Bartholomew done, Simon started

I scanned two figures from the Last Supper. Bartholomew is basically done, I may do a bit of touch-up on him in the future. Simon is just in the beginning stages of the painting process.

Last Supper pieces

Here's a couple of photos of the pieces I'll be painting. The pieces are sitting on my dresser with a ruler beside them for size comparison. I just realized I missed one of the apostles in the photos. Do you know which one is missing?

Last Supper

I received a call today from a "semi-retired" gentleman from my small town. Seems he's been working on a wooden version of the Last Supper for the past year and was in need of an artist to help him complete it. He has the whole painting broken down into small pieces of wood that he has meticulously cut with a small skill saw. He has the background and the table assembled. All the apostles and Jesus are cut out ready to be painted. He even has the plates and cups cut out of wood - they also need to be painted. I wasn't too sure about all this when he tried to describe it over the phone. But, once I saw all the work he had already put into it I just didn't have the heart to say no. Besides, I think this will be kinda fun!

So I have all the pieces here with me. He began the project with a large pattern from a wood working project for the Last Supper. In that one it was to be made up of different kinds/colors of wood - and is actually for an "inlaid wood" picture. His will be a combination of inlaid and painted pieces. I've begun transferring the outlines from the pattern onto the figures and will begin painting tomorrow. These outlines will just be guidelines for me. He gave me the box top of a jigsaw puzzle of the Last Supper - I'll use this to guide me on the features and colors. No pictures right now... I'll try to post some tomorrow.

Small barn for horses

A good friend asked for pictures of our small hay barn/horse run-in that we had built this summer. It's working out really well.



First shows looking down from the cabin toward the road. Scott keeps the big car hauler parked behind the barn. You can see Hank and PJ by the fence.


The second photo is taken looking up from the road near the driveway entrance. Here you can see the run-in shelter for the horses. The wall that separates the run-in from the hay storage has a small gate. This allows us access to feed the horses under shelter.

Email problems

Well, I now realize how much I rely on email. My account was down for about two days! I missed a couple of important business communications, let alone notes from friends and family. Not much I could do about it but contact my provider on the phone and have their tech support fix things. It all came about because the company who hosts my website said it had to be moved to another server because the current one was getting full. The process isn't painless, but, since I've gone through it before I thought it would be ok.... but this time there seemed to be a lot of problems including my website being down and me not having any email for over 24 hours.... I'm relieved to say all appears to be ok now.

Plein air from Saturday

Well... I worked on the painting in studio Sunday and here's the results. I'm pleased with it, and relieved. It wasn't an easy one to do for some reason. But I feel I grew as an artist working on it.

Here's a close-up of the painting showing the knife and brushwork.

Plein Air painting today

I stood out near a creek today for 3 hours painting. Sometimes painting seems effortless, but other times it can be very difficult. Today was one of those days when it was a struggle! I didn't finish, and as I packed up I was thinking it was a total failure. But, after looking at it with fresh eyes this afternoon I think it may become something with a little more time and effort. I'll post some photos once I've had a chance to work with it.

More pictures of potential studio

Another picture of the main room. All those shelf units and that big table of course move with the attorney. I'm considering having some art supplies for sale and think that corner next to the double doors would make the perfect spot. The door to Scott's left is the storage room. The door behind him is a bathroom. To his right is the office. The main room will be used as a working studio for me and for me to have art workshops. The walls will be hung with artwork.




Here Scott is standing in the office space that is in the back of the main room. The window is on the wall directly across from Scott. This room is approximately 14' x 11'. Not really sure what I'll use this space for. ....

Oh, Yeah! I just remembered. I've been thinking that I would love to have a "Reading Room" in my studio/gallery where I can finally unpack my art books. The space would allow the public to enjoy them too ... Maybe THAT's what this is for!!!

More info on potential gallery

It looks like my new Studio/Gallery will be in the left side storefront as seen in this photo. An attorney currently is using this space and wants to move over to the right side. She thinks the floor plan of the one on the right is better for her uses. Some repairs and renovation must be done to that side before she moves. I of course won't have access to the space at all until she moves.

The space is approximately 1000 sq ft. The rent is higher than I had hoped, but still pretty reasonable per square foot. The building faces the lovely Courthouse Square park in downtown Edmonton.


When you walk into the front door there are two small areas on either side that would make excellent gallery space. Below are two photos showing the space to the right as you walk in. The space to the left is the same size (11' x 9').



















This photo is looking back toward the front door from the main room.












The main room is slightly larger than 22' x 22' . (My back is to the front area as I took this photo.) The window you see on that back wall is to office space. The door at the end of the hall is the back door to the parking lot. There are two bathrooms along the right wall of the hall as well as a fairly large storage room where the heat system is located. I'm not too happy with the paneling for the studio/gallery so I'll ask if I could paint it. The walls in the front areas have painted paneling.





I am now in the opposite corner in the main room. The window you see in the above photo is to my left. Here you see the doorway to the front area and a set of double doors that open to the space I had originally wanted to rent.

Pen and Ink - Adair County Courthouse

I completed this pen and ink almost 2 weeks ago now. I will be doing a series of pen and ink drawings of the courthouses of Kentucky. This is approximately 11" x 14" on a 15" x 20" Illustration board.

Flat Rock Creek - July

My only plein air done in July. At 16" x 20" it is the largest plein air painting I've done so far. I set up in such a lovely, isolated spot. It was a warm day, lower 90 degrees F. A couple of deer were surprised to find me there. They stood at attention gazing at me for a long while before heading back into the woods behind them.