Mrs. Cox's Tavern

This small 5" x 7" study is of Mrs. Cox's Tavern, which is at the corner of Middle and Main Streets in Little Washington. It is now the Inn at Little Washington Gift Shops.

This study is oil on a piece of gessoed bristol board. I have started doing these studies in order to determine if I am excited enough about the subject to do a larger version and to work out the composition and color. I don't think this is the painting I was looking for......some sunnier colors would suit the subject better, so I will wait for a sunnier day and try it again.

By the way, my small studies are for sale in a mat for $150.oo. Contact me at 540675-3039 or at sha45rps@starpower.net.

More Thoughts on What I Love to Paint

This blog thing is hard!!! Life happens and then you realize it has been a week since your last posting.

We now know I am not and never will be an equestrian artist. And although I have painted foxes, thats not my true calling.

I am often in Washington DC at the National Gallery of Art and I am always exhilarated by the city hustle and bustle, the sounds and smells and in general, the exact opposite of where I choose to live. But, for me to paint cityscapes would be a real mistake. I am and always will be a country girl. Dirt under my nails, quiet country noises of the birds and crickets, and rural vistas are what define me. I am so motivated by a dilapidated barn or a vineyard vista. The Blue Ridge Mountains are visible from my front porch and I can pick my own vegetables each year from my back yard garden. Oh, did I mention that I canned 40 quarts of tomatoes the year before?

No, I am not a painter of Urban sprawl or city scenes. Neither am I a plein air painter, although I do it from time to time. But, I am indeed a landscape artist in much the same manner as Parrish, Church and Cole were landscape artists. I love the landscape and am often outdoors. I have hiked a few trails, done my share of camping and white water rafting. Indeed, I do love the landscape and landscape painting, but only from the warmth of the studio, field notes and glass of Merlot in hand. You don't have to pick flies out of your paint that way.

Egg Commission, Final Day

This is the finished painting after another five hours work on the finer details. I think the clients were happy with it. While working on it, a couple came into the gallery and commented on how beautiful the brown shells were on the inside area. I was pleased with the dripping egg white. I love to paint slippery and shiny stuff.

Eggs commission, Day 2

This is the end of day two. I actually worked on this for about three hours, not an entire 8 hour day. Notice the signature is already there. I have received critism for doing this, signing the painting before finished. But, I once had dozens of unfinished paintings stacked around my studio. I know it sounds silly, but I have found that when I put my name on it, the painting gets finished. I usually have three or four paintings going at the same time and this actually helps me to finish what I start.

Eggs Painting Commission

This is day one, the block in, of a small commission I recently finished.

Death of Moby

Here are photos of the watersnake that devoured most of my fish. We don't know how long he was in our pond, but judging from his size and the loss of fish I noticed each day, I surmise he had been in the pond area only three or four days. Last night at dinner, I spotted him entering the pond again and Brett sprung into action. He ran outside and grabbed the lily pad trimmer, a long aluminum pole with a blade mechanism on the end for cutting or grabbing lily pads and spent blossoms. With amazing stealth and agility, Brett managed to put the blade around the snakes' neck and grab and pull it out of the pond. I stood by with the garden shovel and together we chopped off the snakes' head. All our pets excitedly watched. They all knew the snake was around for days and I would see them sniffing the area excitedly each day when I would let them out of the house. As you can see from the photos, the snake is about 3 patio blocks long, stretched out. Each block is 12 inches long, so my snake was 36 inches long and he was almost as thick as my forearm. Fortunately he was not a poisonous snake. The sad news is, when Brett held him up to throw into the woods, there were two large, fish shaped lumps in its' tummy. One of those lumps was Moby, Brett's favorite fish.
Moby has been in our pond for 10 years and had reached a length of 8 inches. Moby was the very first baby born in our pond from our originally purchased goldfish and Moby was solid black. We lovingly called him our "Stealth Fish" because you could not see him easily in the pond.

Mental Note: Paint a memorial painting of Moby.

Working Among the Wildlife

On Monday while I was working on some raspberry studies, a smallish black bear came running past my gallery window on Main Street. Seems the young bear had come into town looking for bird feeders and then became frightened when he ran into some folks in town. Shortly thereafter, the animal control folks came by in pursuit. Later the same day, three families of Canada Geese came strolling down Main Street with about 16 young goslings following. I was so excited to tell all my city friends about the day when I was at The Art League yesterday.

Would you believe, I went out to my fishpond this morning with coffee cup in hand just before sunrise. I was surprised to find a water snake in the pond having a big helping of my largest goldfish. He came out of the pond as soon as the sun was up and warming the flagstones and he slithered into my yucca plants. I am sure he will return for another meal in a day or so. Until then, I have to figure out how to be rid of him. I also need to identify whether or not he is poisonous.