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.

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.

Back to Work

This post title would seem to imply that I haven't been working, which certainly isn't the case! What I'm really getting at is that recently I've been posting previously completed works that relate to 1861, as 2011 is the 150th anniversary for that year. Now I think it's time to get back to my original primary intention for this blog: posting newly-completed works and work-in-progress.

In keeping with my Civil War 150 Project, and to have an image to submit to an upcoming exhibition at the Clara Barton National Historic Site entitled "The Art of Clara Burton", I completed the above image in colored pencil on Canson Mi Teintes paper (color: Sand), Study of Clara Barton. I'm still learning about Ms. Barton and I'm sure will do more works that feature her in the years to come, since she played such an enormous role in the Civil War. This piece was an effort to study her facial features and see what I might learn from them by working closely with two of her Civil War era portrait photographs. Ms. Barton's first involvement with Civil War nursing was the result of her witnessing the wounded and dying soldiers brought back to Washington (where she worked at the Patent Office) after the First Battle of Manassas, something which would have been occurring approximately 150 years ago.

The Aftermath of Battle: "Collateral Damage"

This piece serves as homage to Judith Carter Henry, the first civilian killed in the Civil War.

The Notions of Safety and Security

The Final Chapter in the Life of Judith Carter Henry

In the summer of 1861, Judith Carter Henry was an 84-year-old widow, living on a small farm just south and east of the intersection of the Warrenton Turnpike and Manassas-Sudley Road near Manassas, Virginia; Spring Hill, the farm was called.  She had lived there for 35 years and, in fact, was born less than a mile away.  For most of those years she had lived a quiet farm life, marking the changing seasons with the cycle of planting and harvesting, and raising four children, watching them grow to adulthood.

But in July of 1861, things took a dramatic and unfortunate turn for the elderly widow.  Union and Confederate troops had gradually begun moving into the region, and Judith’s daughter Ellen, who lived with her mother, became gravely concerned.  In May her brother Hugh, living in Alexandria, VA, had written a letter emphasizing his belief that their mother’s “entire helplessness” should keep her safe from harm from the invading armies.  But Ellen, and another brother, John, who lived nearby, feared the worst. They determined to try to move their dear mother to safety.  Despite evidence that the fighting was edging ever closer, Judith, who was frail and bedridden at that point in her life, did not want to leave the familiar and comforting surroundings of her home.  She protested as, on the morning of July 21, they attempted to carry her from the house on a mattress, and the group made it only as far as the spring house: not only was Judith begging to be taken back, but Ellen and John also realized that the troops were too close and the situation was too dangerous to permit their plan to work.  So they returned to the house, and Judith was carried to her bed. They could only hope that Hugh’s earlier assurance of her safety would prove true.

As morning turned to afternoon, Union artillery moved their guns onto the Henry House property, not far from the house. They soon discovered they were being fired at by Confederate sharpshooters, who were either hidden inside the house, or just outside of it and using it for cover.  Since nearly all of the other residents of the immediate area had long since fled to safety, Captain James B. Ricketts had no idea there were civilians still inside.  His immediate goal was to put an end to the firing of the Confederate sharpshooters, and he shelled the house.  One of the shells burst in Judith’s bedroom, and she died of her wounds soon after.

A woman that history has recorded only as “Florence”, attended the memorial service for Judith Henry held on the grounds of the farm, two days after the battle. In a letter to her sister, she gave this account:

        The papers will have told you before this reaches you that old Mrs. Henry was killed during the
         battle…I do not think I ever felt more deeply than when I stood among the wreck and ruin of her
         home and saw the poor mangled body of the old lady placed in the coffin and borne to her last
         resting-place by stranger hands…Around the Henry garden, where a fence had stood on Sunday
         morning, was a hedge of althea, the only things that had escaped destruction.  They were loaded
         with crimson and white blossoms, and you cannot imagine how strangely they looked in their
         purity and beauty amidst that scene of desolation and death.  I stopped to gather a few of these
         “roses of Sharon” to place on the coffin…

In 1870, a new house was built to replace the one in which Judith’s life ended.  A photograph, taken in 1896, features a very elderly Hugh Henry seated on a chair on the porch of this house, the same house that stands on the battlefield today.  In the picture, just to the right side of the porch, can be seen a vigorous Rose of Sharon, quite possibly one of the very ones that were such a part of Judith’s happier times at Spring Hill.

