Seashell & Glove

"Seashell" 48 x 48, oil on canvas.

My long gone Seashell and glove. I think this was painted in 1986.

Chili Pepper

"Chili Pepper" Oil on masonite, 3" x 7.5."

Factory

"Hagerstown Block"

This is a spot I am going to visit again. I drew this late in the afternoon today, during the golden hour of daylight. Hagerstown Block sits on one of the many rail lines that go through Hagerstown. This particular track is overgrown with weeds and appears to be abandoned. This old business sits in an old well kept blue collar neighborhood of small, well kept homes.

Hagerstown Block website.

Street view on Google Maps

Life Drawing

Conte and chalk.

Whatzit

Sketching in front of the TV.

Betty

"Betty" oil on canvas. 9" x 12." •

Jingle Bell and Peppermint

"Jingle Bell and Peppermint" 4" x 3.75"

Moments

"Found Ornament" oil on masonite 3.5" x 5." •

I went through the Christmas stuff this week and found this old ornament at the bottom of a box. We have lots and lots of decorations that we have accumulated over the years, many handmade beauties from the girls, made in elementary school. Some mark points in our history as a family, our first Christmas, the arrival of a baby, or that very cold winter at Boystown in Nebraska. Lots of memories hanging on that tree, one of my favorite parts of the holiday.

Mauginsville, MD

This is quick sketch I made of a grain elevator while it still stood by the tracks in Maugansville, MD. This is just a couple of miles up the tracks from our house.

See location on Google Maps

Waiting for pizza

Placemat sketch of a home across from Cafe Italia from 2004.

Google map location.

Hunting Season

"Double Ought" 2.5" x 3.75."

Construction

"Untitled" oil on wood panel, 11" x 17." •

This is a painting I made back in 1984. These two men were working on a large renovation project in Hyattsville, MD. They were quite nice about letting me take lots of pictures at the site, I had a real nice time that day.

Ball point pen at the pancake house

My daughter Alice and I were hanging out tonight at the Perkins in Edinboro Pennsylvania. This gentleman was sitting nearby.

Perkins is very much like the United Nations Institution of Pancake Studies, maybe better pie though :-/

Stick to Your Guns III

"Colt 44" oil on wood, 14" x 9."
Previous post here and then again here.

Dorothy

"Dorothy" pencil on paper

This is a sketch I did of my oldest daughter when she almost four years old, so many pushes on the swing ago. I cannot believe she is coming up in her 23rd birthday.

Leaf collection

"Leaf #3," oil on masonite.

There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises. The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand. But- and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny? If you follow one arrow, if you crouch motionless on a bank to watch a tremulous ripple thrill on the water and are rewarded by the sight of a muskrat kit paddling from its den, will you count that sight a chip of copper only, and go your rueful way? It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get.


Annie Dillard
from "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek."

Drawing Group II

This stuff is so hard after years away from steady weekly sessions. I am thankful to live near a university where a life drawing group is available.

Stick to Your Guns II

A little more progress on this piece of a piece. Oil on wood.
I love shiny stuff
Here is the previous post.

Ultramarine Blue

Ultramarine blue, I use a lot of this stuff! I think this is a tube from Utrecht in DC. I start just about every painting with this blue and burnt umber.

Dorothy

"Dorothy" 10" x 12" oil on masonite.

Stick To Your Guns

A work in progress, oil on wood panel, 14" x 9."

I got a thing for painting metal, and slinging lead.

A New Leaf

"Leaf study #2 " 4.5 x 6.75 oil on masonite.
Another leaf from a wonderful weekend with a wonderful lady.

Autumn Walk

Leaf Study, oil on masonite.

Amy and I took a long walk on the C&O Canal at four locks today. It rained on and off, the dog got a little muddy, but it was a lovely walk. The trail was in a tunnel of trees with beautiful autumn colors overhead.

January Afternoon, Hagerstown

"Power Plant" oil on masonite 14" x 10"
This was an amazing winter afternoon afternoon, the clouds and mountains behind the abandoned power plant seemed to bring the old building back to life.

Google maps street view.

Jefferson & Cleveland

"Jefferson & Cleveland," oil, 8" x 10" •
This is a house across from the Hayloft Tavern on the corner of Jefferson and Cleveland ave. in Hagerstown, MD. I am thinking about revisiting this location and painting it again, but much larger.

Google maps street view.

Middletown, Maryland

Oil on canvas, I forget how big, but it is kinda big, 30" x 44" maybe.
This is a town I ride through quite a bit, and it has some of the prettiest houses In Frederick County Maryland. This house has a wonderful porch that begs to host a mid-summer evening Monopoly game.

Google maps street view.

Twin Kiss

"Napkin Holder" oil on panel, 5" x 7"
This is a napkin holder at the Twin Kiss Drive-in, located in Quincy PA.

Location on Google Maps.

Filthy Hoe

"Backhoe #1" oil on masonite, 12" x 8"
This is a painting from a windy and frigid day at the end of the new runway at the Hagerstown Airport. I really liked the way the airport safety flag was so tattered, the well worn backhoe seemed to hold it proudly.

Google maps street view. The filthy hoe moved off that corner :-)

Longing

"Gracie" pencil and white conte crayon.

Today I went for a long ride on my motorcycle, far up into the chilly Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. The autumn colors were nearing their peak. I always think about my daughters on these long rides, particularly their childhood and beautiful autumn days like today. The drawing above is not of one of my daughters, but the wonderful daughter of a friend.

Night Time in The Switching Yard

"Abandoned in Winter" oil on masonite, 11" x 7."
Late at night, down at the switching yard on County Rt 1 in West Virginia, just across the Potomac river from Hancock MD. If I am not mistaken, this building is now gone.

