More commisson work from 2013

A regular customer of mine from Mechanicsburg, PA, David Gabel, is an avid and skilled photographer who spends a great deal of time capturing "just the right shot" of reenactors at Civil War gatherings. He wanted to give the images more of a period-correct look and asked me to do renderings for him. These are all 5" x 7" graphite and colored pencil drawings on Claybord. The reenactors all gave their permission to use their images but only for David's own personal collection, so these cannot be reproduced for sale but I wanted to share them with you here.

7th PA Cavalry commission piece

 

 

Another interesting commission piece I did in the latter portion of 2013 was this monochrome drawing (French gray dolored pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes paper) featuring a portion of the bronze monument to the 7th PA Cavalry located at Chickamauga National Battlefield in Georgia. This piece was commissioned by Larry Fryer of Woodstock, MD, and also includes an inset portrait of his ancestor, Isaac Marks, who served in Co. I of the 7th PA Cavalry. While I've done numerous commissioned portraits over the years, and even portions of three-dimensional monuments, I'd never tried to capture the raised surface of a bronze relief panel as seen here. I discovered that the key was in precisely rendering the varying depths and crispness of the shadows and highlights. It really gave me a thorough appreciation of the skill level of the original sculptor!

Price of Freedom Diorama at Gettysburg College Library

My other BIG commission for last year:

 

In the late summer/early fall I was contacted by a client of mine from California; his son attends Gettysburg College and my client is a frequent donor to the school. He had the idea of creating a diorama which would become a permanent installation in the college library, depicting the college campus in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, focusing on "Old Dorm" and the surrounding grounds which became -- like so many other places -- a hospital.  My client hired an excellent diorama builder from Maryland, Don Griffin, to do the work.  It was decided that they would close one end of the diorama -- the end behind the recreation of "Old Dorm" -- and needed a backdrop of the sky and surrounding landscape.  In addition, they wanted the reverse side of that panel to contain a montage of significant players in that event, members of the college community, nurses, etc.  My client hired me to produce both of these panels -- "30 x 52" each -- to be completed in time for installation and unveiling to coincide with Dedication day events (week of November 19).

 

Below is the finished montage panel, along with two close-up views of the diorama itself, prior to the installation with the acrylic cover, and two more photos that show the back and front views (front view also shows my scenic backdrop panel) of the diorama as it now appears, located just inside the main entrance to Musselman Library on the Gettysburg College campus. 

 

While I truly believe Mr. Griffin's diorama is by far the "star" of this installation, I was honored and thrilled to be asked to play a role and have my name on the plaque along with his, as co-creator.

 

 

 

 

 

Ride To Glory

This has really been a year of commissions, for me! Now, for my interests, this is a good thing, of course. But it can also mean that I'm not at liberty to post what I'm working on. Since this particular piece had its unveiling in late September, however, now I'm free to post it. This is a painting -- approximately 20" x 28", commissioned by the James Garfield National Historic Site in Mentor, Ohio. They had always wanted a painting representing General Garfield's service at the Battle of Chickamauga (GA) during the Civil War -- most people think of Garfield as a president but aren't particularly aware that he was a general during that war. This was a challenge for me in many ways, because I don't generally paint battle scenes, per se; I tend to focus more on the "behind the scenes" people and events of the Civil War. Scott Longert, a ranger at the GNHS, did the bulk of the research for me, however, and served as my constant consultant as the development sketches and then the painting itself progressed. It is now on permanent display at their visitor center, and they have two different sizes of prints for sale. I was very pleased to be selected to create this piece for them!

Finally finished!

This has been a year of commissions, which is of course a wonderful thing. But it often means I'm not at liberty to post what I'm working on. Since I finally had a chance to get back to one of my own pieces,  I thought I'd take this opportunity to post it. The complete title is Walt Whitman: American Poet and Civil War Nurse. It includes two images of Whitman -- the small one is the last photo taken of him before his death -- and two hospital scenes: a field hospital and the interior of one of the many Civil War hospitals in Washington City, likely visited by Whitman during his time as a nurse. In addition to the original art, 11" x 14" limited edition prints are available for purchase.

Much appreciation for a great article!

Many thanks to Karen Hendricks of Hendricks Communications for her fine article about my work on the Handmade in PA blog! Check out this link to the article:
http://www.handmadeinpa.net/2013/06/civil-war-fine-art-beyond-the-battlefield/

One-Day Painting Giveaway

This past Thursday, June 13,  was the annual One-Day Painting Giveaway at my Gettysburg gallery. I start a small painting at 10 am, work till 5 pm and every guest is invited to enter his or her name in a drawing to win the painting at the end of the day. I advertised that I would be painting an iconic Gettysburg scene in honor of the 150th anniversary, so I chose an 1863 photo of the gatehouse at Evergreen Cemetery to use as the basis for my painting. I was able to include  here a few photographs of the various steps of this painting, rendered with Neocolor II watersoluble wax pastels and Inktense watercolor pencils, as well as the finished product along with the photo used as the basis for this painting. A couple from Canada were the winners of this painting and seemed to be quite pleased!

 

 

 

Getting back on track

It's been so long since I've posted -- life has been very hectic this year and I'm struggling to keep on top of everything. Better late than never, I guess...as far as posting is concerned.

