Village at Hendrix Preview Show

Here are my three paintings at the Village at Hendrix Designer House Preview show.  No they aren't landscapes or Arkansas related but I felt like posting this anyway since it is pertinant to art in this region.

This is a live/work home.  It would be distinguished from a residence over a business that you might see in older cities by the fact that it is a single family home and not a row.  This development is based upon the New Urban aesthetic of Seaside, Florida.  I have been told but have not confirmed that some of the same architects who designed Seaside were involved in The Village as well.  At this point in time, the lower commercial space is housing an impromptu gallery that is stocked by Pictures Et Cetera in Conway.  I would link to their website but I don't think they have one.  One of their artists is the incredibly talented Bill Garrison.  He's one of my absolute favorite Arkansas artists and I hope he does another workshop around here pretty soon.

I had the chance to explain these pieces, which have messages encoded on them in ASCII binary, to the mayor of Conway among many others.  I feel honored that of all of the rooms in the home decorated by various designers around the region, only one designer chose to hang obviously original art and that was mine. 

Village at Hendrix Preview Tours

I've been a bit quiet here lately but that because I've been hard at work on 3 paintings for the Village at Hendrix Designer House.  Those are 3 of my more esoteric type pieces with coded messages.  I guess I would tend to call them abstract but that's a bit of a stretch.  Objective Abstraction perhaps??  Anyway, that show starts tomorrow night with a $50 per person dinner and cocktail party at the Designer House at 1105 Reynolds Avenue in Conway, AR.

I have 2 other events coming up in October as well.  The first is the Flying Jam at the Searcy County Airport in Marshall, AR on October 2nd.  The other is called ColorFest at the Ponca Elk Education Center in Ponca, AR in Newton County.  That is the weekend of October 23 and 24.  That's usually prime fall color time in the Ozarks.  Autumn in the Ozarks may not be quite the radiance of New England but the region certainly can hold its own and there's a definite magic to it.  I would highly recommend a visit if you can.  It's certainly a plus that you can see a herd of elk in rut during that same time in the same valley!  As that time draws near, I'll post more about that.

I hope to be able to get in some painting at both of these events as well as get back at the landscape painting.

Junction 57, Stephens, Ouachita County

Jct 57, Stephens

8X10, Oil on Wood

Available

It's been a while since I've posted new material.  Here's one from our 4 county trip in southern Arkansas a few months ago.  We skirted up the western edge of Ouachita County.  Stephens was the first town we encountered.  What a photogenic little place this was!  I have plenty of material from this town.  After Stephens, we went up 57 and made our way to Poison Spring Battlefield.  I had been there once many years before but didn't remember very much about it.  I was a bit disappointed in that there were no cannon placements or any such items that would have made nice painting material.  We also spun over to White Oak Lake and after getting gas in Chidester we headed up to Gurdon for our last stop of the day.

We've talked some about going back to Magnolia for a weekend this fall or winter over a weekend.  If so, we'll take in El Dorado, Camden and more of Ouachita County, as well as a county or two to the west.

Bare Bones, Village at Hendrix Show

Ozark Stonehenge #2

Oil on Canvas, 12X16

SOLD

Well, it's way past due for another post here.  The above painting is one of 2 pieces selected for the Diamond National Show at the Hot Springs Fine Arts Center.  This is roughly based on an actual location in Newton County between Vendor and Highway 7.  I've painted it before and I expect I'll paint it again.  I'm fascinated by the rocks poking their heads out of the earth poised precariously at the edge of the hill.  In other areas near here, many similar rocks have been uncovered by the processes of rain and have tumbled into piles.  That would also make a few fine paintings!  The Art Center called today and asked if my 2 pieces could stay for another month.  They've gotten a lot of interest so I'll probably be going down there next Friday for the Hot Springs Art Walk and hopefully meet a few people who like my work.

Last night I was in Conway at the Village at Hendrix for a show with the Conway League of Artists.  Hendrix is a prestigious private liberal arts college.  Hendrix was one of my first choices of colleges way back when.  I got accepted and was planning to major in Physics but their scholarship offer was eclipsed by the good old University or Arkansas.  It's hard to beat a full ride for 4 years and Engineering was a much more in demand degree.  Interesting to note, Hendrix also has the ONLY fully sanctioned lacrosse program in the state.  Lacrosse is one of my favorite sports along with hockey.

But I digress.  Hendrix Village is a mixed use development that is being developed by the college (more info on that here).  One of the first residential units is being finished out and the developers wanted to show it off.  They invited the Conway League of Artists to bring some work out with a focus on contemporary pieces so that local interior designers could see the space and maybe get a look at some of the artistic talent as well.  A team of designers will be decorating the home for a month long show beginning at the end of September.  One of my pieces caught the eye of one of the designers and she asked if I would be willing to do more work like that for her space!  I, of course, said yes.  It's a fantastic opportunity and I hope it pans out.  My fingers are crossed!

Below are some pictures from the event.

Yes, that is mine.  I do more than landscapes!

Outside of the building

Beautiful home inside!

Deer, Newton County

Deer, Arkansas

8X10, Oil on Board
Available

Deer is a town way up in the in the Ozark highlands in Newton County. At over 2200 feet above sea level, it may be the town at the highest altitude in the state. Despite having been in much of Newton County, I had never been to Deer before last fall when I made a point to pass through when attending an event called ColorFest at the Arkansas Game and Fish Elk Education Center in Ponca. The sky was full of leaden clouds and a mist hung over the hills, not at all unusual for a fall day in the Ozarks. I took a few pictures and whipped this out a week or two later. I'm looking forward to getting back up that way this fall for ColorFest again.

I'm going to start posting the prices of my pieces just in case someone sees something of interest. At this time, I will not be accepting Paypal because I'm a bit of a Luddite in some regards and the world is unfortunately full of nastiness. I will gladly accept check, money order and of course cash. Prices are shipped anywhere in the continental US.

Still Pumping, Highway 371 North of Magnolia, Columbia County

Still Pumping

8X10, Oil on Wood
Available

Oil was discovered in Arkansas in sizable quantities in January of 1921. The first discoveries were in Ouachita County just to the east of Columbia County. Oil fields in Arkansas are almost entirely in the southern part of the state which were largely swampy millions of years ago when the Gulf of Mexico extended much further to the north than it does today. The region boomed during the 1920's as over 3000 wells pumped at full capacity and exhausted much of the supply before the end of the decade. Some oil is still being produced though as evidenced by this modern pumping station still in use. This location is on Highway 371 and is a few miles north of Magnolia.

It was not intentional but my color scheme turns out to be a nice homage to a beautiful mural in Magnolia telling some of the story of the oil boom as it related specifically to Magnolia and Columbia County. Magnolia has some fantastic murals!

Speaking of which, that painting is still in works. I'm terribly anxious to finish it but I just can't rush it. I think it would do terrible injustice to a city I found to be a gem. So, you'll have to keep waiting as I try to make it perfect...a tall order made tougher by the fact I don't like I'm doing particularly fine work at the moment. I can't put my finger on precisely what I think the problem is but they just aren't living up to my expectations.