Ft. Mountain Landscape Sketch

On the drive back down from Ohio to Florida, I made a couple stops including one in Dalton, GA to visit a friend. While she was away at work one day, I ventured out around the small town and saw signs for "Ft. Mountain State Park" which sounded pretty interesting, so I followed them thinking it was just down the street. About 30 minutes later I realized I had actually driven up a mountain to get to it. I thought the "Mountain" was a nickname, but it turns out the "Fort" part of the name is actually the nickname.

Venturing around the park I found great overlooks, pristine forests, massive rock formations, and two mysterious stone structures believed to have been built by natives. With my easel and paints already in the car, I decided to try a small 5x7 landscape sketch even though the midday lighting wasn't exactly producing very inspiring compositions. I set up at the East Overlook on a viewing platform and about an hour later came up with what technically is my first ever painting of mountains now that I think about it...

Straight From The Crate

Now on view at Shoparooni gallery in Cleveland is a group show "Straight From The Crate," featuring artwork made on or from old vinyl records. Here's my contribution, entitled "Life On Mars." It's acrylic painted directly onto the partially gessoed surface of the vinyl.

If interested, click here to go to the gallery's online store.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox

Here's my imagining of the folk legend Paul Bunyan, who to me is the symbol of hearty strength and hard work.

In designing my rendition of Babe the Blue Ox, I imagine him to be generally playful and docile being Bunyan's loyal wilderness companion. But because it is the wilderness, I also imagine Babe can be fierce when necessary.