150 Years Ago Today, July 21, 1861: First Battle of Manassas, Part 3

This piece serves to remind us once again, that it isn't just adults who are impacted by war.

The End of Innocence

A New Day is Dawning

 The battle outside raging

will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

for the times, they are a-changing.

These Bob Dylan lyrics, though written for twentieth-century ears, also reflect the reality of the turmoil as war began to touch the lives of Americans in the summer of 1861.

 Northeastern Virginians who took the time to record their impressions noted that Sunday, July 21^st, 1861, was a remarkably beautiful summer morning.   In the area near Sudley Ford over Bull Run Creek, just north of Manassas Junction, Virginia, many of the local residents were out, dressed in their Sunday finest, preparing to attend services at Sudley church.  In fact, some accounts indicate that a number of worshippers had already arrived at the church, little suspecting what was soon to unfold before them.

 Around 9 o’clock that morning, 13,000 Union troops under division commanders David Hunter and Samuel Heintzelman approached Sudley Ford, nearing completion of their flanking movement around the Confederate army; a maneuver they had begun nearly seven hours earlier.  Captain E.P. Alexander, Chief Signal Officer for General P.G.T. Beauregard  (commander of the Confederate forces in the area), positioned on a signal station on Wilcoxen Hill near Manassas Junction, was the first to spot the Federals approaching from the north: “. . .(C)areful observation. . .detailed the glitter of bayonets all along a road crossing the valley. . .” The first of the Union troops passed Sudley church around 9:30; within 30 minutes the church was converted to a battlefield hospital.

“I wish I could adequately describe the loveliness of this summer Sabbath morning.  In the midst of war we were in peace.  There was not a cloud in the sky; a gentle breeze rustled the foliage over our heads, mingling its murmurs with the soft notes of the wood-birds; the thick carpet of leaves under our feet deadened the sound of the artillery wheels and of the tramp of men.  Everybody felt the influence of the scene, and the men, marching on their leafy path, spoke in subdued tones.  A Rhode Island officer riding beside me quoted some lines from Wordsworth fitting the morning, which I am sorry I cannot recall.  Colonel Slocum of the Second Rhode Island rode up and joined in our talk about the peaceful aspect of nature around us.  In less than an hour I saw him killed while cheering on his men. . .”

 --Lieutenant Colonel Francis S. Fiske, 2^nd New Hampshire Infantry

150 Years Ago: First Battle of Manassas, Part I

The official 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas (or First Battle of Bull Run) is tomorrow, July 21. But I have three different images I want to post that correspond to that

day, and rather than post three in one day, I prefer to spread them out a bit. This first piece relates to the civilians and politicians who came out from Washington to view the battle.

The Awakening

A “Picnic” Spoiled

Students of history have been amazed and appalled at the reports of Washington socialites who rode in carriages dressed in their Sunday finery and carrying picnic baskets to catch a glimpse of the fighting at the first major battle of the Civil War.  But it is these smartly-dressed civilians who so perfectly symbolized the nation’s naïve view of the war in July 1861. 

                                                                                                                                              

Historical writers who had not personally witnessed the event, as well as some who had, were prone to sensationalize the circumstances surrounding the civilian spectators.   Judith McGuire of Virginia derisively described the group as having a “right royal picnic on the field of blood” even though she was not there to witness it.   A war correspondent for the London Times, William Howard Russell, was present and wrote perhaps the most famous account of the scene, that included the suggestion that “a few of the fairer, if not gentler sex” were not only present but thrilling to the sounds and sights of battle.  Historian John Hennessy has concluded that by “revel(ing) in the follies of our ancestors…(w)e have contorted the image into a carnival: civilians sprawled about on blankets on the edge of the battlefield, nibbling on picnic lunches while watching death and carnage…”

                                                                                                                                               

Why did an estimated 500 civilians set out on that Sunday morning to ride several hours through deeply rutted and difficult roads on horseback or in horse-drawn carriages to witness a battle that would claim the lives of 847 men with more than three times that many soldiers wounded?  Politicians and newspapers foretold of a war, if there was to be war, that would be of very short duration and with few casualties.  Most Americans in 1861 had only read about wars and those wars had been portrayed as noble and glorious.  As Hennessy explains, “most were spurred forth by a sense that they were going to witness something spectacular, something momentous.”   

