Training Wheels

Where to begin?

First things first. I painted a thank you gift for my friend, Tom, who loaned me his truck for three months. He's a white water rafting nut so I painted a white water rafter in the throes of white water. It was the least I could do. If you squint, you can almost make it out.

I had not painted but a few things in over a year. After my last Age of Flowers piece, I packed up my Charlottesville house and studio and made the move to Nashville where there was unpacking, adjustment, orientation and small repairs and improvements. Then, suddenly, I was designing and building the studio. That was my art project of the year.

Now, here I was at my drawing table in my new studio and I had no notion of what I would work on. A Swedish songwriter friend came over to visit and, after taking it all in, said, "Well, this is quite a commitment." Indeed! Inspired or not, it was time to get to work.

So I picked up where I left off, with flowers.



But that no longer felt genuine or interesting or satisfying. So I made some copies — always a good exercise — Carel Fabritus, David, Kandinsky.



I joined a local plein air group but that wasn't what I was after.

Eventually, through trial and error, turning in many circles and throwing a lot of work away, I found my way to the beginnings of Landscape into Art.