Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Artful Tribute to my son

I spent the past couple of months carving this gravestone for my only son Jim Jr. who died in a plane crash last January. The slate slab weighed 350 lbs. before I began cutting it. I went to a shop in Rhode Island to learn to carve slate, never realizing that this would be my one and only gravestone I will ever do.

Fall day at Harpersfield Covered Bridge

It was cool and misty when I arrived early Sunday morning to paint the bridge. I needed a day away from the thousands of Harleys that grace Rt. 84 every sunny weekend. I suspect it's the guys with a microphallus condition who mount the extra-loud pipes that rattle my brain matter from the obnoxious audio output they generate. I had such a peaceful morning, until every bike in three states came to see the covered bridges this past weekend. Sucks to be me sometimes, but then, my life tends to read like a comic book most of the time.

A tree at my house

I decided to look around my property to find something worthy of painting. I recently took a class with Albert Handell, and saw him extract "blood from a turnip". He warned against being a postcard painter; that you will find interesting subject matter right under your nose.