Spire of the South

Spire of the South

6X8, Oil on Panel

Available

So you're painting along and you've spent about 2 hours on something new and you're just about to close up the session.  You've got all the bones of the design in place.  All you have left in the next and maybe last session is the muscles, the light, and some jazz.  But then you see it... holy shit, how did I make THAT BIG of a screw up!

Then you sit, and sit, and sit wondering, pondering the choices, the solutions, all the options.  All the while, it whispers in the back of your mind, "Do I even bother to fix it??"

Well, did I?

Calhoun County Courthouse, Hampton, Arkansas.

#28 of 50

Columbia County Courthouse, Columbia County

Columbia County Courthosue

18X24, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

Shortly after I started this project, I went down to southern Arkansas to gather photo references of several counties.  In fact, I think it was my first trip dedicated solely to this project.  I knew I had to do a painting of this courthouse and proceeded to paint one in this exact size that had a lot of promise but I didn't think it fulfilled what I wanted from it.  You can see that on here.  It was much more faithful to my original photo.  This version I think puts the courthouse front and center like I originally wanted. 

Monroe County Courthouse #2, Monroe County

Monroe County Courthouse #2

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

During my show at Cantrell Gallery last year, I had a plein air I did of this courthouse that focused on the tower.  It sold during the show.  A few weeks later, someone called the gallery asking if it was still available and when informed it was not asked if I would do another one for them.  So I finally remembered and painted this one in time for my show this year.  I was pretty happy to oblige since I find this to be among the top ten courthouses in the state.  The show, by the way, opens next Friday!

White County Courthouse, Searcy, AR, White County

White County Courthouse

11X14, Oil on Panel

Available

 

 

Arkansas has many gorgeous courthouses and White County's is in my top 10 favorites for sure.

Calhoun County Courthouse, Hampton, AR, Calhoun County

Calhoun County Courthouse

8X10, Oil on Panel

Available

 



Calhoun County is one of the smallest in Arkansas by population.  It is smack dab in the middle of timber country and I suspect the small population is due in part at least to the fact that timber companies own most of the land!

This painting was much more difficult than I believe it should have been and I'm not sure why.  It was also terribly difficult to photograph.  I may revisit this subject sometime in the future.

This is my first completed new county of the year!  I have put myself under the gun in the first half of the year.  I have committed to Cantrell Gallery that I will have this project complete by the time my show there hangs at the beginning of May!  I have 13 counties left to do.  Not sure how I'm going to pull this off.

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Bradley County Courthouse, Warren, Bradley County

Bradley County Courthouse

8X10, Oil on Panel

 Available

 

 

Warren was probably my favorite town I visited during my trip.  It had lots of great buildings and a surprising rolling landscape that gave really nice views of the downtown area which is built up on a small rise.  I set up by the local historical society and painted for far too long again.

 

One interesting thing to note, while painting both in Warren and Rison, I had people stop and ask if the painting would be in the newspaper.  I thought that was kind of strange.

 

57/75

Cleburne County Courthouse, Cleburne County

Cleburne County Courthouse

8X10, Oil on Panel

 

 

Here's another one I started en plein air while in Heber Springs a couple of months ago.  This one was mostly complete when I decided I was done working with it on site.

Arkansas League of Artists Annual Juried Show

Simpson County Mississippi Courthouse

11X14, Oil on Panel

 

I am very pleased to say the above painting was juried into the ALA Annual Show.  I am also now a Signature Member of ALA as a result of this achievement.

Monroe County Courthouse, Clarendon, AR

Monroe County Courthouse

8X10, Oil on Panel

SOLD

I was recently invited to the town of Clarendon by the wife of the mayor to do some painting.  Clarendon is in the Delta of eastern Arkansas and is smack dab at the confluence of White  and Cache Rivers.  