                                                                                                                                               

And what did these spectators see?  From the vantage point depicted here – the heights just west of Centreville, Virginia, nearly five miles from the battle site – not much more than occasional clouds of smoke and glints of steel.  Most if not all of the female spectators returned to Washington long before the battle ended, as did many of the news reporters present, leaving them with very little hard battle news to report. A few of the male civilians, frustrated with the limited view from this location, moved to a second location on the heights just east of the stone bridge and within a mile of the field of battle; some of them would eventually find themselves caught up in the Union retreat. 

                                                                                                                                              

But regardless of how little or how much they would actually see at that moment, there is no doubt that for these spectators and for all Americans, this day would mark a transformation in their attitudes. As historian David Detzer writes, “After that terrible day it would be impossible for thinking people – on either side – to feel so casual about war.  Bloodier battles would be fought in the next few years. . .but none would be quite so educational.”  The “picnic”of American life had been rudely interrupted.

For a key to the individuals depicted in The Awakening,

please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/BeyondBattlefield/Witnesses1stBattle.htm

If you would like to see more of my Civil War-themed work, or are interested in ordering prints, please visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com.  

150 Years Ago Today, July 17, 1861, Part 2: Union Troops on the March to Bull Run Creek in Virginia

Road to Bull Run

Calm Before the Storm

As the war began to unfold in the summer of 1861, the vast majority of Union soldiers were volunteers who had received very little military training, unused to the discipline of military life. The 25-mile march from Washington, D.C. to Manassas Junction, Virginia was hot and boring and subject to many halts, due to the difficulty of mobilizing such large numbers of men. On these occasions, the soldiers found other ways to entertain themselves:

“July 17, 1861. On the way (from Annandale to Fairfax Court House, Virginia) we found an old railroad embankment, and I never saw blackberries more plenty. We stopped and ate what we wanted. . .July 21. Almost nine o’clock in the forenoon we reached Sudley church. . .We now took a side road that skirted a piece of woods and marched for some distance, the men amusing themselves with laughter and jokes, with occasional stops for berries. . .” -- Private Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Company D, Second Rhode Island Volunteers

“They stopped every moment to pick blackberries or get water, they would not keep in the ranks, order as much as you pleased. . .” -- Union General Irvin McDowell

“. . .for all my personal efforts I could not prevent the men from straggling for water, blackberries, or anything on the way they fancied.” -- Union Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman

If you would like to see more of my Civil War-themed work, or are interested in ordering prints, please visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com. 



150 Years Ago Today, July 17, 1861, Part I: Confederates at Blackburn's Ford, Viriginia

 

Road to Manassas

Hopes Burn Bright

Prior to the first major battle of the Civil War – first Manassas, as it was later known to Confederates, or First Bull Run, as it was would be called by Federals – recruits of both sides were quite naïve about the realities of war. Nearly everyone believed that this would be a war of short duration, that a single battle would resolve the matter, and that what few deaths might result would be quick and glorious. For many young men who had never been away from their farms or home towns, the war was viewed as a “grand adventure” which they would enjoy describing to their grandchildren years into the future. An atmosphere of youthful enthusiasm, bravado, and high spirits pervaded the camps.

This image is inspired by an account taken from the memoirs of Alexander Hunter, who when only a teenager enlisted with the 17th Virginia Infantry. It features members of the regiment (Hunter is at the far left) around a campfire at Blackburn’s Ford on the night of July 17, 1861. The next morning would find these troops involved in a skirmish with Federals that would become a prelude to the First Battle of Manassas.

Hunter recounts some of the early notions of his fellow compatriots: “Imaginative battles were rather of the ‘Iliad’ order – a few rounds, then a rush of cold steel and all was over. It was agreed that Company A should go into action with each man carrying a revolver in his belt and a bowie-knife in his bootleg; it would look decidedly war-like and unique. . . .There was one little fellow, a private named Hunter, who grew meditative as the discussions waxed more thrilling. . .This bowie-knife business might be a very good thing, he thought, for immense fellows. . .but for a sixteen-year-old soldier of ninety-seven pounds fighting weight, it might not prove so very amusing after all.”