Today's painting  -- created in several types of water media -- was done at the Quick Draw event on the square in Gettysburg, part of the Gettysburg Festival. Quick Draw is a timed painting session; two hours start to finish. It's a lot of fun but a real challenge. I'm calling my painting "Things Are Looking Up" -- it shows a portion of the Gettysburg Hotel in the background, complete with 150th Anniversary banners.

Dusk at Devil's Den

I'm very pleased to announce that my watercolor and colored pencil landscape, Dusk at Devil's Den, was accepted into the CPSA (Colored Pencil Society of America)'s Explore This! 9 online exhibition. With this acceptance I earned my CPX Signature Status, and just received my certificate and pin in today's mail. You can view the exhibition at http://www.cpsa.org/view-explore-this-9.

Study of Walt Whitman, Step 2

This is going quickly, and I'm really enjoying it. Walt Whitman has such an interesting face!

Work-in-Progress: Study of Walt Whitman

Had a little time to work on this, in-between stuffing myself with Christmas cookies!

Witness Tree at Devil's Den

I've been in a bit of an artistic funk this year -- I keep working but often find I am not as satisfied with the results as I would like. In an attempt to break out of this negativity, I decided to create a small landscape based on a portion of the Devil's Den area on the Gettysburg Battlefield. I had recently read an article indicating that the tree depicted here is one of the few remaining "witness" trees -- meaning, a tree that is confirmed to have been present during the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, and that is what spurred me on to choose this particular location.

Recently I received some very good news regarding this painting, done in colored pencil on PastelMat: it is one of only 101 works selected for the exhibition, America's Parks Through the Beauty of Art. In addition, it was chosen as one of the Top 50, and will be part of a travelling
exhibition, moving from Missouri to New York to Wisconsin, beginning in March. Folow this link to read the juror's statement: http://www.outdoorpainter.com/whats-current-and-whats-coming/americas-parks-exhibition-begins-tour.html. While I realize that being pleased with our own work is what's important, not the opinion of a juror, this was a welcome "shot in the arm" for an artistically-uncomfortable year!

2012 Christmas Cards

These two images represent the new additions to my line of Civil War-themed Christmas cards. The top one is Windows of Gettysburg IV: The Brafferton Inn (historic Codori House); the bottom is part of a series I've created for the Shriver House Museum in Gettysburg, and is entitled A Christmas Surprise. My entire line of Christmas cards is now comprised of 17 cards; you can see the complete line at:
http://www.civilwarfineart.com/CivilWarChristmasImages.htm

And purchasing has never been easier, because now each individual card's page includes purchase options through PayPal!

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!

Completed and Sold!

I did complete Sunset, Peter Frey Farm in late June, and it and another small landscape sold in early July to a gentleman from Pittsburgh.  I enjoy these Gettysburg landscapes and am now experimenting with using Neocolor II (Watersoluble Wax Pastels) on some larger versions, as they lay down much more quickly than the Inktense pencil/colored pencil combination.

Lots of catching up to do

I've had almost no time for posting recently, since we're into the heart of the tourist season in Gettysburg. So this week, now that we're past the big annual reenactment, I plan to post a lot of things I've been working on in the intervening weeks. These are the last three plein air pieces I created during the Plein Air Paint Out, part of this year's Gettysburg Festival -- Pennsylvania Monument; Barn, Henry Culp Farm; and Gettysburg Railroad Depot. The railroad depot piece, the largest of these three, I completed within the timed, 2- hour Quick Draw event held within a one-block radius of Lincoln Square in Gettysburg. About 20 minutes into this painting, I'd realized I'd bitten off a little more than I could chew, because the detailing on this building is absolutely incredible. But I just kept plugging away, and much to my surprise, did actually manage to finish it within the 2-hour timeframe. All three pieces are done in watercolor and ink.

To see more of my plein air and other Civil War-themed work, please visit www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

Plein Air Paint Out at the Gettysburg Festival

The Plein Air Paint Out at the Gettysburg Festival began Friday with a great battlefield tour by our knowledgable guide, Bob Prosperi. So far I've painted Friday, Sunday and Monday (today it pretty much poured, all day, but thankfully this is really the only rainy day forecast for the entire ten day Festival). These paintings are all quite small, and rendered with watercolor pencil. The third painting featuring the General Warren statue on Little Round top has a little bit of ink line work added in the statue and the rock area. Hopefully I'll get out tomorrow morning to do some more!

In-progress: Barn at the Peter Frey Farm

This needs some work, primarily to the tree on the lefthand side, but I'm pleased with how it's coming along so far. I'm working with an  Inktense watercolor pencil underpainting on white PastelMat, and adding dry colored pencil color enhancement and detail on top. It's turned into one of my favorite working methods for landscapes.

Good news!

I received word just yesterday that my colored pencil drawing, Sarah Emma Edmonds II: Transformation/Liberation, was awarded 2nd Prize in the Drawings and Original Prints category in the 70th Annual May Show at The Little Art Gallery in North Canton, OH. The exhibition will be on  display through June 2.

I also received word last week that my mixed media composition, Sarah Emma Edmonds I: Departure, has been selected for inclusion in the Adams County Arts Council's Ninth Annual Juried Exhibition, to be held June 8 - 17 at Schmucker Art Gallery on the campus of Gettysburg College, as part of the Gettysburg Festival.