‘Bout To Get A Little Shower

10 1/2″ X 7 3/4″ watercolor on Arches 140lb paper

SOLD

“I could paint for a hundred years, a thousand years without stopping and I would still feel as though I knew nothing.” -Paul Cezanne, 1839-1906

I love to paint almost as much as I love life itself. It fulfills me, it nourishes me and sustains me, it challenges me, it gives vision to my soul and freedom to my spirit. It gives me a reason to keep moving forward… some might say it is my mistress. I’ve always tried to walk that delicate line of balancing family time with studio time. I hope my family thinks I did it successfully. They seem pretty well adjusted and happy. But since my lay off last year, which seems to have ended my newspaper career, art has become my main focus and source of income, therefore, I spend most of my time in the studio. I paint seven days a week. It has been an adjustment though, mostly the not being around people all day, outside stimulation, shared ideas. Fortunately, I am comfortable being alone. I enjoy the peace and solitude of hours of creation time. Painting, whether it be oils or watercolor, realism or satire, cubism or caricature, it’s all about the art of creation for me.  It all makes me happy.

This watercolor is another of my railroad pieces based on historical photographs. I have a growing library of books on the subject, as well as access to online photo archives. Painting modern railroads is probably easier because I can go out and shoot my own photo reference and or sketch from life. But when working on a piece about the history of railroading, you have no choice but to base your paintings on many photo references, mostly by photographers other than yourself. This watercolor was based on one such photo from a book on the Argent Lumber Company of South Carolina, authored by my friend Mal Ferrell. The wonderful power of art allows you to redesign images, deleting or adding information that strengthens the design and overall feeling of a piece. You are the climate controller and the time-of-day master. I wanted this piece to have the feel of an approaching storm when the wind picks up and the sky suddenly fills with dark, ominous clouds that slowly cover the remaining patches of cerulean blue. Watercolor has an almost mystical way of producing weather effects. I love that. That’s the main asset that keeps me coming back for more. I hope this piece stirs something in you, maybe an emotion you haven’t felt since you were a child, maybe…  Enjoy!