Tellico Flow

This is a section of the Tellico River flowing through the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee and North Carolina. I was attracted to the contrasts in light and dark, the texture and size of the rocks, the deep green of the dark woods and the sound of the water.

Old Cornplanter

This old farm implement sits in the leaves in Greenfield, Tennessee; the site of my grandfather's boyhood farm. I was looking in his attic one time and opened one of his old schoolbooks where he had written some random thoughts. This is one, "I walked all day behind a mule and my legs is so tired." Now I don't know for sure that this is the very implement that he walked behind that day, but I think it stands a good chance.

Those two upright disks lay down and make marks telling the farmer where he has been. The seed corn would be in those two hoppers in front.

I have painted and drawn this thing many times, but it never fails to catch my eye with all its angles and protuberances and hints of rustic history. This time I caught it in the orange afternoon sun of December. I couldn't figure out how to capture the orange glow on the rusty metal, so I broke from my usual practice and overlaid a little red prismacolor pencil here and there. That did the trick.

Pom Squad

We were at the Tiger Walk at Auburn University back in 2012 just before a game. My camera battery died, so I took a bunch of low res shots with my cellphone. I removed most of the people from this one and simplified the background. I loved putting the color into the long shadows. And by the way…War Eagle!

Mrs. Cardinal

Female cardinals are sometimes described as "dull" colored in comparison to their male counterpart. Well…the more I looked, the more colors I saw.

Quiescence

This is from photo-reference from last fall. I took a walk through Memphis Botanic Gardens and went through a section called the Japanese Garden. It is a beautiful place. Quiescence means quiet and still.

Storm On The Way

This is the sky over Auburn, Alabama. I was there visiting my son on the campus. Wet in wet watercolor can do some amazing things if you can control it.

Stone Path

Designed from photo-reference from a walk I took through Memphis Botanic Gardens a couple of years ago. I love everything about the fall…especially the visual feast of fall colors.