Peace College commission

It was called Peace College, 7 x 9½" watercolor

Shows, travel and other commissions have buried me, so I was happy when my customer told me she could wait for this painting. I promised her I would get to it in October. Finally October arrived and two weeks ago Monday I had reason to be in Raleigh and therefore, good reason to do the painting while I was there. Wrong. It rained buckets.

So this past Monday, a meeting with The Little Art Gallery in Cameron Village gave me reason again to drive up to Raleigh. This time I had told customer Jennifer I would paint it then. Again, it rained buckets. Not one to go back on my word, here was good reason to paint dans la voiture. Click to see how I came up with this term.

The area where one sees this view is now a parking lot. Of course, all slots had been taken when I went there. I parked my compact SUV at a right angle to all the other cars and alongside some traffic cones. This gave me a direct view of the scene. Perfect! I had to run the car intermittently so I could turn on the defrost and the windshield wipers. I had time to fantasize what I would say if a police officer questioned my parking arrangement. “My daughter goes to school there, and I’m waiting for her to come out.” Now certainly, I am more than old enough to have a daughter in college, but I am also old enough to know fibbing is not a good thing. Nobody asked. Yay!

Interiors

Heads Up sunroom, 7½x9" watercolor

Just got back from a mad dash down to Beaufort, North Carolina. No doubt the town has much changed since Blackbeard set anchor in its harbor almost three hundred years ago. In reference to this quaint little seaport town, I recall a statement made by someone across the bridge in Morehead, “Those Beaufort people are said to be a little more gentrified than we are.”

I am charmed by the new friend I’ve made in Beaufort and by her house so full of artifacts and artwork (including some of mine I’m proud to say). She and her husband are world travelers and their house and garden offer testimony to all the exotic places their travels have taken them. Charles, who initially served two years in the Peace Corps, has spent 25 years as a foreign service officer for USAID.

An accomplished leader of child development in third world countries, at home Deborah is an exemplary cook and host. After a scrumptious dinner Friday night we retired to the sunroom to enjoy dessert. The minute we sat down in the room adjoining her kitchen, I spotted the carved heads above. Had to paint them.

What is it about interiors that so intrigues us? Much of a person’s soul, I think, is revealed in their surroundings. Like the lines on an old person’s face, a room and its furnishings convey a wealth of information about its inhabitants.

Serendipitous spider sculpture

Last week, I was driving through the town where I live and noticed some flowers on the curb that had no leaves. The lilies, shooting through the ground with only their stems, are a late summer blooming plant. I don’t know how I remembered the name Lycoris.

The very next day it was serendipitous for me to discover the sculpture I came upon. I was in New Bern to teach a watercolor workshop during the Craven County Art Festival. I had met my students under the veranda behind the city’s Convention Center. In search of a plein air scene to paint as a demo, my eyes couldn’t seem to escape this beautiful landmark.

Spider Lily Sculpture, 7 x 9½" watercolor

At first I thought the kinetic sculpture was a “whirligig” by famous North Carolina whirligig sculptor Vollis Simpson. Not so. Upon reading the plaque under the sculpture, I found the name of the sculpture is Spider Lily, named after the plant Lycoris Radiata. I learned that this prized plant species made its 1850s debut into the United States in New Bern.

Commissioned and contributed by Dr. Jim Congleton, the sculpture by California artist Susan Pascal Beran was dedicated to the city of New Bern in December of last year.

From the North Star State to North Carolina

Downstairs at Rita’s, 7 x 9½" watercolor

Here’s where I slept most nights on my recent visit to Minnesota. Rita and I go all the way back to a design conference in 1980 at Lutsen, Minnesota where she and my business partner Rick met and began a four-year romance. Rita learned and owned a computer before I did, so soon after graphic design made the leap from drawing board to desktop, I spent hours with her and an occasional client in this sub-level space. Not much trace of a computer now, as Rita has retired from that business.

Seems I’ve acquired the habit of painting most of the places I stay when I’m on the road. I missed, however, painting my accommodations last Friday night in New Bern, NC. During the town’s Friday ArtWalk, I painted in front of Carolina Creations Fine Art & Contemporary Craft Gallery where my North Carolina Meets French Impressionism show now hangs. Artist owners of Carolina Creations, Michael and Janet, graciously put me up for the night in their nifty studio guest room.

Here I was, beginning a painting in front of Carolina Creations. That's not paint on my palette; that's cheese for my palate. Photo compliments of artist Michaelé Rose Watson.

Headed for Hawaii

My friend Kazuko’s, 7x9½" watercolor

I can think of only one bad thing about having friends and that is losing friends, either because they move away or pass away.

Wednesday I returned from a two-week vacation in Minnesota. I was there last year and would have held off going for another year except for one thing. My dear friend Kazuko is moving later this month from a Minneapolis suburb to Hawaii to be closer to her son. Unless my ship comes in big time, I don’t foresee any trips to Hawaii in my future. So this may have been my last chance to see her; certainly this warranted my trip to Minnesota.

I did the painting right after finishing a wonderful Japanese meal that she’d prepared for us. The best view of her house was from across the street in a neighbor’s driveway. She saw that they were treated to sushi afterwards, so I wasn’t to worry about trespassing.

The painting will be my going away gift to Kazuko, so this one will one day hang in Hawaii. This painting in winter with snow would have offered a greater contrast to the Aloha state. Don’t ask why I don’t relish the idea of plein air painting during a Minnesota winter.

I wasn’t wearing Maidenform®

Guest room at Llewellyn’s, 9x6" watercolor

 Last night I dreamt I was sleeping in a beautiful bed in a fabulous historic home in Beaufort, NC. This morning I woke up and found this watercolor I’d done. Inspiration led me down to the waterfront where I did two more watercolors. Lately my life has been all that I might dream it to be.

Sky, sand, water, Beaufort 1, 4x11" watercolor

Sky, sand, water, Beaufort 2, 4x11" watercolor

See below the oil I painted of the same scene several years ago. I wonder if some of the sailboats are the same ones I painted today.

Moored in Beaufort, 12x12" oil on canvas

It pays to ask.

Sunny morning on Marsh Street, 8x16" oil on panel

Some of you know I spent a good part of my life as an art director/graphic designer. For nineteen years I was self-employed and got used to getting the information from customers necessary to meet their objectives. Commissioned paintings come relatively easy to me now as a result of my graphics background.

Below is the second painting I did at the same address in Beaufort, NC. Sold the oil to someone in Charlotte, NC. Thinking the owner of the house wanted a bigger version, I’m glad now I didn’t go on automatic pilot and do another. He wanted a watercolor, small, and loose. I’m grateful he knew what he wanted. I delivered the watercolor to his Chapel Hill address on Thursday.

John Hughes Home, 7x9½" watercolor