Here is the location on google maps.

Centralia Pennsylvania II

"Queen Anne's Lace." 5" x 5" oil on masonite.

This was painted on South Street, in Centralia, PA. One of the many streets that pass empty lots where houses once stood, and where nature is taking back the street.

Berkeley Hotel

"Berkeley Hotel" oil on 16 gauge steel 4" x 6."
This is another in a series of a dozen or so small paintings on steel, that are going to be placed around town in Martinsburg, West VA. This building today is hardly recognizable, floors have been added and the widow's walk was removed.

Centralia Pennsylvania

"Centralia" Oil on masonite.

Centralia is the site of an underground mine fire that started burning on Memorial Day weekend in 1962. Nature has reclaimed just about all of the town, there are a few houses still standing, there is a fire house with an ambulance sitting inside. The blocks of houses and stores are now overgrown and empty. The ground is still smoking, it is pretty eerie place.

"Fire Underground: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire," is David DeKok's book on the Centralia disaster. It can be ordered on Amazon.

Weekend Warrior

"Untitled," acrylic on canvas. 23" x 19."
This is a nice fellow I met several years ago at the Monocacy Battlefield just south of Frederick, Maryland. He was one of many people camped there for the weekend with their 19th century clothing and equipment. I find it funny to see one of these guys and his family in a mini van, all decked out in their gear, drive up to the drive through at MacDonalds and grab a ton of fast food. Back at the camp, it's all salted pork and lots of beans.

Savoy

"Plymouth Savoy," oil on canvas. 9" x 12."
This is a painting I never really got around to finishing. The car belongs to Jimmy Stewart, a guy that lives around the block from me. He bought this car a while back, and has done very little work on it, the paint has a wonderful, slightly dull patina. The interior is well worn, but not ragged. Jimmy looks like he was born to drive this car, both he and his car appear as though they slipped through some tear in time and arrived here from 1955. He lives in his 1950s rancher, and works over at the Mack Truck plant on the edge of town. This is the car he drives to work.

Lulu

"Lulu," 5" x 7" oil on masonite.
This is Lulu, our 5 year old Chihuahua. She is a harmless little 5 pound goofball. Lulu hates Bob the cat, and the mailman. Other than that she loves everyone. When she sees our neighbors her whole rear end wags along with her tail.

This news story made me so angry when I read it.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/137/justice-for-zoey

Doin' The Peppermint Twist

"Peppermint," oil in masonite, 2" x 2.5"
This piece was inspired by a 2"x2" show at the Washington County Arts Council last year. I participated in that show and had a lot of fun doing a couple of pieces for the exhibit. Doing small works like this provides instant gratification or disappointment for a very small time investment.

From a little while ago

This article was published about a year ago. It features me and 5 other artists from Washington County Maryland.

Black and Decker

"Black and Decker drill," oil on masonite.
I am very fond of this old drill. It was part of a few boxes of tools and hardware my father-in-law gave me when he and my mother-in-law moved from their house to an apartment. I am sure he used it for countless projects over the 40+ years he and his family lived in that wonderful house. My wife remembers getting up early many Saturday mornings for pancakes, followed by a trip to the hardware store with her father. This drill is all metal, even the trigger is steel. I suppose there could be a shock hazard with this old drill. but back in the 50's you took that kind of thing in stride.

Drawing Group

I finally got back to the local drawing group after being away for a little over a year. My work schedule just made it difficult to attend on a regular basis. It was fun to go and spend a couple hours drawing this model, she was really great. Hopefully I will be able to do this a couple of times a month, and get back into the swing of things. I felt very rusty tonight.

Yankee

"Baseball Card," 2.5" x 3.5" oil on steel.
Another in a series of paintings of common items on 16 gauge steel. I realize this particular card is no longer really common. I will most likely tweak this painting a bit more.

Along Frederick Steet

This is a house I often pass on my way home from work. It is an empty house sitting alone by the tracks near a few empty stores in an industrial area in Hagerstown, MD.

Here is the street view of that house on Google Maps.

Pie Oh My

"Lemon Meringue Pie," Oil on 16 gauge steel.

Dead Elves

"Dead Elph," oil on masonite.

I have had 2 Canon Elphs. I love the design of these little metal cameras, they are so beautiful. I just wish they would live for more than a year. I have two dead Elphs or Elves.

Waiting for the Surgeon

My daughter had to have emergency surgery over the weekend, it was quite unexpected. We sat in a hospital room for a couple of hours very early in the morning, and waited for her doctor to summon us to the operating room. Next door there was an interesting family paying a relative a visit. My daughter was very nervous about the operation. We passed the time by handing a sketchbook back and forth, making drawings of the family next to us based on what they were saying. This little activity seem to ease the tension quite a bit. The surgery was a success.

Blues Harp

Oil sketch on masonite.

White Lake, NY

I spent a few days in White Lake New York taking care of my dad. I also spent time picking blueberries and did a little painting outdoors. This is a painting of truck parked next to the farmhouse at the place where my dad lives. The truck is named "Blackie," it is used for various odd jobs around the property and around town. The weather got very windy, so I had to hurry along with this piece. 9"x6", oil on masonite.

Peterbilt Cabover

This is a piece I am messing around with, but it is not done yet. This beast has been parked on the edge of town, out near the rail yard for months.

Live on Outer Drive

I have become fond of using Moleskine notebooks. They are handy enough to carry around in a back pocket, and very nicely made.

CSX

"Underpass" oil on masonite 5"x10."

Burhans Blvd. in Hagerstown MD. very late at night. These trains run from here out to West Virginia, or up into central Pennsylvania.

Google Maps street view.