"Triple Falls, DuPont State Forest (a study)"

Transylvania County, NC

(12 X 18, oil on canvas)

DuPont State Forest is the home of six beautiful waterfalls in the southern Appalachian mountains of North Carolina.  We made a trip to the falls of December 23, 2011 -- after heavy downpours that caused a lot of flooding along the rivers in low-lying areas.  The river feeding these falls, Little River, was really full and overflowing in some areas.  Normally you would see more rock and much less water.  We were there at the right time to catch this spectacular sight.

This painting is actually the top two falls of Triple Falls.  My challenges in doing this painting was to try and capture the power of this flow of water and give the falls depth that a camera does not show.  This turned out to be a study for the much larger painting (30 x 40) of the entire falls.
Framing by Blackbird Frame and Art of Asheville, NC  

"Mountain Goat at Logan Pass"

Glacier National Park

(14 X 18, Oil on canvas, Now part of the art collection of Granddaughter Eleanor)

Subject of this painting is based on photos Cindy made on our way up to Logan Pass in September, 2007.  This goat and others were feeding by the road and posing for we tourist.  These are beautiful creatures and great subjects for people like me who like to paint nature. 

I painted the background first and thought I had done a respectable job of capturing the beautiful majestic mountains of Glacier -- which by its self, I think, would have made a nice painting.  Next came the difficult task of possibly ruining my beautiful landscape by painting an animal on top of it.  Since I had never painted an animal before -- especially one in motion --, I was afraid my goat might come out looking like a cartoon character.  But after much preparation and a lot of studying/staring I was pleased with results.  Drawing/painting can really test your powers of observation.  For example, the photos and personal observations showed the mountain goat to be a very powerful looking animal -- but I kept missing the detail(s) that made it so.  Finally moving the front "hump" forward just a fraction -- provided what I was looking for.

This painting was a Christmas (2011) present to my granddaughter, Eleanor.
Framing by Blackbird Frame and Art of Asheville, NC

"El Capitan, Yosemite National Park"
(12 X 16, Oil on canvas, October, 2011)

This painting resulted from a class I took trying to rekindle my interest in painting.  After several false-starts and a change in residence it had been several years since I had touch a brush other than painting walls in the house (both previous and current house).

Though I've seen El Capitan from this viewpoint before, I used a picture from a calendar as the subject material for this painting.  It only took several weeks which is fast for me and more importantly did wonders for me to get going again.  Of course it's hard to live in the mountains of North Carolina and not feel inspired.

Painting is through the drying/varnishing cycle and is ready to frame.  (Apologies for the quality of the photography here.)