The Wedding Site

Now this one drove me crazy. It was the site of Megan and Clay's wedding this past Saturday. I started about a month ago . . . hmmmm . . . what do I do? They were to be married in the meadow behind the house. I tried painting that but it was just another mountainscape. Of course my muse, Miss Cathy saw the meadow and immediately told me to make my next stroke a huge pass with a turpenoid soaked rag. "Get rid of that," she admonished, "wipe the canvas clean . . . paint the farmhouse."

OK then. (Shades of Ray Roberts)
Well, it was all for good fortune. The outdoor wedding was rained out and the wedding happened in the farmhouse. And now the subject matter is perfect. This painting was hard. The drafting and detail work made me crazy. The sun and shadows were fun. The Bride and Groom loved it. In the end that's all that matters.

Eeegads . . . A Commission!

I always thought our dear friends, the Newmans were too kind to me about my painting. Dave is a hugely successful Hollywood movie score composer and Krys is a talented violinist. They are totally in my Art Fan Club. They actually have my very first oil painting hanging in their dining room. I always wondered if they were simply indulging me. But 3 weeks ago at their retreat in Carmel they made a demand . . . . a big painting for their Living Room. Uh Oh! This was real. Taking a break from the painstaking work on the wedding site painting I used a huge brush to whack out this 20x24 griselle in about an hour. If I don't screw it up, it might be decent. But isn't that the whole problem. Some people fear the blank canvas. I fear the free splattered griselle. How many great underpaintings lie beneath my canvasses? Cathy would say probably none. Just paint Dave! This will be fun. Great gobs of paint and giant brushes. I think I can . . . . .