Back on Track

Philly Rain 8 x 8 pastel on paper.

It's been home repair-palooza here at our home for the past couple of weeks. Following the discovery of a construction defect, we're now into the final stretch of recovery. Just some sanding of drywall and painting remain. Hooray!

Meanwhile, I have been back in my studio in preparation for the upcoming Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts next month. Here are a couple of new pieces that you will see in my booth during the art show in 4 weeks.

The first, pictured above, is "Philly Rain," a small format cityscape inspired by a vista along Broad Street near City Hall in the heart of Philadelphia. I liked this subject because of the over-the-shoulder composition. Believe it or not, when I studied video production in college we spent a lot of time on the stylistic traits and narrative devices of televised daytime soap operas. A couple of the most most memorable devices included the prolonged, held shot as the show cuts to commercial or the overuse of names to help new viewers come up to speed quickly if they join the program midstream.

To me, this piece sort of conjures up the elevated drama found in those programs. Who is this person? Where is he going? How did we, the omniscient viewers, get to see over his shoulder? And so on.

Indigo 8 x 24 pastel on paper.

The second piece is "Indigo," a panoramic landscape of a winter vista, albeit sans snow, just outside of State College, Pennsylvania. I'm a big fan of Frederic Remington's night paintings. (In my opinion, there is no more affecting piece out there than his "Last March" oil painting of 1906) So, when I have a chance to capture a moonlit scene of my own, I'm all in.

The parade of subcontractors and workmen over the past couple of weeks have made it difficult for me to work, but the good news is that I now have a schedule that will allow me to concentrate more fully.

In addition, I've been out riding my bike a fair bit. Yesterday, I ventured out with a group of local riders and enjoyed a great 45-mile ride up to Yarnell, Pennsylvania. I discovered a couple of new vistas that I will paint en plein air in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.