Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover

                                                           

Moses

                                                                             
Moses and a couple of his dedicated friends stake out the intersection of Main and Mountain street a couple times a year displaying their signs indicating their convictions.  One sign says Repent, one sign says the Devil Sucks,  another says Honk If You Love Jesus and the other sign says The End Is Near.  They don't cause any problems unless you don't like their signs!  They look like the motor cycle crew they were in a previous life.  But looks are deceiving.  Moses said that in his previous life he had committed about every devious and sinful thing that a man could do....then Jesus got a hold of him.  He still looks the same as he did before on the outside but on the inside he said Jesus changed his heart.  He is part of a ministry that travels to different motor cycle rallies sharing his new life with those that need his testimony.  Next time you see him in Kernersville........Honk  

Orphans

Larry (the Starling) Bird 

Larry was a baby starling that had fallen out of its nest.  It had only downy feathers and still appeared to be blind.  Penny (my wife) placed it into an old shoe box filled with some soft material and covered it with a feather duster.  For the next three weeks she fed it bugs, worms, hamburger and left-over cat food.  By Penny's vigilance and a small miracle, that baby bird managed to survive.

When it came time for Larry to fly, we took it into the backyard so we could send it off to join the bird world - but Larry had other plans.  He flew from Penny's finger to my head and back to Penny's finger.  Finally, Larry flew up into a tree and we both were relieved.  When Penny came back out of the house to make sure that Larry was really gone, he flew down from the tree and landed on her head.

We couldn't get rid of Larry.  Penny took him to the barn when she would go feed Sabra.  Larry would sit on  her shoulder the whole time.  He was so tame that anyone could handle him.  Finally, I took him to the golf course and released him there, but an hour later the pro at the club called us to come back and get the bird that was flying down and landing on the golfers heads as they were trying to tee off.

We continue to set Larry free each day until one day, he didn't return.  I would like to say that his story had  a happy ending, but I found a dead starling in the swimming pool not long after that, and I'm not sure it wasn't Larry.  It was years before I could bring myself to tell Penny.

Good Morning Millard

Good Morning Millard

Almost every morning in the late 1970's and early 1980's, an elderly black gentleman named Millard Stafford would pass by my shop.  I remembered Mr. Stafford from my childhood, when he worked at the local Justice movie theater.  America was segregated back then.  He collected tickets at the side of the building for the black patrons who had to sit in the balcony.  He was always well-dressed and well spoken, and no one could pass him on the street without receiving a warm greeting and a tip of the hat.

 This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

Remembering My Grandmother

Avah's Gift

Our heritage plays a part in each of our lives and the desire to connect with the past was the motivational stimulus for my painting called Avah's Gift.  My grandmother was an artist in her own right, using the materials which she had on hand.  She would take feed sacks and draw her designs on them.  With the scraps of material that she cut in long strips, she would us a stick, punch the different colors into the patterns and create these wonderful rugs.  She made a rug for each of her eight children and fifteen grandchildren.  They seemed to define her far better than the portraits I tried to do of her.

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can

With all the dogs (50+) that we have at our house, it is not necessary to give each one individual attention for they seem to create their own activities as recorded in this painting.  Are there unique activities your animals do that have created lasting memories?

Please remember to responsibly take care of your animals, spaying and neutering when necessary.  There are several organizations that you can find in your own area by simply searching animal adoption and rescue.  One organization that provides solutions in the Piedmont Triad area of NC is http://www.aarfanimals.org/  

Sabra's View

Sabra's View

One afternoon as I sat at the barn waiting for my wife Penny, when the horses were fed and the cats were down from the loft awaiting supper, it was a magical time.  The setting sun cast it's light through the barn door, basking its occupants in a soft, warm glow - - and I knew I had a painting.

When I finished that piece a week later, I showed it to Penny, and her response wasn't quite what I expected.  "You've painted every darn horse in that barn except for Sabra," she told me in her most accusing tone.  Thinking fast, I told her the title of the painting was "Sabra's View," since I  had been sitting in front of Sabra's stall looking out at the rest of the stable.  That didn't work - - I ended up having to paint several pictures of Sabra before Penny was satisfied.

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

Please remember to responsibly take care of your animals, spaying and neutering when necessary.  There are several organizations that you can find in your own area by simply searching animal adoption and rescue.  One organization that provides solutions in the Piedmont Triad area of NC is http://www.aarfanimals.org/  

This is Mildlife

On Golden Porch

One thing I've learned over the years is that, for the sake of honesty in my art, I should paint from what I have lived.  Animals are what I know, and so they have become the focal point in most of my paintings.  There are plenty of wildlife artists out there, but my experience with animals has been of those tamed by humans and once tamed, dependent on them.

I call it "Mildlife. There is a beauty that radiates from a painting when it strikes an element of truth, and that beauty is what I am after.

This image is available on my Etsy site - 16x20, double matted, giclee for $40 + shipping.  Click here to visit my Etsy site to view this and many of my other paintings.

Please remember to responsibly take care of your animals, spaying and neutering when necessary.  There are several organizations that you can find in your own area by simply searching animal adoption and rescue.  One organization that provides solutions in the Piedmont Triad area of NC is http://www.aarfanimals.org/