Basil Biggs, Step 5

Shortly after I photographed this work-in-progress at its last stage, it occurred to me that it just wasn't realistic to have so few people on the streets during the time this scene would have occurred. This was early afternoon on July 1, 1863, as the morning's casualties from the battle to the north and west of town began working their way to the makeshift hospitals in town, but before the Union retreat to Cemetery Ridge would have really gotten into gear. Civilians would have been off the streets at that point, but injured Union troops would be in evidence. So in this stage I've begun to indicate them. I feel like I'm finally getting some momentum going with this composition and hope to maintain it so that I can complete this piece sometime in September.

Back to Basil - or - Basil Biggs, Step 4

Despite the fact that this piece isn't as far along as I had hoped it would be at this point, I guess I have made some progress since I last posted about it in -- I'm embarassed to admit! -- October of last year. But research on the buildings which would have been standing on the south side of the first block of York Street was painstaking and time-consuming. Still, I wouldn't have felt right continuing on it without being thorough and as accurate as possible about the setting, so I'm glad to have given it the time it needed. Maybe now I can move along a little more quickly!

Time to face facts

For several years now I have been working on what I've come to title my Civil War 150 Project, with a goal of working in a chronological order to create works focusing on the often-overlooked people and events of the Civil War era. As we begin 2012, we are in the 150th anniversary for the year 1862, which featured such battles as Shiloh, Second Manassas, Antietam and Fredericksburg. And while it continues to be my intention to study each of the battles carefully and create works to represent them, I realize that it is not going to be possible to cover them in-depth, as I've done so far with the First Battle of Manassas, within one year's time, and still stay on track with my additional project of developing works that relate to the civilians of Gettysburg. Because my gallery is located in Gettysburg, and so that I may be able to do justice to that series in time for our 150th anniverary commemoration in 2013, I realize that I'm going to have to make some sacrifices. I've finally resolved that, since Antietam and Fredericksburg are closer in proximity to my Gettysburg gallery, I will focus on producing a few pieces that relate to them. Once we've passed the 150th anniversary period in Gettysburg, I plan to revisit some of the other battles of 1862 and 1863 that I've had to skip over for now.

I've had to put the brakes on my Basil Biggs project once again, as I've recently learned that there may be another source of photographic images of him that I had not known about, and want to look into that before I go further. In the meantime, I have a number of Civil War-related commissions that I will be posting in this spot, and will begin developing some pieces dealing with Antietam. Relating to that, today's post shows a piece I created in 2002 for their 140th anniversary. The print edition is sold out; however the original art is available for purchase. Please contact me at civilwarfineart@yahoo.com, if you are interested in learning more about this piece. As always, I invite you to visit my website, www.CivilWarFineArt.com, to view all of my Civil War-themed works.

Basil Biggs, Step 3

Progress has been slow for me on this project. I'm doing a lot of teaching right now and have a number of commissions that I need to devote time to, so I don't have quite as much time to give to my series projects. But that's OK -- I enjoy the variety!

Before the end of the month I need to finish my research on Basil Biggs at the Adams County Historical Society, because they will be moving out of their building while it's under renovation and their collections will be inaccessible during that time. And I still need to determine what buildings are known to have been standing on the south side of York Street from Lincoln Square to Stratton Street. At least I've made a little progress on the horse.

Basil Biggs, Step 2

Made a little progress -- at least it's easier to tell this is a horse! So far I've not been able to find photos of the buildings on the south side of the first block of York Street. Next week I hope to get to the Wills House where there's a new diorama that shows the buildings that were standing on streets close to the square in 1863, and it sounds as if it's very well-researched and accurate. In the meantime I'm working on some small landscapes of the Gettysburg battlefield that I may post. If we get the fringes of Hurricane Irene here in Gettysburg over the next  two days, I may have a lot of time for blogging! Who would've guessed we'd get an earthquake and a hurricane all in the same week?

Battle of Gettysburg/Gettysburg Civilians Series: Basil Biggs

Not much to see with this composition, yet -- in fact, you may have to look at the enlarged view to understand what it is. The only portion that shows color, at this point, is the -- um --"hindquarters" of the horse. The scene is a depiction of an event which occurred prior to and shortly before the Battle of Gettysburg: the evacuation of the town's black population, among them a farmer by the name of Basil Biggs. Understandably fearful that the invading Confederate army would take them prisoner and send them south into slavery, the local African-American residents either hid or made their way out of town to presumably safer locations.  Biggs fled town, on a borrowed horse, heading out York Road as he could see the Confederates filling the town square from the west.

I have a little more research to do, to determine what buildings were standing along this stretch of York Road in 1863, besides the Lutheran Church that I have roughly indicated to the left. But I thought that posting this very early stage would help jumpstart my progress on this piece. The composition is 16" x 20", rendered on museum board with colored pencil using a traditional dry layering, sharp point-scumbling technique.

Two Posts in One Day!

These two pieces both relate to my Civilians of Gettysburg series. As we work our way into the 150th anniversary era of Civil War-related events, I want to be fully prepared for Gettysburg's own anniversary in July 2013. To that end I've been working on pieces related to things the local civilians would have seen and experienced during the Confederate invasion and the three-day battle. Since I'm committed to taking these events in chronological order, the things I'm currently working on in this series relate to the days leading up to the battle, as opposed to the battle itself. These two pieces both relate to the June 26, 1863 entry of Jubal Early and his Confederate troops into the borough of Gettysburg. The first is entitled "The Lesson" and relates the experiences of a local girl, Nellie Aughinbagh, and her near close-encounter with Confederate troops, due to her insistence on finishing a bonnet she was working on with her instructor, Mrs. Martin, in the Martins' Middle Street home. The second features the cupola of Christ Lutheran Church on Chambersburg Street. When the Confederates entered the town on June 26, one of their objectives was to round up all of the African Americans they saw and attempt to send them into slavery in the South. Naturally, the black population of Gettysburg had been taking measures to evacuate before this could happen, but there is a story which involves a woman known only as "Liz" who didn't quite manage to escape in time, and sought refuge in the church cupola until it was safe to come down.

Tomorrow I'll post the image I've recently completed of Jubal Early himself, the leader responsible for this particular upheaval.