Keesee Church, Monarch, Marion County

Keesee Church

8X10, Oil on Panel

SOLD

At the beginning of May, I attended my first ever plein air competition, Plein Air on the White River in the northern part of the state.  This area is close to where I grew up so I know it well.  The competition is centered around the town of Cotter.  The White River has been dammed up in several places, forming Beaver, Bull Shoals, and Table Rock Lakes.  The water that pours out of Bull Shoals Dam is cold and provides a great habitat for trout, making Cotter a haven for fly fishermen.  Most attendees spent a lot of time around the river near Cotter painting the typical scenes.  I, however, in typical contrarian fashion, struck out far and wide and found things no one else would have looked for.  This little church is tucked down a long valley about 20 miles from Cotter near Monarch.  Monarch isn't really a town anymore even though a lot of people still refer to it almost as if it is.  I used to pass by this church often.

Honeysuckle and Home, Rector, Clay Co.

Honeysuckle and Home, Rector, AR

6X8, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

It is a very special challenge trying to paint buildings on such small sizes and have them look like how I want.  This one was well begun on site but had to be finished up in studio.  It was officially the LAST of the 75 counties!  YAY!!!

Daffodils Near Mounds, Greene County

Daffodils Near Mounds

9X12, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

 

One of my favorites from the entire project!

Just an Update!

Yesterday, I took down my show at Cantrell Gallery.  It was another great, successful show this year but the effort of finishing this Painting Arkansas project really put me under.  I guess that was part of the reason I didn't post anything about the show here like I normally would.  So, yes, I am done!  But I still have to post and document two counties.  Both of those paintings sold during the show.  I have barely touched a paint brush in the last 2 months but am slowly getting back to work.  Be on the lookout for new stuff very soon!

The Ol' Cash Place, Mississippi County

The Ol' Cash Place

9X12, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

 

Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Mississippi County.

Craig's BBQ, Prairie County

Craig's BBQ

14X18, Oil on Panel

SOLD

 

 

Sometime around the summer of 1989 or 1990, I was selected for a gifted and talented program called Project LAND.  This was part of a group of summer programs for high school students that went on all over the state.  I had previously attended one near my hometown called Project CAVES in which students were able to study and explore and caverns.  Project LAND was a bit further from home.  It was based in the Delta town of De Valls Bluff.  I don't think I had ever really been in the Delta before this.  This program consisted of 4 weeks of traveling the state of Arkansas and camping most every night.  It sounded a lot more fun that it really was.  We had to wake up early every  morning and break camp and load up in vans and travel to the next destination and learning opportunities.  We were supposed to keep a journal of what we saw and experienced and the instructors did not allow us to sleep in the vans since we were supposed to be writing in our journals.  In many ways, that experience laid the groundwork for this very project of painting something from every county.  I don't know if we traveled through every county during those 4 weeks but we must have come close.  I do know that as I did research for places to visit for this effort, I relied a lot on my experiences from Project LAND.

 

At the end of the 4 weeks, I was ready to get home.  My dad came down from the hills to pick me up but before we left the Delta, we stopped in at a little white cinder block building just outside of town.  Inside, I had my first true experience of barbecue.  It was a simple pulled pork sandwich with dry slaw and I will never forget it.  It's still to this day how I eat a pulled pork sandwich.  For many years, I thought the place was in Hazen which is just a few miles outside of De Valls Bluff but when I went over that way a few months ago, I discovered that white cinder block building was actually in De Valls Bluff proper and not very much outside of town as I remembered it being.  I also remembered it being almost in an open field with no trees behind it.  I don't know if that memory is accurate and all the trees are the product of 25 years of growth or if my memory is faulty.  But I do know without a doubt the Craig's BBQ left an impression on me, as did Project LAND.