If you would like to see more of my Civil War-themed work, or are interested in ordering prints, please visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com. 



150 Years Ago, Mid-July 1861: While the soldiers were marching...

Rose O’Neal Greenhow

Red-Hot Fires of Patriotism

As the 1860’s began, Rose O’Neal Greenhow was a wealthy, attractive and outgoing widow, who made no effort to conceal her strong Southern sympathies. Living just across Lafayette Park from the White House in Washington, D.C., and being a very popular member of Washington’s highest social circles, Rose was strategically positioned to secure information valuable to her beloved Confederate cause.

Armed with these facts, Col. Thomas Jordan, a United States officer with strong Southern sympathies of his own, approached Rose about developing a Confederate spy ring, and supplied her with a cipher code to use in sending messages. By April of 1861, Rose had developed a network of spies, ranging from ordinary household servants – to whom she referred as her “little birds” – to prominent professionals and government officials.

Through the assistance of this network, Rose was able to provide General P.G.T. Beauregard with the timetable for the Union advance on Manassas. On July 10th, a courier delivered a small package to Brigadier General Milledge Bonham to forward to General Beauregard. The package, a piece of black silk folded to the size of a silver dollar, contained the message informing General Beauregard that General Irvin McDowell would lead 35,000 Union troops out of Washington on July 16th.

Subsequent information from Rose described McDowell’s plan to advance through Arlington, Alexandria, and Centreville, Virginia on his way to his objective of destroying the railroad lines at Manassas Junction. Because this information allowed the Rebels time to consolidate their forces, Jefferson Davis credited Rose with helping the Confederate army to achieve this first major victory.

If you would like to see more of my Civil War-themed work, or are interested in ordering prints, please visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com. 

150 Years Ago Today: July 14, 1861

Waiting for War

“My Dear Sarah…”

Waiting for War depicts the importance placed on writing and receiving letters, in the lives of all soldiers, in an age before telephones, pagers and email; a time when letters were about the only means of communicating with loved ones far away.  Letters were looked upon as treasures, and families saved them for years afterwards.  Letter-writing was a serious, almost sacred activity to those involved in it.  And when one of the writers was a soldier preparing for battle, the letter took on additional meaning, since there was a real possibility it could be his last.

A letter written by Major Sullivan Ballou of the 2^nd Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry serves as the inspiration for this image.  While at Camp Clark, near Washington, D.C. on July 14, 1861 – one week prior to the first Battle of Manassas – Major Ballou wrote a very moving letter home to his wife, describing his feelings about fighting for his country as well as the depth of his love for her.  The intense internal conflict he experienced over his divided loyalties to country and family are vividly described in this, his last letter, which was never mailed but found amongst his belongings upon his death in battle a week later.

To read the text of Major Ballou's letter, please visit:

http://www.civilwarfineart.com/BeyondBattlefield/ballouletter.htm

To see more of my Civil War-themed work, or to inquire about purchasing originals or prints, please visit my website at www.CivilWarFineArt.com, or email me at CivilWarFineArt@yahoo.com.

150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 3

This is another piece in my Beyond the Battlefield series aimed at showing how war impacted all portions of society, regardless of age or sex:

No Idle Hands

"There is Much for Us to Do, and We Must Do It!"

The statement above, made by Judith McGuire, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia (and a refugee for much of the war), illustrates the "commitment to their cause" demonstrated by women in both North and South as war became a reality. Almost as quickly as American men began enlisting in the war effort, American women began doing all they could to support them.

From the very beginning, it was obvious that many things would be needed by the soldiers which the women they left at home could supply: underclothing, shirts, pants, blankets, etc. Women of the era were trained from a young age to knit, crochet and sew a wide variety of items, so it was only natural that in such a time they would gather together to produce them in great quantity.  Lucy Wood of Charlottesville, Virginia spoke volumes in a letter to her fiancee when she wrote, “Our needles are now our weapons. . .”  In numerous diary accounts of the early war effort, however, it becomes obvious that the non-stop needlework was prompted by more than just a desire to provide for loved ones; activity was a constructive way of dealing with anxiety. Virginian Sara Pryor said it well: “To be idle in war is torture.”



