Art at the Mill

Friday morning I drove out bright and early to drop off the piece that was accepted into the juried show at the Millwood Mill in Clarke County. If you'd like to go to the show, I will be heading out several times. I'll post which dates here if anyone wants to head out to the countryside.

I was one of the first people in line because I had to be back in Fairfax at 11am and they didn't take any works in for hanging until 10am. I did get a chance to look around. Almost everything there at the time was realist work and most of it landscapes. Almost everyone else in the building had been an artist about 40-50 years longer than me. It was a bit intimidating. It's not that I can't paint realist landscapes, though maybe not with the drama that the masters there did. I actually tend to shy away from traditional realism and lean toward a bit of abstract in my scenes. But their work was beautiful. And the white haired artists standing in line with their paintings tucked under their arms, were a lovely sight.

I could have sat in that old mill for hours, absorbing the hues of the paintings that were being hung. It smelled just like my parent's barn - in fact the beams looked like they were cut the same way.

I'll be going to Ohio this week and probably spending some time sketching and photographing at my parent's farm. Maybe once I get back, if I can find the time, I'll get some Ohio landscape on canvas. My parents have this 400 year old oak tree that I've been wanting to paint for some time now. Maybe that one will be a good subject. We'll see what catches my eye when we're there.