Travel Friday

"A Mirrored Barn" - 8 x 10" - oil

Available at The Arts Company

While most folks were battling it out at the malls on Black Friday, Evelyn and I spent the day driving to Nashville, TN.  In addition to visiting family, we needed to drop off some new pieces at The Arts Company in downtown Nashville.  The painting above was a demo for my painting class at the McConnell Arts Center but now it's part of the inventory at The Arts Company.

The drop off went fairly smooth which allowed us more time to catch up with our nieces (age 6 and 9).  When we weren't getting our butts handed to us in Twister, Operation or any number of Wii games, we worked on the shields (shown below) that will soon hang on their backyard play fort.  It was great to see just how much they appreciated the work.  For us it was just another day as artists.

Shedding

"Cloud Nine" - 30" x 40" - oil

Available at Glave Kocen Gallery

For the past week I've accomplished absolutely nothing as far as painting. I've been focused on clearing up some studio space. Initially it started out as some minor spring cleaning and then it turned into a full expansion. For those of you that don't know my painting process, I like to make my own painting panels with the exception of some of the larger works on canvas. This process often brings along a lot of dust with the use of a miter, circular and table saw. While the occasional dog hair can't be avoided, dust is just plain annoying. So for the past week or so Evelyn and I have been working hard towards building a shed for the building process. Now I'll actually be able to use the studio for painting. Here are some photos from the construction site known as my backyard.

Even my dog was working.

Special thanks to Cynthia (Spreadsheet), Victor, Mr. & Mrs. Davis and Evelyn...of course.

These are "The Breaks"

"The James #7" - 8 x 10" - oil

Sold

Last week I did the gallery roundabout. This includes driving from Ohio to Virginia then from Virginia to Tennessee and back to Ohio. We picked up some pieces and dropped off some new work. The painting above is just one of the six new paintings that we delivered to BJ Kocen and Jennifer Glave of the Glave Kocen Gallery. While I'm thinking of BJ, I better mention this little tid bit....

Late last year I taught an illustration class at Otterbein College. One of the projects was to create a CD cover for my good friend/ talented musician BJ Kocen. The project went over fairly well. Of course only one of the illustrations could be used for the cover. And the winner was.... Lindsey Billingsley! Take time to check out her site and listen to some of musical stylings of BJ Kocen's "The Breaks."

Clair Huxtable 2.0

"A Better Day" - 5" x 7" - oil

click here to bid or purchase

I've always had an unusual take on Mother's Day. I'm not going to start bad mouthing mothers because mom is one of the very best. She puts up with all of my shenanigans. She almost always has a grill cheese ready for me when I come over. She supported my career as an artist even when many laughed at the idea. Mother's Day to me isn't about showing her that you love her and all of that mushy stuff but more importantly, for those of you who have siblings, it's about upstaging your brother or sister. It's about turning mom into an emotional pile of goo and realizing that you've won her over once again. I don't know what my brother has in store this year but I think that this year is mine. Here's to all of those moms that support the arts.

Out of my Element

"Boogie" - 5" x 7" - oil

Sold

Currently we're in New Jersey visiting friends and family. Since I'm literally out of my element I thought that it would be appropriate to post a painting that isn't "the norm" for me. As if I don't have enough to do. This painting is my contribution to the Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge. It's nice to step out of your comfort zone every now and then even if that means getting out of the state or taking on an unfamiliar subject. Once I'm back home I'll post some of the pieces that I shipped earlier this week to Virginia.