150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 2

The men who determined to volunteer were faced with a painful moment of separation -- saying goodbye to family left behind. Often we see images created from the point of view of adults, but because of my firm conviction that war and the upheaval brought on by it affects all members of a society, I wanted to create some images that told the story from the point of view of the children. A Promise to Return is the first of those images.

This has been one of the most popular pieces in my Beyond the Battlefield series, and I suspect that is because it conveys a timeless scenario: with our current military involvements we have watched this scene played out countless times in the media and within our own communities and families, as have Americans of many other generations. The clothing changes but the emotional impact does not.

To view my entire body of Civil War artwork, I invite you to visit http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

150 Years Ago this Month: American Families Prepare for War, Part 1

When I made the decision to pursue the genre of Civil War art, I felt I needed a direction -- something that would tie my individual images together in a cohesive fashion. What made the most sense to me was to work through the various events and scenarios of the war in a chronological fashion, and the colored pencil drawing above, Conflict of Interest, thus became the first piece in the series.

When it became obvious that war was becoming a reality for 1860's Americans and volunteers would be needed in large numbers, couriers were sometimes sent out to those who lived on farms outside of towns to deliver the news and encourage enlistment. My research indicates that many American men at that time were actually relieved to see this day come; war had been threatened for so long that there was an almost "let's get this over with" mentality. But as a wife and a mother, my perspective is different; I was imagining a young mother with small children at home, interrupted from a quiet tea with her husband, anxious of how this turn of events would affect all of their lives in the days to come.

To view my entire body of Civil War artwork, I invite you to visit my website at http://www.CivilWarFineArt.com.

One-Day, Painting/Drawing Give-Away for History Meets the Arts

This past Saturday I had my gallery -- Civil War Fine Art in Gettysburg, PA -- open from 10 until 8, and invited gallery visitors to watch and ask questions as I developed a small (6" x 9") watercolor and colored pencil painting on PastelMat, as well as enter their names in a drawing to win this composition at the end of the day. At 7 pm, I drew the name of a couple from Harrisburg, and will be shipping the finished, matted piece to them today.

The image is of the Stone House, a prominent landmark on the Manassas National Battlefield in Virginia. As part of my Civil War 150 Project, I decided that each year I do this One-Day painting/drawing event, I'll feature a landmark from a major battle of that anniversary year. Since 2011 is the 150th anniversary for the year 1861, and since the First Battle of Manassas (or Bull Run) was a significant event in that year, I chose this site to depict for this event. For reference for this piece, I used a black-and-white 1861 photograph of the house and edited out several of the people, as well as added in the color using modern photographs for reference. I hope the couple who recieves this painting will be pleased!

Days 4 and 5, Gettysburg Plein Air Paint-Out at the Fringe Festival

It's been a busy but productive week! On Monday, June 13, I painted in the morning with Dianne Lorden, Sue Gray and Jonathon Frazier at the Rose Farm off Emmittsburg Rd on the Gettysburg battlefield. Then in the afternoon I painted out at Hauser Winery in Arendstville on a perfectly glorious (albeit a little windy) day.

Tuesday, June 14, found me in the company of Claire Carnell, Linda Young, Paul Gallo and Sue Gray in the Devil's Den/Slaughter Pen area of the battlefield.

Today I was supposed to have painted at Meade's headquarters (Leister farmhouse) on the battlefield, but it was persistently raining/drizzling and not terribly conducive to toting an art set-up a fair distance, as there's no really close parking area to that farm. So I opted to spend my time preparing for this evening's Edible Art Tour, the kick-off to History Meets the Arts, where I'll be "stationed" at Lincoln Into Art (next door to my own gallery) with artist/owner Wendy Allen, gallery director Elaine Henderson, and photographer Dan Mangan. This is a ticketed event which runs from 5 - 9, and is a part of the Gettysburg Festival. Tomorrow and Saturday I'll have my own gallery open from 10 am until 8 pm, where I'll be focusing on my personal "Civil War 150 Project". Looking forward to it and hope you'll come out to visit!

