gums, clinging to the lake shore, are especially eager to change color—even in late August. 

Verdant Reflections

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

Here is another painting from Tims Ford Lake. (to see others, just click "lake" on the search list to the right.) This painting was on a particularly calm day. The afternoon reflections on the still water were long and bold. A great day to paint reflections.

The Lord Is My Light

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge: January—Day 22.

The Lord is my light,

My light and salvation.

In God I trust.

These words and today's painting come from a Taizé song based on Psalm 27.

Harbor

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge: January—Day 21.

Have you ever looked at a harbor and all of the boats just seemed to blend together? That was the impression that I tried to convey in today's piece.

Riverdance

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel

with Palette Knife

SOLD

30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge: January—Day 20.

For today's painting, I went back to the river—this time to paint en plein air.  The light of the late afternoon was dancing all around. It was a challenge to capture the ever changing light. The result ended up quite lose and impressionistic.