In Progress mural at Richmond International Airport

 Day3

In Progress mural at Richmond International Airport

 Day 2

In Progress mural at Richmond International Airport

 Day 1

Caroline and Stu

 IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I painted a nude and this is definitely a first for me, not only a nude, but a nude with someone covered in tattoos. I know tattoos get a bad rap, but I absolutely love them...the more, the better. Originally, it was just supposed to be Caroline with some of her houseplants. But she has a cat named Stu, and Stu would not move out of the way, stared at me, and then back at her. Then Caroline said, "Leave Stu in," and I'm glad she did. Stu kind of makes the painting come together. 

I originally started this painting in 2023 (you should be able to see it still) but as it is with a lot of paintings of people, I take longer than I should. I did that once with a Mira Fujita painting that I was reproducing for a friend and a reproduction of The Rookie, by Norman Rockwell. 

This one, however, is not a reproduction, but of a commission. I've been doing more portrait paintings than ever (even though my heart is with landscape paintings) and I love bringing the image of a person to life.

St. Mary's Hospital Tree of Life Mural Part 1 of 2

 HERE ARE A FEW W.I.P. PHOTOS of the Tree of Life Mural I recently completed for St. Mary's Hospital for their Pediatric Sleep Study Center. The mural is approximately 10'x14' and was broken into 2 sections and painted on canvas rolls. I had to employ the youngest Price child for help. The final piece was meshed together to create one large mural. 

Under The Sea Mural for St. Mary's Hospital

 

WORK IN PROGRESS PICS OF THE Under The Sea mural for St. Mary's Pediatric Sleep Study Center. Just like the Tree of Life mural, this one is in 2 sections, but this one is slightly smaller (by 2'). The top canvas roll is 6' tall by 12' and the second roll is 4' tall by 12'. The biggest problem I had with this one was lining everything up when the murals came together. 

Vice President Harris

APPROXIMATELY 1-2 WEEKS BEFORE THE ELECTION, I begin drawing the next potential president. In 2016, I began drawing both Trump and Clinton, and when Trump won, I put Clinton's aside. When she declared she wouldn't run again, I discarded it, as there was no reason to continue. About a week before the 2020 election, I began drawing Biden's. When he was elected, I finished it and began to move forward to possibly publishing the book From George To Joe which can be purchased by clicking on the link. 

I think a day or two before the Nov. 5 election, I put Vice President Harris' on pause. Here is the incomplete portrait of Harris. If you'd like to watch the Tiktok of me showing the process, here is a link: VPHarris

For anyone reading this blog for the first time, if you can click on the 'Presidents' label/button on the side and view all of the presidential drawings. 

Portrait WIP

 This commission came completely by accident. I was doing a painting of a woman and her husband and she had a small tattoo on her leg. This lady saw it and immediately reached out, "have you ever done a nude but make the focus on the tattoos?" I've painted plenty of nudes, but never one that focused so much attention on the tattoos. We did some live sketches and her cat, Stu, popped in and kept looking over at me, and then over at her. So I painted him in. This is a progress pic of the painting. I'm looking forward to seeing the end result. I love the way that tattoos work with a person's figure and their overall image. The body is a canvas, and I'm excited to paint something a little different than what I usually do.  

Photorealistic Drawing of the CSX Train in Richmond, VA

 

Putting in the final touches...

 This beautiful painting is in its final stages. I will most likely pull back on some of the brightness of the leaves (even though they were a massive clump of bright leaves, it's just too much) and add more sky. There's some slight detail left to do on the water (reflections/highlights) but this gorgeous painting is just about finished. 

Details. Details. Details.

 Me: Don't get so caught up in all the minor details.

Also Me: That tiny section right there, I know you can't see it from a distance, but what if someone's studying it 100 years from now and they see that I messed up and was slightly off? Oooh...that part right there needs to be touched up.

Rainy Day on West Broad WIP

 So about that photograph from the art event. I decided to try something I've never done before with this painting. Contrast is the key to a painting "standing out" per se. So I inverted all of my colors, and laid the base with its complementary color. Since the ground is going to ultimately be blue and purple, I painted the base variations of oranges and yellows. The trees were red (you can already see the green over top of it, and the sky was orange (now blue). I'm just curious how it'll turn out. There are very few things that I kept the original color. 

The Akers Barn WIP

 I rarely show these anymore, the work in progress pics. This painting of The Akers Barn is already sold, but I thought I'd post a work in progress before showing the final image. I have the final image on my Facebook art page, but I refrained from posting on this blog for a year for personal reasons. I kind of hinted at it earlier, in the blog. I won't go into too much detail, but I think I can finally get back to being myself again. 

Shed Painting - Work In Progress

Coming down to the final touches on this gorgeous fall painting. The shed is basically complete, and the shadows that spring across the road give off that effect of trees to the left that are not in the painting. And the tree? I'm about to highlight the hell out of it and trust me when I tell you, there will be more than is needed.

 

Shed Painting - Work In Progress

 Here are the beginning stages of the detailing of the shed and while I may have gone overboard with the highlights on the large tree, I really have no regrets about it. That tree was absolutely gorgeous and there's no way a painting or photograph can capture how beautiful that thing was. The entire left side of it was lit up with beautiful golden leaves that morphed into peach and orange. The hay bales, they were all over the damn place and I decided to paint 2 of them to the left to kind of frame everything in. This was maybe 2-3 months in. 

I often paint and let it dry and come back to it. One time I had a commission that took damn near 7 months to complete. 

Shed Painting - Work In Progress

 I learned a technique from Michael James Smith that I'll share here. Once the colors are blocked in, you kind of dot in, (usually with a fan brush or some other older brush that has kind of fucked up bristles) a darker color That will serve as a shadow. You give this darker color a few days to dry and then begin going over it with lighter values which I'll post tomorrow. 

If you're into realism painting, I would check out his youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelJamesSmithArt

He's probably one of my favorite artist, fun to watch, and is one of the best teachers you can find when it comes to realism art. 

Shed Painting Work In Progress

 The timeframe between yesterday's pic and today's is probably a solid week to 2 weeks. It's all about drying time and taking on commissions. This painting was not a commission. I love old sheds and the American landscape. There aren't many collectors for this type of work, and that's okay. I paint these type of things for my own enjoyment and for my house. 

Shed Painting Work In Progress

This is an outline of another shed painting. This shed is just off the side of the road out in Franklin County. I think Franklin County has to be the shed capital of the world. There are so many abandoned sheds, moonshine stills and memories of a time gone by. This one will be a gorgeous fall painting. 
 

Richmond On A Clear Blue Day

 Now comes the detailing of the trees, bridges and all those damn ripples in the James River.

Richmond on a Clear Blue Day - Work In Progress

 Most of the buildings are complete at this time. The Riverfront Plaza windows will be put on, as well as the Harris Williams building. After that, the CSX Bridge, trees, 9th Street Bridge, and then the James River.