Live Wedding Painting - Jesse and Emily Juday

 Jesse and Emily Juday

Live Wedding Painting at the Historic Whitewood

Live Wedding Painting in the Outer Banks

 THIS LIVE WEDDING PAINTING WAS LAST year right as the summer season was coming to a close. We decided to go a day early, sight see and enjoy a few of the restaurants. I've always loved sandpipers and it's crazy how close you can get to them. It always amazes me that just as a wave comes crashing in, you just know it's about to swallow one of them whole...and it flies off in the nick of time. 

Go Fish Project

 SCATTERED AROUND RICHMOND, HERE AND there, are these whimsical fish sculptures (I think about 200 or so) that were originated by the 1708 Gallery that brought awareness to the restoration of the Rockfish back into the James River. They were originally sculpted by Alex Nunnally and companies would sponsor them. This one was acquired by The Edgeworth Building, and I was commissioned to come up with a design for the fish. Last weekend I power-sprayed it in our backyard and will begin repairing and repainting it in the upcoming days.  

Live Wedding Painting - Allison and Matt

 Allison and Matt

Balcony Downs

Buena Vista, VA

Custom Pet Portraits

 THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE TYPE of pet portraits to do. A photograph of the pet is provided, and I get the opportunity to draw them in a comical way. This particular one was taken from four different photographs and the result was exactly what the client wanted. 

Kayakers At Sunset

 Kayakers at Sunset

Oil

18x24

Original available at Crossroads Art Center

Sunset Under the Belle Isle Suspension Bridge

 Sunset Under the Belle Isle Suspension Bridge

Oil

11x14

$400

This original oil painting of a sunset under the Belle Isle Suspension Bridge is available for purchase at Crossroads Art Center. Prints are available at my etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4360043830/sunset-under-the-belle-isle-suspension

What The Actual Hell...

I WAS AT THE VMFA NOT too long ago and the bottom 3 images were painted/sculpted by artists 100 or more years ago. The top 2 are works of "art" that were completed in recent years. While I understand that an art museum's purpose is to conserve and exhibit art for educational and enjoyment purposes, it's my understanding that the art displayed should exhibit the best of what is culturally relevant for that time. 

If the top two pieces are the best of what is culturally relevant for our time, future generations will most definitely look back and think, 'what in the actual hell was going on? Is that the best they had to offer society?' Based off of what is in their modern art collection, yes. This is as good as it got for us. 

From Camera to Canvas 2025

 FROM CAMERA TO CANVAS 2025 will take place September 12 at the Willow Oaks Country Club in Richmond, Virginia. There is a very light bluish tint on the image that I unfortunately cannot seem to change. The painting looks closer to the two bottom images. I do everything I can to make the images online look as close to how the original is. 

If you would like to bid on the painting, you can follow the link and set your bid. The painting starts out at $500 and whatever it sells for, 100% will go to the Friends of the James River. 

Camera to Canvas 2025 | Items

The Shornaks - Live Wedding Painting

 The Shornaks were married on Roanoke Island in Maneto, North Carolina. If you've watched American Horror Story, AHS Roanoke is set on this location. The whole area consists of the Nags Head, Outer Banks location. The Lost Colony in Roanoke in the late 1500s just disappeared. The colony was established in 1585, but when a ship visited in 1590, all 112 residents were nowhere to be found and their fate remains unknown. When I travel somewhere for a live wedding painting, I will often spend an extra night or two just to explore the area. So I went where the Lost Colony disappeared, saw where the original earthwork mounds were, saw the lighthouse on the island and had an unforgettable experience at The Scarborough Inn...whatever you do if you visit Maneto, don't stay there. 

Sarah and Rob - Live Wedding Painting

 THIS PARTICULAR LIVE WEDDING PAINTING WAS more of a challenge than most. It was that late part of summer right before fall sets in where the sun begins to cast really harsh lights and shadows on the landscape. Sarah and Rob asked me to paint their wedding in the Outer Banks and she was facing the sun...his back was to it. The sun was so harsh on her face that she could barely look at him. Regardless, she made it work and the purplish shadows on her dress is an artist's dream to paint. 

NASCAR's Race Week 2025

 THIS PAST WEEKEND, ON FRIDAY AND Saturday, Lynanne and I were invited to NASCAR's Race Week 2025 at Richmond International Raceway. On Friday, I did a live painting of Dale Earnhardt's car, and Saturday we went to the race. I'd never been to a NASCAR race before and it was intense. 

Throwback...Monday?

REMEMBER WHEN PEOPLE USED TO POST 'throwback Thursday' where they showed images of how they looked years ago, or what they were doing years ago, etc.? Well, this is a serious throwback to the artist I was. I honestly don't remember how old I was, but I'm thinking 8 or 9. My father and I used to go into a gun store in Augusta over near the airport (I think it was on Wrightsboro Road, but I could be mistaken) and alongside guns, they also sold prints of deer or other animals. There was one of some deer in a field and the price tag was well over $1000 and I thought it was crazy someone would charge that amount. Better yet...that someone would pay that amount.

My father wasn't the best motivator and would make comments like, "well you're not that good," or "you have a ways to go and you probably won't be able to sell it for that amount until after you're dead." The latter comment is something I often heard from guidance counselors, friends, family members and the like. 

Imagine if I would've listened to them... 

12 Seconds

 12 Seconds

Oil on Canvas

24x30

3rd Place

12 SECONDS IS THE AVERAGE PIT stop at a NASCAR race. This includes changing all four tires, refueling, maintenance, etc., and it is absolute perfection to watch. The car pulls up, you breathe in, breathe out...breathe in, breathe out...and the car is on its way. Two breaths...that's all. 

In partnership with NASCAR, Crossroads Art Center in Richmond, VA sponsored a national art show about speed. While most of the artists focused on the speed of the cars (and they are certainly worth it) and others focused on some of the drivers, I watched multiple races and realized that the driver, no matter how good he or she is, is at the mercy of an expert pit crew. My aim in this painting was to focus on the speed of the crew, the blur, the motion, and the abstractness of their movements, the car in high detail. The car is usually zooming...rushing...in full on blur...but in this moment, it's the one thing on the track that is motionless as a small crew of focused individuals, in two breaths...12 seconds, keep the race going.

This painting will be on display, and for sale, at the Richmond International Raceway during Race Week, August 15-16. I will also be live painting on the 15th.