April 1861: War Hits Home

Sometimes written histories can lead us into considering war only in the abstract. But the Civil War, like all wars, was experienced deeply by the individuals of the era. This is the first of several posts of my artwork, meant to illustrate examples of the personal realities of the War.

In April of 1861, as President Lincoln put out his call for 75,000 volunteers after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, James P. Mills, the oldest son of Galen and Elizabeth Mills of Ripley Township in Huron County, Ohio, was a student at Baldwin University (now Baldwin-Wallace College) in Berea. Though nearing the completion of his education, Mills was thoroughly convinced that the proper place for him at this time was in the service of his country. Unlike many other Northern recruits, however, who insisted that theirs was simply a fight to save the union, Mills’ own stated cause was the elimination of “accursed slavery”, and his fervor was fed by his environment, as he writes in his letter to his siblings that “the faculty are for war to a man”.


While this Ohio college student in his early twenties pens a letter brimming with idealism, a letter written at the same time by his mother to her other children bears a slightly different attitude. She is in Berea at the time the call for volunteers is made, and witnesses all of the pageantry and patriotic zeal: rallies to recruit volunteers held every evening, a procession of citizens through the town accompanied by martial music and the firing of cannon, speeches by faculty and students in favor of taking up arms, and a campus flag-raising by her own son and another soon-to-be soldier. She understands the needs of the country, and her convictions tell her that she must not stand in the way of her son doing what he feels is his duty, but her heart is overwhelmed by the sentiments of a mother fearful of losing her child. In fact, on James’ own letter, she has included a sentence hastily scrawled in the margin: “kep [sic] this letter safe it may be the last from J.”

To see this and other colored pencil images in my series, Beyond the Battlefield, please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/. Or better yet, stop in to my gallery, Civil War Fine Art, 333 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA, this summer and especially during History Meets the Arts (June 16 - 19), a part of the Gettysburg Festival, June 10 - 19!

150th Anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War

One hundred and fifty years ago this spring, our country was in a period of tremendous turmoil. In December of the previous year, South Carolina had seceded from the Union, prompting the headline seen in my colored pencil painting at the top, The Union is Dissolved! Other states would follow their lead in the coming months, and by mid-summer, eleven states had joined the Confederacy, demonstrated by the flag depicted in the painting. Preparations for war were begun in earnest, and the Confederate volunteer depicted is wearing a uniform typical of some of the early regiments that were formed in the South. In response to the attack on Fort Sumter, where an unusual version of the American flag as portrayed in my second painting, To Arms! had come under severe fire and was taken down by the Confederate victors, President Abraham Lincoln issued an immediate call for 75,000 troops from those states loyal to the Union, to put down the rebellion. The Union states were quick to respond and in fact offered many more volunteers than Lincoln had requested.

The two paintings were created to be companions to each other but reveal an important difference between the two armies: while the Confederacy had every bit as much passion for its cause as the Union, it lacked the numbers of available troops, a factor which would become critical as the War progressed. These two large paintings are prominently displayed in the entrance hallway to my gallery, Civil War Fine Art, located at 333 Baltimore Street in Gettysburg, PA, and will greet visitors during the History Meets the Arts event this June 16 - 18.

To see more of my Civil War-related colored pencil paintings, please visit my website at http://www.civilwarfineart.com/.

And I Forgot to Mention...

My last post reminded me that I never mentioned that my colored pencil/mixed media painting featured previously on this blog, Departure, was accepted into Explore This! 7, an online exhibition of mixed media works which are 75% colored pencil, presented by the Colored Pencil Society of America through January 31, 2012. You may view the complete exhibition up until that date by visiting the CPSA website at http://www.cpsa.org/.

Great news!

I learned just yesterday that my recently-completed piece, Transformation/Liberation, was one of 117 works accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 19th Annual International Exhibition, to be held June 29 - July 31 at the Charles W. Eisemann Center in Dallas, Texas. I'm very excited about this, particularly because the piece is so new and such a different approach for me that I hadn't quite concluded how I felt about it, and am extremely honored to have my newest work displayed in such a prestigious venue.

To see more of my colored pencil and mixed media Civil War-themed works, please visit http://www.civilwarfineart.com/.