Clarendon suffers from the same ills as most of the rest of the Delta: lack of industry and jobs that drives the young to the cities.  There is a great wealth of farming in the Delta, from soybeans, rice and still some cotton, but not enough jobs associated with that industry to sustain the communities.  Still, some people know what these communities used to be and are doing everything that can to save them.  Clarendon recently was awarded a matching grant for beautification of the downtown area.  They also hope that a change in how the Cache River channel is managed will improve fishing and bring more commerce to the area.  I hope so too, the town still has charm but may not for much longer if the decline cannot be reversed.

I took quite a few pictures while I was there and hope to do more from Clarendon in time.

Jefferson County Courthouse, Pine Bluff, Jefferson Co

Jefferson County Courthouse

11X14, Oil on Birch Panel

SOLD

Last weekend I went down to Pine Bluff to paint what I think may be the most striking courthouse in Arkansas.    The Jefferson County courthouse is this marvelous white with a glowing golden painted dome.   While not the most ornate courthouse in the state, it certainly does stand out.  It was built in 1856 and partially burned in the '70's.  I had never been to Pine Bluff before last Saturday.  It is a small town with big city problems and the reputation of the town is well known.  I found a downtown deserted on a Saturday morning.  Almost no business was open and the traffic count on Barraque Street, what should be a fairly major street in downtown, was probably no more than 30 cars the whole time I was there.  Several passed by me more than once.  Only one person came by to talk to me and I only saw one other person on foot.

I set up in the shadow of a building across the street from the courthouse, knowing the blazing hot sun would soon rear up over the top of the roofline and bath me.  I had been hoping to catch the building fully backlit so I could explore some more color in the sky but by the time I got there, the sun was already high enough that no cool sky colors were to be found.  You might could call this a modified Sargent palette.  I used Cobalt blue, yellow ochre, and transparent red oxide which I consider to be in essence the same as what Sargent used for a lot of his architectural work.  He probably used ivory black which can appear very blue when tinted and used alongside warmer colors. 

I struggled mightily with size and perspective in this one.  The color of the shadowed white building also gave me fits.  I should have done it from the eastern side so as to avoid that problem but it's always good to take on a challenge.  There were several moments when I almost gave up on it.

After I had had enough of this one, I wandered about the streets for a while, taking photos.  It was enough to rend the preservationist soul of me.  I could clearly see what the town of Pine Bluff had been and what it still could be.  But the fact I could stand in the middle of Main Street for minutes on end trying to find the best vantage point possible on a Saturday morning spoke volumes for how far this town has fallen. 

As is all too often the case with me, I fell in love with what I could see the town becoming.  I know I'll be back.

Jacksonport Courthouse, Jackson County

Jacksonport Courthouse

8X8, Oil on Oak Panel

The weather last weekend here in central Arkansas was fantastic!  We had highs on Saturday in the 70's!  Sunday was pretty decent too so I took a trip up to the Delta in northeast Arkansas to paint and take pictures.  I stopped first at Jacksonport State Park in Jackson County.  The town of Jacksonport is at the confluence of the White and Black Rivers.  Back in the day of steam boats, this was a bustling hub of commerce and the Jackson County courthouse here was a focal point of early pioneer life.  When rail became the transport mode of choice, Jacksonport was supplanted by nearby Newport in terms of both commerce and legal power.  The county seat was moved from Jacksonport to Newport and a new courthouse constructed.  This once marvelous example of Mansord Architecture fell into disuse for many years before being bought in the 1960's by a conservation group and a lengthy restoration begun.  I did two paintings here.  This was my favorite because of the play of light across the highly pitched roofline.  The other I guess I'll do some studio work and maybe post it later.  It's a small 5X7.

After leaving Jacksonport, I explored Newport as the temperature began to drop.  Then I headed east to Poinsett County and the anomolous landform of Crowley's Ridge where I did another small painting which I'll definitely finish out in the studio.  After that, I rolled through Cross county and Woodruff County as clouds rolled in and I rushed to finish picture taking and get home.

I can already tell that painting in the Delta is going to be very different and possibly quite difficult for me.  The sky is very dominant in the flat land of the Delta.  Pure landscapes will be very much skyscapes.  The easy way would be do a bunch of almost identical looking, non-descript fields with distant treelines or grain silos.  But I'm never one to take the easy route.